Fort Merit

TERRITORY OF The Central Authority

Once a prison at the edge of Etrean influence, now a forward base for the Authority.

Fort Merit is a location in Deepwoken. It is a landmark on Aratel Island found in the Aratel Sea.

Overview[]

Fort Merit is an Etrean Prison overtaken by the Authority, now serving as a forward base for them. Ironically, Etrean Hostages and Hostage Gremorian Nomads can be found in the cells of Fort Merit.

It is found to the right of Bluster's Rift and has a port that can be docked from the shore.

Players can find Brutus here, a Legion soldier, as well as the Shrine of Chance.
Heavily patrolled by Authority Peacekeepers.
The Authority Commander can be found in an office in the prison.
Potential to find Etrean Guardsmen hostages and Navaen Nomad hostages.

At the wooden elevator, there is a stairway. Upon following it and going forward you will find the Etrean Guardmaster on a boat. Talk to them to start the quest.
Pick up the Etrean hostages within the prison and talk to the Guardmaster while carrying them.
You will be rewarded with a chest containing great gear and loot. But you will be marked as an enemy to the Central Authority
After your second rescue, the Guardmaster tell you the boat is full. Meaning you have to wait 8 minutes before being able to rescue more hostages.
You can bypass the time limit by killing the Commander and receiving the shipping schedule. Note that this is turned in once per character.

Talk to Brutus, this will result in Brutus damaging you until you are knocked granting you Fortitude Unbound card. (As a result, you can be easily gripped, best to come with a companion)

For more information, watch this video.

A Gremor sitting on a tree near Meteor Isle, right above the shipwright.
Selecting the option "Very well. I can assist in the fight." will start the quest.
With her assistance, you will have to fight 6 Authority peacekeepers.
Gripping at least five signifies that you have completed the quest.
Return to Meteor Isle and gain 2 knowledge.

To reset your reputation with the Authority, you can speak to Rashet in Merit's Reach. He is located next to a pillar across from a river and Fort Merit.
- If you travel from Greathive to Fort Merit, you can find him easily.
- Alternatively, if you arrive from the docks, you will have to parkour up using the geysers and run besides the fort in order to reach Rashet.

Below is a list of NPCs and their uses (that are known) that you can find thorough Fort Merit.

Below is a list of potential items that can spawn in chests in Fort Merit.

Outfit Schematics	Equipment	Weapons	Miscellaneous
Authority Captain Uniform	Deepwoken Hood White Gumshoe Hat Gumshoe Hat Master Thief's Earrings Authority Commander Coat Imperial Pauldrons Adjudicator's Coat Warden Pauldrons Akira's Ring Moon Ring Finisher's Ring	Adretian Axe Iron Cestus Khan Shield Officer Saber Rifle Spear Flamekeeper Cestus Warden Ceremonial Sword Apprentice Rapier Inquisitor's Thorn Shattered Katana Anklets of Alsin	Amethyst Gold Bar Sapphire Ruby Emerald

The music for this area is The Sun, Gleaming by Naktigonis.
Not a great location to set your spawn point at.
A great location to farm EXP and items.
Considering that there is a guaranteed Nomad hostage here. Getting Way Of Navae by picking up the hostage from here and bringing it the whole way back to the Eastern Tribal Leaders in Summer Isle is possible.
The Isle of Crows was mentioned by an NPC here, possibly a removed island.
- The NPC was later removed in shadow updates.
Fort Merit is called Fortification Peak by its guards when the player has maximum reputation with the Central Authority.
Fort Merit is good place to pick up bounties, as most of the players have low/bad reputation with the Central Authority.
Whenever you try to spook Brutus with a Hallowtide Mask, he doesn't get spooked and instead just says from these lines: "When are you gonna learn your lesson?" "Come on."
Right now, it doesn't have too much importance apart from grinding exp and items from the Etrean guardmaster, but in a future alongside the Authority Origin it may get way more importance that it has now.
Fort Merit can be an excellent place to farm early levels if you have good skills.
The fort, being once of Etrean influence - does not happen to match the standard Etrean architecture. With the hexagonal buildings dotted around the fort, it more closely resembles those built by the lost Celtorian nation. However, this is more likely than not a simple error in development rather than any actual foreshadowing.