Hodsyarn

Where the Western Delent opens up, at the crossroads between two routes of the royal roads, there is a town that sticks to memory. It is nestled between two hills, and on the slopes of one of those hills is a massive translucent shape of swirling air that appears strangely gelatinous. In this swirling air - "the Vortex" - an aurora of light twists about in different shapes and colors. The Vortex moves along the slope and the nearby flatlands, changing shape and sometimes splitting into two before merging together again. Despite its violent movement, the air here is still and quiet and the grass barely seems disturbed by it. The townsfolk do not seem worried by the Vortex at all; aside from a few picnicking tourists, the only folks who seem interested in the Vortex are local kids and teens who leap into the Vortex and drift into the air as if weightless before being deposited back down. The teenagers seem to be able to remain weightless in the air for minutes, treading air and drifting up to the highest point - their parents and relatives shouting from down below don't seem to find this safe or funny, but most onlookers seem more amused or annoyed.
The town itself is unusually large; there are many unused buildings on the edges of town. Near the Vortex, on the Western hill, many of the town's stone buildings are squat and circular things that descend into the dirt. In the center of town, brick and plaster buildings look like they want to be a little Vruhafen, and on the Eastern hill, a great mix of wood and brick shacks and shops overlook the nearby pastures. A large windmill sits on this Eastern hill, a marvel of the modern age. In the center of town, between the hills, large water fountains open up into basins that look like petals on a flower - people congregate around these fountains, gossiping as they fill their pots and buckets.
The town can feel somewhat pastoral, slow most of the time but busy at market. The people are often chipper and friendly, the community spirit is strong at the walled gardens that dot the neighborhoods, and there are few beggars. It can be easy to fall for the illusion that this is a perfect little town with few major problems. The truth is that Hodsyarn quietly carries a deep frustration and bitterness, and this bitterness is quietly dividing the town into rival factions. These factions are conflict-averse and prefer total avoidance to rudeness, but this silent war still has its casualties in families divided and friendships broken. This war is over the future of the town: does it remain small as the local lord has been pressuring it to be, or does it incorporate into an official Junker-led settlement? While the town lacks the infrastructure for sustainable growth and many locals fear change, incorporation would grant these people total freedom from any mobility restrictions - as it is, they are neither serfs nor freedmen, and they have to watch travelers go by enjoying choices they can never know. Only a handful of the locals are legally permitted to leave the region and while the ruling Graf is benevolent, they were raised with the hope that change was coming to Hodsyarn. And so, many have come together to build the city they hope will set them free, regardless of the Graf and her wishes.
Hodsyarn is one of the largest production centers for Divine Contact incense; the plants for this incense are farmed aggressively in the drier parts of the Delent and ground into incense for export here. The workshops where this takes place are instantly noticeable for their stone walls and high security. While this incense is restricted in sale and use for commoners, an Uvaran Priest, paladin, or noble can buy it for cheap here.
Hodsyarn is also a popular destination for one unlikely group: Warlocks of the Elder Leviathan known as The Vile Mass. For there are forces at work under this town that go beyond the obvious Vortex outside. The wells here don't work like wells. There are people here who are powerful warlocks but pretend to not be, and who silence any visiting warlock who causes a disturbance or attracts attention. A strange mist often appears around West-town, and in that mist you can sometimes see a temple appear where one previously wasn't. Strange dreams are common. Wild magic sorcerers and warlock are unusually common among the local townsfolk. The relic that the priests tend to in the grand temple whispers to warlocks who get close to it. Something is wrong here - something that the town's lords are aware of and afraid of, but can't seem to fix. Whether this influence is benign or dangerous is entirely unknown.
Lastly, Starspawn known as Halflings - Yolps who are mutated to look humanoid - hail from Hodsyarn, though most Halflings live in the countryside rather than in town.

Demographics

4,000 semi-permanent residents live in Hodsyarn, though the population can swell with visitors and seasonal workers during some parts of the year. 52% is Starspawn, 13% is Kobold, 17% is Human, 17% is Dryad, and 1% is Other.

Government

By formal law, the town of Hodsyarn is entirely ruled by the region's Graf (or lord) and Rosgen (regional high priest). Both individuals live in estates away from the town, and leave most government to empowered deputies. For secular government, the Graf has left an appointed Mayor; for the religious government, the Rosgen has left the Father Protector. The mayor handles civil law, commercial law, the moral law of non-Uvarans, local defense, and law enforcement. The Father Protector handles Uvaran moral law, court maintenance, public health, and magical law.
In reality, many of the town's functions are organized by guilds under the direction of the informal Burghers, or top merchants. These merchants and their allies run their own local militias, help clean the streets, and generally compete with the Mayor for influence. Politics and city government have become mostly broken, with two competing pseudo governments - a legal one run by the Graf and a self-appointed one run by the most powerful local Burgher - coexisting uncomfortably with each other. Both of these governments use the courthouse run by the priesthood, and the priests have generally avoided taking sides.

