Mostly humans and stuff. Very cosmopolitan, all ne'er do wells, outcasts, and malcontents welcome.

A city of two souls. Trade (mostly the carrying trade, Nerak produces few goods it doesn't itself use) and PRIVATEERING.

Uh, Mediterranean/Hanseatic mix?

The Marsamxett
The Temple of Karofels
The Court of Five and Thirteen
The Arsenal

The ruling body of the city is known as the Court of Five and Thirteen. Though the name seems to imply otherwise, it is made up of three distinct groups. The military body (the Admirals Circle, or the Five) is a collection of the five largest 'fleets.' These are organizations of ships banded together with some commonality, whether that be in support of a single person or family, or more a common creed or idea, there are at least a dozen self-proclaimed fleets that operate out of the city, but only five can exist on the council.

The civil body is known as the 'Concord,' and includes both the major Guilds of the city, and the large merchant houses. The Merchant Houses are brokers and dealers, and while they all maintain trade ships, they rely heavily on contracts and treaties with the various fleets for military power. Conversely, the Guilds represent the core industries, trades, and crafts of the free city.

The last part of the council is the Cult of Karofels, and its high priest, the Vicar Carcharos acts as the presiding member of the deliberative body, and as the tiebreaker if necessary during any votes.

The current members of the Admirals Circle are as follows:

• The Shipbreakers (The Wrecker Fleet)
• The Corrovas Fleet
• The Tregessar Fleet
• The Skirians (The Skleros Fleet)
• The Crimson Path

The current members of the Concord are as follows:

• The Navigators Guild
• The Fellowship of Longshoremen and Deckhands
• The Fishmongers Fellowship
• The Order of Master Shipwrights
• The League of Sailmakers and Cordwainers
• The Privileged Fraternity of Ciphers and Craft
• The Honorable Guild of Artillerists and Engineers
• The Seven Knights
• House Gothia
• House Hawkwood
• House Van Ayer
• House Rohoenten
• The Hazat

The last member of the court is the Vicar Carcharos of Karofels.

While the Admirals Circle is straightforward (the master of each fleet is the Court member, and takes the rank of 'Admiral' upon their confirmation), the actual Court attendance for the Concord can vary. Typically the Guildmaster for the various Guilds, or their appointed deputy attends. For the various Merchant Houses, the Seven Knights have a rotating representative, while the others generally attend with the head of the household. The Hazat always send a cloaked and masked representative, whether this is the same individual or one of many is unknown.

There are several would be 'fleets' lurking on the wings to seize an open seat in the circle. While this has resulted in open warfare between rival factions in the past, the Circle has been stable for several years now, and the ambitious would-be Admirals are awaiting some great misfortune to befall the current Circle Admirals.

Conversely, the Concord rotates membership fairly regularly, with elections held to maintain seats in the Court every three years. Only the Navigators, the Ciphers, and the Master Shipwrights hold permanent seats in the council, though The Hazat has been on the Condord since founding.

The native Gardielese humans have been living there for centuries, in fishing villages and a few port towns. They claim to be the remnants of the grand nautical empire that had mastered the waves, but little evidence of their claims still exist, beyond the presence of scattered ruins across Tal-Gardiel and the other islands in the region. Perhaps the Falwood Elves know, but if so they have shown no interest in sharing their knowledge.

But where the legacy of the Gardielese is lost to time, the history of Nerak is well documented. The largest port town on the island once held the name of Mjandra, in the center of a large protected bay called in local Gardielese 'Marsamxett.' Some two hundred years ago, it unexpectedly found itself host to a hodgpodge flotilla of ships, all survivors of a vast storm that found protection in the Marsamxett. Large Vel Aniran hulks and swift Alliran galleys, Kaliti Dhow's and Elbionese Dromons, Nazrani catamarans and others from even more far off realms. All told nearly 40 ships clustered in the bay.

Blah blah more stuff.

