Tharkar

Tharkar was a dark and damp port city of Free Cities of Parsanic in the Utter East that was a home port of many pirate ships that sailed all across the Utter Coast and the Great Sea.

Description
Tharkar was known for being a dangerous city of crime and schemes. The streets bore almost no torches making the damp and hoot settlement pitch dark as soon as the sunset and the windows closed their tight shutters.

Geography
Tharkar was located in between mountain chains where Parsanic and Ulgarth joined together and stretched into the treacherous cliffed shoreline of the Utter Coast. Tallgrass was prevalent in Tharkar growing abundantly across the region.

Government
The Lord was the ruling power in Tharkar. He exerted power, controlled the Daggers, and enforced the use of writs - a legally binding type of contract signed by both parties making the agreement and registered with the Lord of Tharkar. Each writ needed to have a Pirates' Witness for it to be finalized. The writs were standard in Tharkar and were used for employment and trade.

Defenses
The Daggers of Tharkar was the closest thing to law enforcement the pirate city had. The organization was infamous for the members' cold looks and brutality. The reputation spread as far as Konigheim. The existence of this mercenary militia was mostly due to political pressure from Ulgarth and the Free Cities of Parsanic as they did not tolerate the chaos of lawlessness, and everybody knew that there was nothing deadlier than a tavern packed with drunken belligerent pirates, so the Daggers acted accordingly, using expensive sleeping poison-coated blades.

Economy
The abundance of counterfeit gold coins made gems the main currency in Tharkar. The false coins were so common, prices on the city's markets often were given in "true coins" and "fool's coins".

Jargoons were considered much cheaper than rubies but still were worth up to a hundred true gp. A successful pirate usually paid their crew with only two or free jargoons a year. It took them decades to earn a couple of much more expensive rubies of their own.

Notable Locations

 * Ankle Bells - always busy inn and tavern for persons with full purses. The old and smelly smuggling tunnel stretched from Ankle Bells' basements to the city's docks.
 * Donder's Dancing Masques - a loud, rowdy, and busy tavern frequented by locals and the docked pirates.
 * Harbour and wharves - the lifeblood of the city, often packed with trading caravels and lampless pirate ships without charter-papers. The tariff master was in charge of the harbor and the trade that moved through the city.

Inhabitants
Mar inhabitants of Tharkar were divided into two casts, the lower caste - tarok, and the higher caste - bahrana. They were distinguished by their golden skin and dark hair and eyes.


 * Marud Saubhari - a tariff master of Tharkar, who fathered a son with his serving maid but refused to acknowledge his child due to the wife's fury over his indiscretions.
 * Rishi Saubhari - also known as the "Ginger Prince", son of Marud Saubhari who grew up as a tarok (lower caste). After accidentally murdering his father and most of the household, he inherited the bahrana's wealth and status.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Mercenaries • Realms of Mystery


 * An Opportunity for Profit