Tsaftown

Tsaftown lies upon the Benjen Cliffs of northern Er’Rets, its harbor carved into the icebound coast where the sea sleeps. The settlement traces its founding to Benjen Naus Livna, an Otherling explorer who sailed from the Nethershores upon the Naukleros. His descendants, the Livna family, swore fealty to King Basileus Hadar and have since ruled the region. Though their Otherling blood has long thinned, their name and authority endure, embodied in their seat at Lytton Hall.

Once a prosperous fishing village, Tsaftown was hardened by the Great Freeze, which encased the northern lands in perpetual frost. Fishing persists, now chiefly through holes cut in the ice, and the town’s merchants are known throughout Er’Rets for their trade in dried fish and oil. The city’s blason is a green dagfish upon a field of black and gold, a sigil displayed proudly in hall and harbor alike.

At the city’s heart stands Lytton Hall, the ancestral dwelling of the Livnas. Constructed of log and sea-stone, its great hall is adorned with antlers, hides, and trophies of the hunt, giving the impression of a chieftain’s lodge. Within, a hammer-beam roof shelters long feasting tables and the high dais of the Livnas great hall beneath banners of gold and black bearing the leaping dagfish. Lytton Hall serves not only as the family’s residence but as the center of law, governance, and hospitality in Tsaftown.

The Tsaftown Army is well-known for it’s famed Fighting Fifteen, a group of formidable warriors who embody the North. In support of the true Prince Gidon, the city gathered 500 into its ranks and headed south to aide in securing the throne of Er’Rets. This army became known as the Fighting Five Hundred.

Tsaftown houses many taverns and alehouses, where sailors, soldiers, and merchants mix freely. Among the most notable is the Ivory Spit, a reputable inn and gathering place decorated with hunting trophies and seafarer’s lore. By contrast, the Ice House is a cramped and dim den, known more for its sour air than for its comforts. The Black Boar, in the Fisherman’s Quarter, is perhaps the most unruly of all, infamous for raucous song, thick smoke, and a rowdy clientele. These three are but a sample of dozens of similar establishments that embody the resilience and rough fellowship of a town that thrives in spite of its bleak climate.

Just offshore lies the formidable Ice Island, a diamond-shaped fortress-prison of stone that holds some three hundred of the realm’s most dangerous criminals. Its five-level curtain wall is partially buried beneath ice and snowdrifts. Within stands The Pillar, a twelve-story high central tower where guards consistently keep watch in every direction. Two of the floors are reserved for female prisoners, while in the courtyard below, the subterranean Prodotez—known as the Pit—serves as the king’s private prison. Ice Island has two gates, Northgate and Smokegate, the latter named for the many chimneys that plume across the sky. Two coastal watchtowers, Cliffwatch and Stormwatch, maintain vigilance over the strait. The banner of Ice Island depicts a black iron portcullis on a field of white. Few who enter its walls ever leave, and now that Light has returned to Er’Rets, its grim silhouette has become an ever-present shadow upon Tsaftown’s horizon.

Tsaftown’s blason is a green dagfish on a black and gold background.

Sir Edik Livna, Lord of Tsaftown

• his wife, Lady Revada, House of Mitspah
• their children:
  • Eric, heir to Tsaftown
    • his wife, Lady Viola, of Zerah Rock
      • their daughter, Nevandra
  • Leif, twenty-one, Master’s Mate aboard the Brierstar
  • Tara, a maiden of eighteen
• Edik’s siblings:
• Chory, warden of Reshon Gates
• Chantry, Commander of the ship Brierstar
  • Chantry’s son, Mardell
  • Chantry’s twin daughters, Merry and Sadie
  • Chantry’s daughter, Lathia
• Chidley, died as a child
• Nitsa, Duchess of Carm, widowed
• his mother, Lady Merris of Gershom, widowed
• his nephew, Mardell
• Edik’s household:
  • Ghee, a chambermaid

To return to the map of Er’Rets, click here.