Who Rules: The Council of Elders is made up of the most respected and wealthy of Shindo's populace, so long as they are old. It is believed that advanced age brings with it wisdom, and sometimes this is true. The existing council is comprised of 5 members, which is the minimum number allowed by law. The normal number of members is 11. Members are elected every 8 years with vacancies left empty until the next election. If the number ever drops below 5 then an election is held within 5 weeks.

Who Really Rules: The Council rules completely but they pay attention to the whims and desires of the people. Public petitions are often posted on street corners, signed, and turned into specific council members, who are wise not to completely ignore it.

Population: 14,800 (70% human, 28% halfling, 2% mixed other races).

Major Products: Trade, horses, arms, armor, pottery, produce, glassware, siege weapons, ship repairs, clothing, goats, ThriScream Amber Ale, a fermented goat's milk known as White Firkin, and Dirty Aquarium, a playful yet somewhat sour brandy aged in barrels that have previously held algae fish.

Armed Forces: 1,250 (250 archers, 300 heavy infantry, 200 light infantry, 250 artillerists, and a commando group comprised of 250 sea-elf mercenaries). Shindo also has a fleet of 8 extremely fast light warships that carry a complement of marines and light siege weapons. Due to constant pirate attacks the armed forces are constantly in action and lose men on a regular basis. There is never a shortage of new recruits, though, as the pay is good and there is always action.

Notable Mages: Llihina the Great (CG, Human Female, W16) has an ego far beyond her abilities. However, she is head of the mages guild (all 29 members) and she is the most experienced mage in town. Therefore, those who have to deal with her for information forgive her diva attitude. She is knowledgeable across a wide spectrum, but her specialty is transmutation.

Citroth (LE, Human Male, W14) is highly knowledgeable in conjuration spells and herbalism, with a specialty in poison spells and brewing and identifying poison and antidotes. He aspires to be head of the guild, but he won't act directly. Instead, he feeds Llihana's ego and urges her into undertaking dangerous experiments or missions, hoping her ego will help to create a vacancy. Llihana merely believes Citroth is jealous of her, and she is too proud to think he's a danger to herself.

Notable Churches: Chaunea, Helm, Tempus, Tymora, and Sune.

Notable Rogues' and Thieves' Guilds: The Club is headed by Ranerda Bloodhand (NE, ½-orc Female, T16) who is actually a pirate first and foremost. She uses the guild primarily as a source of gathering information on local shipping. Most of the thieves know that she's a pirate but they have learned that the information the pirates pay for is safer and more lucrative than a lot of normal thefts would be. That still does not stop them from thieving as the dual role of thieves and information brokers has made the guild very rich. Many locals suspect that the thieves get a lot of their information from an inside source on the Council of Elders.

Equipment Shops: Full.

Adventurers' Quarters: Since adventurers are always being hired to combat pirates they are welcome throughout town. One inn, The Dented Helm, once banned adventurers and they went out of business shortly thereafter.

Important Characters: Irden Nimblecuts (LE, Human Male, F14) is a professional duelist. He makes his living being hired out to goad people into offending his honor. He then challenges the victim to a duel and takes care of them. More often than not he is hired to merely serve as a warning, but he will kill if that is what the client wants. He is also a bit unstable and will take even accidents as personal insults and challenge someone. He wears bright blue and gold and struts around town, making sure everyone sees him.

Striendan Furrowhand (LG, Halfling Male, P7) is actually a blacksmith who specializes in doing inlays for suits of armor. He is well respected by a lot of dwarves and is highly sought after by apprentices.

Irasha Iro (LG, Gnome Female, F10) is the sister of Slanig Iro of RaMoen. She competes with him on building large siege engines. Her main source of income is through normal weapons, but her true love is large items. She is currently building a ballista that has twice the range of a regular one and uses small, sharpened trees for missiles. She has built several prototypes and is currently fine tuning what she hopes will be the final version. Once completed she will then sell the plans.

Important Features in Town: Shindo is built on a long, wide stretch of land that is devoid of all features. For miles on end there is nothing but farms and the city and its lookout towers. The land is unsuitable for large stone structures, so a wooden palisade surrounds the city, with stone towers at certain locations. Most of the buildings are wood, and those that are stone are not more than two stories tall. Tall, wooden watchtowers dot the beach for several miles on either side of the city. These towers are 100' tall, very wide, and are often burned to the ground by attacking pirates.

Local Lore: Locals talk of a pirate who goes only by the name of Shark, who has amassed a fortune of stolen coins. They are reportedly buried in chests along the coast and on deserted islands. The truth is that Shark keeps all his treasure in a vast, heavily fortified underground fortress on an island out in the sea. Its exact location is not known, but a few individuals in town know that it exists. Shark is a prime target for adventurers, but he has yet to be caught. It's assumed that he has been found, though, because some groups have never returned.

An aquatic species of kobolds was recently discovered in the area, and they have started to become a nuisance. On several occasions they have even been working in conjunction with some of the pirates. A few of these kobolds have been captured alive and are a great source of curiosity among scholars. They are more powerful than their landlocked cousins, and as such not many have been captured alive. The University of Rossak has a 100 gp bounty for a live specimen.

The lands further inland are dotted with tribes of thri-kreen. They aren't much of a nuisance as very few people travel much in that direction. There are some isolated communities, and they have trouble with them. Some of the larger communities send representatives to Shindo looking for adventurers or mercenaries. Caravans do travel overland, and they are always in need of hired help. Thri-kreen also come and raid the town on occasion.