Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #137

Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #137 

May 17th, 2023 

• Number: 137 

• Name:  Sauville also known as the Joinery 

• Location: Along the Saut River east of the Ulu Maug range 

• Population (approx.): 185 (increases to 300-400 around “Joining Day”) 

• Brief: Sauville was a mundane small farming village hewing close to the Saut River and its steady flow of life-giving water. Irrigation canals and waterwheels pull from the river and deliver to fields and paddies. The locals quietly worshipped earth and water as history and the wars of Ta’arna passed them by, until recently, when descendants of survivors of a past battle took up residence in Sauville’s sole inn. To the west, the newcomers said, was a place where their “god” (see One Part in Sixty (#100)) once stood and would do so again. The locals thought them crazy but paid them no heed as their coin was good. Each year others arrived and with the descendants they trekked to the west for several days and each year they later returned disappointed. For the locals, life went on. For the newcomers, they prayed, researched and dispatched adventurers and explorers hither and yon, on quests for some mysterious single object required to complete their “god.” (Unbeknownst to the Joiners, the Keepers know exactly where the 60th piece can be found and will do all they can to prevent its discovery, for the Keepers, years ago, helped disassemble and bind the KERYX construct to the site and know what it is capable of.) 

• Geography: Sauville sits on the Saut River about 30 miles north of the source the Inviolate Spring at Saut Oasis (#31). It is a loosely connected swath of farms along the water, centered about a single Inn, a mill on the river, a store and a small chapel. The terrain is criss-crossed with narrow canals and pipes, the flow of water aided by wind-powered wheels and the currents of the Saut. Several years ago, the newcomers bought a farm on the outside of the village, nicknamed the “Joinery,” and moved out of the Inn (to the keeper’s initial dismay). They’ve expanded it to house visiting fellow Joiners and converted one of the barns into a library and workshop.