Located as one of the stops on the trade route for those approaching Cragworn, Shoreside is a typical small seaside town of about 2,500. It has a minor lifeline in sea trade, but poor overland connections keep it from booming into 'city' grade population numbers. It does not have a town wall, as it seldom has serious threats.

There are twelve 'noble houses' in Shoreside of note. Six of these are wealthy merchant houses elsewhere and take active roles in local commerce. Four houses have a presence in the town but are mostly indifferent to its day to day activities. The remaining two houses are seldom present and rarely take an interest in Shoreside.

There are four 'lawyers', or advocates, working in Shoreside. They work for hire to help defend those who need to be defended. Court is held by the Sheriff and calls upon a representative of the twelve noble households to act as jurors of a sort. If a charge involves one or more of these members, they are excluded to prevent conflicts. There are ten guards working for the Sheriff to maintain order.

There are a total of 10 shoemakers, 10 furriers, 10 maidservants, 10 tailors, 4 barbers, 5 jewelers, 5 taverns or restaurants, 6 old clothes dealers, 5 pastrycooks, 5 masons, 6 carpenters, 4 weavers, 3 chandlers, 3 mercers, 3 coopers, 3 bakers, 3 watercarriers, 3 scabbard makers, 3 wine sellers, 2 hatmakers, 2 saddlers, 2 chicken butchers, 2 pursemakers, one woodseller, 2 butchers, 4 fishmongers, 2 beer sellers, 2 spice merchants, 2 blacksmiths, 2 painters, 2 ropemakers, one licensed doctor and eight doctors in total, and one each of bucklemakers, plasterers, roofers, locksmiths, bathers, inns, tanners, copyists, sculptors, rugmakers, harnessmakers, bleachers, hay merchants, cutlers, glovemakers, and woodcarvers.

There are no magic-component shops (though there is about an 80% chance that one is at the trader's market), no bookbinders (with a 60% chance of one at the trader's market), no booksellers (with a 30% chance of one at the trader's market), and no illuminators (with a 20% chance of one at the trader's market.)

There is a 50% chance or less of any business not listed existing, depending on how rare it is. (There are definitely no shops selling magic swords, for instance.)

The Swashed Buckler is the only 'inn' in Shoreside - in the traditional sense, meaning that it offers lodging to guests, as well as food and drinks. (There are several taverns and restaurants in town that take care of the latter two needs.) They have a small stable out back with room for up to four horses, as well as a barn that serves to handle overflow in crowded times. Guests at the Swashed Buckler can compete for one of the eight small rooms and one large room available, or sleep on the floor in the common room. In the rare case when a large crowd is visiting, the barn provides additional room for accommodations (though this isn't recommended during the colder months.)

The Swashed Buckler gains most of its revenue from sailors and travellers, although true adventurers are still an uncommon sight. Occasionally parties of Glories stop at the Buckler to rent accommodations for the evening, and to chat with the staff and regulars about the region and good stories of the sea.

The Swashed Buckler has a large central fireplace with a small round table in front of it, which is generally left empty unless a party of Glories is visiting. Eight larger round tables dot the room, and each table has four chairs. The bar is an L-shaped arrangement that is backed by a large shuttered window that leads to the kitchen; during busy evenings, this window is opened so that the cooks can place food directly on the window counter, and waitresses pick it up directly from there instead of going through the door to the kitchen. A staircase on the left wall leads upwards to the second floor, with a hallway that leads to the rooms; the servants and staff sleep in small rooms in the basement between shifts.

The Swashed Buckler is owned by Richard and Lana Moorsworth, who work as innkeeper and chief cook, respectively. The kitchen has two assistant cooks, Opa and Norris, who help Lana prepare for large events or busy evenings. The Moorsworths have three children who work at the Buckler - Zylie, the oldest daughter, works as a waitress, while Harold and Connie prepare the inn rooms and clean up after patrons. Richard usually works as bartender during the busy evenings, while his other waiter, Vincent, also mans the bar when Richard is elsewhere checking on his business. The Buckler doesn't have a de facto bouncer, but Richard typically hires a member of the town guard to be on hand to keep the peace during the warmer months.

The Swashed Buckler, perhaps unsurprisingly, has a great deal of local cuisine - mostly fish-based meals, with some venison and fowl-based meals as availability permits. The Stone Bakery is the Swashed Buckler's major supplier of fresh-baked bread, and all of their beers and ales are made locally as well, although they do have small supplies of vintages from other cities and lands.