Town Leaders

The Mayor of the town is a grim and quiet man from the Kingdom of Gennorholn named Hosker Gomminshov. Hosker is the feared son of the former mayor, Nomidek Gomminshov, who was a brutal and merciless warrior from the hills of Gennorholn (who joined the Graf's warband during her youthful adventures) who savored the chance to get payback on the people of Hain for some unknown crime committed. Hosker spent most of his life in the same wars (and maybe banditry?) as his father before being recently invited here by the Graf to serve as mayor, and so shares in his father's reputation. Unlike Nomidek, Hosker carries no spite and seems to be trying to do a good job. Hosker has actually been a popular mayor among some for his mercy and compassion; he has cared for the poorer members of the town during hard times over the last few years.
It is an open secret that if Hosker comes to collect taxes, you can pay him under the necessary amount and he won't punish you unless you talk about it. It is a much less-known secret that this isn't actually a product of Hosker's quiet compassion, but a product of Hosker's difficulty with numbers and embarrassment around that - he just assumes he miscalculated or miscounted as long as the payment isn't too unreasonable. The town and Graf's budgets have suffered as a result. Thankfully, Hosker is extremely skilled at running a military on a tight budget, and has turned the small town guard into a well-oiled machine. Hosker's generous and merciful attitudes have done a lot to secure his legitimacy as mayor; if he had ruled as his father, he would have been deposed years ago.
The head of the Burgher's faction is Yalna Orgentossler, a charismatic merchant known for her compassion and piety. Yalna is a well-seasoned traveler who sees something special in Hodsyarn; while most other foreign merchants fled when the Graf tried to consolidate control over the town a decade and a half ago, Yalna has stood her ground and fought to make this place a self-governing city. She is great at networking and has connections throughout Hain, but is extremely rules-oriented and bad at navigating the legal system (which is a very bad combination for her). Her dedication to doing everything by the book and above board has made her very trustworthy to many of the crafts guilds, even while they are frustrated by how long it takes for her to get things done.
The Father Protector of the town is Edrin Bilinzol, (Father Protector Edrin). Edrin is not a local priest, but a member of the regional Rosgen's retinue - and he is as much a courtier as he is a theologian. He is a suspicious man, not prone to handing out information to those he doesn't know; he sees threats before he sees friends in any new faces. The local priests are not very fond of him, as they see him as an outside politician with un-Uvaran attitudes. Edrin has struggled in keeping these subordinate priests loyal and obedient, and this has deeply frustrated him. However, Edrin is well-educated about law and court operation, and his political experience has been crucial in keeping the local clergy neutral.

Overlords

The most important overlord of Hodsyarn is Graf Kelfara DeVudrel, an older woman with a serene bearing and a benevolent attitude. Graf DeVudrel seems very kind and reasonable in conversation and personal action, but her zealous commitment to her extremely conservative worldview has made her a poor ruler. Graf DeVudrel hates change, fears the outside world, and sees urbanization as a curse. She does not want to let the town grow, does not want to let anyone under her have any autonomy, and does not want to let the townsfolk be unbound from the land. Her erratic and unyielding edicts have created the divided town that exists today. She often dismisses criticism by pointing to the seductive materialism of the global economy, or the spiritual corruption that she believes comes from some dark presence under the town as a "root source" of the critiques. For all her flaws, the Graf is at least good at dealing with violent threats, and she has kept the region clean of bandits or monsters. Graf Kelfara is a passionate fan of equestrian sport and hunting, and often hosts tourneys or polo matches at her estates.
The Graf's daughter and heir is Treselva DeVudrel. Treselva is a critic of her mother who consorts with her rivals in town; it is thanks to Treselva that Burgher Orgentossler has managed to live in the town for so long without arrest or exile. Treselva is good at negotiation and budgets, but is largely absent from the town and doesn't understand many of the realities of urban life - her biggest weakness is easily infrastructure, which she only thinks she understands. The young lady is also prone to underestimating the Burghers and craftsmen that she sides with. She believes that the townsfolk are wholly loyal to her and takes credit for all of their action against her mother, unaware that she isn't actually that important to the Burghers.
The regional Rosgen is Rosgen Glonsha Sedsvod. Rosgen Glonsha is an odd figure; once she was heir to a powerful Margrave's family and seemed destined to rise into the court of one of the most powerful Hainish families (House Savadan). She quested to prove herself, and found humiliating defeat. Her disgraces escalated and compounded, until she dishonored her house and was ejected from it and into the priesthood. The mages of the clergy never saw her as one of them, and she has had to rely on political knowledge and intrigue to rise through the ranks. The Rosgen struggles with a debilitating fear of Ederstone magic and creatures, and her promotion to rule over Hodsyarn was as much a punishment as a reward. She has been stuck here for years, and she still refuses to actually physically enter the town. She remains neutral in the town conflict because she recognizes that the Graf is a political dead end, but she also wants the transition of Hodsyarn to city to take place after she gets assigned somewhere else (otherwise, she would have to physically move into the town). She also is secretly frightened by the Graf's talk of a dark presence in town, and finds the idea of playing into the agenda of such a presence to be sickening.
The lord of them all is Herzog Holnin Seilar, an arrogant and distant man with great respect for his vassal's autonomies. He is far more concerned with his feud with his rival to the East (Herzog Einzor Tolemshol) and his relationships with the Elector-Princes of House Hugelma and House Neshelna than anything in Hodsyarn.

