With the conclusion of the Grinstead Accord, the establishment of Port Moorland on the Keltian mainland has begun. A dozen ships laden with materials, supplies and pioneers landed at the small blot of land between Ergonia and Mercury. The landing officially inaugurated the founding of Port Moorland as a colony of Brettania. Financed by backers from Greater Willow, the group consisted primarily of people of Nova English descent seeking to reconnect with their historic homeland. Although the area had previously been part of the Nova English province of Moorland (hence the colony's name) it had been abandoned for so long that the sight greeting the new arrivals was a vast expanse of wilderness, marked by the occasional stone ruin poking through the growth. The pioneers will face the daunting task of clearing and cleaning the area in order to establish homesteads. They will also be required to construct a harbor and pier capable of accepting large ships.
The ostensible objective of the colony is not to colonize the region, which is impractical given its hemmed-in nature, but to establish a refueling and resupply port. With the expansion of Port Impregnable it has become an ever-increasing need to establish resupply stations between the Home Isles and the Colonies. Port Moorland will be an important step in this direction, as it is roughly one-third of the way between Port Diana and Port Impregnable. Additional resupply stations are expected to be established as part of the process of creating a stable chain of bases not only capable of providing adequate stopovers for vessels but also to provide a line of defense for the Home Isles in case of war. Lord Arthur Rivers, who has been responsible for both the victory at Port Impregnable and for negotiating the Grinstead Accord, is personally financing part of the venture. The Rivers family has deep historic ties dating back to the days of New Brittania, and Lord Rivers himself has taken a keen interest in Nova English archaeology. Lord Rivers is also a proponent of constructing of a railway through Port Moorland that will connect Ergonia to Mercury, thus offering greater economic gains for all three nations.