Riverthorpe

Of the three defensive towns in the Serene Republic of Dalkar, Riverthorpe is the furthest from the "front lines" of the Forbidden Forest. It is, therefore, responsible for most of the crops and livestock that feed the three towns. Riverthorpe is also the link between the other two towns and the eastern part of the kingdom, with a direct road to the capital of Alard's Rest.
Riverthorpe is a somewhat small town, but most of its citizens are involved in agriculture. The town's proper limits - where the Watch patrols actively - are quite vast and include swathes of grazing or crop land in addition to the walled central area which sits just on the southern bank of the Oriel River. The majority of the central town is made up of inns for traveling merchants, taverns for locals, processing and storage facilities for the various crops and livestock, and other services related to trade and travel. There is not a ton of industry or amazement in Riverthorpe, just a rugged pragmatism and community understanding of its purpose.

Demographics

The vast majority of the population of Riverthorpe are humans, halflings, and firbolgs. The latter use their cultural druidic practices to help the town grow crops efficiently on smaller plots. The Watch and military members of the town come from a variety of races and backgrounds, including goliaths that are native to the island of Dalkaria. Dwarves, elves, tieflings, and other peoples have come through the Serene Republic looking for opportunity and a new life - especially those who were soldiers or mercenaries and can contribute to the safety and defense of the nation from the dangers of the Forbidden Forest.
There are very few aristocrats in town, and the vast majority of the population lives modestly but able to sustain themselves. Between the crops that each family grows and the community spirit of sharing, very few go hungry in Riverthorpe. Most of the town are farmers and herders, with another significant portion involved in processing the products of those endeavors and storing/transporting the goods to the other western towns. About 1,500 people live in the central town area, with the rest spread among farms and small hamlets in the surrounding plains.

Government

The government of Riverthorpe is a mix of elected and appointed individuals, as a result of its primary purpose as a defensive town. The primary ruling mechanism is a four-person council, of which two are local leaders elected directly by the townspeople. The other two members are appointed by the central government in Alard's Rest: the Serene General who is responsible for coordinating all military matters in the west, and the trade/agricultural coordinator who oversees the cultivation, processing, storage, rationing, and transportation aspects of feeding the three western towns. While many outside Riverthorpe find it odd that their council has an even number of members, the arrangement works in practice because many in the town are OK with showing deference to the national concerns at the expense of slightly more inconvenience to themselves. Of course, the two locally elected councilors always try to fight for lower taxes and more control over what crops are grown and how, despite how that might be received by the two national councilors.
Another quirk of this arrangement is that, because the council has an even number of members, the two councilors appointed by the national government break any 2-2 ties if they vote together. To help dampen animosity between the two camps, the council often brings in outside advisors to mediate the discussion and help both sides reach a compromise that works for both the local citizens and the national concerns. These mediators help the council get to an agreement that can pass 3-1, if it initially seemed like it would be split with the local councilors on one side and the national ones opposed. In the rare situations where the national councilors split their vote and it still ends up 2-2, the policy enters a stasis period where it is tabled until a third-party mediator can be brought in to arrange a solution that allows the vote to pass.

Defences

The central town is surrounded by a sturdy stone wall, which has seen many giant incursions and beast attacks over the years. The wall is patched and certain sections rebuilt every 20 years, to maintain its integrity and strength (also, this timeline accounted for degradation due to major attacks for most of the town's history). There has not been a major threat to the town in almost 40 years, and many citizens have grown up knowing relative safety. The main challenges the town faces are beasts and wild animals that attack livestock, as well as occasional goblin clans that try to raid homesteads. For this reason, the town's Watch operates constant patrols throughout the town's territory, monitoring farms and herding lands up to a full day's journey out from the central town.
As the main base for military planning and coordination among the three western towns, Riverthorpe has many buildings dedicated to serving the military's interests. The main keep houses the war rooms and intelligence gathering operations, as well as some training facilities. The barracks for the soldiers is a separate building nearby, with plenty of spare rooms to accommodate rotating details or visiting mercenaries on their way to the forest. The Serene General has a private quarters located in the central keep that comprise an entire floor of the central castle and are outfitted with elegant furniture for both personal and professional use.

