Trentham
Trentham is a town in southern Onóna. The town sits on the opposite side of the Tal'rim River and to the southeast of New Goven.
The town was originally established as a forward outpost for the Green Guard during the War of Endless Midnight. As the fighting moved northward away from the outpost, it shifted into a settlement for soldiers' families looking to start a new life after the conflict. At the end of the conflict, the barracks were converted into a prison for enemy combatants as well as lawbreakers from the surrounding countryside. When New Goven was established across the river, the Trentham Prison became a holding facility for criminal elements from the city. The New Goven town council even voted for the construction of a bridge across the Tal'rim River so convicts could more easily be transported out of the city and to the prison.
While Trentham is close to the thriving trade city of New Goven, released prisoners are ineligible to join the city's merchant or artisan guilds due to their criminal background, making it impossible for them to find legitimate work in New Goven. As a result, ex-prisoners either take up farming in the lands surrounding Trentham or join one of the many criminal syndicates that operate within the town. In search of a support network, these released convicts are hired into front businesses and end up resuming criminal activity as a means to survive.
Besides ex-prisoners, the population of Trentham is also made up of the families of soldiers stationed in the prison or within New Goven. A majority of these families live on farmsteads in the outskirts of the town proper and are expected to help support the military garrison through regular tithes of food and other supplies.
History
Following Asmodeus' defeat, the Quorel'hrim Kingdom set its sights on reclaiming the continent of Shandalar, which had been recaptured by the Drow in the War of Endless Midnight. The Drow controlled the lands north of the Tal'rim River and the capital of Quor'melár was under siege, so the Eladrin had to set up forward operating posts along the borders of their controlled territory in order to coordinate an all-out offensive and retake the kingdom. One of these outposts was built south of the Tal'rim River as a staging ground for retaking the ancient city of Goven.
As the war turned in the Eladrin's favor, a dungeon was built in this outpost to house both captured enemy soldiers as well as political dissidents that Queen Regent Elanor Ayn'lor's war council deemed dangerous to the war effort. After the Drow were expulsed from Quorel'hrim, the prison remained in operation and the outpost slowly grew into a small town as soldiers returning from war settled in the lands surrounding their former barracks. The town was named Trentham after Colonel Trent Vir'laren, who had sacrificed himself during the assault that retook Goven and drove the Drow north across the Hylian River, effectively splitting their forces up the middle.
Following the end of hostilities, the Queen Regent ordered all political dissidents released and cleared of all criminal charges. However, without adequate means to return to their home towns, most of the dissidents from Trentham simply chose to settle within the prison town, which caused a significant amount of unrest between them and the retired soldiers that had previously been their captors.
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