Agriculture in the Reedlands

Over sixty percent of Virdwel's civil population relies in some way on agricultural production from the Reedlands province. With a collective twenty-eight thousand acres of cultivated marshland surrounding Sallowtail and the Rookway Manors, it comes as no surprise that these lush areas attract a wide range of professions. Thanks to the damp climate serfs are able to tend to these lands year-round, harvesting bushels of nutritious marshreed approximately every eighty days. These reeds are processed in one of several ways depending on their distribution. They can be dried, milled, pickled, or fermented. The versatility of this product has proven to be a bountiful study of agricultural advancement since the second dusk era.

There are over a dozen different species of cultivated marshreed, all of which are harvested for their bulbous seeded heads, commonly known as maces. The caloric value is not as dense as traditional grains but a high protein value and the short time frame of a single harvest makes this abundant plant life a desirable supply across the region. A portion of each crop is left after harvesting to allow these maces to germinate, thereby making a renewable cycle of food. It typically takes seven to fifteen days to clear a harvested field and sow new seeds, which then provides the community with an overflow of reed stalks useful for weaving or to use as a dry wood substitute.

Rookway Manors is famous for the majority of marshreed product distributed throughout the continent, most notably for its potent mace wine. Not to be fooled by the name, mace wine is an earthy stout-like brew that ebbs its high alcohol content with a selection of additives between differing flavors. This favored drink has become such a staple of Virdwelian economy that the tradesmen of Anchor's Rest are notorious for stocking up on bottles before setting sail on their seasonal expeditions.