This trading fort acts as a port for silt schooners crossing the Estuary of the Forked Tongue from Balic. It is a stop off point on the way north to Nibenay, Draj and Raam.
Silt schooner is the term used to describe a psionically-powered siltworthy ship used for trade, plying the sea between siltside cities and villages. The schooner statistics given here are for a typical trade vessel. It has a hull similar in shape to a conventional silt skimmer’s, including two masts and square sails, but it possesses no wheels. Its keel is flat-bottomed so the ship can rest level on the coast or while docked when not lifted by its shipfloater. In its center is installed a psionically powered piece of obsidian, the obsidian engine, which is used to lift the schooner to the surface of the silt so that it can be moved by wind or through poles set against the siltbed to push the vehicle forward. A schooner can be used to cross any depth of silt. Its crew is composed of a captain and his officers, a shipfloater one or two apprentices, the rest being sailors who double as polers when the wind is dead. Such ships don’t usually have space allowed for passengers, but accommodation can be made for passengers to take over ordinary cargo space. Rarely, a trade schooner can be fitted with a single light catapult or ballista instead of a corresponding amount of cargo space.
