Faereach
Deep in the Outlands, nestled against the edge of the haunted Elven Forest, lies the once great trade-city of Faereach. Now little more than a farming community, the few people who still call this shell of a metropolis home find themselves surrounded by a plethora of once spacious warehouses, grand homes, and urbane trade shops that stand abandoned and crumbling. The largest and most opulent structure in Faereach was once home to an elven ambassador and trade-lord. Now, it is an inn known as Alandiril’s Rest, named after the ambassador who once graced its halls. This inn often serves as a home, of sorts, for daring adventurers who would venture into the Elven Forest in search of its secrets and treasures. Most of these adventurers do not return, which somehow only serves to encourage more foolhardy treasure hunters to venture into the forest's dark depths.
The majority of the permanent residents of Faereach work the fields outside of the town proper. Some families have taken old mansions within the city as homes but most have found it more economical to live on their farms, venturing into town only to enjoy a nights respite with other townspeople at Alandiril’s Rest or to purchase needed goods and supplies. By and large, the farms of Faereach stretch westward along the river where water for irrigation is plentiful and easily accessed. Interspersed periodically among these farms are small docks surrounded by grain silos that mark points where river traders may stop to swap cloth, wood, and metalworks for food and grain. Wood is of particular value in Faereach as none dare to harvest the trees of the Elven Forest, even allowing it to somewhat encroach in among the buildings on the east side of the city. It is said that the last woodsman to cut lumber from the forest was found dead three days after he had started cutting them down, strangled by the trees themselves.
There is no official leadership in Faereach. Mostly, the people do not even really recognize themselves as an official settlement but rather just a collection of independent farms. Persons who have shown strength, moral integrity, and wise judgement are often heeded, but they are not given any official title of leadership. Gertrude — an old, matronly woman and the owner of Alandiril’s Rest — is called ‘mother’ by most and might be considered the most knowledgeable and influential person in Faereach.
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