Execution Wharf

Two thin towers stand midway out on the jetties that form the breakwater walls, flanking the entrance to Fellport Harbor. The Spire of Light stands to the south, its circling beam of white light shining across the ocean to dispel the energies that call the undead from the depths. To the north stands the Pirate's Spire, the steady red light at its top warning of the pirate blood spilled in the past. Seven gibbets stand in the shadow of the Pirate Spire on the harbor side on what everyone calls Execution Wharf. Next to Execution Wharf, where the breakwater meets the land, the Gostra Pole stands ready for the yearly competition in late summer, areas dedicated to death and delight stood side by side.

In the early days of Fellport, the Pirate Spire served as a prison for pirates to prevent ranged attacks on the town. The Ionian Empire harshly judged pirates, a practice that continues in Fellport today. Punishments for piracy included death by hanging, crucifixion, stabbing, or defenestration from the top of the spire, and those killed had their bodies strung up and left to hang as a warning. Today only severe cases of piracy involving a long list of murders will elicit hanging - the rest have fallen out of fashion as too cruel.

Nowadays the gibbets usually stand empty. A body will hang for a maximum seven days, beyond which the flies and vermin create a public health hazard. Hangings draw much less of a crowd than they did in the Imperial past, but the relatives of victims killed by a sentenced pirate usually attend to make sure justice prevails.

Some say you can hear the voices of the executed on the wind when you stand under the gibbets. Very rarely they come back, the cycle of vengeance continuing from beyond death's veil. Some say the pirates make up the bulk of the undead infestation rising from the sea, but more happens beneath the waves than most people realize.

Note: The Pirate Spire stands to the right as you enter Fellport Harbor, so the expression "Red Right Returning" holds true in Fellport.

Part of T.W.Wombat's Lore 24 project, detailing the world around Fellport.
For all city posts, see the Fellport Index. For posts about the wider world, see the Beneterra Index.