Founded by the aforementioned elven matron Saphenia Lyssenthemum approximately fifty years ago, the Youth Academy was originally built to provide educational opportunities for the community youth of Shoreside. Unfortunately, it usually serves as more of a place to send unhelpful children until they are old and reasonable enough to work as apprentices in their parents' or neighbors' trades, to teach them the basics of Imperial and Astorian and perhaps some rudimentary life skills such as numerals and math so that they can be useful later. Saphenia has two assistants, who are well-educated women and who do their best to educate the occasionally diverse local populace, but all are mildly frustrated that most locals aren't interested in learning past 'how much is that worth' and 'how do I read the warning signs' and possibly 'can I eat that without dying?'

A common sight in larger towns and cities throughout the Empire, especially those in which the Houses hold sway, is a House of Cards. These buildings look more like modest gambling halls than temples - and, in point of fact, symbols of the Goddess of Luck are not uncommon in many normal gambling halls, either. However, the House of Cards is a temple, if not a conventional one. Often, those seeking blessings play a card game as part of their religious service, which serves both as a way to make a charitable donation to the Goddess if they need to, and as a way to read one's immediate future. The fact that they are the domain of the Goddess of Luck and that those who follow her often develop some skill in 'games of chance' means that they are seldom short on 'charitable donations'. Likewise, however, those who win in a House of Cards, especially if they receive an unlikely win (either winning with an incredibly good or incredibly bad hand), are often those the Goddess has deemed in need of some good fortune, while those who lose under similar circumstances are considered to be those whom the Goddess has deemed are in need of greater charity before regaining her blessings.

While smaller villages usually only have a shrine dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea, towns like Shoreside have temples dedicated to her worship. The Temple of Currents is one common example of such a temple, often visited by sailors, travellers, and those who find themselves earning a living from neighboring bodies of water. This particular temple is made of stone conglomerates harvested from the Sea of Brent itself, with odd shells and stones poking out from its sides, and marble, jasper and other pebbles used to make mosaics on the floor, depicting the local currents and navigational charts. As such, even those with no interest in the gods often make their way to the nearest such temple to gain some insight into the dangers and rewards of the local waters.

The town has a trader's market that rents space for a daily fee, and charges a small monthly tax to permanent storefronts operating within the town. There is also a small dock fee for boats at the harbor. The town guards are responsible for collecting daily fees in the morning, as well as for collecting monthly fees and issuing receipts in the form of clay tokens to permanent shops.

The Devil's Cauldron is one of the stalls in the trader's market that is a recurring feature most days; it is actually a stand that sells fish fresh from the sea. It is ostensibly owned by 'Captain' Mattias Fenell, who owns a sailing trawler that works the local seas. He has a small permanent crew and often hires local dockworkers to unload the day's catch. Mattias, in turn, has hired a woman who is colloquially known as 'Cleaver Clara' (due to her ever-present large cleaver and generally tough demeanor) to man the stand and sell seafood by the pound to the locals. As such, the bellowing of 'Cleaver Clara' advertising fresh local fish and surf clams is a perennial sight most days.

'Salome' is a half-elf (he says) who makes natural wood carvings from driftwood reclaimed from the beach. He has a stand open once every week or so, as the mood strikes him, and likes to play music on a violin and sell the occasional trinket to a curious visitor. Very rarely, he gets a commission from one of the locals, but usually he survives on the trickle of copper coins he earns from generous tourists.

A retired Glory, the Sheriff is an elven ranger who decided to settle down in the area approximately one hundred years ago. He is thus known by most currently living residents as a fair and reasonably impartial member of the law. He manages a cadre of ten guardsmen who are picked from local residents, and insists on regular archery practice (although as a concession, he has made sure they are equipped with crossbows instead of bows.) Most people know him simply as 'The Sheriff', or perhaps 'Olliver' if they are on good terms.

A local blacksmith of dwarven heritage, Govin and Greta work hard to make a living in Shoreside despite it being a modest opportunity at best. However, they are related to the Gravenblade clan, which is responsible for manufacturing much of the Imperial Army's metal weaponry, and are not entirely unfamiliar with the work themselves if a passersby needs weapons or armor repaired. Sadly, Govin's usual work involves far more nails and horseshoes than knives and hand-axes. Their daughter, Peridot, is beginning to do work at the family forge, and finds making nails from molds far less interesting than hammering away at hot iron to make an axe. Their son, Jasper, is currently spending time at the Youth Academy so that he will stay out of the forge while the fires are burning.

Davan is a gnome of minor artistic capabilities who does most of the town's normal lettering and signage. He is also a dabbler in the magical arts, and has an artist's studio full of odd inventions. He thinks that he has a good chance at becoming the next Avaretti, and has sketched out a broad variety of machinery and crafts that he thinks might work. Unfortunately, he is more of a 'concept' gnome, and most of his concepts don't work. He has a daughter named Janice who is more hands-on in terms of trying to build her dad's creations, regardless of the fact that most of them don't work. As a result, their house has the best paint-sprayer in town. (Nevermind that it's unlikely anyone would ever want or need a paint sprayer, especially indoors.) Davan's wife, Periwinkle, drowned in the harbor in a fishing accident, leaving Davan to raise their child alone.

