Lianport

Much like how Portoga is where you get a ship in Dragon Quest III, significantly opening your venues for exploring the world, the city of Lianport plays a similar role in Dragon Quest II. This port town is located on the eastern coast of the southern continent of Torland, facing Alefgard, and with the northern continent not far from there. It's no surprise that a port would be established there - it's at a crossroads of Torland's three major land masses, with ready access to all three. For this reason, it's reasonable to believe that this region is a major trade center.

For The Saga of the Ortegids, I would hypothesize that Lianport is only one of a number of such cities along the coast. We just don't see the others due to the map being simplified for gameplay purposes. There is no king in Lianport and no capital cities nearby, so it's likely that Lianport is a free city-state; other cities in the area may well be as well. There may also be a few larger merchant republics in the area, or groups of allied cities similar to the Hanseatic League - which would certainly fit the northern European feel of Torland.

Due to its nature as an important mercantile center with access to sea trade, Lianport (and other cities like it) would likely be a cosmopolitan place, with merchants from across Torland passing through here. Indeed, we even see a soldier from Alefgard here. There are a number of advantages such a setting would offer a tabletop campaign. It could be an easy way to bring PCs of disparate backgrounds together, since no matter where they came from in the world, it wouldn't be hard to think of reasons for them to arrive in Lianport. It would also be a hotbed of rumors and quest hooks from so many disparate visitors. If ships are readily accessible here, it could serve as a hub for the party to explore locales throughout the map - tie this in with the previous point, and you have an easy setup for a globe-hopping campaign. Is it still a globe if it's on the inside of a hollow world?

Furthermore, with Lianport being a free port outside the authority of any king, it's easy to imagine how a criminal underbelly could form. It'd be a natural spot for smugglers to pass through without attracting attention, and even pirates might be able to evade the law here. For this reason, it could make for a good base of operations for a more roguish party - or, consequently, it could present its own dangers. The streets could be thronged with cutpurses, thugs, or even beastmen, where taking the wrong turn down an alley could get ugly fast. Add in a few competing criminal organizations, and you have factions the PCs could play off of or get involved in.

Art by Jihyun Kim

Also located to the south of Lianport are the Dragon's Horns, a set of two towers flanking a river. In the game, in order to reach Lianport, you must climb the tower to the south and jump from the top, using the Cloak of Winds from the Tower of Winds to glide across. It's mentioned that the two towers were once joined by a bridge, but this has been destroyed by the time of DQ2. Despite this, the people don't seem to be in any hurry to rebuild the bridge, and the towers are still manned by guards, implying that they're still being used as fortresses by the local authorities. Perhaps it's just easier to navigate by sea. Due to the distance from the city, I don't think the Dragon's Horns are controlled by Lianport itself; perhaps there's another city on the river, maybe at the foot of one or both of the towers, and the towers are there to protect its harbor. Strangely enough, there are monsters in the tower itself. Maybe the guards are in the process of fighting off an infestation? It is the obligatory dungeon where you fight a lot of rats.

Art by Marc Mons