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  Safeton on the Wild Coast
   
  Yaletok
   
  The Old Families of Safeton resolve their
  not infrequent disputes using a tradition
  that dates back to the apogee of the Suel
  Imperium. When the noble houses of the
  Imperium fell out, their grievances were
  often settled through Yaletok – ‘noble’s
  truth’ – a game that tests the intellect and
  endurance of the players. Played using a
  pair of magical spheres inscribed with
  complex runes and geometric shapes,
  each player must use his fingers to
  activate sequences of runes to best his
  opponent. With every lost play, poisoned
  needles snick forth from the sphere to
  prick the fingers of the loser, slowly
  sapping his strength, till at last they yield
  the game or are rendered senseless by
  the venom. Either circumstance settles
  the dispute in favor of the victor. The
  game is played to this day among the Old
  Families and Safeton is home one of the
  few sets of Yaletok spheres in the
  Flanaess that predate the Rain of
  Colorless Fire.
  Safeton
   
  Mysterious Places
   
  by Paul Looby and Creighton Broadhurst
   
  The Wild Coast is aptly named. For centuries its cities have spurned
  the yoke of kings and emperors alike. They quarreled with each
  other, raided more settled lands and clung stubbornly to their
  squalid, precarious freedom. Empires rose and fell, petty lords
  came and went, but the cities remained – corrupt, violent,
  dangerous, but free.
  Until the Greyhawk Wars, that is.
  The armies of Turrosh Mak, so-called Emperor of the Pomarj,
  burned through the cities of the Wild Coast like wildfire. Now Fax,
  Badwall and Eldredd lie crushed beneath the Mak’s heel, while
  Narwell struggles to rise from the ashes of its destruction. Only one
  city stands unscathed - a city that now more than ever seems to live
  up to its name: Safeton.
  History
  About half a century after the Suel Imperium was burned to ash by
  the Rain of Colorless Fire, a band of Suloise wanderers settled atop
  a low ridge overlooking an inlet of Woolly Bay. Exiles and
  vagabonds all their lives, they were determined to claim a new
  home for themselves and in some small way live up to the dimly
  remembered glories of their grandsires. Quarrying the abundant
  local stone, the Suel fortified the settlement against the
  unnumbered bands of marauders that roamed the lands. The
  settlers were fierce in the defense of their new home and after
  several attempts to storm the high stone walls came to bloody grief, the place came to be known as Safe Town
  (later shortened to Safeton).
  From the very beginning, many doubted how well the name suited the place. Certainly, the loose alliance of
  families that came to form the town’s nobility ensured that it remained safe from attack from without. However,
  the haphazard attitude of the Old Families (as the nobles are called) to lawmaking meant that walking the streets
  of Safeton could be anything but safe. Might made right and the Old Families had might to spare. So, along with
  fishing, quarrying and trade, brigandage and, later, piracy filled Safeton’s coffers. Like their forefathers, the Suel
  of Safeton used slaves to work their quarries and their fields.
  Down the long centuries, though two-bit strongmen and petty despots
  have risen and fallen, no tyrant has established himself long in
  Safeton. A decree by the founders of the city forbidding dynastic
  succession is regarded as sacred and would-be dynasts have time
  and again found their ambitions (and their line of succession) cut
  short by an assassin’s blade.
  The last of Safeton’s strongmen met a slightly different end, however.
  Styling himself the Szek of Safeton, his small private army of
  brigands terrorized the northern Wild Coast in the middle years of the
  current century. The szek’s fatal error was to kidnap a gynarch of
  Hardby and then murder her when her family refused to pay ransom.
  Retribution was swift and bloody. Two of the dead gynarch’s
  grandchildren – Deirdre and Oscar Longland – rode into Safeton
  alone and rode out with the szek’s head, which they mounted on a
  pike over the gates of Hardby.
  The szek’s untimely (and extremely violent) death left Safeton without
  a single strong leader until one was imposed on the city by outside
  circumstances. In early 584 CY, the half-orc warlord Turrosh Mak
  united the monstrous tribes of the Pomarj. The cities of Eldredd and
  Badwall were stormed and sacked in quick succession. As refugees
  flooded into Safeton with tales of the seemingly unstoppable advance
  of the Pomarji horde, the Old Families quickly saw that their ancient
  home could not weather such a storm unaided. So in Coldeven 584
  CY, they signed a Pact of Association with the Free City of Greyhawk
  that placed Safeton under Greyhavian rule in return for military support.
  
