Firstfort
First Fort, named after the fort it is built around, is the furthest most Weldic settlement in the far north-east, on the border between the Commonwealth of Redfern and Guthrum's Gate, the beginning of the Alderi Dominion.
Though far from the centre of Weldmere, and obscure to southerners and westerners, it is by no means a backwater. Though it is partly an agricultural town - supporting the cereal farmers, cattle herds, and shepherds of the foothills to the Alderi mountains - it is also a trading post for Bolmor, Elosi, Tetra, Alderi, and Weldic merchants, and a military camp for the Black and White Sentinels.
The White Sentinels, and later the Black Sentinels, have been based in the area now known as First Fort for more than a millenium. Before the Empty, it was known as Harko's Tower (the watchtower is the primary feature of the fort, and all subsequent buildings are built around it), after the ancient Harko family who trained the White Sentinels. As the Empty Horde scoured the land, most of Weldmere marched past the tower, and into exile beyond Guthrum's Gate. The Harko family, however, was wiped out when their son and heir, Kelmorn, was revealed to be a Blutvik who welcomed the Empty and attempted to join them, sacrificing his family and being destroyed by the armed refugees who found him partially transformed.
The fort, and thus the ruins of the destroyed town, was subsequently renamed when the Allied Armies reached it five days after the Battle at Guthrum's Gate. Conrad III granted it to his Captain of Scouts, who had ridden ahead with a light force and battled for three days the remnants of the force defeated at Guthrum's Gate. He was one Wilfer Teargon, and the fort was briefly known as Teargon's Tower by the Allied Armies. Granted it as a retirement (he was leading the scouts in his mid-fifties, and had been wounded in both legs since Guthrum's Gate), and to begin training successors to the White and Black Sentinels, Wilfer quickly petitioned the King not to name it after him, but "as the first Weldic fort the armies have seen in your reign, and in two decades." Conrad agreed, and since then the Teargon family have ruled as Calds of Firstfort.
The town itself is a simple, if bustling, place, arranged around the Great Road and the Trade House. The Great Road enters from the north, having passed to the east of the fort. It runs, through North Gate, along the eastern side of the town, parallel with the walls. The town between the Great Road and the east walls is narrow - only two or three streets deep. It comprises almost entirely of warehouses, cartwrights, saddlers, farriers and stables. This is 'Horsetown' (or, for the less polite 'Dungtown') - whatever smells of the varied and exotic produce stored here are invariably drowned out by stale leather, unwashed cart-drivers, tired horses, and their dung. However, there is also rest for them here - the horses can be stabled, and the well off can rest in the North Road Inn, right at the south of Horsetown, by the South Gate. The less wealthy - but still above sleeping in the stables or the warehouse - can find something passable in the Dun Mare Tavern, and probably afford a good soak in the Cartman's Bathhouse.
Most of the town lies to the west of the Great Road. In the centre of town, where the Great Road meets the Forest Road, lies the Trade Square. This is a large, open, plaza with little decoration. There is a small fountain in the middle - a bronze statue of Conrad the Liberator stands there, polished sword saluting the heavens - and some roughly carved stone benches. The rest is open for commerce, and now dominated by small stands and awnings. Anything brought on must be taken off by sundown - this is not a permanent market place. Instead, traders and brokers bring a small table, comfortable chairs, and a light awning to make deals during the day, rather than hawking goods.
The Trade House itself sits on three of the four sides of the square, which is open only on the east side, and houses shops and brokers offices (ground floor), administration offices, guild representatives, a small bank, and the council offices (the first floor), and apartments and dormitories for both long-term officers and visiting guests (second floor). The basement also holds a mess hall and kitchen, a bar and wine cellar, and strongroom vaults. The Forest Road runs due east along the southern side of the Trade House, and then bisects the rest of the town on its way to the East (or Forest) Gate. Northtown is above it, towards the fort, and Southtown below. Both are a warren of streets, houses, and shops. Neither is notably more wealthy than the other - though smiths (of all metals) and jewelers tend to work in Northtown, and furriers and leatherworkers in Southtown. Northtown also has the more impressive Sanctorum - a Seven-Starred Sanctorum whose towers rise above the the rest of the town. Southtown also has a Sanctorum, though only Three-Starred (the Gnoscors running an orphanage and hospital, as well as a Factor Chapter, and a handful of Ablutors).
Beyond the fort, to the West, there is a large encampment and barracks for White Sentinel trainees - the advanced training taking place in the countryside beyond the town. Though the town does not support an extensive trading market, it lies on the main road south into all of Weldmere and Jellnev beyond for those transporting goods from eastern Redfern, Eyiot, or the Alderi Dominion. As such, a number of caravan and merchant concerns have established offices in the town to arrange and receive shipments.
