Baggerville

Known as the "second city" of Tallstag , Baggerville is perhaps best remembered as the hometown of the ruling dynasty of the kingdom. It is a very quiet town nestled against the mountains where the Tallstag River begins its descent toward the coast. The forest across the river provides timber and game for the town, as well. There is a little bit of everything in this town, except perhaps warm weather. To the locals, this town has another nickname: the most boring town in the world.
For the last several centuries, the threats from the Northern Forest and from the mountains have been largely eliminated, leaving little threat or excitement for the people of this town. Most people go about their lives as usual and take enjoyment from times with friends and family. Because the town is tucked away against the mountains, there are rarely many travelers in town, and those tend to be sailors bringing goods up the river more often than not.

Demographics

For many centuries, halflings held a dominant majority of Baggerville's population, but more recently humans have begun settling here. Halflings still make up around 55% of the town, with humans coming in around 35%. Various other races make up the remaining portions.
Most people in town are employed in somewhat traditional, manual labor jobs, and thus the economic situation of the town is relatively poor compared to other areas. This does not mean that people go without, however, as the spirit of community is strong in Baggerville. Taverns, grocers, and other basic service businesses tend to charge as little as possible for their wares, preferring to keep prices low at the expense of a bit of profit. The tavern culture is very strong in town, as workers meet up at various establishments after work for socialization.

Government

The town of Baggerville is led by a Lord Mayor, which is an elected position that serves for life or until sufficient public outcry forces their removal from power. The monarch in Forest-end selects a handful of people they wish to appoint to the post, and the people of the town then vote from those candidates. In the event that no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the highest two vote receivers are placed in a secondary election, which also includes a third member who had not been involved in the first election - usually someone the town's nobility believe will win the town over. Most of these candidates for Lord Mayor have tended to come from the kingdom's nobility, but there have been a few non-aristocrats over the centuries who have held the position.
The Lord Mayor is aided in their job by a bevvy of bureaucrats and administrators who help run different aspects of the town. All of these positions tend to be career, and when in need of replacement the Lord Mayor has typically promoted an underling instead of using nepotism or other social-based appointment methods. The Lord Mayor has almost absolute authority to run the affairs of Baggerville, however they do answer to the monarch and must balance the monarch's desires with the happiness of the townsfolk. Of the most high profile positions that the Lord Mayor appoints are the various judgeships of the town's courts. These judges also serve life terms unless public outcry at several poor decisions forces their removal. The judicial system is split into two different courts dealing with different sectors (both in a geographic sense, as well as socioeconomic) of the town's population. Any appeals see the Lord Mayor step in as the arbiter and determine if the original ruling was fair.

Defences

Baggerville has never seen the need for a thick stone perimeter wall, preferring instead to maintain a network of small watchtowers throughout the town that could alert one another and muster defenses where necessary. The central area of town - where many government buildings reside - was surrounded by a wooden palisade for most of the Second Age, but that was dismantled several centuries ago as the town looked to expand and make as much area available for development as possible.
This lack of proper defenses worked out for Baggerville for most of history, but it was the town's active downfall in the recent Everyn War. The attacking forces of the Dumein Dominion were able to quickly breach the defensive trenches the town had hastily dug, and the Lord Mayor surrendered soon thereafter.

Infrastructure

While not the most advanced or most efficient town, Baggerville is able to exist comfortably among its mountainous, semi-forested home. The main road through town is paved, as are several other main streets, while the other roads of the town are gravel. This is in part because the people don't see the need to spend the time and money to pave and maintain every street, but also the gravel roads freeze less easily in the winter months, so they are less treacherous for people trying to walk or move about.
A pool of fresh water exists at the base of the mountains, replenished constantly from underground sources that keep the water clean and cool. Many citizens get their water from this source, and one business has started in the last couple decades to help put this water in clay pots and glass bottles to distribute more easily throughout Baggerville. The other sources of fresh water are several wells that are scattered throughout the town and surrounding countryside. The river provides water for some, but many choose not to use it due to superstitious fears of pollution from the watermills and shipping industry.
While there is very little mining industry in the mountains near Baggerville, there are several small quarries that extract rock and stone from the mountains. These operations are somewhat outside the town's populated areas, but most people still travel to and from the worksite each day.

History

In the last century of the First Age, settlers from Forest-end headed to the west, looking to found a new settlement that could access the mining and quarrying possibilities near the mountains. The group of settlers headed up the Tallstag River and were eventually able to find a place to build up at the base of the Backbone Spires. As the town began to grow, several other families left Forest-end, including some of the city's aristocratic families, hopeful to set up a new life and new chances for themselves in the newer town.
The first 200 years of Baggerville's existence were relatively quiet, with no external attacks or threats from dangerous beasts. Rumors abounded of dangerous creatures in the forest, mainly told by the loggers and guides that went into the Northern Forest regularly, but until the second century 2A they did not venture south across the river. Starting around 140, large beasts became somewhat of a regular sight south of the Tallstag River, and both Baggerville and Forest-end knew they had to address the problem.
Around the same time, small armies from the southern nations were starting to explore the northern reaches of the continent and came into contact with the Kingdom of Tallstag as they traversed the plains. To address this situation, as well as the dangerous beasts from the forest, the leadership of the kingdom decided to construct several border/frontier fortifications to help curb the problems.
Since that time, Baggerville experienced the occasional roaming beast or small warband that made it over the mountains, but most of those issues were dealt with before they made it near the settled towns. Baggerville did always send soldiers and mustered men to the rest of the kingdom when needed, thankful to spare some people to not have to deal with threats near home.
The most significant event in Baggerville's history came just a few years ago, as forces from the Dumein Dominion descended on the town during the Everyn War. The centuries of not having to deal with serious threats came back to bite Baggerville, as they were unprepared for an actual invasion. Having heard of the siege of Camp Morrigan the Lord Mayor mustered the able-bodied men of Baggerville and oversaw the digging of a defensive trench that would hopefully slow the attack. There was not enough time to bring thousands of trees from the forest to create any sort of meaningful palisade, so the trench would be the town's only defense.
Predictably, this meager, last-minute attempt at defense was no match for a large, disciplined army. There was very little in the way of a siege before the attackers just overran the town and forced the Lord Mayor to surrender. Baggerville was placed under direct administration of the Dominion military until the war concluded and a more permanent solution could be put in place.
In the years since the war, life has mostly returned to normal in Baggerville. The Lord Mayor still oversees the town and its operation, though he is watched by a supervisor from the Everyn Federation who makes sure no one foments rebellion in the town. With their lives hardly being affected, many citizens do not have strong opinions one way or the other on the new geopolitical situation. Unlike other places on the continent - or indeed, other places within Tallstag - there is not a roiling anti-Federation sentiment under the surface of Baggerville.

Architecture

Most houses in Baggerville are small, simple dwellings made of stone from the local quarries and timber brought in from the Northern Forest. Most houses also have small gardens on the side or behind them, allowing the people to grow their own vegetables and/or flowers. Businesses and taverns tend to be larger buildings with stone ground floors and timber on any upper floors. The government buildings and temples are larger buildings but are not built vertically, they spread out horizontally instead. Most have domes or turrets that can be seen from outside of town, but they are decorative and usually not part of the habitable structure.

Founding Date

2905 1A

Type

Town

Population

8,305

Inhabitant Demonym

Baggies

Owning Organization

Kingdom of Tallstag