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  This did little to reassure Safeton’s population. When news came of the fall of Fax, panic gripped the city.
  Rumors spread like wildfire – Safetons’s small population of orcs, hobgoblins and half-orcs were in league with
  the Mak. Angry mobs took to the streets and, in what is known as the Night of Terror, killed every orc, half-orc
  and goblinkin that they could lay hands on. Order was only fully restored when a force of 550 Greyhawk Militia
  and three fully crewed war galleys of the Hardby Marines arrived nearly a week later. They were led by Safeton’s
  new military governor, Turin Deathstalker, whose reputation as an orcslayer and goblinkin is exceeded only by
  his infamy as a cold-blooded assassin.
  Turin set about fortifying Safeton with characteristic pragmatism. All men of fighting age were immediately
  conscripted into the city levy and given arms and amour. Safeton’s practice of slavery was outlawed under
  Greyhawk law. However, the freed slaves were immediately put to work as indentured laborers to pay off their
  purchase prices building a stockade (and later a stone wall) to enclose those parts of the city that spilled beyond
  the original town wall. Imprisoned convicts were pressed into the Penal Militia. Many were chained to
  watchtowers and sea defenses as sentinels, their cooperation ensured by the knowledge that they would share
  the same fate as the rest of Safeton should the city fall.
  As it happened, the Mak’s assault on Safeton would not come for another five years. In 589 CY, a large force of
  orcs and goblins assailed Safeton, concentrating their attacks on the uncompleted sections of the outer walls.
  However, Turin Deathstalker had foreseen this stroke, and the orcs and goblins found themselves charging into
  long prepared killing grounds, laced with traps and lethal dweomers. Three Pomarji assaults were thrown back
  from the walls before Turin unleashed a sally that routed the demoralized orcs. Rout turned into slaughter and
  even today, the Orcslayer Field, as the area outside the southern walls of the city is known is strewn with
  bleached orc bones.
  The following year, Turin launched a retaliatory strike against the orcish base at Cantona, and left it a smoking
  ruin. Several years of raids and skirmishes followed, before the Mak struck north once more – but at unprepared
  Narwell rather than at the fortress that Safeton has become. Outraged, Turin immediately sent forces to cut off
  the orc’s line of retreat south. If tales circulating around Safeton are to be believed, Safeton’s governor infiltrated
  the orcish camp on the eve of their final battle with the Greyhawk forces and took the heads of the orc warleader
  and six of his captains. Not for nothing is Turin Deathstalker so named.
  The City
  Safeton comprises four districts – the Marine Quarter, the Dock Quarter, the Freeman’s Quarter and the Low
  Quarter.
  The Marine Quarter
   
  Of these, the Marine Quarter is the oldest, standing atop a low rise on the site of the original settlement.
  Cloistered away from the rest of the city by the Old Wall, the vast majority of the buildings in this district are of
  stone; many are centuries old as evidenced by the sagging lintels, listing arcades and weathered facades. The
  stone mansions of the Old Families and other wealthy burghers, past and present, stand here.
  There is an air of decrepit wealth and faded glories in the Marine Quarter. With the signing of the Pact of
  Association, the Old Families have found themselves sidelined in the running of the city. Turin Deathstalker
  moved quickly to conscript their private militias into the city levy. Though many of the militia men remain loyal to
  their old paymasters, they are no longer at liberty to bend the city to their will as once they used. Though grateful
  