Defences

A large wall surrounds the town of Hodsyarn and its surrounding area, with space for agriculture between the town itself and the wall. Small walled gardens dot town, allowing for urban warfare if the walls are breached.

Industry & Trade

Hodsyarn is a big textile town that processes the large supply of surplus wool generated by the hills and grasslands of the Delent. Basket-weaving is a major local industry as well. Agricultural trade is common here, with produce and home-made goods arriving here from the surrounding countryside. The windmill in Easttown attracts many farmers into town for trade, and makes Hodsyarn a natural hub for flour production. Nearby orchards and beehives produce fruit and honey. Families produce most goods here - you can find smiths, jewelers, potters, brickmakers, soapmakers, cobblers, and all sorts of other different craftsmen.
Many people work as porters and wagonwrights here, hauling cargo and working with trading caravans moving through town - the Orgentossler family has an impressive fleet of wagons that haul goods between Telgen, Zinduhl, and Artoril, and Hodsyarn serves as a major base of operations for that business.
Hodsyarn is also a storage and sales location for the regional production of Divine Contact incense. This industry is legally monopolized by the local priesthood, though the workers are still guild-oriented.
There are to markets in Hodsyarn:

• The Temple-Market in Lowtown, which serves as a permanent market with permanent shops. This is a well-regulated market, with very exclusive access to space for sellers. It also serves as the town's main plaza, with the largest water fountain. This is a social and political space as well as an economic one, and is often the center of tension between the town's factions.
• The Twice-Market, which operates on the days of Gunarod (Thursday) and Choomin (Saturday) every week at the border of Lowtown and Easthill. This is an open market with much more access to space for small-vendors and visiting farmers. Primarily agricultural, but also hosts all kinds of peddlers. When not active as a market, the Twice-Market serves as festival grounds, a local sports venue, and a general space for townsfolk to use as they will.

Infrastructure

Hodsyarn has water problems. It is not next to a river, lake, or ocean, and relies on a combination of well water and aqueducts to sustain itself. The aqueducts into Hodsyarn are well-built and well-maintained underground canals that bring in water from an underground lake to the South. These are the main source of water for the town, and converge on the lowest points of Lowtown (as they rely on gravity to do the majority of the water-moving). While the local Burghers want to expand them or create new ones from other water sources nearby, the Graf has blocked these attempts. Water had to be rationed for a while, but the population of the town shrank and now water levels are comfortable again.
The wells in town are weirdly self-cleaning, provide clean water regardless of what is dumped in, and do not run out. The wells predate the modern town, and attempts to poison them in the distant past have famously failed. No one has been able to make more of them - they are freakishly deep, and local folklore forbids digging deeper than the underground canals. Anyone who falls into the wells simply does not return, and no trace of them can be found. The wellwater tastes slightly of salt, but is still freshwater; most people prefer the aqueduct water.
Even with the lowered population of the town, Hodsyarn has struggled with waste disposal. Most waste is buried, or transported outside of the town to be thrown in one of the nearby dumping grounds. Water control when it rains is also tricky - while the town does its best to catch and contain all rainfall in cisterns, parts of Lowtown are prone to flooding.

