Aethermourne

Concord of Tides

4 min read

The Concord of Tides

RegionThe Hollowed Reach
TypeMerchant-Republic Government
LeaderFirst Tidekeeper Maren Selk
AlignmentNeutral, pragmatic, profit-driven, with growing self-interest eroding public duty
Founded~380 AS

Description

The Hollowed Reach runs on trade, and the Concord of Tides runs the Hollowed Reach. Seven elected Tidekeepers, each drawn from the Reach’s wealthiest merchant families, manage the nation’s fleet, treasury, trade agreements, and governance. They are the closest thing the Reach has to a government, and they are exactly as competent and corrupt as you’d expect from politicians who bought their positions.

In better times, the Concord was a reasonably effective oligarchy. Merchant-princes competed, but the competition drove innovation, exploration, and prosperity. The system worked because the sea provided enough wealth for everyone.

Now the sea is turning hostile. The Black Tides are disrupting shipping. The Sleepwalker phenomenon is terrifying coastal populations. And the Concord is paralyzed, because acknowledging the scale of the crisis would mean disrupting commerce, and commerce is the only language the Tidekeepers speak.

First Tidekeeper Maren Selk is the best of a mediocre lot, intelligent, pragmatic, and genuinely concerned for her people. But she’s spent too many years making compromises, and the weight of them has made her cautious when boldness is needed.

Structure

Seven Tidekeepers, each with a portfolio:

  • Ships, Controls the Tidefleet (naval and merchant)
  • Coin, Treasury and taxation
  • Secrets, Intelligence and counter-espionage
  • Trade, Foreign and domestic commerce
  • Law, Courts and enforcement
  • Defense, Military (land forces, harbor fortifications)
  • Faith, Religious institutions and relations with temples

The First Tidekeeper is elected from among the seven and serves as head of state. Maren Selk currently holds this position.

Goals

  • Maintain trade dominance. The Reach’s wealth is its power. Protect the shipping lanes, the harbors, the trade agreements.
  • Manage the Black Tide crisis without disrupting commerce. (These goals grow more contradictory by the month.)
  • Keep Driftmere under control. The pirate haven is an embarrassment and a threat, but also a useful safety valve for the Reach’s criminal elements.
  • Maren Selk personally: Survive. Protect her people. But she’s compromised by years of pragmatic corruption and increasingly aware that pragmatism may no longer be enough.

Strengths

  • Wealth. The Reach is the richest nation in Aethermourne. Money solves many problems.
  • The Tidefleet. The largest naval force on the continent. In open water, no one can match them.
  • Trade networks. The Concord’s commercial connections span every region. Information, goods, and influence flow through their channels.
  • Infrastructure. Veil Harbor is a marvel of engineering, deep docks, warehouses, shipyards, and defensive fortifications.

Weaknesses

  • Corrupt. Several Tidekeepers are more interested in personal wealth than public safety. At least two may be compromised by the Veil Unbound.
  • Slow to act on non-commercial threats. If it doesn’t affect the bottom line, it doesn’t get funding.
  • Complacent. Decades of prosperity have bred the assumption that the sea will always provide.
  • The Black Tide. Their greatest asset, the ocean, is becoming their greatest liability.

Hooks for Player Interaction

  • Bureaucratic Obstacle. PCs need something from the Concord? Fill out these forms, attend this hearing, make a donation to this Tidekeeper’s favorite charity…
  • Employer. The Concord hires freelancers for tasks too sensitive or dangerous for official forces.
  • Selk as Reluctant Ally. If PCs can present hard evidence of the Black Tide’s true nature, Selk will act, but she’ll need political cover to override the other Tidekeepers.
  • Corruption Investigations. Which Tidekeepers are compromised? By whom? And what would happen if they were exposed?

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