Though far from the centre of Weldmere, and obscure to southerners and westerners, it is by no means a backwater. Though it is partly an agricultural town - supporting the cereal farmers, cattle herds, and shepherds of the foothills to the Alderi mountains - it is also a trading post for Bolmor, Elosi, Tetra, Alderi, and Weldic merchants, and a military camp for the Black and White Sentinels.
The White Sentinels, and later the Black Sentinels, have been based in the area now known as First Fort for more than a millenium. Before the Empty, it was known as Harko's Tower (the watchtower is the primary feature of the fort, and all subsequent buildings are built around it), after the ancient Harko family who trained the White Sentinels. As the Empty Horde scoured the land, most of Weldmere marched past the tower, and into exile beyond Guthrum's Gate. The Harko family, however, was wiped out when their son and heir, Kelmorn, was revealed to be a Blutvik who welcomed the Empty and attempted to join them, sacrificing his family and being destroyed by the armed refugees who found him partially transformed.
The fort, and thus the ruins of the destroyed town, was subsequently renamed when the Allied Armies reached it five days after the Battle at Guthrum's Gate. Conrad III granted it to his Captain of Scouts, who had ridden ahead with a light force and battled for three days the remnants of the force defeated at Guthrum's Gate. He was one Wilfer Teargon, and the fort was briefly known as Teargon's Tower by the Allied Armies. Granted it as a retirement (he was leading the scouts in his mid-fifties, and had been wounded in both legs since Guthrum's Gate), and to begin training successors to the White and Black Sentinels, Wilfer quickly petitioned the King not to name it after him, but "as the first Weldic fort the armies have seen in your reign, and in two decades." Conrad agreed, and since then the Teargon family have ruled as Calds of Firstfort.
The town itself is a simple, if bustling, place, arranged around the Great Road and the Trade House. The Great Road enters from the north, having passed to the east of the fort. It runs, through North Gate, along the eastern side of the town, parallel with the walls. The town between the Great Road and the east walls is narrow - only two or three streets deep. It comprises almost entirely of warehouses, cartwrights, saddlers, farriers and stables. This is 'Horsetown' (or, for the less polite 'Dungtown') - whatever smells of the varied and exotic produce stored here are invariably drowned out by stale leather, unwashed cart-drivers, tired horses, and their dung. However, there is also rest for them here - the horses can be stabled, and the well off can rest in the North Road Inn, right at the south of Horsetown, by the South Gate. The less wealthy - but still above sleeping in the stables or the warehouse - can find something passable in the Dun Mare Tavern, and probably afford a good soak in the Cartman's Bathhouse.
Most of the town lies to the west of the Great Road. In the centre of town, where the Great Road meets the Forest Road, lies the Trade Square. This is a large, open, plaza with little decoration. There is a small fountain in the middle - a bronze statue of Conrad the Liberator stands there, polished sword saluting the heavens - and some roughly carved stone benches. The rest is open for commerce, and now dominated by small stands and awnings. Anything brought on must be taken off by sundown - this is not a permanent market place. Instead, traders and brokers bring a small table, comfortable chairs, and a light awning to make deals during the day, rather than hawking goods.
The Trade House itself sits on three of the four sides of the square, which is open only on the east side, and houses shops and brokers offices (ground floor), administration offices, guild representatives, a small bank, and the council offices (the first floor), and apartments and dormitories for both long-term officers and visiting guests (second floor). The basement also holds a mess hall and kitchen, a bar and wine cellar, and strongroom vaults. The Forest Road runs due east along the southern side of the Trade House, and then bisects the rest of the town on its way to the East (or Forest) Gate. Northtown is above it, towards the fort, and Southtown below. Both are a warren of streets, houses, and shops. Neither is notably more wealthy than the other - though smiths (of all metals) and jewelers tend to work in Northtown, and furriers and leatherworkers in Southtown. Northtown also has the more impressive Sanctorum - a Seven-Starred Sanctorum whose towers rise above the the rest of the town. Southtown also has a Sanctorum, though only Three-Starred (the Gnoscors running an orphanage and hospital, as well as a Factor Chapter, and a handful of Ablutors).
Beyond the fort, to the West, there is a large encampment and barracks for White Sentinel trainees - the advanced training taking place in the countryside beyond the town. Though the town does not support an extensive trading market, it lies on the main road south into all of Weldmere and Jellnev beyond for those transporting goods from eastern Redfern, Eyiot, or the Alderi Dominion. As such, a number of caravan and merchant concerns have established offices in the town to arrange and receive shipments.