Districts

In Town

Westhill: The odd and old part of town, home to some of the poorer or more eccentric townsfolk. Anomalies are known to happen here. Many of the buildings are mostly-underground here, and most Halflings who live in Hodsyarn live here. Mystics are attracted to this district, and it is more "Delent" culturally.
Lowtown: The center of town, home to the main markets, the town water fountains, and largest town shops. Better-to-do artisans and merchants live and do work here, as do some older families that have fallen on hard times. This is the most convenient and important part of town, though parts of it can have their own problems (such as flooding when it rains).
Easthill: The agricultural fringe of town, built up substantially during the boom period of 1945 to 1985. Home to the windmill, also the Twice-a-week Eastern market. Small artisans, farmers, seasonal workers, and day laborers live here. The new part of town, with lots of spare housing and cheap rent. Almost all Kobolds in town live here.

Out of Town

Vudrashol: The castle and estates of the Graf, North of town. Known for the large tourney grounds there, which is a popular destination for jousting and arena sports. Many of the townsfolk who fled Hodsyarn in the 1990s and 2000s moved here, and the small castle town has developed a suburb.
Kemzendral: The druidic grove and seat of the regional Rosgen, South of town. Home to one of the oldest Uvaran temples in the Delent. Kemzendral was previously just a temple, monastery, and druidic grove, but has recently developed a satellite village. The local Ketarun Cats also have a part of this grove from which they rule the cats of the surrounding region.

Guilds and Factions

The Lord's Men: The small garrison and retinue surrounding the town's mayor, who serve as the town's defensive force and town guard. Not popular in many parts of town.
The Burghers: The major merchants in town, and the force most opposed to the Lord's Men. There are really three primary Burgher families who represent the actual would-be Burghers:

• The Orgentossler family, who run transportation and wagon caravans along the royal roads
• The Tugenhoff family, who runs the mill and the lumber camp to the South
• The Hovatosh family, who have kinship ties in the upper echelons of the weaver's guild, the draper's guild, and the grocer's guild, as well as the largest nearby villages. The Hovatosh have rural branches that arrange the best deals of incense, produce, and wool. Perhaps the most powerful Halfling family in the Delent.

The Guilds: The craft associations that run most of the artisanal work in town. The weaver's guild, draper's guild, grocer's guild, guild of incense-workers, porter's guild, and wagonwrights guild are all guilds of note in Hodsyarn. Most of the other guilds are extremely small, or represent clusters of different trades.
The Uvaran Priests: There are several dozen religious workers here, which work in seven Uvaran temples around town. Some of these temples are rather small, while the main temple in town (Ustav the Protector) is big enough to host a large congregation. The priests are a scattered group, more concerned with their neighborhood rather than anything else. One of the main concerns with the local priesthood is magic use - Hodsyarn has a much higher-than-average wild sorcerer count (as well as a number of hidden warlocks), and so has to deal with a lot more unregulated magic use and disputes than most other towns.
The Kivish Temple: There is only one Kivish temple, located in Easthill and dedicated to the Promised Path Kivish who live here. The temple is rather large, and is located in a cluster of buildings. The local priesthood operates these temples, and aggressively preach political neutrality.
The Lunar Cults: There are two small Lunar God shrines here, operated by two paladins. One, in the Northwestern corner of town, is dedicated to Ishkibal the Hunter; the other, in the Southeastern corner of town, is dedicated to Lily of Red. The two cults are small and preside over a niche set of rituals; they also are sworn to never interact with each other. Both shrines provide healing, moral guidance, and ritual support for the town. These shrines mostly serve as communication outposts and meeting points for any paladins or Lunar cultists associated with their Gods - they also work to get their respective Ishkibal and Lily cults access to ample Divine Contact Incense.
The Warlocks: There are warlocks in this town, though they conceal their powers and avoid being known. Among the warlocks who visit or live here, it is considered taboo to use your magic in public - and the local hidden warlocks will use whatever magic and wealth they have to try and get rid of any new arrival that doesn't understand subtlety. While warlocks are not illegal in the Kingdom of Hain, they are seen as weird and suspicious - and the elder warlocks of Hodsyarn do not want any more attention on the strange happenings here. While the agenda of these warlocks is unknown, they do seem to consider themselves protectors of the town.

