Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States - Week 31
Compiling week 31 of the project, comprised of an additional 7 posts, this week's subject being a deep dive of a site of interest, the Village of Forest's Edge, in the City-State of Noldrune as shown below:
Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #211
July 30th, 2023
Number: 211
Name: Deep Dive on a Settlement of Interest: Village of Forest’s Edge – Part 1
Location: Eastern edge of the Lolot Forest, east of Berien Manor in County Berien
Population (approx.): 235
Brief: Forest’s Edge is one of the many small villages scattered throughout Lolot Forest, the land of House Berien. Like the others, its origin pre-dates the arrival of the Houses from the north when the region was home to Faerie-aspected Kin (Humans, Elves and Wildfolk of mixed ancestry). Being a border settlement, the inhabitants of Forest’s Edge are tasked by their Countess, Dayntree Claid, to protect the borders, watch for intruders in the forest, and report on any unusual traffic on the road or activity in the plains to the east, the lands of House Ulste.
Geography: Forest’s Edge can be found on the eastern edge of Lolot Forest where the main spur from the central highway enters the woods heading west 30 miles to Berien Manor (#145). The road passes south of the village, itself on a stream that crosses the plains from the Tuton Maug, and eventually passes Berien Manor emptying into Lake Loloto Pogisa.
Next Article: Over the course of this week, we’ll present some of the notable peoples, locations, happenings and plot threads in and about Forest’s Edge
Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #212
July 31st, 2023
Number: 212
Name: Deep Dive on a Settlement of Interest: Village of Forest’s Edge – Part 2
Location: Eastern edge of the Lolot Forest, east of Berien Manor in County Berien
Population (approx.): 235
Brief: Despite adopting the typical titles of Noldrune, County and Countess, Dayntree and the people of Berien follow few of the attendant social norms. For example, the closest analog to the lesser Viscounts of Noldrune who owe fealty to their Count, might be Dayntree’s apprentices. Closer to longtime companions than students, they are spread across the Lolot Forest, serving as her eyes and ears, delivering her word to the inhabitants. An outside observer would (and should) consider them to be equal to Viscounts or similarly ranked lesser nobles. Yufi Woodsnow is Forest’s Edge’s resident apprentic of Druid Dayntree.
Yufi Woodsnow, 20, Human woman, is an apprentice Druid under the tutelage of Dayntree Claid. She is tall and a little portly. She has bright red hair that she keeps neatly in a bun and light blue eyes. Yufi uses a staff made from a birch tree that Dayntree grew for her on the day her apprenticeship began. Her favorite outfit is a green robe with leaves embroidered on all the sleeves. Her mother made it for her.
Yufi possesses a vast knowledge of the herbs and plants of the Lolot forest. She grew up in a small cottage outside of Forest’s Edge and learned what each plant could do to help people. Her father was a healer and treated everyone, but he specialized in treating animals. To better use all this knowledge, Dayntree has put Yufi to work making potions that will help the rangers and other scouts of the forest.
Yufi's parents are great friends with Dayntree, and she grew up knowing she would have a place to go when needed. Yufi still lives with her parents and travels around the woods daily, looking for plants and helping wounded animals. She has dated one of the scouts who work for the forest; her parents aren't too happy about it, as they want her to work on her studies.
Geography: On the outskirts of Forest’s Edge, between the center of town and the cabin of Yufi’s parents, Yufi and Dayntree collaborated to grow a great oak tree to celebrate the completion of her apprenticeship. The huge trunk features a spiral staircase within, leading both up and down. The dense upper branches are cunningly arranged to conceal a workshop. The roots grow above and below three underground vaults for storage. When not foraging or exploring the woods, Yufi can be found inside her workshop preparing herbs and brewing potions.
Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #213
August 1st, 2023
Number: 213
Name: Deep Dive on a Settlement of Interest: Village of Forest’s Edge – Part 3
Location: Eastern edge of the Lolot Forest, east of Berien Manor in County Berien
Population (approx.): 235
Brief: Despite the border of Lolot Forest being deep within the City-State of Noldrune, there are still reasons for the County to maintain an active and skilled border patrol. Dayntree Claid, and prior leaders, seek to protect against banditry, poachers and illegal logging among other threats to the woods. The border patrol is commonly called the Lolot Rangers even though they number among their ranks all manner of professions - trackers, foragers, druids, foresters, hunters, archers and warriors.
Naehorn Alderbrook, 253, a male Wood Elf, protects the area of Lolot Forest around Forest’s Edge. He is short and has an athletic build. He wears his brown hair long and in a ponytail. Naeborn has leaf-green eyes and a lop-sided smile. He wears a complete suit of leather armor and has a strap that keeps his quiver tied to his back. His bow has Elven runes scribed on it, giving him benefits when he draws it.
Naehorn and the other local Lolot Rangers guard various portions of the surrounding forest. They have set up a series of bird and animal calls that let each other know when someone enters the woods. Naehorn is on night patrol and uses his animal empathy and intuition to keep apprised of everything happening nearby.
Naehorn has a wolf, Shadow, that follows him everywhere. He raised him from a pup and trained him in the ways of the rangers. Naehorn was married to a human for 50 years before she died. He still grieves every day and won't consider even dating anyone else. Despite this, he isn't lonely and has many friends and family.
Geography: Naehorn’s patrols cover an area northeast of Forest’s Edge where the woods thins and ground rises to overlook an area of rough terrain to the east. His favorite vantage point is an ancient festival site. At the edge of the ridge, according to local histories, an ancient peoples called the Sunwatchers built a temple so that they could watch the rise of the Malam the Sun. On the walls of the circle, they placed stone obelisks fashioned with vertical slots, arranged so that the rising sun, at the beginning of each season, shone through the gaps. The sunlight would be focused by lenses set into the slots onto the central altar. The resultant heat would ignite the festival fires.
Runners, selected by their villages by competition or election for this was a high honor, would light torches from the holy fire and run tirelessly through the Lolot Forest to central squares and grand keeps alike, to ignite their bonfires and fireplaces. So, the priests declared, began the four seasons of the land.