Gateholders

The Gateholders' first years were devoted to quiet observation. Workers compared the seawall's sounds, mortar stains, and movement against tide heights, building a record the council had not commissioned. They became a recognized workers' association after the lower passages flooded and the council sealed the lower port gate. Families were displaced, but no public account explained why the gate had been shut or what work had been done there beforehand. The association's first triumph came when its copied measurements contradicted a council notice claiming the seawall had not shifted. A repair crew confirmed movement at the same point, preventing a collapse during a later storm. The Gateholders gained respect among quay workers, but their notes also made them targets for dismissal and searches. Their defining watershed moment came during the so-called Black Spring, a season when an emergency gate test was stopped after water surged through an unlisted passage. A worker was injured, and the council blamed unauthorized interference. The Gateholders' private notes showed that the council had ordered the test and concealed a warning about the passage. The association could not safely publish the proof, but it split into factions: those who wanted to release every record immediately and those who feared that exposure without a plan would cause another flood. Since then, they have maintained duplicate records and cultivated quiet contacts among port clerks, net-menders, and displaced households. Today, a new spring tide approaches. The Gateholders believe a controlled opening could reveal both the council's paper trail and something still trapped below. Their knowledge is better than the council admits, but incomplete enough that their plan may be as dangerous as the secrecy they oppose.

Workers' association

Gateholders

Among quay workers, the Gateholders are practical people who remember what the council would rather forget.

Type: Workers' association
Size: 29 members
Reach: Significant among quay…
Base: Greyhook

Overview

How it began

The Gateholders say their association began when a quay crew found fresh seawater stains above the old flood line and reported them to the council. The report vanished, but the workers began keeping their own tide notes, marks, and measurements. Their informal habit became urgent after a run of unusually high tides flooded the lower passages and forced several families from their homes. According to the association's account, the council ordered the lower gate sealed before a full inspection could be completed. Workers who had been displaced or dismissed began meeting after shifts to compare observations and preserve testimony. They named themselves Gateholders as a warning: a gate kept shut is still someone's responsibility.

How to know them

MottoA closed gate still keeps account.

EmblemA black iron gate shown half-open beneath three red tide marks. The design is usually scratched onto a piece of slate or painted inside a worker's glove, rather than displayed publicly.

Colours

Salt-grey
Tar black
A narrow strip of tide-rust red

Signs

Three tide marks beside a half-open gate
A strip of red cloth tied to a measuring line
A short bell pattern used to warn households along the quay

DressThere is no uniform. Members often wear salt-grey work coats or tar-dark aprons, with a narrow rust-red thread stitched inside a cuff or glove. The thread is a private sign of shared responsibility, not a badge of rank.

Standing

AlignmentPragmatic and mutually protective, with a growing divide between cautious repairers and those willing to risk a disaster to expose the council.

AgeThirty-one years as a recognized workers' association, though its notes and family practices reach back generations.

WealthPoor as an organization. It owns little beyond shared tools and a small emergency fund collected from workers, though its members possess valuable local knowledge and access to records.

What they say they want

Make the lower port gate safe to operate and open it under controlled conditions.

Make the council's records about the gate and the lower passages public.

Ensure displaced families are consulted and warned before any work begins.

What they are doing now

Open the lower port gate under measured, reversible conditions before the next spring tide.

Expose the council's records concerning the gate, the seawall, and the families displaced by the lower passages flooding.

Find out what valuable and dangerous thing remains below before the council can remove, conceal, or destroy it.

Secure safe passage, evacuation signals, and compensation plans for residents who may be affected by the opening.

Where it leads

A Greyhook where the people who maintain the port can inspect its hazards and records, and where the lower ward's residents decide its future with full knowledge of the risks. Some members imagine a permanent workers' watch over the seawall; others hope the association can dissolve once the truth is public and the gate is safe.

How others see them

Among quay workers, the Gateholders are practical people who remember what the council would rather forget. To officials, they are an unlicensed pressure group whose measurements lack formal verification. Many residents sympathize with their demands but worry that opening the gate will bring another flood.

People

5 ranks

Tide Reader

Aino

Careful, observant, and quietly persuasive. She is capable of decisive action but refuses to confuse courage with speed.

Tide Reader1 member
Coordinates the association's work, interprets tide observations, and calls meetings. The title grants influence, not authority to command members.
Mark-Keepers5 members
Maintain separate copies of seawall measurements, work orders, family testimony, and port schedules. Their divided custody is intended to prevent any single seizure from destroying the evidence.
Line Crews14 members
Current and former quay workers who inspect accessible passages, move equipment, and conduct practical tests. They decide among themselves who will take a dangerous shift.
House Witnesses9 members
Displaced residents and relatives who preserve claims, record names, and speak for affected households. They can block a plan that would put families at risk without warning.
Friends of the Line30 members
Sympathizers who provide food, messages, tools, hiding places, or occasional labor. Many will not identify themselves as members.