History

Ancient History (Pre-1000 ME)

Hodsyarn was originally inhabited by a Starspawn-Dryad group known as the Kemzarshen. The Kemzarshen were an agrarian group that used the area now known as Lowtown as a refuge against monster attacks, but only a small group of warriors lived there permanently. These warriors had some kind of shrine on the Western hill, though whether it was to the Vortex or not is unknown.
It is unclear whether the Vortex of Hodsyarn has always been there, or whether it was created at some point. Scholarly accounts and folklore differs wildly on the origin of the Vortex. Some accounts claim that Kobolds gathered every piece of Ederstone and buried them deep underground here like seeds. Other legends claim that Ustav purified a powerful dark spirit during his travels, and laid that spirit to rest here. Some fringe scholars assert that the Vortex has always been there, and that it is formed not by any local phenomenon but is the weather created by different Ederstone "currents". Local legends on the Vortex vary family to family. Regardless, records from the Empire of Andrig describe the Kemzarshen as "Toshvem who live in Haunted Hills", so that's probably evidence of the Vortex existing in the 450s ME.
Records of the Kemzarshen are inconsistent and fuzzy at best; they migrated between places several times from 200 to 900 ME, and were eventually displaced and culturally assimilated for the most part. In the 900s, it seems that a powerful tribe from the East - the Yolps - entered the region making allies and demanding tribute. A group of these Yolps seemed particularly fascinated by Hodsyarn, and settled in the Kemzarshen sanctuary after conquering the local people. This Yolpine village was the largest in the Western Delent, and was seen as the furthest extent of their original federation.

Yolpine History (1000 - 1472)

The Mageplague struck Hodsyarn rather badly, as it did most of Stildane. Many of the Kemzarshen fled from the infected town, and the local Yolpine society collapsed. Thankfully, the Mageplague left rather quickly (as the Delent was isolated and rural enough to be spared the worst of it), and the Yolpine turned inwards to avoid reinfection. We know little of what post-plague Yolpine Hodsyarn was like; the independent township rebuilt as a small independent polity that was then conquered by the Grand Yolpine Kingdom in the East. The returning Kemzarshen and other nearby local tribes were subjugated bound as thralls to the Yolpine military garrison there. This began the Royal Yolpine era, which lasted from 1050 to 1200. During this period, Hodsyarn's population swelled and its development intensified; this was the Western stronghold of the Yolpine military.
In the 1200s, the The Kingdom of Hain vassalized the Yolpine kingdom. Hainish priests, merchants, and immigrants became a more common sight in Hodsyarn. When the Third and Fourth Kivish Scourings struck in the 1300s and 1400s, a large number of Hainish refugees fled into the town as well. Hodsyarn survived the worst of the Fourth Scouring, largely thanks to their alliance with a charismatic Liberated Path Kivish leader. This Kobold mystic was able to court both Promised Path Kivish refugees and even the "Exalted Path" militants by selling them the Hodsyarn Vortex as a place of mystical enlightenment. These Kivish groups fought alongside Yolpine warriors in defense Hodsyarn - and so the town survived.
The Scourings of the 1400s pushed many Hainish refugees into Hodsyarn, and tensions quickly grew between these newcomers and the existing Yolpine tribal hierarchies. A local plague in 1451 let many of those tensions loose in violent clashes, and lurid tales of oppression and violence made their way into the Graefsher region. Hainish knights fixated on Hodsyarn as a place of Yolpine tyranny for several decades, and their random interventions in local politics only escalated things.

The Miracle of 1472

It was during this tense period that the Miracle of the Vessel occurred. It was in the early 1470s, not long after a new episode of violent social clashes had just ended. The Delent as a whole was still rebuilding from the Scouring thirty years ago; monsters were still prowling the wilderness outside of town. Hodsyarn itself was rebuilding from the recent clashes, which had burnt down much of the town. People were scared, as a Hainish squire had been arrested and was going to be executed - and many felt that nearby Hainish lords would attack in retribution. Yolpine troops were marching in to defend the town from a possible attack, stoking further social tension. And then, out of nowhere, a sailing ship of great size and complexity appeared in the clouds.
No one knows where the ship came from, though some coastal villages along the Hainish coast reported seeing it hurtling through the sky over the sea at ridiculous speeds. At some point, it had turned inland and headed towards Hodsyarn. While it had been a speck to most places, it lost altitude near Hodsyarn and became fully visible as an approaching maritime vessel. At dusk, it smashed into the outskirts of town in a great explosion of splinters, broken metal, and colorful magical energy. Part of the miracle is that the ship appeared; part of it is that the ship only killed one man, who was an extremely unpopular and predatory miller. The lights and auras of this explosion lingered in town for a week, before being sucked into the Vortex - which carries that light to this day. The anchor from the ship spun like a top for several hours before wandering into the Vortex and floating over town in a strange spectacle for days. On the last day, before the light entered the vortex, ghostly figures rode a strange mist through town.
According to the commonly told version of local history, the Miracle of the Vessel ended local ethnic tensions and converted the entire town to Uvara. Scared of the strange apparitions and lights, the townsfolk were desperate for any kind of protection. A dog with rainbow fur burst from the ground and approached the Yolpine shamans, and asked them to seek Ustav's protection. When the Yolpine, local peasants, and Hainish refugees came together as one to thank Ustav for protecting the town, the floating anchor touched down in their midst mid-thanks. The people took this as a sign that Ustav and the Gods wanted Yolpine and Hain to live in harmony together, and they built a temple around the anchor as a single community of shared faith.
Actual historical accounts and records show a more complicated story: that while the Yolpine and Hainish communities did come together in a semi-Uvaran way, it was more of a reflection of their pre-existing common spiritual elements than a conversion. Also, that the tensions between Yolpine and Hainish communities was lessened by the distraction and catharsis of the miracle, but it didn't actually melt away until the next Scouring.
Either way, Hainish leaders mark the Miracle of the Vessel as the official founding of Hodsyarn.

