Skywatch Settlement in Irrelion | World Anvil

Skywatch

A town sitting on a gently sloped hill, basking in the sun, it houses a fair amount of farmers, and is the heart of the metalworking industry of the Claydor Kingdom.

Demographics

Human (54%), Dwarf (20%), Elf (10%), Halfling (7%), Half-Elf (4%), Tiefling (2%), Half-Orc (1%), Dragonborn (1%), Gnome (1%)

Government

While one of the larger cities, much of the population is more simple laborers, and the amount of wealthy or noble here is relatively low, meaning that much of the government is concerned mostly with crops and mining, and the delegates here regularly consult miners and farmers on decisions they might make.

Defences

A single wall encircles the city's main areas, made of sizable stone hauled from the southeastern mines, and reinforced with long wooden beams, there are towers that spiral up through the walls, giving good view of the surrounding area, with the walls having walkways on top for guards to patrol.

Industry & Trade

Many citizens have a hand in Logging or Farming, but even more have a hand in mining. Instead of mining every single day, many citizens join a mining company for a few days or weeks at a time, making a flat wage, and keeping a small percentage of the value of what they haul, which allows them to live many months, or potentially years, without having to work again, although many do simple help tending fields otherwise.

Infrastructure

South of the city, Blast furnaces churn billows of smoke into the sky, refining ores into metals and iron into steel.

Districts

 

South Town

The city was once planned to be much larger, and the heart of the city was made into the South Town district. This expansion has yet to happen, and the bulk of the city is still called South Town, an amusing irony to the townsfolk. Many hardworking citizens live here, in average houses, working a plethora of jobs.  

Cherry Park

Many cherry trees line these parks in front of the citadel, which blossom yearly, beginning spring celebrations for the local elves. Many feasts and celebrations aside from these spring festivities happen here.  

Citadel

Holding large stores of strategic metal stockpiles, this small citadel at the core of the city, outside of being a store of resources, is effectively town hall, and welcomes citizens to come and go, talking to delegates and other city officials.  

Mason's Wood

Much of the city's houses are made of bricks, as the nearby rivers leading south to the mountains are rich in clay, and are fired into bricks here by masons and bricklayers, which have helped pave many of the city's roads and build it's houses.  

Greenway

The Greenway is a local term for the stretch of plains leading to Forestview, a journey which few locals make, and instead see long lines of traders traveling down to come here. The Greenway houses most of the cities trader outposts and shops, and has inns and taverns, and stables for horses. The main road through has been made wide over time to accommodate parking of wagons and carriages while traders and travelers rest for a time.  

Light Road

Leading to the forests down to the southeast, the Claydors refer to these eastern forests as The Light Forest, an opposite to The Dark Forest, the murky, swampy wetlands within the eastern lands of theTauberg Autocracy. Many farmers, foragers, and lumberjacks live here, practicing a deep respect for the forests, and living with regards to the lands.  

East Road

The East Road district is built around two important roads, heading southeast and east. The southeast road leads to the nearby mountains, and is where carts hauling refined ore from the refineries south of town come from. The East road sees little use by citizens of the town, but is maintained diligently by soldiers and locals, for a small peninsula to the southeast tends to be a very common place for ships to capsize during storms, where they are brought close to shore, and are thrown against the peninsula. Somewhat often, after particularly rough storms, following the road, which is well marked and leads to the peninsula directly, sailors and fishermen will make their way into town, sometimes nearly dead. Within the district, many metalworkers practice and hone their craft, making weapons and armor, and all other metal crafts and contraptions, from cutlasses to cabinet handles, the ring of anvils begins at sun-up and lasts until sun-down here.  

North Road

Built around a pathway leading into the northeast forests, many of the people who reside here make a living off the land, and the northeastern forests are rich in wild plants for foraging, and in game for hunting. A small few people here buy hides, and process them into leather and parchment.  

