Clemente Landing

Concept art, "Old District, Edge of Karnaca".

Clemente Landing is a village and the Old Quarter of Karnaca, located past the Dust District, on the far eastern side of the city. It was established by the first wave of settlers who helped modernize the city, but is one of its poorest districts.

Details

Clemente Landing is set on a cliff below the Robledo Woodlands, and separated from the mining district by the Wind Corridor. As opposed to the rest of the city, the buildings there sprawl more organically, set among the lush vegetation and the cliffs.

In early Karnacan history, nomads from the north settled in what would later be known as Clemente Landing after finding that the nearby bay was already occupied by others. The two communities still lived peacefully and intermarried while keeping their own traditions. Later on Clemente, a Karnacan captain and early pirate, established his base of operations there, judging the vegetation and cliffs on the eastern side of the bay an ideal site for his activities. The site was eventually largely abandoned by the locals who favored the security of the western harbor, leaving the buildings in disrepair.

In 1803, a wave of settlers from Morley fleeing the Morley Famine arrived in Karnaca with the promise of work. They cleared the Landing and built a village there, distinct from the city. Most of those Morleyan settlers worked in the fisheries on the far western side of the bay and the new silver mines overlooking the Landing. The village however proved too far from the city for Karnacans and other immigrants to join their community.

In the decades that followed, rich Gristolians invested in the city and modernized it, tracing boulevards and digging the Grand Serkonan Canal. Yet, they bypassed the Landing completely, preferring to focus on the town center. Because of that, Clemente Landing kept some of the oldest architecture in Karnaca, contrasting with the rest of the now modernized metropolis. With this distinction, it became referred by locals as the Old Quarter of Karnaca, despite its oldest homes dating back from 1803 only.

By 1852, Clemente Landing is considered as one of the poorest districts in Karnaca with the mining crisis under Duke Luca Abele affected the village's residents. While it is safe from the silver dust-charged winds laying waste on the Dust District, it suffers from the same economic stagnation.

The lack of interest of the Grand Guard in this poorer part of Karnaca led to it becoming an ideal place for smuggling people and goods in the city. Occasional pirates land in the village to impress crews or pilfer treasure. The Morleyan locals can only count on the Howlers patrolling the streets out in the open to defend them. The Serkonan Overseers did not bring their conflict with the Howlers there, believing the Morleyans' faith in the Abbey of the Everyman to be solid.