Wysepka

Introduction

Along the turbulent waters of the river Dawn lies a humble harbour town, Wysepka. Though you shall find no greatness in this place, no ancient texts nor artifacts, the town stands as the capital of the local region. The region went by The County of Katrach in the olden days, when a king in the east still claimed this land as their domain, though most simply refer to the region as Katrach now.
Once the proud capital for the house Wierno, the town is now under new leadership. Since the fall of house Wierno six years ago, a Sorcerer, Malakesh, has brutally enforced his rule over the settlement, as well as the land around. Though the town has a mayor, the title is a relic from days past, and in reality, the second hand of the Sorcerer, Thurh Stygesson is in charge on a local level.
Under the distant shadow of the once beacon of house Wierno, Castle Katrach, which now serves as a sign of oppression, the town whispers of rebellion. Many remember the days of house Wierno with longing, but the revolutionaries have found little success against Thurh’s band of brigands, whose numbers and brutality leave little room for hope.

Government & Defences

Government

Since it's founding Wysepka has been under the ownership of a lord, who acts as the true ruler of the town. When Caslte Katrach was built by Katrach Wierno himself in the middle of the 9th century AR, the settlement was officially tied to the castle, as such the lord of the castle has since claimed rulership of the settlement as well. Later, in the 10th century, when house Wierno subjugated their neighboring lords, a mayor began to be either elected or appointed to manage things on a local level. Since then, there has, without fail, always been a mayor of Wysepka.
However, since the fall of house Wierno things have changed. While there is still a mayor, the current one being a middle aged half-elf lady named Pavlina Strachow, her powers are limited and her role is quite different from the mayors of the past. Like most of the subjects of the Sorcerer, she has next to no contact or interaction with the Sorcerer, instead in practice she works for the Sorcerer's right-hand man, Thurh.
While clasically, the mayor would be given directive from the lord, and then to the best of their ability carry out that directive, now Thurh gives the directive, but he also carries out certain parts of that directive. Questions regarding taxes, laws, and security are left typically dealt with by Thurh or one of his men. As such, Pavlina is left to mostly negotiate and try to keep the peace. As she is a respected local, she has some trust, and she tries to, as much as she can, temper the brutality of Thurh's men, while still achieving the goal set by Thurh.
In truth she does whatever Thurh tells her to do. He treats her as a little more than a lapdog, telling her to do whatever duty he can not be bothered to do himself. As such her duties vary, but typically she is left to negotiate with traders, listen to local problems and disputes, as well as organising the logistics of travel around the area.
All of this has made Pavlina a reasonably popular figure in town, and though she carries out the will of Thurh or the Sorcerer without question, she is full-hearted oppertunist, who seeks to further her own posistion. As such she keeps the knowledge of the Wysepka Loyalist Hideout secret, instead opting to use her information to blackmail the revolutionaries in order to support her own group, The Hidden Current.

Defences

The town of Wysepka is surrounded by a simple wooden palisade, with one gate, and four towers on it. Though construction is ongoing to add earthworks in order to improve the defence of the town.
In terms of soldiers and guards of the settlement, it can be divided into two groups. First is Thurh, and his men, they are the official soldiers of the lord of Castle Katrach, Malakesh, the Sorcerer. More information can be found in the article for the Lordship of Katrach.
Second, is the militia or town guard of the settlement. These are mostly untrained guards who mostly just try and keep the peace. Their role is heavily undermined by the far more effective soldiery of the Sorcerer. However, there is a total of fifthteen of these guards, who officially work for a man by the name of Krzysztof. He is loyal only to the mayor in truth, but he no choice but to comply with all the desires of Thurh.
These guardsmen are complicit in Pavlinas smuggling operation. They are all aware of it, and benefit from it.

Economics

Wysepka acts as the economical hub for the county. It is the areas only harbour settlement, and as such resources from across the area are gathered here. From the vassals of the Sorcerer comes:

• House Pazerski provides timber from the south, on the edges of Strachow Forest
• House Niewierny in the east sends produce and food to the town
• House Zaufalski supplies Wysepka with iron from their mines in the north east

Long ago, house Wierno established a guild of artisans, who's job it was to ensure that no artisans were able to operate in servitude to the vassals of the house. Though neither house Wierno nor the guild exists anymore, the current lord, the Sorcerer Malakesh, has continued to ensure the monopolization of skilled labour in the harbour town. This economic reliance on Wysepka for tools, furniture, construction work, and more ensures the vassals obedience to the lords of Castle Katrach
This concentration of skilled labour is what has turned Wysepka from a small fishing hamlet, to a regional trade hub. The rushing waters of the River Dawn allows traders from settlements on the River Dawn, Lake Rynkowski, and even outside of Sundermark to interact with the small town.
The harbour town does however not trade in exotic goods, instead opting to act as a harbour for bulk trade. They sell their coveted iron to most sea-adjacent settlements in norther Sundermark, as the metal is required for the everlasting conflicts of Sundermark. In exchange the town primarily imports the following:

• Textiles from Mytograd's trade routes, for the artisans of the town to make clothes, for not just Wysepka, but for all of the area.
• Salt from the mines east of Mytograd, for preservation of food in the town, as there are no naturally salt mines in the area.
• Slaves all the way from northern Zlatzem, to be put to work in the iron mines in the north east, and in construction projects around the area.

All of these factors have allowed Wysepka to become an important trade hub not just in the area, but on a larger scale in Northern Sundermark. Though the Sorcerer's recent allowance of Slavery has caused controversy, both at home, as well as in their primary trading partner, the U.M.T, most are willing to overlook the morality of such things for the cheap and stable iron exports the hub can offer.
This has all lead to the town Wysepka becoming far more prosperous than the other settlements in the area. Here most people are either artisans/skilled labourers, fishers/fishmongers, and traders/transport workers. There are few in the town who go hungry, but they do not live in great wealth either. The Sorcerer imposes high taxes on his subjects, and its well known that the soldiers of the Sorcerer are little more than brigands and bandits, who have little quarrel about extorting those who they are meant to protect.
As far as Guilds go, there used to be a few under house Wierno, but they were all forcefully dissolved by the Sorcerer's men when he took power. Since then, the creation of economical partnerships and guilds have been outlawed.
To summerize, though the town is in a state of relative prosperity compared to both the areas, as well as it's own past, the populace does not reap most of the benefits. Much of this economical prosperity is damaged by the lawlessness of the soldiery in the area. Finally, part of the economical prosperity is also based in slave labour, something which while unpopular, has undeniably brought greater prosperity to the area, and therefore to the harbour town of Wysepka, as well as the Sorcerer himself.

Founding Date

603AR

Type

Town

Population

900-1000 as of 1306 AR

Location under

County of Katrach

Included Locations

• Fisher's Inn
• Lord's Inn
• Wysepka Loyalist Hideout

Owner/Ruler

Malakesh

Additional Rulers/Owners

• Thurh Stygesson

Ruling/Owning Rank

Lord

Owning Organization

Lordship of Katrach

Characters in Location

• Himek Saventhi
• Pavlina Strachow
• Thurh Stygesson