Anyway they founded a city, but could never master the native tongue, and instead called it Nerak. A free city, a community of exiles, it's lifeblood was the sea and so it remains. But subject to the whims of the capricious and spiteful god Karofels, The One Who Swallows Life and Gives Back Death, they know well that one who would make their life by the sea must be willing to take whatever you can, and give nothing back.

So the sailors and people of Nerak wear two sets of cloth. On the one hand, they are fishers and merchants, masters of the carrying trade, whose ships make port around the world and can be relied upon to deliver a cargo to anywhere, no questions asked.

But when the storm calls, they must answer, for Karofels demands blood, and it would be foolhardy to deny the Leviathan his feast. Nerak is also known as a city of Corsairs, of bold pirates who can navigate the spear, and who prey upon the meek and foolish on both sides of The Spear.

Caravel
The most instantly recognizable Nerakan ship is the caravel. Caravel's vary in size, but tend to be fairly small, with two or three masts and lateen sails. They average between 12-18m in length, with a crew of around 20-40. Fast and very seaworthy, caravel's are generally used as tradeships, but most of the Admirals are also fond of using them as fast corsairs.

Galley
Galleys remain the classic near-land ship of the seas and oceans. Nerakan galleys are modern designs, and feature one or two prominent sails with a single bank of rowers. Galleys vary in size, but average around 50 meters long, with three rowers per seat and 25 sets of oars. Average crew varies from 150-200, typically around 100 rowers, 20-30 proper sailors, and the rest a complement of marines.

Merchant Galley's don't carry a marine complement, but the rowers on both types of ships are either contracted laborers, conscripts, or debtors, and expected to fight alongside the crew. Larger galleys are entirely possibly, but with the introduction of the galleass and carrack they have started to become obsolete, and are rarely seen. The most common variants are half-galleys (or galiots) at 25m long with 15 pairs of oars, and 'War' or 'Great' Galleys that tend to be around 70m long with 35 pairs of oars.

With ramming tactics are largely a thing of the fast thanks to keel-based construction, modern galleys are focused on boarding tactics. All Nerakan warships however, also feature extensive steel-torsion artillery, on a galley this is typically a battery of dart-throwing scorpions mounted on protected forecastle, and a few larger ballista or two-armed catapults on a raised aftcastle.
Galleasses
While the Galleys and Caravel's of Nerak tend to do double duty as both merchants and corsairs, the large fearsome Galleasses (known in the region as Wolf Ships) are designed purely as warships. A cross between a Galley and Caravel, they are also known as 'Bastard Ships' or 'Bastard Galleys'.

The most innovative feature on the galleass is the addition of broadside springalds, typically between 4-8 per side, designed to fire spinning broad barbed darts that tear through wooden decking and sides. With the larger aftcastles, the wolfships almost always are equipped with rock-throwing two-armed catapults, and two or three-man scorpions are mounted wherever there is free space. As one might expect on a warship experimenting with the concept of artillery as the primary weapon, wolfships are almost always deployed with several deckmages for magical protection and offense.

Carracks
Also known as a 'Greatship,' 'Nef,' or 'Kraak' Nerakan Carrack's are among the largest and most powerful ships sailing the seas today. These three or four masted vessels, with large prominent fore and aftcastles, represent the pinnacle of ship construction. Capable of long-distance voyages at sea, they are excellent trading vessels, with vast cargo holds for both stores and goods. They are also, thanks to their size, high sides, large crews, and impressive armament, very difficult targets for pirates. In the Nerakan tradition, the ships are well equipped with torsion artillery in the fore and aftcastles, but they are rarely used as warships due their cost, being much more effective as long-range trade and exploration ships. While quite swift and seaworthy under full press, they lack the maneuverability and shallow-water versatility of an oar-powered galley, or the hybrid Galleass.

In battle they act as mobile fortress, the centerpiece of any fleet, using their artillery to bombard enemy ships at long range. Inevitably, any carrack deployed to a fight will feature a full complement of deck mages at least two fully fledged navigators to supplement their conventional arms. If all else fails, carrack crews tend to number around 500, and they can quite feasibly fend off multiple boarding ships at once by weight of numbers.