South Road Fair:
South Road Fair is built along a stream in the middle of the strip of a conifer forest that runs mostly east to west across the Southern Trade Road. It is an open array town with no wall, though it does employ roving archers and scouts. The forest is about a 3 day travel, by foot, in width, north to south but stretches from the mountains to the East all the way to the western coast. Public buildings are marked by placards decorated with symbols designating their function, as they would be in Asylim, because knowledge of reading and writing is rather uncommon. The common spoken language is Ansylin. There exists no prejudice against acceptance into the community, and any peaceable peoples are welcome to trade or immigrate.
Population:
The majority of the residents are Ansylin, though that majority has dwindled in recent Cycles, as a clan of Rheini and a clan of Spiofthests have immigrated. There is also about half the number of Centrins, as that of either of the latter two clans, who have immigrated from Boga City. Accepting of any tribe and having recently established a trade route to Bergbaulager, a Maldrog village on the Lunaedriac Lake in the Dragon's Spine Mountains, there are a few Maldrogs and peoples of other tribes who may not specifically reside but are frequently found here.
Government:
Beholden to neither Boga City to the North nor Asylim to the South, South Road Fair is an independent town under the rulership of a self-appointed Mayor named, Giodavi, an Ansylin who was once a caravan master from Asylim. He is boisterous and kind-hearted, spending his days walking about the town, politicking, and his evening at his own tavern, the Boar's Head. He has established a group of advisers, entitled as ministers. Clavo, an Ansylin and former caravan guard, is the Carpenters' Guildmaster and the Minister of Construction. Lyndha, a Spiofthest-Centrin Bajinin and the heartmate of Giodavi, runs the Trade Store and is the Minister of Finance. Sannit, an Ansylin, former caravan guard, and independent explorer, whose party was responsible for establishing contact with Bergbaulager, is the Minister of Foreign Relations. Clavo, Sannit, and Giodavi also work together to coordinate the town defenses.
The Carpenters' Guild doubles as the Home Guard, and its carpenters and teamsters are trained in combat. Clavo, the Guildmaster, oversees most of the training himself, though his skill is augmented by that of Sannit, who occasionally lends instruction, and other members of the former South Road Seekers when they are in town. There are three crew leaders, White Oak, a Spiofthest man, Olivia, an Ansylin woman, and Tablio, a Centrin man. The guild also has the use of 5 burros.
The Hunting Lodge doubles as the ranger post, teams of archers who are not actively on a hunt patrol the area around the village. This group includes a far greater number than that of the carpenters but does not have one specific leader. The members are divided among five groups, each with its own crew leader. The crew leaders collaborate when it becomes necessary. The five leaders include Passaro, a Rheini man and the father of Indigo, Siofra, a Shimadow female with bright red hair, Zephyr, a Spiofthest man, Aust, a Centrin man and former member of the South Road Seekers, and Indigo, a Rheini female who was also a former member of the South Road Seekers. The entire unit employs 25 more hunters, one trained, red wolf under the guidance of Zephyr, and one trained leopard, under the guidance of Indigo. The hunting unit led by Indigo will always accompany a trade caravan to Bergbaulager. It is not much known by the general populace that both Zephyr and Indigo are better than competent benders.
Levels of Technology:
The overt indicators for the expression of technology within any given society are represented by construction, fashion, and weaponry. The subtle indicators are communication and art. The village of South Road Fair was built using felled timbers, which are readily available as the town is located in a conifer forest. There is no masonry, with no supply and little need. The largest structures are the Boar's Head and the Trading Post.
Fashion is paranormally advanced with regard to leather goods but remains fairly simple with regard to textiles, even though silk is the most available product. Knowledge of metallurgy for weaponry and other metal goods is non-existent, as Bergbaulager is now the source for such needs. The citizens are considered to be fairly simple with regard to communication or art. Ansylin, which is the predominant language, does have a written form, but only Lyndha, the Minister of Finance, can use it proficiently. That writing has a cuneiform pattern. Lyndha is teaching a few others to read and write but exposure is limited. The demonstration of the arts could be applied to the decorative nature of leather goods, but anything else is limited to wooden carvings and simple jewelry.
Commerce:
The base currency is a coin, called a Clam, manufactured from Ocrin, the alloy of tin and zinc, and is minted in Boga City, where it is simply called an Ocrin. The local name comes from Asylim, where it is the same coin that is minted in Boga City. South Road Fair is a major waypoint along the Southern Trade Route. Caravans from Asylim pass through town on their way to and returning from Boga City, carrying various goods. A single caravan, under the control of the South Road Seekers, travels back and forth to Bergbaulager, mostly trading fuel oil for metal goods. Fuel oil, manufactured by combining the liquid from crushed lighter pine with pork fat, is unique to South Road Fair and highly valued.
The small village is also known throughout the land for the manufacture of exquisite leather goods, including armor, due to the coordinated efforts of Swift Raven, a Rheini, and Fallen Leaf, a Spiofthest. Well-to-do explorers of established reputation will travel to South Road Fair to have a piece of armor commissioned. The sale of wine, made from locally collected grapes, rose hips, and hawthorn berries, adds some to the profitability of the town. Outside of commerce dealing directly with trade caravans, there is also a barber shop, a bathhouse, the Boar's Head Tavern, bunk houses and hammocks to let, two grist mills, an herbalist and apothecary, a weaver and seamstress, the tannery, and the Trade Store.