A pair of minor nobles from House Montrose, Lisbeth Montrose is a common sight around Shoreside, as she has been sent to live at their estate in town to recover from sickness of the lungs. Her husband, Lindsey Reeve, is a less common sight, as their marriage was more of a business arrangement between the Montroses and Reeves as opposed to being based on love. The Montroses are usually not relevant players in what passes for Shoreside's politics, although they control the surrounding territory. The Reeves control several major port cities including Cragworn within this territory, in addition to having a strong hand in naval trade. People mostly regard Lisbeth Montrose as an eccentric person of wealth from out of town more than they see her as a local, and people don't regard Lindsey Reeve much at all.

An oddity of a woman in Shoreside, Saphenia is an elven woman who has decided to bring the Empire's educational standards to the sleepy seaside town. She is in her 400s, and is quite fond of the changing fashions of Astorian clothing, but her isolation has made her feel unhappy and out of style over the years. She runs the Youth Academy, the closest thing the town has to a school outside of the churches, and has inspired some locals to thoughts of higher education. Frustratingly, most of the townsfolk desire enough education to be able to read and write and conduct business, but few find the tales of Glories past, legends of the Empire, or other works of fiction, folklore, and history appealing.

Saphenia often seeks out visiting Glories or adventuresome folks if she learns they are about, seeking news of the cities - and their fashions. She is one of the few people in town who values old books and literature, although she is unlikely to be able to afford to pay market value for most things. She earns a small income from minding the townsfolk's children, but part of this goes towards paying her assistants, Annie and Clarissa, who are responsible for helping keep them safe and out of trouble and assisting in educational duties. As such, it's unclear whether she has a private cache of wealth that she is using to fund her eccentric desire to educate, or whether she makes money on the side in some way. The fact that neither her home nor the school have received much in the way of renovation and reconstruction over the years makes some people suspect that her personal wealth has run out years ago and that she is barely capable of maintaining appearances these days.

Mickey is a halfling of ill repute who earns most of his legitimate money at the docks by charging people to hire his friend, the orcish Glom, to help load or unload their ships. Many people assume Mickey is ripping Glom off and exploiting him, but long-term residents have seen Mickey and Glom playing cards or other games against each other at the Mermaid's Tail and know that while Glom rarely talks, he has a lot more going on behind the seemingly savage brow. Mickey is rumored to be a representative of the Guild, or at least on good terms with them, and usually dresses in clean if not gaudy tradesmen's apparel. Glom dresses like the savage everyone assumes him to be, complete with a hand-axe on one hip, and an orcish dagger on the other. However, he is quite fond of children, and is willing to intercede on their behalf should they be in danger, even if there's no immediate reward in it.

One of the least popular citizens of town, Wanda is 'the town witch' and eyed with a fair amount of superstitious awe and wariness. She makes a variety of potions and poultices to treat minor maladies, and people note her ability to produce poisons to kill rats and other vermin as a sign that she might be capable of producing worse should the situation call for it. Wanda can perform basic cantrips, but most of her power exists only in the minds of her customers and neighbors, and she knows it well enough to milk her reputation as the mysterious witch on the edge of town for all it's worth. She often hires youths to pick up goods for her simply because a witch doing her own shopping would detract from her mystique.

The Goddess of the Sea is popular amongst the coastal cities, towns, and villages for obvious reasons, and Aon is the priest who manages the Temple of Currents and instructs its acolytes on the Course. She dresses in flowing robes in varying shades of blue and green when on land, but when she has chosen to accompany a ship in times of need, dresses in leathers dyed deep blue instead. In either case, the trident she carries is both a symbol of her belief and a potent weapon in her hands. She knows she is but a tiny tributary connecting to the Great Sea, and is modest and even-tempered most of the time. She has been seen roaming the shores during times of relative calm, perhaps to meditate and watch the seas.

The Goddess of Luck has many guises, and is favored in many places. Frederick, a former sword-for-hire turned gambler turned priest, is the current manager of the local House of Cards, which serves as both a temple and a place for would-be gamblers to practice their craft with minimal losses (all accepted as part of donating to the temple; likewise, wins are seen as the Goddess's sign that luck is with those such blessed.) Some acolytes are motivated by self-interest, others in an earnest belief that Luck is something that should be cultivated; either way, travellers often stop at the House to play a friendly hand of cards in the hope of improving their fortune, literally through winning or figuratively through their 'donations'.