Driftown
A dense hill of snow rolls beside The Silverbark forest. The hill of snow, when circled around, reveals itself to in fact be a town, slowly buried and entombed by the snowfall. Lit by torches and jars filled with glowing insects, the gaps between the roofs are covered over with planks and snow seeps through gaps between the wood. Driftown is surprisingly warm and close, the ground clear of snow and replaced with a slurry of mud. The northern buildings are still exposed to the open air, but already wood laid between the roofs is accumulating the snowfall. In time, all of Driftown will be buried but for now, it remains habitable.
Demographics
Species
| Species | Number (%) | Male (%) | Female (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dwarves | 34 (23%) | 21 (62%) | 13 (38%) |
| Humans | 42 (28%) | 15 (36%) | 27 (64%) |
| Tabaxi | 50 (34%) | 23 (46%) | 27 (54%) |
| Warforged | 23 (15%) | N/A | N/A |
Jobs
| Career | Number (%) |
|---|---|
| Apothecary | 3 (2%) |
| Blacksmith | 8 (5%) |
| Guard | 32 (21%) |
| Labourer | 16 (11%) |
| Miner | 67 (45%) |
| Priest | 4 (3%) |
| Stonemason | 7 (5%) |
| Trader | 12 (8%) |
Government
Driftown was once under the laws of Humans and Elves. Since the Cataclysm, despite their lower numbers, Dwarven rule has become the accepted norm. Though strict and rigorous, it is needed in such a settlement where regular conflicts between the different species occur regularly and a quick, forceful response is needed for sudden dangers.
Defences
The guards are equipped with steel weapons and a combination of plate and leather armour. While walls do exist, they're simply created from stacked rubble extracted from the mines and used to create the slope for the snow to settle over. The town relies upon going unnoticed by any aggressors, which has led to the chapel's tower being nailed with scrap wood to disguise it as a dead tree trunk from the Silverbark and any true defences are orientated towards the still-exposed sections of the town.
Industry & Trade
The products of the blacksmith and stonemason are primarily intended for the town itself. However, spare materials are often worked to create tradeable goods for the market days in order to obtain necessary items such as ores, coke, and plants. The apothecaries sell their own excess goods as well, though as the town lacks a dedicated trader inhabitant they often send a number of people from each of these organisations to hawk their wares.
Infrastructure
Though buried, the town has managed to bring a new life to itself by establishing a mine. An abandoned building was hollowed out and converted into a mining house, the shaft descending and rapidly sprawling out. Dank and warm, with thick mud slowly dripping between the support struts and making the floor a dangerous slope, they regularly haul out blocks of stone in the search for ores and minerals.
The spaces between the roofs of the buildings have been closed up with planks of thick wood, bound by cross-planks and rusted nails. Though sagging slightly, snow drifting through the gaps between the planks at times, they still hold true. When Driftown began to be subsumed by the snows and they realised that they could not keep back the snow, they instead worked to ensure the town would survive the creeping layers. To provide light, glass containers filled with glowing fungi or insects are regularly strung up against the buildings where they cast a dim, faintly greenish light.
Close to the mine house is a blacksmith and a stonemason, where any dregs of ore or damaged tools can be reworked and repaired. Often working together, these two styles of crafting provide much of the tools and equipment available to the town. Similarly, while the Apothecary has restricted access to roots and herbs, they gather and grow enough to continue their work, trading for materials they cannot naturally obtain in Driftown.
Assets
The Apothecaries work out of a modest building, called Snowbalm. Their creations and treatments are based principally upon a combination of plants from the Silverbark and fungi or underground plants located in caves that the mines have breached into. Despite the limited ingredients, they can readily brew up a wide range of cures and tinctures for those who can pay.
Steel's Wrath is the local smithy. The name is a holdover from their original materials, as they have little ore to work with currently. Instead, their practice is to take damaged and broken items for re-forging, melting the remains of the item down and recasting it for the owner. Most of the workers are becoming tired of such work, and talk of leaving for a more populated area with a supply of ore.
Ulaa's Path is the unofficial name given to the mining group who work the shafts. They use a large number of stone tools, saving the iron and steel tools for any ores and gems they locate to preserve the quality. Though the mine is relatively young and has mediocre ore output, the workers enjoy their tasks and the tunnels are already sprawling wide and deep.
A modest chapel known as Faithwell exists in the middle of the town, whose tower still juts out of the snow; sunlight pours through the windows, with chill winds screaming through cracks in the stone and shattered glass panes. Each species in Driftown has a section of the chapel available to their own Deities, with the priests leading services as necessary.
The stonemasons operate through providing tradable materials and supplying the stone tools to the miners nearby. Although slowly progressing, their current work is in fact to improve the condition of the town; flagstones are crafted from excess and scrap stone to cover the muddy slush of the ground, while simple support columns and even archways are being crafted for use in further supporting the snow which covers the town.
History
Driftown was marked on older maps by its settled name; Thricepine. It was initially little more than a way stop for travellers, but as travellers became more numerous entrepreneuring individuals set up shops and rest places. Within several years, Thricepine was an established town that relied on trade and travel to keep itself going, charging a modest fee for services such as repairs, reshoeing, spiritual and physical healing and other desired options.
When the Cataclysm came, much of this lifeblood died out and the population left. What remained were those who first refused to abandon their homes, joined by others who came seeking a place to make something of a living. Without the necessary means or population, the snows began to build up and consume outer establishments. Eventually, to prevent the town from becoming consumed by the snow, they started to mine and dig, using the rubble generated to wall off their town. Wood traded from other settlements was used to fill in between the roofs, and the town was renamed to Driftown as a result of its eventual fate.
Architecture
Though primarily wood, the damp and cold has seen rot become an issue. Many buildings are a curious mixture of wood and stone as rotten sections are replaced. There is such demand for the supply of carved stone that between the buildings, the floor, and the ceiling the stonemasons simply provide whatever is most desperately needed at the time.
Geography
Settled against what was once a far larger border of the Silverbark forest, Driftown is heavily exposed. The ground is somewhat flat, but unfortunately, this has led to rampant snow accumulation. As a result, the town is now heavily buried beneath a snowy mound, appearing as if there was a hill present when viewed from the snowed-in side.
Natural Resources
Stone and minor ore veins are extracted from the mine beneath the town, while cut wood is obtained from Woodspan rather than taken directly from the Silverbark. Fungi and certain plants are grown for use as food or medicine, though other resources like meat and hide are gathered with traps more than active hunting.
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