Demographics
Firstfort is a frontier town, and as mixed as any town in Weldmere. Wilfer Teargon offered a plot of land within the town to any Allied scout willing to cleanse the place - and a farmstead to anyone who had served at Guthrum's Gate. Many took up the offer, of all races, and a good mix of Bolmor, Thormor, Tetra, and Eloi settled down. However, the population remains predominantly Weldic. Indeed, the proximity to other lands has tended to reduce the diversity of races over recent centuries - many still pass through here to trade, but it is not hardship to move their families back to their lands, less than a week's travel away.
Firstfort has no established wealthy class - rather a small group of individuals who have significant power or wealth, but haven't formed an exclusive elite. The Cald's household up in the First Fort are engaged in matters of high politics and power - but wear it lightly. Following the ideals of Wilfer himself, they have always made all ranks feel welcome - and Jeoldon is as likely to engage his blacksmith in conversation as his Steward. Similarly, the merchants who pass through regularly are either middling wholesalers, or forced to 'slum' it. There are some nicer rooms in the Trade Hall, and a few guildmasters might lodge at the fort, but everyone in Firstfort is engaged in toil or commerce - there is no space for the pampered or the luxuriously leisurely. On the whole, the merchant bosses respect that, and more than one treats his annual visit to Firstfort as an earthy reminder of how his workers live.
Government
The town might ordinarily be too small for a charter and a Mayor, but being the seat of the Cald, being liberated first among Weldmere, and being such an interchange of traded goods all counted in its favour. Wilfer granted the charter 8 years after the liberation, marking the completion of the rebuilding and resettlement which had been ongoing. This was a rather simple charter, before the town became a busy cross-roads, so it was regranted fifty years later establishing a new form of government.
Every third year, 12 Councillors are elected - three each from East Ward, North Ward, and South Ward (divided by the Great Road east-west, and the Trade House and Forest Road north-south). Any shopkeeper, or 'unbonded tradesman, labourer, or worker' may vote in their ward. There are no 'bonded workers' so to speak - it means that you must own property and/or run a business to vote. In a man's family shoe-shop, for instance, only the owner not their adult children or other employees will vote. Their wife might vote - if she runs her own laundry or small scale bakery from the house. There is no automatic prohibition of women voting, nor do you have to own property if you run a business.
These 12 Councillors then meet to elect a Mayor. They are joined in this by three guildsmen chosen (however they like) to represent the Trade House. The town gets no further vote on the Mayor, and the Cald will almost always signal his approval swiftly. However, the Mayor's term is officially one year. A week before it expires, he formally requests an extension of the town - which then gets a referendum on his yearly extensions until the next Council elections.
The Council oversees most aspects of civil life - organising festivities, enforcing ordinances, liaising with the guilds, and collecting revenues. They are aided in this by the Town Guard of 52 men. The Captain of the Guard is answerable to the Mayor for law enforcement, public order, and revenue collection. However, the town is not a truly chartered town - the guards are not responsible for the defence of the city, and the Guard are ultimately responsible to the Cald and his Constable.
The laws of the Kingdom, the Duxi of Talhart, and the Cald of Firstfort are enforced - though these are generally not restrictive, banning only heinous offences and enforcing common measures. The Council make Ordinances regulating the more minute aspects of trade and social relations but - even then - these are rarely altered, as merchants and people alike value consistency and custom.
Justice, in trade matters, is dispensed by the Council. They can fine a worker two weeks wages, and a merchant two weeks income. The whole stock of any shop or cart which does not pay revenue, or uses false measure, may be seized. Should the Council find these insufficiently harsh, any suit brought by the Mayor on trade matters will have a swift (and often favourable) hearing in front of the Cald's Chamberlain - the Council retains an advocate for just such eventualities.
The Council may also punish any criminal or miscreant breaching their ordinances - their power to fine holds here, and they can also order time in the stocks, and/or the Cald's gaol. For anything more serious - a breach of the King's laws, the Dux's, or the Cald's - the Guard will hand the accused over to the Constable, and the Cald's justice. If the accusation is that the Cald's law was broken, then the Chamberlain will try the case. Here, punishments might include flogging, amputation (not favoured in eastern Duxia) or indenturement up to 10 years (much more common in the east). For capital crimes, and anything breaching the Dux's law or the King's, the Cald himself must judge and pass sentence. Only in unusual cases, or appeals, would the offender need to be sent to the Dux's Justice.
Type
Town
Population
~6,500
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
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