Dragon Age - Thedas

Kirkwall, also known as the City of Chains and historically as Emerius, is a coastal city-state and a major population center located in the Free Marches. It is on the southern edge of the Vimmark Mountains, east of the Planasene Forest, and north across the Waking Sea from Ferelden. Kirkwall has changed hands many times and has always been a valuable port, the nexus of nearly all trade that flows between the Free Marches and Ferelden. Natives of Kirkwall are known as "Kirkwallers". Flanking the channel are two massive bronze statues—the Twins of Kirkwall. The statues have a practical use. Kirkwall sits next to the narrowest point of the Waking Sea, and a massive chain net can be erected between the statues and the lighthouse, closing off the only narrow navigable lane. This stranglehold on sea traffic is jealously guarded by the ever-changing rulers of the city as the net trolls taxes, tolls, and extortions in from the sea.