Port Esther during Hurmu rule
Port Esther (Arboric: Bur Astir) is the capital of East Barrow Island, the Hurmu district off the coast of Keltia. It was founded in 1682 as the Frankish capital of the Lady Esther Isles. The municipality of Port Esther covers approximately two thirds of East Barrow and has a population of 36,520 inhabitants, 17,354 of whom being refugees from the Second Elwynnese Civil War. (1696 Hurmu census)
Security
Security for the city is provided by the Overseas Auxiliary Squadron of the Hurmu Constabulary and a troop of peacekeepers deployed to the city on six monthly rotations on detachment from regiments of the Sea Department.
The first Commissioner of the Peace, Hans Danielsen, was a trader employed by the Köping Tea Company and formerly engaged with selling tea to Normark. Initially reluctant to accept the commission, Hans was at length prevailed upon to take up the appointment and was duly present at the transfer of sovereignty ceremony in 1694 AN which saw Arbor transfer its claim to East Barrow Island to Hurmu, which later transpired to be a part of a strategic deception plan covering the relocation of the Emir's followers from Keltia to Apollonia. Initially the solve representative of Hurmu on the island, Hans was joined by the first detachment of forty peacekeepers from the Sea Department in mid-1696 AN
On 3.I.1697 AN the Minister of Policing and Security, Senator Ardashir Babakan-e Osman, appointed a probationary inspector of the Hurmu Constabulary, accompanied by six constables, to take up residence at Port Esther and assume responsibility for the maintenance of law and order on East Barrow Island and its adjacent territorial waters. Probationary Inspector Kálfr Espenson, a failing student who was facing being washed out of his course, was offered the prospect of a guaranteed commission to the rank of County Inspector 3rd Class if he managed to serve a full year in post on the island. Placed aboard a tramp steamer requisitioned for the purpose of the voyage, Espenson and his command departed Krandoya island on 15.I.1697 AN and completed their voyage to East Barrow Island sixty-four days later on 6.IV.1697 AN, having sailed via Port Cardozo (Nouvelle Alexandrie) and the Isle of Rogues (Unified Governorates). It was unfortunately during the final length of the voyage that one of the constables had lost his life whilst effecting the repulse of a boarding attempt by Sea-Reavers who had been encountered unexpectedly lying in wait after their vessel had sailed a day distant from the Isle of Rogues.
Indeed countering the Sea-Reavers would prove to be one of the primary duties of Probationary Inspector Espenson at his new station. In addition to himself and the five remaining constables, Espenson had available to himself the requisitioned tramp steamer and her surviving crew, and the cargo it had carried aboard, comprising of 100x M1610 semi-automatic rifle (7.9x57 mm) and 20x SAI SG470 Shotgun as well as stores of ammunition and tinned food sufficient to sustain one-hundred and twenty men for two years. The Overseas Auxiliary Squadron, over which Probationary Inspector Espenson enjoys an irregular command, is formed of himself, the five constables, eighty-eight auxiliary chosen men drawn from the local populace, and the twenty-six crew-members of the requisitioned tramp steamer.
Four containerships, the MS Amokolian Moon, MS Amokolian Queen, MS Amokolian Spirit, MS Amokolian Spring, that were used in the evacuation of refugees from Elwynn, have been placed around the entrance of the harbour as guard ships in an effort to deter the Sea-Reavers from attempting to enter the port.