Other key members

Brask Line Crew organizer and proponent of immediate action
Kemi Oru House Witness and advocate for displaced residents
Tess Mark-Keeper and keeper of copied council records
Joon Former quay foreman and potential mediator

How they are organised

How it is runLoose circle of workers, former workers, and displaced households

Who comes nextThe Tide Reader is not appointed by a superior. Mark-Keepers and House Witnesses nominate a temporary coordinator when the position is vacant, and Line Crews can reject the choice if the nominee has not worked alongside them. The association prefers a season of shared responsibility before recognizing a permanent Tide Reader. In an emergency, whoever knows the tide and mechanism best may take the lead, but must answer afterward to the full circle.

How they recruitA prospective member is introduced by someone already trusted, then asked to keep a simple tide watch or help a displaced household. The person is not asked to swear obedience. They must demonstrate discretion, keep accurate notes, and understand that refusal of a dangerous task is permitted. Full membership is recognized through shared work rather than a formal initiation.

To join

Have worked on the quay, lived in the displaced lower ward, or have a trusted household connection to either.
Accept that no single member controls the archive or speaks for every family.
Keep tide observations and testimony accurate, even when the facts weaken the association's case.
Do not enter the sealed passages alone or conceal a discovered hazard from the people at risk.
Acknowledge that a member may refuse a dangerous shift without losing their place in the association.

Operations

What they do

Recording seawall movement and tide behavior

Preserving testimony and copies of port records

Organizing mutual aid for displaced households

Inspecting accessible parts of the lower passages

Preparing a controlled opening of the lower port gate

How they do it

Compare firsthand observations with tide tables, old marks, and copied repair orders.

Use work crews and household messengers to pass information without creating a single vulnerable communication chain.

Test accessible mechanisms with measured loads before attempting to move the lower gate.

Preserve testimony in separate copies held by different members.

Apply public pressure through work slowdowns, witness statements, and carefully timed disclosure.

Use coded chalk marks and bell patterns to warn waterfront households.

Services for hire

Tide and wall assessmentA reliable favor, shared information, or practical help for a displaced household
A careful reading of old seawall marks and tide notes, with limits clearly stated where evidence is uncertain.
Witness introductionPermission to copy the information provided and a commitment not to expose a witness without consent
A discreet introduction to a quay worker, former crew member, or household witness with relevant knowledge.
Quay kit loanTools returned intact and a promise not to use them to endanger residents
Temporary access to basic rope, wedges, lanterns, and hand measuring equipment for a supervised inspection.

What they can do

Exceptional practical knowledge of the quay, tides, and the accessible seawall

An unusually resilient network for preserving and comparing records

Ability to organize quiet waterfront communication through chalk marks and bell signals

Credibility with displaced households that formal officials lack

What they have

Three independently held copies of tide and seawall observations

A network of current and former quay workers with practical knowledge of the port

Unpublished testimony from families displaced by the flooding

A collection of old gate tools, wedges, line, and manual measuring rods

Quiet access to a disused quay tally room

A bell signal understood by several waterfront households

Where they are weak

The association lacks legal authority over the gate, the port, or council records.

Its evidence is a mixture of careful measurements, oral testimony, and copied documents that the council can challenge as unofficial.

Its loose structure makes it difficult to coordinate quickly during an emergency.

Members' families remain vulnerable to eviction, loss of work, and pressure from officials.

The group has limited equipment for safely testing a major flood-control mechanism.

A public failure could cause serious harm and destroy the trust on which the Gateholders depend.

Territory

Headquarters

Greyhook

KindUnofficial meeting room in an abandoned quay tally office

A disused tally room behind the public quay, reached through a narrow passage between salt stores. Its door looks swollen shut, but the lower hinge lifts free with a particular pull. Inside are tide charts, chalked measurements, borrowed stools, a hand bell, and a table scarred by years of ledger work. No permanent sign marks the room.

Lands they hold

The working quay and nearby waterfront lanes

The accessible outer sections of the seawall

The sealed approaches to the lower passages, which the Gateholders observe but do not control

Outposts

The Spare MarkA cupboard behind the net-menders' drying racksHolds a duplicate set of measurements and supplies for messengers. The name is a warning that no single mark should be trusted.
The Last WedgeA locked tool chest kept in a former quay worker's shedStores wedges, rope, and hand tools intended for a controlled gate test. Members argue over whether the chest should be moved before the council finds it.

Secrets

The big secret · GM only

The Gateholders' archive contains a copied council work order from before the Black Spring. It shows that officials were warned of movement near the lower gate, and that a test was approved despite the warning. The same document bears the mark of a now-deceased worker who was remembered publicly as an opponent of the test. Revealing it could discredit the council, but would also stain the dead worker's family and prove that the danger was not solely the council's creation.

What they really want · GM only

Force the council to admit that it knew the lower passages were unsafe before families were displaced.