Hain and Kivish (1472 - 1730)

In 1580, a century after the Miracle of the Vessel, the Hainish Hugelma family finally overthrew the Yolps and made the Delent into a full Hainish fief. From 1580 to 1709, Hodsyarn remained a middling town where Hain and Yolpine met, with all the tensions and contradictions that came with that. In 1709, the Empire of Kizen invaded the Delent for another Scouring - and were much more thorough in their devastation.
While much of the Delent was scoured, Hodsyarn was a rare refuge yet again. When the Kivish forces tried to attack the town, their warbeasts turned on them and their magic was corrupted into random bursts. The Vortex, burning with the strange light of the Vessel, seemed to move from its normal range to intercept Kobold forces. A brazen Kivish champion tried bringing an Ederstone shard against it, but the magic seemed to go wild in a massive maelstrom that enveloped the entire town. The commander of the Kivish forces demanded that the Ederstone be removed and the town besieged by mundane means. The Kobolds built a wall around Hodsyarn to contain it, and simply waited the town out. The multi-year siege of Hodysarn killed many, but the town survived. They grew crops near the Vortex (where arrows would simply float away), and the ground produced many potatoes and roots for the people of Hodsyarn. After the first two years, it had become obvious to the Kivish troops that the only purpose of this was to prevent Hainish raids - and so they stopped wasting ammunition and even started covertly trading with the townsfolk. Some of these besieging troops even deserted to join the local Promised Path after the siege was broken.
The magical maelstrom of Hodsyarn left the town permanently changed. Not only was the Vortex strengthened, but the local Yolpine population was transformed into more humanlike shapes - Halflings. The siege, the transfiguration, and the extreme population movements during and after the Scouring all led to the erasure of ethnic difference between Hainish, Yolpine, and Toshvem.

Hope and Plague (1730 - 1879)

After the Kivish left Hain for the last time in 1730, Hodsyarn was left as the largest refugee camp and base for reconstruction efforts in the Delent. People from all over the Delent had sought out Hodsyarn as a safe place during the war, and many had moved there after the war for a sense of security. The town's infrastructure was completely unprepared for this, and a terrible series of plagues followed. In 1731, a new form of Mageplague (called 'the Restless Death' by some) evolved from the terrible conditions. After the strain was contained and eradicated, most of Hodsyarn's population fled back to the countryside. Population movement during this period was chaotic; people periodically moved between Hodsyarn and the countryside to avoid monsters and bandits, and Hodsyarn had minor epidemics. Things finally settled down in 1750 after the war ended, and Hodsyarn got back to business as an agricultural town and market.
Hodsyarn steadily grew in size and wealth after 1750, until the population suddenly jumped again in 1871. Refugees fleeing a local noble's war in Zinduhl happened at the same time that trade was diverted from the West coast to the Delent by a different trade war among the Houses. The town seemed ready to become a city, and applied to the crown to become one - and would have, if the Houses weren't squabbling. Before Hodsyarn could receive city status, autonomy, and perhaps royal resources to help accommodate expansion, a plague struck the town. In 1879, a terrible plague struck the fledgling city yet again - and this one was also slightly magical.

