PORT JEMSWORTH

Port Jemsworth is home to Kurestal’s navy, the Central Bank of Kurestal, and the Lumero Guild. The city is a hodgepodge of cultures and races, its ports welcoming an endless cycle of new peoples and unique products from across the world. Jemsworth’s sights, smells, and sounds come together in a staccato rhythm of piercing seagull cries, the boisterous calls of merchants hawking their goods, and the whoosh of the salt-licked ocean breeze as it whistles through the city’s alleyways.

The first Humans who crossed through the Halcyome to arrive on Prism’s shores were resilient and brave seafaring folk. They first settled on a cluster of rocky islands that stretched across the waves like a slumbering dragon. This cluster of islands would come to be known as the Novan Isles. 

However, it wasn’t long before discontent began to take root among the populace. The islands’ lack of fertile land, resources, and space hampered the Humans’ progress. A strange series of events befell the islands a year later and brought tensions to a head, creating a rift that split the Humans into two rival factions. The much smaller group chose to remain while the vast majority set sail once more, braving the treacherous oceans again in search of greener shores. Eventually, they discovered a continent to the west, where they made landfall on its eastern coast.

These intrepid seafolk settled on the coast, with little inkling that their sleepy seaside village would one day grow into the largest merchant port on Kurestal’s eastern shore. 

Port Jemsworth lies on the shores of Jemsworth Bay, where the autumn-like maple forests of the Capital Field region meet the Gemswarth Sea. Vast and far-reaching, the Capital Field region also encompasses Caldemount, Gladery Farms, and Batarium Burg.

During summer, the warm breeze from the ocean makes for stiflingly humid afternoons, but evenings can turn pleasantly cool.  In winter, a thin, crisp layer of snow blankets the city, enough for boots to sink into and crunch underfoot. The spring and autumn months offer mild temperatures, occasional rain, and on chilly autumn mornings, a light pattering of hail. 

The Kurestian Navy

While primarily known as a trading hub, Port Jemsworth also serves as Kurestal’s only naval base. At the outbreak of the Great War in 354 AA, the city’s docks and defenses were transformed, turning Jemsworth into both a fortress and a naval base. Since then, the city has stood as Caldemount’s first line of defence against seaborne invaders.

Port Jemsworth’s role as Kurestal’s sole naval base fundamentally reshaped the city’s identity and the bond with its residents. It is common to see city guards and navy sailors patrolling the docks and streets side by side, their contrasting uniforms a shared symbol of vigilance as they work together to keep the peace.

The Twin Towers of Jemsworth

Two towering lighthouses loom over Jemsworth’s waterfront, their shadows stretching like twin serpents across the city’s streets. At night, the Twin Towers of Jemsworth stand as silent sentinels, their iconic twin “eyes” blazing brighter than the stars, guiding sailors to Jemsworth’s ports and, in the minds of the city’s denizens, warding off the storied sea serpents that fishwives’ tales say lurk beneath the waves. 

The twin lighthouses trace their origins back to that fateful departure from the Novan Isles. During that voyage, many on board swore they glimpsed a vast shadow moving beneath the waves—broad as a ship, long as ten. Believing it to be a sea serpent, the Humans drove their sails hard, desperate to outpace it.

Though they reached land without the creature ever breaking the surface, the Humans were still fearful that it might follow them to shore and destroy their fledgling settlement. So they built makeshift twin wooden lighthouses on the beach. To these courageous settlers, the flames of their twin lighthouses resembled the eyes of a colossal guardian watching over the coast, one large and mighty enough to deter even a serpent of the deep.

As the village grew, the settlers rebuilt the lighthouses in stone, raising them taller and sturdier than before. Eventually, the lighthouses would rise imperiously atop the walls of the city, with glass-and-metal “pupils” mounted on rotating platforms, sweeping their baleful gaze across the sea. Whether the shadow beneath the waves on that voyage had truly belonged to a sea serpent, no one will ever know for sure—but Jemsworth’s historical records all show that no such creatures have been spotted in the city’s waters since the towers were raised.

During the Great War, the lighthouses doubled as lookout towers, their great height offering a strategic vantage point over both city and sea. To send colour-coded signals to their allies, the navy commissioned the Alchemists’ Guild to concoct tinctures, powders, and liquids that could shift the colour of the flames from dusky orange to sickly green, from night blue to infernal red, and many other colours in between.

City Hall

Cresting a man-made hill, City Hall overlooks the streets below, its iconic lighthouse jutting up like an oversized top hat perched on a head. While the Twin Towers of Jemsworth stand as ever-vigilant guardians of the city, this lighthouse serves exclusively to alert Caldemount of invasions from the sea. Within the building’s twisting halls and open rooms, administrative workers bustle about, addressing the many complaints they receive daily from the bristling city folk talking—sometimes yelling—animatedly at the counters. 

Central Bank of Kurestal

At the heart of Port Jemsworth, the Central Bank of Kurestal’s stately structure stands in stark contrast to the simpler buildings on the main road. Inside, rich aristocrats—accompanied by bank attendants—glide unhurriedly across polished white marble floors in embroidered gowns and tailored suits, coattails swishing as they walk.

At the height of Kurestal’s Golden Age, eighteen of the wealthiest merchants and traders in Port Jemsworth founded the bank after the Battle of Gemswarth—a naval conflict Kurestal had instigated during the Great War to wrest control of the Aegle’s maritime trade routes along Kurestal’s coast. The King of Kurestal permitted the bank to be established on the condition that it granted the crown certain privileges, such as reduced interest rates. The Central Bank of Kurestal would go on to become one of the richest banks in the known world.

The bank began as a way for merchants and aristocrats to store their money and valuables in secure vaults. Over time, the bank sought to introduce its services to the middle and lower classes. However, because of the high yearly rental fees for a vault or a small safe, most continued to rely on traditional methods of storing their wealth—hidden under floorboards, tucked in rafters, or, for those who could afford it, locked in personal safes. 

Sheen’s Emporium

Established in 1830 AA, Sheen’s Shop enjoyed a steady flow of regular customers until Merchant Sheen closed its doors in pursuit of a more ambitious venture—one that would, perhaps, skirt the edge of the law. His new venture, Sheen’s Emporium, occupies a nondescript building tucked away in a maze of alleys that branch off from the market square.

The Emporium is spoken of only in hushed whispers, its existence known only to its loyal patrons and those lucky few adventurers honoured by the Lumero Guild. Though the emporium looks deceptively plain from the outside, on the inside a curated selection of items with unusual or powerful properties fills every shelf, nook, and corner—leaving just enough space for a person to walk through. 

The emporium is shady both in its procurement of goods and in the nature of its clientele. Sheen neither discriminates in the items he buys nor the people he sells to—asking no questions and guaranteeing anonymity for every source and client. He cares only about striking a good bargain. And if the authorities come knocking, Sheen always manages to evade trouble, whether by smooth-talking, bribing, or calling in a favour from his connections in high places. 

Lumero Guild

Located opposite the Central Bank of Kurestal, the illustrious Lumero Guild’s headquarters rivals the bank in size but pales in comparison to its opulence. Throughout the day, the Guild’s large wooden doors never seem to stay closed, as Lumero representatives and assistants come and go alongside a steady stream of traders and merchants passing through its decorated halls. 

The relationship between the Central Bank of Kurestal and the Lumero Guild is cordial, even amicable. Once a month, Representative Seth and the bank's president meet to discuss the nation’s fiscal well-being. The bank, after all, is the arbiter of Kurestal's economic stability, while the guild's authority over valuation, trade, and commerce keeps the nation’s businesses and markets afloat.