Tartuk

Tartuk stands on the island of Atuk in the Mediterranean. The island's main wealth is its agate mines, which yield many stones of exceptional quality, with cork, hides and olive oil of lesser value. Slaves work the mines and the cork and olive groves, and Tharshi hunters kill aurochs, the wild bulls of the region, for hides that are tanned before shipping. Ships call irregularly, with no fixed schedule.

Mercenaries are in high demand at five to seven times standard pay. The walled fortress holds up to 500 troops, and over two dozen lightly manned towers, usually twelve men each, radiate outward within sight of one another for semaphore signaling. Officially the large garrison guards agate shipments against any corsairs Tharshesh has not paid off: every mine is heavily guarded, as are the overland convoys to the fortress where the agates are stored until shipped, and the towers give early warning of corsair raids. Many believe that is not the whole story, because lotus powder, Yalak opium and Turanian hashish all pass through Tartuk, which may be the true reason for its unusually tight security.