Absalom’s docks may seem like any other harbor on Golarion: infused with the briny smell of the ocean, breezes playing about the ships lined up in their slips. But those who linger a moment can smell the spicy Osirian barbecue of local street vendors mingling with the sweet fragrance of elven mead. Those who look may see hundreds of different ships, hailing from ports as distant as Kalsgard or Goka. Those who listen will hear dozens of languages, from melodic Minkaian to staccato Mwangi.

If Absalom is the City at the Center of the World, then the Docks are the gateway where the world comes together. Few locations in Golarion gather as many cultures and viewpoints in one place. The very nature of the Docks is to facilitate travel to every other district in Absalom and to the far reaches of Golarion. A wanderer can find mundane transportation to just about anywhere they want to go, if they have the coin. When a ship comes into the harbor, dozens of porters, carriages, and wagons flock to the slip to greet the new vessel. Only the harbormaster’s tax collector is faster on arrival than the myriad vendors looking to hawk their wares.