Infrastructure

There is not much advanced infrastructure to speak of in Riverthorpe. The main trade roads through town are cobbled and well-maintained, and many other streets in the central area are either cobbled or have had gravel poured on the dirt. Some of the larger farms and herders have paid to have the road from their land to the main trade road paved or graveled, to protect the carts that come and go between their operations and the processing facilities. The Oriel River provides much of the town's fresh water, including several irrigation canals that have been around for centuries.
Instead of each farm and herding land having its own mill or slaughterhouse, the town realized about 100 years that it would be more efficient to have central facilities in the town proper to handle everyone's product. This saves space and employees on the individual lands, which do not have to have the facilities, and it provides steady jobs for people living in the central town. The sheer volume of crops and livestock from the area that need processing has already shown this central approach to be beneficial to everyone. The crop-processing area consists of windmills, watermills on the river, and one in-progress mill that will be powered by heat from burning wood, peat, or other biofuel. The livestock processing area is on the southern side of the town, outside the walls so that the smell does not permeate everything. It consists of several slaughterhouses that can take livestock in either by herders or via carts, tanneries that skin the animals and begin processing the skins into leathers, butchers that carve up the carcasses into usable meat, and several large meat storage facilities that use salt or smoke to preserve the meat.
Though the entirety of the central town is on the southern banks of the river, many farms and herding lands are on the other side of the Oriel. To serve these producers, two large bridges were built about 100 years ago that allow carts or livestock herds to cross the river and make it to processing areas in the town proper. These bridges are placed on either side of the town proper, about two miles out from the walls.

History

The last of the three defensive towns to be settled in the tenth century 2A, Riverthorpe was actually not part of the original fortification plan. The several groups that were sent out either met grisly demises or settled into the other two towns of Isolde and Westley. The central government - by this time more united and coordinated under Alardian leadership - saw the need for a third settlement to serve as the gateway between the nation's two halves, further away from the dangers of the forest. And to this end, they commissioned one final group of settlers and soldiers to establish a town about three days' ride west of the capital. And so, two years after the other western towns were founded, this group of settlers decided to start their new town on a relatively flat expanse of plains just on the banks of the river.
Like the other western towns, the actual building of the town was difficult and met with attacks and challenges at least once a year. The Giants and creatures of the land did not respond well to the "civilized" attempts to settle the area, and they tried to destroy the three settlements that encroached on their land. After building homes for the settlers and a makeshift barracks for the guards, the townspeople set about building a perimeter stone wall that would encompass their population and several square miles of farmland. Once this wall was completed, Riverthorpe was able to settle into a proper community and began building more, sturdier houses and encouraging people to migrate to the new town.
Over the centuries, as the town slowly grew, more and more of the surrounding plains fell under their protection, with farmers and herders claiming land further from the central town area. This expansion would not have been possible without the coordinated efforts of all three western towns to mitigate the threat posed by the Giants and other dangerous creatures. Every major attack - which occurred once every five years or so - brought some people closer to the central town, but then a few years would pass quietly and farms would start being built further out again. With no major attacks for almost 40 years now, the town's reach has expanded to its largest ever perimeter. Watch members now patrol roads and farmsteads a full day's travel away from the central town.
Once the town was settled and secure - about five years after its initial founding - the national government began to coordinate military and trading efforts between all three western towns, with the coordinating authorities stationed in Riverthorpe. The Serene General, commander of the nation's military forces, moved his headquarters to the town's central keep, where is has been ever since. And the trade representative also moved to the town and began inspecting and coordinating the efforts of the area's farmers and herders, making sure a variety of crops were grown sustainably and animals raised effectively. These two authorities are still located in Riverthorpe today and comprise one-half of the town's governing council. Together, they help coordinate military efforts and food distribution among the three western towns, with a small amount of excess food being shipped east to the rest of the nation.
Other than occasional attacks by Giants or dangerous beasts, Riverthorpe has had a quiet history, with no notable events or scandals. It has formed a good partnership with the other western towns, and the three run themselves efficiently with very little help from the government east of the river.

Architecture

The central town area has many wood and stone buildings with simple layouts, resembling Medieval European huts. Many taverns and larger businesses are closer to Tudor design, with intricate brickwork that visually sets them apart from the generally drab houses around. The central keep is an impressive stone building of Tudor design, with corner turrets and elaborate brickwork over the gates. The farms and homesteads in the plains surrounding the town tend to feature predominately Norse designs that have a relatively small footprint with a central covered chimney. Some of the larger, more sprawling homesteads have multiple covered chimneys, allowing multiple common rooms to heat the interior areas. Apart from these Norse chimneys, the houses otherwise resemble prairie architecture.

Founding Date

943 2A

Type

Town

Population

4,614

Inhabitant Demonym

Riverthorpers

Location under

Dalkaria

Owning Organization

Serene Republic of Dalkar