:: Random Location—Puerta del Diablo ::

Puerta del Diablo

by Wm Jay Carter III, 5/16/15

Land Area: Harbor

Weather: Snowy

Conditions: Large, Pristine

Color: Dark Purple

Keyword: Devil

The ship pitches to starboard and aft, then fore and port. Ahead, the vague suggestion of an opening in the coast offers hope to all aboard that they might not perish on the rocks, or under the waves. As soon as the stern enters the mouth of the bay, the sea immediately calms, the winds cease, and the sky rains only large tufts of quietly-falling snow. The bay is spacious, and the harbor lights inviting. When the ship is docked at last, you see a fort on the nearby hill, decorated with banners of imperial purple and untouched by the ravages of war. A hush overtakes the crew. “By the Gods, who lives there?” you hear a sailor whisper. “The Devil himself,” comes the reply.

Literally “Devil’s Gate,” the harbor known as Puerta del Diablo sees willing visitors very rarely. The more common scenario involves maelstroms and sea storms of every variety threatening to destroy unprepared ships. Then, when things look their bleakest, the Devil himself appears and offers the captain safe harbor in exchange for the ship and every soul aboard. Only when these terms are agreed to does the entrance to the harbor appear. Upon entering the bay, the storms cease and all is well...or so it seems.

The tale of Puerta del Diablo goes back to 19 BC when Caesar Augustus was caught in a sea storm off the coast of Cadíz, during his conquest of Hispania. When the storm was at its most vicious, the Devil appeared and made his offer. Desperate to save himself, Augustus quickly agreed to the Devil’s terms and was ushered into what he thought was the Bay of Cadíz, also saving his ship and crew in the process.

According to sailor’s accounts, the harbor was so inviting that the emperor entirely forgot his lust for conquest and stayed there, where he would remain under the Devil’s influence for the rest of eternity. The Devil then disguised himself as the emperor and completed the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. And that, sailors say, is how the Devil got loose in the world.