Determine what remains below the gate and establish who has a legitimate claim to it before any recovery begins.

Prevent the council from permanently sealing the gate, even if doing so requires an unauthorized opening.

Make the workers' tide record an accepted public document, giving waterfront residents a durable role in future safety decisions.

Hidden plans · GM only

Some members want to retrieve an object, document, or sealed cargo believed to remain below, though no one agrees what it is or who has a claim to it.

A small circle hopes the exposed records will force a change of government in Greyhook, not merely a repair of the gate.

Several displaced families want the old lower ward reopened, despite the danger, because its property claims and rents could be restored if the passages are declared habitable.

One faction wants a public opening with witnesses, partly to prevent the council from controlling what is recovered and partly to make retreat politically impossible.

Smaller secrets · GM only

What insiders say · GM only

Trouble inside · GM only

The central argument is whether to open the gate for truth, for recovery, or not at all. Tide Reader Aino wants a slow test with evacuation measures and independent witnesses. Line Crew veteran Brask argues that the council will use any delay to move evidence or reinforce the seal. House Witnesses are divided between those who want their homes acknowledged and those who fear that reopening the passages will endanger their families again. The Mark-Keepers also disagree over whether to publish the full archive: one copy implicates former workers who signed off on unsafe repairs, while another may reveal which families have unregistered claims below.

Crimes · GM only

Plot hooks

6 hooks

1
The Mark That Moved
PersonalReward: Trust, local contacts, or a family claim to the lower ward
A character with family or work ties to the quay is asked to carry a tide chart to a displaced household. The chart includes a measurement that contradicts the council's public warning, and a watch officer is already looking for it.
2
A Key With Two Owners
ModerateReward: Access to the association's archive and a choice of which side to inform
The Gateholders need someone neutral to inspect a seized gate key and determine whether its teeth were altered. The inspection could show that the council plans to open the gate first, or that Brask has been preparing a test without approval.
3
The Borrowed Shift
ModerateReward: An ally inside the watch and a chance to plan the opening
A member of the Gate watch offers to provide a shift schedule if the party can get their family safely out of a council-controlled lodging house. The schedule is genuine, but the watch member has not disclosed that the gate mechanism may be damaged.
4
The Wall's Answer
HighReward: Knowledge of the passages, recoverable evidence, or proof of an imminent hazard
A flood-damaged passage has begun making a new sound at low tide. The Gateholders ask the party to help inspect it before the next spring tide, but their measurements point to two possible entrances and one may be a trap or a collapsing section.
5
The Page Nobody Copied
HighReward: Political leverage, repaired trust, or a damaging revelation
The party obtains the missing page of the Black Spring work order. It clears the council of one accusation but implicates a beloved former worker. The Gateholders must decide whether truth matters more than a clean public story.
6
Before the Spring Tide
Campaign-scaleReward: A transformed relationship with Greyhook, control over the gate's fate, and whatever truth lies below
As the spring tide rises, the council prepares to seal the lower gate permanently. The Gateholders propose a controlled opening, while displaced families demand access to the old ward and the harbor pilots warn that a surge could reach the working quay. The party must build a plan, choose witnesses, and decide who bears the risk.

Work they offer

1Recover a missing tide journal from a condemned storehouse before its contents are removed.

2Escort a displaced witness to a private meeting with the harbor pilots.

3Find out who has been altering the chalk marks along the seawall.

4Help test a manual gate mechanism without alerting the council or endangering nearby homes.

What gets in the way

The lower gate may be holding back more than seawater. Opening it could release trapped pressure, flood the lower ward, or expose a hazard no one understands.

The association has no single chain of command. A public order from one representative may be ignored by members who answer to another family or work crew.

Families displaced by the old flooding disagree about what justice means. Some want their homes and livelihoods restored; others want no one to go below again.

The council's records may prove the Gateholders' case, but could also show that past workers knowingly accepted dangerous repairs.

Spring tide is both their deadline and a threat. It may offer the only safe window to operate the gate, while making any mistake catastrophic.

Rumours

1True: The association keeps duplicate copies of its records in several places because its first report disappeared.

2True: One member has already tested part of the gate without the Tide Reader's permission.

3False: The Gateholders intend to loot the lower ward and sell whatever they find.

4Unproven: The council has a second gate control hidden beneath its meeting hall.

5Unproven: Something below the port gate has been sending signals through the seawall at low tide.

Gateholders

Gateholders

Overview

How it began

How to know them

Standing

What they say they want

What they are doing now

Where it leads

How others see them

People

Tide Reader

Other key members

How they are organised

Relations

Operations

What they do

How they do it

Services for hire

What they can do

What they have

Where they are weak

Territory

Headquarters

Lands they hold

Outposts

Secrets

Plot hooks

Work they offer

What gets in the way

Rumours

Media

Turn Gateholders into a sheet