Here are ten NPCs that characters could meet at a port. These individuals are most likely to be encountered in or near the docks, but could be found in other parts of town as well.

1. Anartha Brennin: Anartha has been working on the docks for years and is a big, jovial individual. They do enjoy a good meal and a drink, which bulks up their size, which can lead many to underestimate them, thinking that all that bulk is just fat. Working on the docks, though, constantly shifting often heavy crates around means that underneath the fat is a lot of muscle. Anartha is a friendly type, and won’t start a fight, but they’ve ended more than one when they disapproved of someone’s behaviour in a tavern after work.
2. Danarin Klethor: Danarin serves on one of the fishing boats that use the port, and will only be seen either early morning before the ships leave dock or after they’ve done their catch for the day. Danarin has been a fisherman for years, hated the job when they first started doing it and still hate it now, but there’s nothing else they’re remotely good at. They’re bitter over this and unable to maintain a stable relationship because of it, and can, when in port, be found drinking their wages away in sullen silence.
3. Erina Pannius: Erina runs the sole business allowed to run a chandlery for ships using the port, though they are supplied by other merchants in the town. None of the other merchants are allowed to deal directly with ships, though, and Erina ensures that no-one breaches their monopoly without suffering the consequences. Perhaps fortunately, they do not take advantage of their situation as much as they could, for they could gouge both merchants with low prices and ships with high ones if they chose to do so, and this seems to be an unspoken threat for anyone who runs afoul of them.
4. Krennin Tragand: Krennin works as a guard on the port and has been around for many years, long enough to have been placed in charge of a small group of guards working out of a station near the docks and to have grown to know nearly everyone who works there by sight, and often some of the sailors who regularly pass through. Krennin is a friendly individual, with always a word for anyone, and manages to defuse a lot of tension through words, not violence. What isn’t known is that Krennin is also extensively connected to the criminal underworld and ensures a lot of smuggled goods get through without a problem.
5. Madrissa Dilthanor: Madrissa still dresses like a sea captain, even though they have not set foot on a ship in years in any form, let alone as a captain. Their captain’s clothing is now worn and tattered, much patched in places and frequently filthy. Madrissa is more often than not found drinking, drunk or passed out from drinking, whether in a tavern or, more likely, on the dock somewhere having drunk the cheapest rotgut they can find. Madrissa used to be a well-respected captain, but when their ship went down with all but them lost, they were shunned for being the only survivor, and turned to the bottle.
6. Nyrina Chellis: Nyrina is one of many who caters to sailors who have just arrived in port. It can be steady income, but not great, especially after the owner of the inn whose rooms are used takes their cut. Worse, sailors fresh off the boat will often get loaded up on alcohol first and some of them can be very nasty drunks. Nyrina has suffered many bruises over the years, and once something worse. That sailor discovered that it’s not a good idea to harm those you may be sleeping next to. Nyrina is rather bitter over their life and not looking forward to the future.
7. Pythiria Yattan: Pythiria seems like a friendly individual, always with a word for those down on their luck and money for a jack of beer, or perhaps more than one, for those lonely individuals in seaside taverns between jobs, travelling or otherwise with few who would miss them. Not that Pythiria is a killer looking for prey; there’s no money in that. Instead, Pythiria will get people stinking drunk so that they pass out, perhaps with a little medicinal aid, then take them to whichever ship hired them to get some new crew. When the drunk wakes, they could be serving on anything from a slave galley to a pirate ship.
8. Querrin Lostar: Querrin is an old, long-retired sailor who can be found sitting on the end of the dock most days, no matter what the weather or the season, with a fishing rod in hand, a bucket of bait and an empty bucket beside them and a net in which to put the caught fish until that gets transferred to the empty bucket when they stop fishing. Querrin is skilled and can catch a lot of fish every day, far more than one person can eat. Most are given to the widows and orphans of those who have been lost at sea.
9. Rubeck Gorthor: Rubeck is a priest of the local deity of the sea and can often be found on the docks, limping along. They used to be a sailor, until an encounter with a shark left them without half a leg. Quick work by a follower of the deity they now serve resulted in them not losing more than they did and, once back on shore and unable to continue life at sea, they joined the priesthood. Years later and Rubeck is now the highest-ranking member of the faith in the surrounding area, and spends much of their time blessing ships as they depart.
10. Taygan Barnor: Taygan is young, only ten years old, and has only just started serving on a ship as a cabin boy. They are regularly run ragged by the demands of the captain and crew and, combined with the fact that they hate the water and are frequently seasick, even in calm seas, are not enjoying themselves at all. Furthermore, the crew poke fun at Taygan for being unable to handle the sea, and send them into situations guaranteed to make their seasickness worse. Given half a chance, Taygan would gladly flee the ship.