The Terror of 1880

Hodsyarn's local elites responded to the 1879 epidemic by sending petitions to House Hugelma, the Hainish crown, and the Autumn Court. They lobbied aggressively for financial assistance to help build water and sewer infrastructure that might make the town healthier. To scare the squabbling factions into helping, the lobbying team drew a direct connection between the new epidemic and the 'Restless Death' of 1731, and said that all of Hain could be facing a new Mageplague if immediate action was not taken. This provoked a response, and the Autumn Court hired a team of monster-slaying adventurers to investigate the epidemic along with a squad of scholars.
The investigation into the Hodsyarn epidemic went the way it was 'supposed to' at first - faulting the town's bad infrastructure and poor districting and recommending a priestly intervention. But then, the adventurers became convinced that the Vortex and the ground under the town were hiding something sinister and dangerous. One of the adventurers started a witch hunt in town (maybe accidentally) and set the townsfolk panicking. The scholars and adventurers fought for funding, and the scholars lost when the terrified local Rosgen sided with the monster-hunters. Politics got involved, and witch hunts continued. The town got set on fire, people fought, and the town was declared unholy ground unfit for habitation. Hodsyarn was abandoned, and its people were sent away to noble estates as serfs. Only a small monastic enclave remained behind to care for the Temple of the Anchor.

Rebirth (1910 - 1982)

Almost immediately after it was abandoned, people began to return or poach land in Hodsyarn. Many local people did not see the land as cursed, and saw the abandonment of the town as a great way to operate a tax-free farm or business free of the local lord. Warlocks and strange people from distant lands also visited the ruins, and local peasants realized that their money was as good as anyone else's. By 1891, a small illicit town was catering to merchants and travelers on the royal road from the ruins of Hodsyarn. The local Grafs (lords) extended their influence over the town during the 1890s and 1900s, and Hodsyarn's market was back in operation and overseen by the lord's market-clerk in 1905. The town was formally consecrated and re-organized in 1910, after the Tarrasque attacked the Delent. To purge the land of evil, a group of paladins and druids paraded through town with the anchor, and light from the Vortex drifted out to sparkle around where the anchor was taken. Everyone agreed that this was a good omen of purification, and the town was officially refounded.
Since 1910, the local Grafs (the DeVudrel family) have resurrected the old idea of making Hodsyarn into a city. It has a great location along the royal road through the Delent, and it has a built-in attraction and religious destination. In the 1940s, the Graf began courting Burgher families from Zinduhl to invest in Hodsyarn to put the town on the business map. One Burgher family - the Orgentosslers - began using the town as a ranching and wagon-making depot for their transportation empire. Things seemed to be on the rise. The DeVudrels bided their time, and prepared their legal bid to become Junkers of a new city (as well as Grafs).

The Current Situation (1982 - Present)

Things changed in 1982, when the current Graf ascended to become Lord of Vudrel. Her name is Lady Kelfara DeVudrel, and she was raised with the primary goal of being the perfect Junker. She and her siblings were sent out by her parents to see all the great cities of Stildane, to learn what made them great. But Kelfara had a terrible time, her sister died abroad, and her brother ran away to become a Questing Knight and married a maiden in distant Gennorholn. Kelfara's experiences, and the loss of her sister, informed her that cities are bad, change is bad, and the global economy is a predatory influence that must be kept away at any cost. She romanticized her maternal feudal relationships with the local townsfolk, and decided that she would undermine the town and keep it small and close for as long as she lived. She also figured that the peasants and craftsmen would thank her for such a benevolent choice, that put their needs above her family's wealth.
But the local townsfolk did not all see Lady Kelfara's policies as a loving intervention. The Orgentosslers, who were suddenly under attack by the local lords that had been their close allies for forty years, were particularly angry about this. A number of locals had been eager for more luxury goods, more social mobility (as they would all instantly become freedmen if Hodsyarn became a city), and a better water and waste system. They assumed that the Graf was just politically maneuvering and that things would get back to normal after a while, but the Lady grew more stubborn over time. Some assumed that the Lady would allow her daughter, Treselva DeVudrel, to assume the role of Graf at an ordinary age. Young Treselva has been friends with several of the Burgher families for years, and is known to be on very poor terms with her mother. However, the Graf has clung to her position and her policies despite the many voices telling her not to. And, worryingly, she has even become convinced in recent years that the adventurers of 1880 were right, and that there is some presence in the town manipulating the minds of the locals to attract more people there to an unknown sinister end.
As it became clearer that the Graf would not stop throttling local commerce, resistance has mounted. The local would-be Burghers, led by the well-respected merchant Yalna Orgentossler, have raged against their ruling Graf. They have petitioned the Herzog (liegelord of the Graf) to intervene, and that has failed. Then they petitioned and filed a case with the clergy, and it was working for some time before the new Rosgen was promoted to the position and torpedoed their case. Now, the Burghers have managed to get a lobbyist in the court of the Elector Princes of the Delent, House Hugelma. While that lengthy process and political quagmire slowly stews, the Burghers have taken to basically running as much of the town as they can. In this, they have been butting heads with the Graf's appointed mayor: initially a man named Nomidek Gomminshov, who has now been succeeded by his son, Hosker Gomminshov.
While the situation has not broken into a town civil war, it is getting to the point where the local militias are split by political allegiance. The Burghers are becoming desperate, as the town has been losing money and people, and the Graf growing paranoid about "evil forces". If a nasty enough spark were to start a real political fire, the nonfunctional town government could quickly implode, and it would not be hard to imagine how that could turn into skirmishes or even an all-out local war.