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  that their home has not shared the fate of the other cities of the Wild Coast, the Old Families resent Turin’s rule.
  However, very few are so suicidal as to consider doing anything bar grumble about it. Turin’s fearsome reputation
  ensures that he has the full, if somewhat sullen, cooperation of Safeton’s nobility.
  Deprived of the distractions of power, many scions of the gentry have turned to other pursuits - decadent
  hedonism, competitions for gold, love or honour and even adventuring. While this last practice has dramatically
  trimmed some of the noble family trees, others have found fortune and glory – notably the vivacious Mirava
  Atesh (CN, female human rogue 8), who scandalized her wealthy family when, barely a debutante, she ran off to
  seek the life of the freesword. Somewhere in her travels in the realms of the Sheldomar, she acquired herself an
  Olman lover and a horde of gems that has allowed her to settle in a mansion of her own in the Marine Quarter. In
  recent times, Mirava has concentrated on forays into the orc-occupied lands to the south – especially the cities of
  Fax and Badwall. She has recovered many heirlooms and other valuable items lost in the sack of those
  settlements. As a result, she has many allies among the refugee communities in Safeton.
  A number of the city’s main temples are located in the Marine Quarter. Suloise gods predominate. An impressive
  domed cathedral is dedicated to Kord, who is hailed as the patron of the city. The waterfront temples of Osprem
  and Xerbo are well attended, unsurprisingly. The smoke of funeral pyres marks out the chapel of Wee Jas while
  a beautiful shrine to Lydia enjoys the patronage of many of the nobility.
  The Marine Quarter also houses the headquarters of the Greyhawk Militia and the Hardby marines. The Military
  Governor and Militia occupy a large fortified manor compound close to the Militia Gate, aptly enough. The
  Marines occupy the Marine Keep at the northern end of the Quarter. They are responsible for the seaward
  defences of the city. Safeton is the homeport to three of the Marines’ warships, which have their berths along the
  Great Wharf.
  The Dock Quarter
   
  To the south of the Marine Quarter, the Dock Quarter lies enclosed within its own walls. A filthy, and dangerous,
  slum the area serves as Safeton’s port, the rest of the waterfront being too shallow for sea-going cargo ships to
  load and unload. The shore is lined with wooden wharves and warehouses. The Custom House is the single
  forlorn outpost of authority on the waterfront, but even here the officials are hopelessly corrupt.
  Between the shore and the Old Wall, there sprawls a bewildering network of narrow rat-run alleys lined with
  taverns, brothels, flophouses, drug dens, bear pits and gambling dens. There are few things that cannot be
  bought in the Dock Quarter. Life is cheap and virtue scarce. Even the Militia do not attempt to enforce law and
  order here. The real authority lies in the hands of the gang bosses who have carved the quarter up into a
  patchwork of rival territories. Each gang gets a cut of all the businesses operating on their turf in return for
  protection – from other gangs and from themselves. Though they are bound by a loose code of rules, skirmishes
  between gangs are frequent. Territorial boundaries are fluid, shifting with the fortunes of various gangs.
  In past times, the Old Families tolerated the gangs so long as they did not cause too much trouble. If the gangs
  overstepped that line, the nobles were apt to punish them severely, even to the point of setting the Dock Quarter
  ablaze to clear it of "troublesome elements." Today, even the most violent and depraved gang bosses would
  scarcely dream of crossing the Military Governor. In return, Turin generously grants the bosses the liberty to
  remain among the living and run the Docks as they always have. It goes without saying that any action that
  endangers the city is a death sentence, as Gorg the Ill-Starred and his entire gang discovered to their cost in 593
  CY, when the Deathstalker came to hear of their contacts with the Slavelords of the Pomarj.
  Currently the two most powerful gang bosses are Karev Silverbeard (NE male human, rogue 11), who’s guile and
  ruthlessness have seen him attain the unheard of age of 50, and Swift Olek (CE male human, rogue 7), a young,
  but utterly ruthless cutthroat noted for his skill with the rapier. Olek covets Karev’s power, while Karev, having
  lived this long, has no intention of being undone by a youngblood who wasn’t even born when Karev became a
  boss.
  Shrines to baneful gods such as Pyremius, Syrul and Beltar can be found in the Dock Quarter, where they are
  well-patronized by the locals. Secret cults of Incabulos and Nerull also thrive here and in the neighboring Low
  Quarter.
  The Freeman's Quarter
   
