Daggerford
Daggerford was a town that lay along the Shining River on the Sword Coast in the Western Heartlands. It was a walled town with a population of approximately 900, with a number of outlying hamlets, farms, and estates bringing the population to over 2,000. The town was strategically placed along the Trade Way and fortified by the local duke's dwarven-built castle. It was primarily a farming and fishing community, but a desire to grow and be seen as an alternative to the northern city Waterdeep caused the town to actively seek craftsmen and artisans. Its streets are unpaved and the buildings are ramshackle in appearance for the most part outside of the walls. The closer you move towards the merchant area of town, the nicer the buildings seem. Many craft buildings are a little better quality, and several well kept houses lie at the end of town closest to Vessar Manor.
Daggerford stinks to high heaven. Also known as the “Rotted Lot” by the countless merchants who pass through it, Daggerford is the largest city between Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep.
The city is nestled near the sticky depths of the Lizard Marsh, and the lingering stink of marsh water and sulphur mingles with the humidity and the ever present buzz of insects during the summer to produce an air of misery around Daggerford's outer districts. Pushed out of the cozy heart of Daggerford, the city’s poor and disenfranchised citizens, disparagingly nicknamed “muckdwellers," struggle to eke out a living in the marsh's murky waters.
Demographics
Humans, Dwarves, and Halflings make up about 95% of the denizens of Daggerford. Several Elves live here, but they are few and far between.
As Daggerford poised itself to become an Alternative to Waterdeep along the Trade Way, the people here are fairly used to seeing strange races, thus dragonborn and gnomes are not looked at strangely. Tieflings are still few and far between, and are thus treated with respect, but wary distance from most inside the city, and honest disgust amongst the muck dwellers.
Government
The government is mostly made up of Lorelai Vessar and her Council of Guilds. Like most cites along the Sword Coast, they follow the laws that the King has decreed, the only differences are about fishing, as they live on a marsh.
The members of the Council of Daggerford are Lorelai Vessar , Archanist Morrigan Vysorrien, Spymaster Thane Killore, Varri Bucklebottom, and Delphine Beaumont .
Defences
There is a 'moat' of sorts around Daggerford. More just that some well-thinking architechs used the terrain of a marsh to their advantage. However, this combined with the increasingly fortified walls (used to be wood, Lorelai Vessar is working on making them stone), with Archer and Guard towers, and the fact that one has to cross a bridge to get into the city makes it a fairly well fortified against the Lizardmen attacks that come during the rainy season.
Industry & Trade
Most inhabitants here are farmers, artisans or fishermen.
The biggest imports are lumber, steel and livestock.
The exports here are Fish, grain, and iron.
Infrastructure
There are several watermills that provide for the bakers and smiths in town. There are also some small sections of sewers that run through the fancier part of town.
The city is made up of four districts. The outer district, or the one of the outside of the walls, is where most of the farming is done. The poorer population lives out here, and works the land to provide for the city. The Merchant district is directly inside the walls by the gates, several shops and inns can be found amongst this place. the further you move inside the city, the nicer the surroundings get. The other district is where the richer people in the city live, as well as where one can find temples and such. The last section is simply the slums where people live who work in or around Daggerford.
Two main gates in and out of the city sit on the south west and north eastern sides respectively. And there are several bridges over the Shining River
Guilds and Factions
The main guilds here in Daggerford are the Farmer's Guild, the Artisan Guild, the Merchant Guild and Lorelai's Advisory Guild.
Order is kept by the the Waterwatch, Daggerford’s official constabulary, but corruption is becoming more and more common within their ranks. The Clasp has learned that a flash of coin forgives many faults, and the famous ring of criminals has been allowed to flourish within Stilben for decades, sometimes working with the guilds to protect mutual interests, such as smuggling contraband goods and narcotics along the Silvercut Roadway.
History
The town took its name from a 400-year-old legend about a boy named Tyndal who fended off a tribe of lizardfolk with only a dagger. The first community was built along the shores of the river at that spot. All the Dukes of Daggerford claimed to be descended from Tyndal. Construction of Castle Daggerford atop the ruined remnants of Morlin Castle began immediately after the fall of the previous Duke of Calandor and the ducal site was relocated from Delimbiyran to Daggerford.
After Illefarn, the Fallen Kingdom of the elves, retreated to Evermeet, the Kingdom of Man controlled the region and Daggerford's environs included all territory bordered on the north by Floshin, on the west by the Lizard Marsh, on the south by Dragonspear Castle, and on the east by the Misty Forest, although that territory was far reduced by the 14th century DR. After the Kingdom of Man was ended by dynastic feuding, the people of Daggerford built a proper town near the shores of Delimbiyr, the Shining River. Eventually, the town and castle were walled in.
Architecture
The original castle and walls are Dwarven make, and thus very study stone. The buildings themselves inside the town range from Dwarven stone to wooden huts, depending on what part of Town you are in. Many of the stone is white-washed here, giving it a very clean look. The roofs are most often thatched, but some are tiled.
As you go further outside the city and into the marsh, the buildings become less nice and cozy and more barely functional. White-washed stone and study lumber give way to mudded and thatched huts.
Geography
Daggerford was build among the marshes, and the river, and thus kind of stinks all the time. There are forests a couple miles away, and there is fresh water available from the Marshes, although no one drinks it. It is humid In the summer, and bone chilling in the winter.
Natural Resources
This is majorily a farming and fishing town. However over the last century, many artisans have moved here from larger cities, or from cities which are further out of the way.
Merchant also stop here on their way between Waterdeep and anywhere else on the coast.
Maps
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Daggerford
Alternative Name(s)
The Rotted Lot.
Type
Town
Population
2000
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Characters in Location
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