Points of interest

The Temple of Ustav the Protector: Also known as the Temple of the Miracular Anchor. This temple contains the relics of Hodsyarn's past, including the bones of its greatest heroes and the remnants of the Miracle Vessel that was supposedly sent by the God Ustav centuries ago to compel the townsfolk to unify as Uvarans. It is said that any evil forces around this town are subdued by the power of this temple and its priests, though warlocks who visit are said to hear their patrons loudly in this temple. For most people, it is a serene sanctuary. Attached to it is the courthouse of Hodsyarn. In Lowtown.
The Mayor's Ward: The seat of the Mayor's power. A miniature fort built into the inner slope of the Western hill, at its steepest slope. This is the stone-reinforced sanctum of the ancient Yolp lords - a well-dug and reinforced underground sanctuary, now complete with hard rock and a modern armory. Most of the underground sanctum was walled off in the 1880s due to a fear that the connecting tunnels somehow let in evil spirits. Current management has brought in Halpara Mushrooms to grow here, to provide in case of a siege. The garrison of the Lord's Men also stay here. In Lowtown.
The Vanishing Gate: At dusk or dawn, when the mists gather on the Western hill, a nameless temple is said to appear to those whom it desires. It contorts space, appearing between shops or houses that do not normally have space between them. The temple is cold and white and smells of saltwater, and the mist around it grows terribly thick. The lights of the Vortex dance around it, but with a sharp and jagged rhythm. Most townsfolk who stumble upon it flee - those who enter often return as warlocks. Inside, strange figures congregate - all people become anonymous and faceless to each other in this space, and all voices become warped and unrecognizable. The temple is small, mostly containing a shrine and a grand mural of the God Ertinar washing the faces off of his followers in seawater while Ustav watches. Stairs lead down into the Earth, where many small chambers await the servants of the Vile Mass. While some may expect that evil deeds are done here, most sacrifice here is given by choice; people offering their memories, their bodies, or their minds in exchange for some boon. In Westhill.
The Questing Chapel: The Questing Chapel of Hodsyarn is a small thing that provides quests for visiting knights and paladins. The Chapel collects reports of monsters and bandits in the Western Delent, as well as reports from the Northern Marches as to where things are most dangerous. Not the most frequently visited Chapel, but the presence of the incense trade and nearby jousting tourneys attracts enough knights to keep it open.

Tourism

Hodsyarn hosts a number of tourists interested in the mystical properties of the Vortex, or just stopping by on their way to a larger city. Some Halflings like to visit Hodsyarn, as some feel a kind of ancestral connection to this spot. Warlocks also like to visit here.
As for holidays and festivals, here's a rundown of what is locally relevant:

• Like all Uvaran settlements, The Frelden Festival in early spring is big here
• The Ertenfelm Festival, in mid-spring, is a low-key festival to the God of Water. Notable in that mist cloaks the town every year on this day like clockwork, and some townsfolk get really weird about it.
• Heaventouch Day, a cult holiday in mid-spring dedicated to Lily of Red, is celebrated here in a minor way.
• The Hainish Day of Honors, celebrated in late spring, gets a lot of patronage from the local Graf - who also likes to host tourneys that day at her estate. This draws a fair amount of traffic into town.
• Olmieron, the day of victory celebrated in middle summer, is a big day for worship at the Temple of the Anchor. It is a day of proud remembrance, for how the Kivish never could take the city.
• The town actually shrinks around the big agricultural festivals, as townsfolk go to either partake in celebrations in neighboring villages or to sell goods at those festivals. These festivals are: Rugenbot (Spring), Elkmob (Late summer), and Kraginten (autumn)
• All-Moon's Day, in early autumn, is a big one in town. Local paladins often visit on this day, and are hosted at a great feast to the Lunar Gods.
• Silstren, in late autumn, is another town favorite
• Demon's Bane, in early winter, is a cult holiday to Ishkibal that is celebrated

Geography

Hodsyarn occupies two hills and the depression between them. These hills curl in to

Founding Date

1910

Type

Town

Population

4,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Hosyarnian

Location under

The Delent

Owning Organization

The Kingdom of Hain