Blackwater Haven

One of the newer updates, Oceania, had added in a whole ocean to explore, from scavenging for resources on deserted desert isles and building your own little ship or village with the results, to delving into cyclopean ruins to battle ancient gods and take their treasures, before blasting away would be-thieves from the deck of your battleship.

Many of the added enviroments were considered works of art, attracting many visitors uninterested in playing through the area, but only want to look around. Clear Island, the elven port of Ishimilar, and the jungles around Helm's Peak were considered especially beautiful, jewels in the oceanic crown.

Blackwater Haven was not beautiful. It was well-rendered, and detailed, cobbled together from old ships, pieces of driftwood, sails, and vine ropes. It was colourful, the pirate flags hanging at every corner saw to that, it was lively, the rum saw to that, and it could be attractive (again, the rum saw to that). But it was not beautiful.

What it was was interesting. In Blackwater Haven, you could get a ship and crew without spending a penny and without hours of crafting, just some clever political choices, and build up a piratanical empire with good politics mixed with skill and brutality. Equally, though, you could get yourself killed.

A lot of players had made themselves a fortune in the Haven, and a lot of players had just lost characters instead...