Old Garden

Once, when the city was smaller, an elven man owned the land that comprised almost all of this district as it stands. The city offered to buy it from him during a time of expansion, to which he agreed. The elven man built his house in the heart of this new district, and lived many happy years. Near his death, during a festival, he was asked if he ever missed his farm and the money it could make him, to which he responded "It was nothing but an old garden anyways", which the drunken party-goers found quite funny, and replaced the old name of this district, which was Maplegate. Most residents of this district are farmers, growing crops to the west of the city, which became the new farming region after the 'old garden' was built over.  

Bone Rock

Named after the Bone Rock hill to the northwest, which is the town cemetery, there was a time in the past when a great plague ravaged the local lands, and so many people died that a large number of people needed to standby at all times simply to bury the bodies to avoid further pestilence spreading, and they built their houses here. This district nowadays is mostly home to a few soldiers that prefer to live outside of Oakhall Citadel or Forestview, the common cities of residence for soldiers.

Assets

Adequate stores of food are maintained to help the city, mostly in case of a bad harvest leading to a famine, along with sizable strategic stores of metals, weapons, armor, and cannonballs being held underneath the citadel.

History

Started as a collection of individual farmers on a sunny plain, it rapidly developed into a large farming community in the past. During the Age of Blood, the Claydor Kingdom was evaluating which mountains would be best to mine for ores, and the mountains to the southeast had good pockets of most common ores, and the city was equipped to handle refining metals, along with being given the tools necessary to dig them up, making it the hub of metallurgical trades in the kingdom.

Points of interest

Tavern: Barbena's Hall

Barbena Stout-Ale runs this brick-and-mortar tavern, with intricate lumber beams, carved into spirals, running floor-to-ceiling along the interior. She can regularly be heard with her gruff, aged voice, yelling at patrons to get their feet off the tables, or to use a coaster, often getting in friendly spats with regulars. The inside has plenty of tables, making navigating it during busy nights difficult, and it is well lit by simple wrought iron candelabras hanging overhead. The building sits on the main road of the Greenway, and sees huge surges in business when larger trade caravans pass through.  

Blacksmith: The Callous Bane

Owned by Orsik Stout-Ale, brother to Barbena, the tavern-keep, this stone and slate workshop sits in the East Road district, where Orsik spends much of his time making tools for local farmers, and arrowheads for hunters. His skill is not the greatest, but he is favored by many for being very quick at his craft, and being willing to work freelance, whereas most smiths produce purely for the kingdom directly.  

General Store: Nuraval's Closet

Nuraval Short-Nose, an old dwarven man, runs this store in the Greenway. Simple wooden construction matches the simple interior and offerings of this store. Nuraval is soft-spoken, and slow-moving due to age, but will tell stories to those who listen. His offerings are simple to skilled adventurers, mercenaries, and wayfarers, but are just what the residents of the city and the traveling merchants need to get by.  

Church: Church to Phestus and Daegstaesus

Phestus and Daegstaesus are the gods of forests and deer, respectively. The church is a simple brick temple, with some seating inside, and sizable windows down the sides to let light in. The church has no active preacher, and is maintained by the community. Hunters, lumberjacks, and foragers tend to come here to pray often, asking for blessings before their next bout into the forest, or, in the case of hunters, thanking Daegstaesus when they successfully nab a dear. It is located in the Bone Rock District, along the wall of the city.

Architecture

Simple wooden and brick buildings are seen here in a good mix. Older houses tend to be wood, as newer houses have moved to brick. Many houses have adopted using window-planters for flowers, which helps keep the streets awash in many colors.

Geography

Set on the top of a slow-sloping hill, the land slopes quite quickly further to the east, heading down to the ocean. Aside from the Greenway to the west, the lands are surrounded by thick forest, and what little clearings that exist are primarily used for farming

Natural Resources

The metals from the mountains are a large part of the city's important resources, either as a raw resource, or as a refined product.
Founding Date
405
Type
Large town
Population
36,849
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization

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