Wings of Fire: Dragons, Steel, and Pom-Poms

IV - First Contact

Which leads to the third facet that Safe Harbor is more widely known for.

It's a harbor.

The only harbor, actually.

Safe Harbor is the only port city in existence. There are some fishing villages, sure. But Safe Harbor is the only city with Deep-water piers. Which means it's also the only city really capable of facilitating meaningful maritime trade.

Or, at least, it was.

Safe Harbor's docks have long since fallen into disrepair. There are no boats for them to facilitate. In the long past, Safe Harbor was a thriving trade center.

As much as it could have been, anyway, given the ever present threat of dragons.

Even then, boats went out. Reliable trade took place.

To be certain, some craft were lost, but it wasn't as though the dragons were circling overhead at all times. Our Sailors were smart. Only sailing at night, deliberately setting out sporadically and at random to avoid forming recognizable patterns. Places where dragons frequently flew or swam were charted and carefully avoided. Storms that dragons dare not fly in were readily braved.

It even is said, in the surviving history books, that long ago, Safe Harbor was so strong that it had its own fleet of ships, huge vessels absolutely armed to the teeth built to directly enforce trade routes in spite of the dragons.

I admit to knowing little about these ships on a level of specifics, as so much about them was lost when during one of the times the Harbor was attacked and burned by dragons. The attack that is said to have taken the ships also destroyed most of the written information we had on them, including technical details and pictures. All we have left are mere mentions found in personal accounts not unlike the one that I am presently writing.

In any case, the days of the ships are long gone. No one, not even the oldest of elders alive today, or even their elders, or theirs, so much as knew what the legendary ships even looked like.

And nowadays, all boats that set out don't come back.

Even if every precaution was taken, even if the brave men that crewed them were absolute experts in the art of navigating, evading, and even fighting off dragons, they disappeared.

It became clear that the only real reason we could take to the waves was probably the same reason Safe Harbor is generally known for being safe in the first place. It was because the dragons had largely ignored us.

But for the past decade and some, a new equilibrium has been in place. One that, judging from stories shared by new travelers entering the city, and by what is shared by traveling messengers, is in place across the continent.

Humans that are caught outside of the large and protected cities, are doomed. Hunted down with a vengeance

That is why Safe Harbor's harbor has rotted. There are no boats more to moor.

They had all been destroyed.

With no vessels to facilitate trade, the iron veins had run dry. We could no longer move our heavy machines to those who might need them.

At least we can feed ourselves. We can still farm small crops, raise just enough livestock and fish just enough to keep ourselves and the ominously increasing number of refugees fed.

Still, one has to wonder what Safe Harbor could be if we still possessed the great ships of old. If we could not only cower away from dragons but stand up and fight back. To not only hide away and remain still, lest you be caught and killed, but to boldly go out and explore the majesty of the lands and the great seas.