Cardinal Creek
It's been a couple of weeks of solemn, silent, and lonely travel. Occasionally, you've passed a dwarf on the non-existent road, but they paid you little mind as they kept their pickaxe propped on their shoulder, their simple little draw-string pack dangling from the handle just under the sturdy iron cross-piece.
You're starting to forget why you had decided to travel west into the Armlands. Your feet ached and you begin to wish that you were able to afford a horse. Your destination seems so far away, and it started to seem far from worth it. Why had you decided to uproot yourself and find a home so far away?
Time dragged its feet and your packed food began to dwindle. Your waterskin became limper and limper as you drank your water and found yourself accidentally missing all sources of fresh water as you went. The time when all your supplies ran out eventually came, and the summer sun beat down upon you until your mouth grew dry and your limbs weakened and your pace slowed to the point that crawling would have been faster.
When you finally collapsed, you fell face-first into the rock-strewn sand of the shore of the never-ending bay. Your conscience leaves you like water rushing down the drain.
You lay there out in the open, vulnerable to any scavenging animal or ne'er-do-well that might happen to stumble upon you.
Yet...
Several hours later, your dry, crusted eyes opened and you found yourself lying flat on your back, staring up at a clear blue sky dotted with the occasional fluffy white cloud. The longer you lay there, the more you picked up on.
Whatever you were laying was not the ground. It was hard and wooden and rocked gently. Something large flapped nearby and water sloshed and slapped against the surface underneath you.
You were rescued and brought aboard a fisherman's boat. The fisherman had thought you were dead at first when he had come upon you. But when he saw that you were still alive, simply in a bad way, and the fisherman's wife, who was on the boat, urged him to bring you aboard.
Thankful, you ride along with them as they finished their fishing route, and even helped when the fisherman needed it. When the boat finally sidled up to the worn stone docks, you thanked them again and gave them several gold coins from your money pouch. They tried to refuse your coin, but you insist and they finally accept it.
You have arrived at your destination—the large destination town of Cardinal Creek.
Cardinal Creek is a remote, yet picturesque, town located on the western shore of Bikkalis Bay. The town was built along the banks of a winding creek when refugees from Eldondi crossed the mountains and descended into the Armlands in order to escape the Sorcerer Queen and her forces. The creek, also named Cardinal Creek, is named so because of the vibrant and chatty cardinal birds that were keen to perch upon the branches of the trees that lined the watercourse. A red cardinal feather is often the first gift a suitor will give the girl they wish to woo, and the yearly festival in September has many activities based on the courtship observed between male and female cardinals. Salmon, along with many other fish like walleye and shad spawn up the creek. There's enough of a variation of fish that the townsfolk can catch something during every season of the year, lowering the risk of them going hungry during the long and dark winters that visit every year. Bikkalis Bay is also crammed full of fish and there is always a fishing competition every month or two. And while Cardinals and Fishing make up a large part of Cardinal Creek's culture, that is not all that the town's culture has to offer. Large remnants of Eldonine culture were brought with the refugees as they came west, but much of it was lost as many of the refugees felt sorrow and pain when they reminisced on their past.
Cardinal Creek is a remote, yet picturesque, town located on the western shore of Bikkalis Bay. The town was built along the banks of a winding creek when refugees from Eldondi crossed the mountains and descended into the Armlands in order to escape the Sorcerer Queen and her forces. The creek, also named Cardinal Creek, is named so because of the vibrant and chatty cardinal birds that were keen to perch upon the branches of the trees that lined the watercourse. A red cardinal feather is often the first gift a suitor will give the girl they wish to woo, and the yearly festival in September has many activities based on the courtship observed between male and female cardinals. Salmon, along with many other fish like walleye and shad spawn up the creek. There's enough of a variation of fish that the townsfolk can catch something during every season of the year, lowering the risk of them going hungry during the long and dark winters that visit every year. Bikkalis Bay is also crammed full of fish and there is always a fishing competition every month or two. And while Cardinals and Fishing make up a large part of Cardinal Creek's culture, that is not all that the town's culture has to offer. Large remnants of Eldonine culture were brought with the refugees as they came west, but much of it was lost as many of the refugees felt sorrow and pain when they reminisced on their past.
Demographics
80% human, 5% elf, 5% dwarf, 10% other depending on the time of year.
Defences
Cardinal Creek is mostly protected by the forests located to the north and south. It used to have stone walls, but after the fall of the Sorcerer Queen, the walls were allowed to crumble and decay, as there is no form of danger in the Armlands that walls can protect them from that the mountains don't already do. The moorlands west of the mountains between Norëthir and the Serpentine Deeps is thought to be inhospitable enough to keep any invaders from Norëthir from coming south that way.
Despite this, guards regularly patrol around the perimeter of the town, and the forests are said to be inhabited by benevolent tree people.
The harbour itself is protected against unruly waves by high and long seawalls crafted from large boulders brought down from the hill to the south-west of town. It's enough to keep the ships docked protected from Bikkalis Bay's unusually high tides, which are generated by the shape of the bay plus the fact that two of Eldûra's moons pass directly over the it.
Architecture
The architecture of Cardinal Creek is based upon the architecture that can be found in Eldondi, mixed with influences from other kingdoms, such as the neighbouring dwarves. The rooves of every building are clad with the unusually-blue slate that can be found in the mountains up the creek, and the walls are made from the wood of the trees that can be found blanketing most of the Armlands. Windows are often small and thick in order to hold the heat of the fire inside during the winter. Most buildings have simple clear windows, but the inns sport more detailed windows in the check-in foyer and every window in the mayor's office are lovingly designed and crafted by dwarven glass-smiths from Jacynth Depths.
The colour theme of Cardinal Creek is blue and paper-birch white despite the name, the associated bird, and the fact that Eldonine colour themes involve a variety of greens.
Natural Resources
The majority of the town's resources come from the sea in the form of fish and sometimes driftwood which can be used in the local art. Wood from the forest, but the people of Cardinal Creek are wary of taking too much, just in case they accidentally enrage the tree people. Stone is also another natural resource.
Founding Date
300 years before present
Founders
Type
Town
Inhabitant Demonym
Cardinals
Location under
Ruling/Owning Rank
Comments