Ports, people, plunder, quests, and rival ships, seeded from your world's own lore.
Who they are: Wren Tallowmoor, a heron dockmaster who has logged every hull in the harbor for thirty years.
What they want: A berth cleared before the tide turns, and no questions about who paid for it.
What they're hiding: Two of her ledgers are forgeries covering a shipment that never legally existed.
What it is: A brass tide-clock that runs three minutes fast, always.
Look and feel: Warm to the touch even in cold water, and it hums when a storm is coming.
Who wants it back: The guild that commissioned it, and the widow who buried it.
The ship: The Quiet Argument, a low sloop with a patched mainsail and no name on the transom.
The captain: Ondrid Kale, a boar who believes debts outlive the people who owe them.
The flag: A broken anchor, stitched in bone thread, on faded green.
The hook: The lamplighters did not finish their circuit last night, and one street is still dark.
The ask: Relight it before the Counting, or the district will be sealed for a week.
The twist: Whoever doused the lamps left the chalk marks intact, which no outsider could have done.