  The Freeman’s Quarter lies west of the Marine Quarter, just outside the Old Wall. As the name suggests, it is
  home to the city’s artisans, merchants and other tradesmen. Safeton’s many guilds have their halls here and for
  the moment business is good. Many of the guilds are involved in some fashion or another with the rebuilding of
  Narwell and a steady flow of finished goods flows Narwell-wards out of Northgate.
  Safeton’s famed sage guild with its extensive library – the nucleus of which is believed to be several dozen
  tomes carried from the ruin of the Suel Imperium – also has its guildhall here. The premises of scribes, wise men
  and scholars line the small square (known locally as the Ink Well) upon which the ancient domed hall stands.
  The Freeman’s Quarter is probably the safest of Safeton’s wards. Militia patrols are frequent and both Pelor and
  Mayaheine have temples here. The Shield Maiden’s chapel resembles a small keep built into the city wall just
  west of Northgate. The officious but competent Bendel – paladin of Mayaheine (LG human female, paladin 8 –
  Mayaheine) – wards her flock well and occasionally assists the militia in their duties. The Sun Father’s Hall
  
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  The Safeton Physic
   
  So named for its supposed healing
  properties – it is thought to cleanse
  Safeton of disease – this powerful gale
  usually batters Safeton during
  Goodmonth and Harvester. The gale
  forms over Woolly Bay and is thought to
  be fed by the hot air rising from the Bright
  Desert. It affects a region about 60 miles
  south of Safeton up to the mouth of the
  Selintan and reaches about 30 miles
  inland. The Physic normally hits the coast
  around noon and continues to blow late
  into the night.
  stands at the southern boundary of the quarter. The long low building sits atop a small rise. A long, colonnaded
  walkway runs the east/west length of the building. A cunning array of polished golden shields brilliantly
  illuminates the interior during the prayers of the Dawngreeting.
  The Low Quarter
   
  South of the Freeman’s Quarter lies a marshy bowl of land known as the Low Quarter, which houses Safeton’s
  poor – unskilled laborers, freed slaves and the like. The largest of Safeton’s wards, it sprawls westward from the
  Long March – the paved street that runs directly under the Old Wall. The Long March is so named because
  condemned prisoners are paraded along the street before being burned at the stake in the plaza that stands
  before the aptly named Black Gate. Drover’s Row runs west from the Black Gate, ending in the Kine Market.
  Home to Safeton’s livestock market, as well as its butchers and tanners, this stinking, muddy expanse of open
  ground once stood right at the edge of the city until it was enclosed by the New Wall.
  Traditionally home to Safeton’s poor, swathes of the Low Quarter are covered in wooden shacks and shanties.
  Here and there, crumbling stone tenements loom above the shanties. In many places, the narrow streets and
  alleyways are almost completely overhung by sagging, dangerously over-crowded buildings. The inner (and
  more dilapidated) reaches of the quarter are akin to a chaotic maze. A small temple of Ralishaz has sprung up
  within and more sinister powers are no doubt worshipped elsewhere in the darker recesses of the ward.
  Recent years have seen two unwelcome developments for natives of
  the Low Quarter. The first was the flood of refugees fleeing northward
  before Turrosh Mak’s hordes. The penniless refugees piled into the
  Low Quarter, settling where they were able, with survivors from each
  city banding together into ghettoes where they could look after their
  own.
  Then, the abolition of slavery saw a large number of freed slaves
  crowding into the ward looking for work and homes. Competition for
  work has become cutthroat – literally. Former slaves are still treated
  as second class citizens and several have been murdered in recent
  years. Like the refugees, the freed slaves have banded together into
  ghettos for their own protection.
  Thus, many parts of the Low Quarter are now sharply divided and
  violence occasionally flares between locals, refugees and ex-slaves. The strongest of the factions are the
  refugees from Eldredd. Led by the redoubtable and cool-headed Retarnn Halreth (LN male human fighter 4/cleric
  5 – Kelanen), they police their district well, dealing swiftly with any trouble. The Militia, and a shared hatred and
  fear of the Mak and his hordes, keeps a lid on the violence but tensions are never far from boiling point.
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/EXTRAS/Greyhawk/Living Greyhawk - RPGA/Living Greyhawk - Web Archive - Mysterious Places, Safeton.pdf