The New Coast is the name of the coastal region of Maniria, from Caladraland to Ryzel. The coast is generally rugged and rocky, but the river mouths all provide peaceful entries.
For six and a half centuries, the Closing of the Oceans prevented all sea trade between Kethaela and the West. Handra, formerly a town of upper Slontos, was now a wreck, half awash amid the New Fens, and eking out a fragile living from marsh goods and a sporadic pilgrim trade. Caravans passed through the interior of the Wenelian forest, between the closely-guarded strongholds of the Trader Princes.
That all changed when Dormal brought the Opening. Handra was his first destination, and was the first city to benefit from his teachings. An attempt by the Pharaonic fleet to control trade on the Mournsea failed when pirates from Alatan ravaged their vessels. The Holy Country made a treaty with Pasos, another beneficiary of Dormal's, and a joint naval campaign against piracy made the New Coast into a free-for-all. Treasure-seekers rushed from all parts of Kethaela and the West, to carve out their personal fortune from the boom towns and new ports of the Mournsea coast, at the expense of the inland Trader Princes.
The Wolf Pirates' seizure of the Three Step Isles in 1606 was an unpleasant development for the New Coast. Following the defeat of the Pharaoh's navy in 1615, its ports are finding their resources stretched to the limit to protect trade and repel piracy.
The large city of Handra, in the New Fens, was reborn from its centuries of decline, and is now an important trading port, the traditional halfway stop between the Holy Country and Nolos. It is also the outlet for Ralian trade goods. The city is ruled by a surprisingly democratic council of guilds, and has boomed since the Opening of the Oceans.
The several ports of the New Coast were all founded after 1585. They are "boom towns", with settlers from Handra (Ralian/Western), Nolos and Pasos (Seshnegi/Western), and Kethaela (mostly urban and Insular, rather than from the distinctive Sixths - this is more "Holy Country settlers" than, say, "Esrolite" or "Caladran" or whatever), all jumbled together.
The local leaders are usually self-made men, and universally reject rule from the lords of the interior, both Trader Princes and Wenelian warlords. (pop: 50,000). There was a great time between the Pharaoh's anti-pirate naval treaty with Pasos (1585) and the arrival of the Wolf Pirates (1606+) when new settlements sprung up every year. Now, of course, with Harrek's lads rampant along the New Coast - and the Holy Country navy mostly at Full Fathom Five since 1616 - there are sackings, and burnings, and pillagings, and people wishing they hadn't moved out to the exciting new opportunities opened up by Dormal's venture...
Also, don't forget the virulent Wenelian tribes between the two trading rivals, the Trader Princes' castles and the New Coast ports. I'm sure there are Trader Princes "agitating" their Wenelian contacts to swoop down on bothersome coastal settlements and plunder them...
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