Cymbri

Cymbri is not a country but one large port hidden somewhere on Alba's rocky western coast, its location a closely kept secret of the corsairs who live there. Its founders were Turanians, Dravidians, Vir and other Mediterranean and Gondwanan captives enslaved by the Shebans early in their trading empire. Carried toward Tartessos in five big slave galleys, they rose up, killed their masters, fled west to escape Sheban wrath and built a stronghold in Alba, naming it for a hero of the revolt. They took up piracy to survive and to avenge themselves on their old owners.

Over the several centuries since, the original crude stockade has reportedly become a city of wildly mixed architecture, and the population keeps growing with women seized in raids, runaway slaves and malcontents from everywhere. The fleet, which began with those five galleys, now numbers well over forty ships of many kinds. Almost every faith has followers here and many nations' customs have merged. Native traditions recall the slave past: because Sheban slaves were shaved, most corsairs of both sexes shave their heads, often keeping a top-knot or thin crest as a sign of defiance, and because slaves were forbidden ornaments, elaborate tattoos and expensive jewelry are fashionable. Dress is colorful and varied, much of it taken from captured merchantmen.

Cymbrians dislike authority, but a council of three, elected by popular vote for seven-year terms, looks after the city and settles disputes. It also rules on would-be citizens: nearly any fugitive, thief, cutthroat or pirate may apply, facing an interview and a loyalty test (often a quest for valuable plunder) and customarily paying a rich 'application fee'. Those accepted swear lifelong oaths of loyalty and secrecy. Revealing the city's location is the gravest crime, so outsiders brought there are bound and blindfolded, and anyone who breaks either oath or tries to desert is hunted down and usually put to a slow, horrible death.

The few who have left and survived say little beyond that it is a strongly built walled port guarded by hardened corsairs. A determined seeker might get in by finding a Cymbrian corsair or thief elsewhere willing to sponsor him before the council. Among themselves Cymbrians speak 'Cymbri', a twisted thieves' cant so garbled that it counts as a language of its own, and some say it has a secret written form. Rumor holds that Tharshesh pays Cymbri a large yearly sum in gold and silver to spare its merchant ships, and perhaps even steers the corsairs against its rivals, though no proof has surfaced.