Luskan

The City of Sails often conjures romantic images of a magnificent port metropolis, majestic merchant ships with bright sails, and dashing swashbucklers who greet their enemies with a playful wink and a tip of the hat.

In reality, Luskan is anything but that. It’s a dirty dive with filthy streets, squat buildings, ramshackle docks, creaky old longships, and crass pirates thinly disguised as sea traders. Rising above the fog and the stench is the Hosttower of the Arcane, home of a league of greedy, power-hungry wizards called the Arcane Brotherhood. Their ghastly tower branches into multiple thinner spires at the top. From a distance, the Hosttower might be mistaken for a giant, leafless tree. To those who have the misfortune of seeing it up close, it looks like a clawed hand bursting out of the ground, each of its fingers a tower with many peering windows.

Five High Captains rule the city. Each one is a glorified pirate lord who controls a fleet of longships. The five fleets serve many purposes: they defend Luskan against seafaring barbarians and other enemies, they conduct legitimate sea trade up and down the Sword Coast, and they raid and plunder the island kingdoms to the west (and the occasional settlement on the Sword Coast). The High Captains have no influence over the actions of the Arcane Brotherhood, nor is it apparent that the wizards have any allegiance to Luskan.