Kalaman is a key port on the northern shores of Ansalon. Situated on the
estuary of the Vingaard River, its harbor is deep enough to allow all but
the largest of merchant ships to dock here.
A History of Kalaman
Grown from a fishing village by ambitious Istari merchants three centuries
before the Cataclysm, Kalaman has been the center of trade in Nightlund
for well over half a millennium. The city’s population remained constant
from the Cataclysm to the Chaos War, as Palanthas eclipsed its status since
the destruction of Istar.
Almost since its foundation, the people of Kalaman
were generally speaking happy and prosperous. There was a small section
of the city where those who were unfortunate to exist in a state of poverty
dwelled, but even they were better off than the poor of other cities. The
lords of the city descended from a line of Solamnic Knights, who, after
the Cataclysm, swore off that heritage for political reasons. Still, they
very much held to the ideals of the knighthood. For generations, the walls
were kept in good repair, the defenders vigilant and well trained, and
even a small fleet of four war barges was kept by the city to assist in
the defense of the harbor.
In the early stages of the Dragonarmy’s western
offensive, Kalaman fell through treachery rather than siege or honest battle.
Agents of the Dragonarmy infiltrated the city and murdered most of its
defenders and the Lord Knight and his family as they slept. Only one member
of the ruling family was spared—Calof, the third and youngest son of the
lord. The war barges were defeated in the harbor as Dragonarmy galleys
sailed in without contest and seized them with very little resistance.
When the new day broke over the city, the citizens awoke to find themselves
with new masters.
Much of the campaign against northern Solamnia and Palanthas was coordinated
from Kalaman, as the Castle Kalaman was swiftly converted into a command
center for the Blue Army.
Just as the city was the first one to fall to the
Dragonarmy, so was it the first to be liberated by the Whitestone Army
under the command of Laurana, the Golden General. Around the time that
Gilthanas assumed the position of military governor, elements of the Blue
Army made several attempts to retake the city, each of which failed due
to the expert military leadership of himself and Silvara.
As the threat of the Drgonarmy waned, Gilthanas
became more and more heavily involved with the politics of Kalaman. During
these years, citizens reported seeing Silvara wandering listlessly through
the streets in her guise as a Kagonesti female. Occassionally, her spirits
would seem to lift as someone appeared to need her help in settling a dispute
or when a merchant or mapmaker invited her to join them on an expedition.
More often than not, however, the citizens felt uncomfortable about approaching
her.
Eventually, she was seen no more. Some claim she
left the city after a cabal of corrupt merchants and ship-builders tried
to trick her into eliminating their competition, while others claim that
she left because Gilthanas had grown to hate her because she was not truly
an elf. Whatever the truth, she was last seen flying north along the coast,
the setting sun glinting off her magnificent silver scales.
When the Dark Knights invaded Ansalon during the
Summer of Chaos, the citizens of Kalaman found themselves wishing for the
dragon and elf who had seen them through the dark years. Those men who
weren’t killed by Dark Knights were relocated to Neraka to serve as slaves.
In the wake of the Chaos War, the strange twilight that spread from
Dargaard Keep to encompass all of Nightlund spread across Kalaman and the
estuary. Over two decades, the city has seen neither night nor day, leaving
the vegetation around the city weak and sickly. A steady migration of people
away from the darkness started to drain the population even further.
Noteworthy Locations
From the earliest days, the harbor of Kalaman has been
constructed to accommodate even large merchant vessels. The docks are wide
to make it easier to load cargo to or from more than one ship at a time
and the lords of the city have consistently had warehouses built along
the waterfront rather than the taverns and houses of ill repute that so
many other cities display. This arrangement has always given the waterfront
of Kalaman an oddly deserted appearance. Sailors who don’t know better
have been known to feel their hearts sink when they put into the port and
see only rows of austere gray buildings instead of the hustle and bustle
of welcoming women they experience in other cities.
The only structures along the docks that aren’t
intended to house trade goods and other cargo are the Harbor Masters’ offices,
and the facilities of the single shipbuilder who remains in the city. Most
of the warehouses now stand empty and deserted, while a handful of others
have been converted into living space by people who are hoping to leave
Kalaman on the next ship that puts into port.
In centuries past, the heart and soul of Kalaman’s
Business District was the famous open-air market. Once, the open-air market
was a source of virtually every kind of goods from virtually every part
of Ansalon. Maps, exotic foods, livestock, even curious artifacts from
the ruins in nearby mountain ranges, could all be found in one or another
of the many stalls. Now, the open-air market stands like a deserted clearing
in the crumbling city. Citizens tend to avoid the area, and when they can,
and if forced to cross it, they rush as quickly as they can to get back
to the safety between the buildings. Virtually all trade now takes place
along the waterfront, as very little overland travel reaches the city any
more.
At the center of the city stands Castle Kalaman.
Despite the pall that has fallen over the land, the city’s lords have maintained
the structure and it remains one of the most beautiful structures in northern
Ansalon. Within the last century, its rooms have been home to two women
who had great impact upon the modern history of Ansalon—the Blue Lady,
the infamous Highlord of the Blue Army during the Solamnia offensive, and
Lauranlanthalasa, the Qualinesti princess known as the Golden General.
Gilthanas also kept quarters here during his tenure as governor. It now
serves as home to Tierrel Rychner, Lord of Kalaman, his family, and his
trio of advisors and their families as well.
Adventure Seeds
• While sailing along the northern coast of Ansalon, a storm forces the
heroes into port at Kalaman. Gilthanas has returned to the city and is
recruiting skilled warriors to investigate the strange disappearances of
ships that have been occurring along the Vingaard River. The heroes
are to join the crew of Myrella’s Heart, a vessel commanded by the river
pirate half-elf twins Myrelana and Leana. The journey is supposed to go
from Kalaman to Jahsburg in the south.
The river pirates aren’t exactly accepting of people who aren’t part
of their culture. It’s an uneasy journey unless the heroes impress the
rough-and-tumble pirates or spend the whole voyage subjected to abuse.
There should be plenty of opportunities, though… there are not one reason
but several behind the disappearing vessels: First, the Dark Knights have
established in the swamp at the Knight’s Spur delta, and they have been
seizing vessels carrying cargo that spies in Kalaman tell them is valuable.
Second, a new breed of undead has started to appear along the river… undead
river pirates. These creatures have been seizing vessels. Unless the heroes
discover the secret behind their origins, over the next few years, their
numbers will grow so great that they will make travel along the Vingaard
impossible, thus finally bringing about the death of Kalaman as a city,
not to mention ending the thriving river pirate culture based in the city
of Vingaard.
