Seaside

Like Dollen on the River in northern Cyre, the people of Seaside panicked and fled out onto the waters for safety. Unlike Dollen, the smaller military presence meant that there was no organized evacuation of the city, simply a desperate urge to get away from the oncoming arcane cataclysm. Many boat owners, a mix of wealthy merchants and nobles, took on only close friends and family regardless of how many more could fit on their ships. More conscientious captains were forced to make agonizing choices to cut people off, lest the overcrowding risk sinking the ship. Far too many people never made it onto a ship at all, swallowed up by the mists or flinging themselves into the sea where they drowned.

Source: Politics of Cyre

Source: Politics of Cyre

Idyllic paintings of Seaside belie the city’s dark secrets.

The Pelican’s Rest

The finest and most glamorous hotel in the city, the Pelican's Rest was where the wealthy and gossiped. While the services were provided through House Ghallanda, the hotel was known as a hive of illicit Aurum activity. Backroom deals here paid lip service to the law at best, with many deals requiring something smuggled across the war-torn Cyran borders.

The Docks

Serving a variety of economic purposes, the docks were often home to conflicts between local fishers and international trade ships. Fishermen griped about how arcane advances disrupted the fish population, while international merchants bragged about the potential wealth they could bring in from distant locales. Underlying this, however, was a shared fear of cults of the Devourer. Local superstitions about the wrathful nature deity grew out of periodic disappearances, which seemed to coincide with Zarantyr, the Storm Moon, growing full or ascendant in the sky.

Warehouse 13

One of many warehouses connected to the Seaside docks, Warehouse 13 was the secret base of the Cult of the Devourer. Profane rights of sacrifice performed by fish-masked cultists were made in the name of good weather and abundant harvests. However, the cultists did not realize that the ritual methods they used to prepare their victims were actually the first steps in creating a malenti, and that the sacred shrine of the Devourer on a rocky outcropping was actually a drop point for sahuagin agents of the Eternal Dominion.

Those brave enough to investigate Seaside on the second day—after the lethal effects of the mists had disappeared—found an eerily empty city. Unlike many other cities in Cyre, the city suffered no notable damage besides that inflicted by its citizens in their desperation to flee. However, also unlike the rest of Cyre, not a single corpse was found within the city limits.

Kundarak Bank

A monument to opulence, the Kundarak bank in Seaside made brisk business supporting the merchants and nobles cutting deals in the town. On the Day of Mourning, Turanank d’Kundarak ordered all employees to seal the building and the vaults from the inside to deny access to looters and to wait out the oncoming mists. Since that day, those doors have remained shut, leaving the extremely valuable contents of the bank a mystery.

Shaelas Tiraleth

The Court of the Silver Tree had a strong presence in Southeastern Cyre, often appearing just off the road in and out of Seaside. Resplendent in every way, the feyspire was phased into the Material Plane on the Day of Mourning. The residents of Thelanis have not seen it since that day, but if an expedition has succeeded in determining what happened, has not survived.

Temple of the Sovereign Host

Like most communities in the Five Nations, Seaside had a splendid temple. The port town officially favored Arawai and Kol Korran, putting up offerings for good weather and good business. However, the temple had a dark underbelly as the priests consorted with both the cult of the Devourer as well as local smugglers to enrich and empower themselves. The high priest, an elf named Suhayl Farraj (he/him), remained oblivious to these illicit activities.

Source: Politics of Cyre

While time spent in Seaside was a relaxing vacation for many, those who delved into its secrets easily found hidden knives.

Count Ubada ir’Faris

A platinum concordian and head of the local Aurum branch, the count (he/him) was the kingpin of both the city's legal and illegal markets. No matter the nature of the goods, the Count always made sure he got his cut. What other Seaside residents didn't know is that over a hundred years ago, The Count's grandmother was replaced by a malenti sahuagin on a deep cover mission for the Eternal Dominion of the Thunder Sea. Since then, the ir'Faris family line has been entirely replaced with sahuagin impersonators who use the local cult of the Devourer as cover for secret missions.

