Rock Springs

Sitting on the edge of Lake Liot, it has a strong fishing presence, although it also attracts miners over winter and hunters year round.
It has been here since shortly after the creation of Lake Liot, taking advantage of the rare and magical fish that inhabit its depths and the occasional treasure that comes up with the catch.

Demographics

100% other

Industry & Trade

Fishing

Guilds and Factions

Technically, although the Barony of Karth claims the village, it sits outside any formal political boundaries in Daly, and could be said to be independant, although the villagers would rarely put that much thought into their exact geopolitical status.

Architecture

For most of the year, the village proper consists of a sturdily built tavern and a couple of dozen large stone cottages around the village square, with gardens, coops and stys surrounding the rear of the buildings. The main road down to the docks is lined with several more, narrower and taller, cobblestone houses that are the main residence of the fisherfolk, and the market square is right off the docks.
A few minutes further travel inland, however, just about in eyesight of the village square is the winter village. This forms the home of hundreds of miners, trappers and hunters during the frigid winter period of the Icebound Peaks, and is somewhat unique in terms of building type. Each of the dozen buildings are made out of whole logs, stacked and fitted, and easily stretch several hundred feet a side. Entrance to the interior is through an archway off the winter road that can be closed up with heavy wooden gates. The arched passageway takes residents directly into a central courtyard, usually open but with a metal grate above, level with the roof. On the ground floor of the courtyard sit various social and service businesses, all opening into the courtyard- a tavern, a pie or soup shop, a communal kitchen, a laundry, a smithy and a few other general store type businesses. Each 'side' has at least one business that runs a fire almost constantly, and they have wide stone chimneys that stretch up through the building. The chimneys have metal pipes filled with water running along the interior, heated by the continual flame below, which loop off at intervals through the walls of the building to ensure they are heated throughout. Stairs lead from the courtyard up to the first and second floors on each side, and passageways within lead to the residences themselves. Each set of rooms has a bedroom with privy cubby, a small sitting room and a stone lined store cupboard that most residents use as a vault. There's also a communal bathing room on each side of the building, with plenty of hot water filling the bathing tubs at all hours of the day.
There is no charge for these residences, which open on the last day of Uktar, right before the Feast of the Moon, and they are opened in order and allocated to those staying for the winter in order of arrival- there is usually a small jostling of order as regular arrivals try and gauge their place in the queue to make sure they get a favourite room. The costs of providing and maintaining this accommodation on the village's side are more than offset by the fees generated by renting the ground floors of the buildings to businesses- and competition to hold a license for these businesses is fierce, as after you've paid your license fee and set up, all further takings are profit. It's common to see residents of these buildings wandering between them, heavily bundled, as the businesses tend to vary widely between buildings, and moving between them provides a sense of variety and excitement that would otherwise be lacking.

Geography

High in the foothills of Mount Sentinel, right on the shore of Lake Liot. The height counteracts the heat that's apparent in the lower elevations, and it's often quite chilly here, although it plumments to well below freezing in winter and many residents are accomplished ice fishers. The views are spectacular, though.

Founding Date

804

Type

Village

Population

200 (800 in winter)

Location under

North Tiervik

Owning Organization

Barony of Karth