The Great City of Woodscove lies across the swampy mouth of the slow-flowing Worthing River, its foundations set deep into the mud to raise its buildings above the swamp. Canals snake all throughout the City, plied by bargemen and gondolas transporting people and goods to wherever they need to go. The city is a sprawling thing, taking up the entirety of the Worthing’s breadth and a great deal of space on either side of the river, its buildings and canals winding around ancient mangrove trees that tower over the surrounding city blocks.
Unlike many of the other Cities in the Federation, Woodscove has never had to worry about Warrenspawn attacks — the enormous crocodiles that swim through the canals and around the outskirts of the city have a taste for the flesh of Warrenspawn, and have been semi-domesticated by the local druids into a natural part of the City’s defenses. These great reptiles are called Madriasce, or “marsh hounds” in Sylvan, but the city’s denizens affectionately call them “swamp puppies” due to their role in protecting the city and how docile they seem to be when around people. Hunting the Madriasce is punishable by death, but when one of the beasts dies of natural causes its hide is carefully collected and turned into armor for the City’s guards or favored local warriors.
Woodscove has a small but very efficient set of shipyards on the northern part of its harbor, which are responsible for building and repairing a majority of the Federation’s shipping fleet. The harbor itself is a shallow one, filled with silt from the Worthing’s constant flow, and so there’s a thriving fleet of barges that ship goods to and fro between the City and the many deep-keeled ships anchored offshore.
The Temple Of Aragh, built into the heart of one of the oldest and largest mangrove trees, is a minor wonder of the Continent. It was first constructed two millennia ago, and despite being abandoned on and off over the centuries as the Ebb And Flow shifted back and forth it has grown along with its host tree into a towering monument to the persistence of nature and the patient craft of mortals.