Asma Wadoud

Asma (she/her) is an independent merchant and gold concordian of the local Aurum branch. Due, in part, to her silver tongue and charming smile, many of her rivals spread rumors that she made a pact with the eladrin lord of Shaelas Tiraleth. While her primary business of trade in foodstuffs was certainly above board, her deeper schemes sought to upset the balance of power in the city, either by directly deposing the Count or by taking over the local Aurum branch.

Master Basira d’Jorasco

Master Basira d'Jorasco (she/her) is the leading Jorasco physician in the city, both leading the house operations as well as performing services herself using her greater dragonmark of healing. Her reputation allowed her to accrue a wide range of wealthy international patients, especially when travel to the Karrnathi city of Vedykar, home of Jorasco's operations, was barred by shifting alliances. Her public face belied her role as a nosomatic chirurgeon, dispensing vigilante justice by night.

While many of the best-connected residents of Seaside survived that ghastly day, most have fully abandoned the city and could be found anywhere else in Khorvaire.

Admiral Qasim Nasri

One of Cyre’s highest-ranking survivors, Admiral Qasim (she/her) advises Oargev but is personally frustrated by New Cyre's landlocked nature. Fixated on the days of glory behind her and dreaming of the sea, she's eager to send an expedition to conclusively uncover the remains of a joint Cannith-Lyrandar submersible project. While the two houses have since given up on recovery, deciding that the prototypes and designs disappeared in the arcane cataclysm the same way all the people did, Qasim believes there are clues that point to another cause.

Lord Abdul d’Thuranni

A survivor from Seaside, Abdul (he/him) has refused to forget what was left behind. Using his limited resources as a low-ranking member of House Thuranni, he has commissioned several expeditions into the city, each time looking for something different. These expeditions have proven entirely fruitless, much to his increasing dismay. Despite this, he is unwilling to re-enter the mists himself.

Master Anika d’Torrn

Two millennia of continuous settlement in Seaside have left plenty of treasures buried in the once-welcoming harbor. Before the Mourning, the continuous traffic prohibited any serious probing of the harbor’s basin, but now members of House Tharashk can freely dive in search of treasures with locate object. Anika d’Torrn (they/them) has an ulterior motive—their gatekeeper mentor believes there’s an unfortunately well concealed artifact dating back to the daelkyr invasion buried somewhere in the Seaside harbor.

Source: Politics of Cyre

In addition to the usual Mournland fare, Seaside offers a unique opportunity to integrate the cultures of the Thunder Sea into the plot.

Thunder Sea Merfolk Report. The Kalamer merfolk have kept a long watch over Seaside, suspicious of the sahuagin’s infiltration of landed societies. Siren Nilorata Windspeaker (she/her) is in Sharn looking for a group of Galifarans to investigate the Devourer cult’s activities within Seaside, both to understand their past actions but, more importantly, to thwart any ongoing schemes.

Sea Devil Salvage. A prominent priest of the Sovereign Host contacts the party for help recovering some religious artifacts from Seaside. Of course, the benefactor is secretly a malenti and has arranged for a deadly ambush on the return trip, to replace the party with malenti agents.

The Black Highway. The Last War gave rise to several international crime syndicates, including the Black Highway. Sentinel Marshal Sigor d’Deneith believes that Seaside could contain critical information about current members of the smuggling enterprise.

Source: Politics of Cyre

Seaside had room for both those who would participate in its darker side and those who would fight against it.

Malenti^ExE. As an agent of the sahuagin Eternal Dominion, Seaside provided a perfect avenue to make your way up the ladder of power in Cyre. Did you receive new orders after the country's destruction, or have you made your own way in the four years since?

Noble. Beautiful portraits of Seaside could be found in the manors of many of Cyre's nobles. Did you or your family ever interact with the city's dark secrets?

Urchin. While many Cyrans sought refuge and opportunity in the distant lands of Q'barra, not everyone had enough money to pay for the long trip, and some eventually became accustomed to the warm and pleasant climate of Seaside. How did you interact with the wealthy vacationers?