Riminhold

Riminhold is a medium sized town with a population around five hundred today. The town now boasts two inns with stabling and even room for wagons at one of them. When approaching from the north west to south east road, warehouses can be seen being built inside of the stone walls. The most prominent features beyond this are the four grain silos and the steeple of Cormac's temple.

Demographics

The population when broken down roughly comes out thusly: 8% Human 21% Halfling 4% Elven 22% Hobgoblin 18% Kobold 12% Dwarven 10% Goblin 5% Orc

Government

Riminhold has grown large enough to now have a lord mayor appointed by the local baron. They also have a sheriff, and the lord mayor (Darius Buckmaster) has created a town planning commission. The commission doesn't have any legal power but is made up of various tradesmen who are masters or at least very well respected at their craft. Between them they look at the budget for expanding and repairing the town and come up with the plans for the next year to keep Riminhold in good condition and from having the twisting alleyways and badly planned streets that plague other growing towns.

Defences

It took some time but the outer walls of Riminhold are now made of brick and mortar. The old wall was just made of whole logs that had been fire hardened and then placed with some mud/tar against one another. Now though they have a proper wall with closable gates. Atop each gate is a platform where archers or javelin throwers can defend the gate. The walls don't have a walkway nor battlements, standing only fourteen feet tall and three feet thick. If the city is sieged there are places along the inner walls that are prepared to have platforms erected to station soldiers.

Industry & Trade

Wheat, rye, oats, and hops are the main crops around Riminhold. The town itself has grown to include a wagon maker and an ostler for the merchants who come through. Warehouses are also beggining to appear to serve the trade that comes through the town.

Guilds and Factions

The merchants guild is a rising influence in the two now that its importance to trade is growing. The farmers have a stake in the town and how things are run because they have been the long term life blood of the area. They usually gather in the temple of Cormac the god of farming. While there are several craftsmen there are no other guilds present at this time.

History

Thirty five years ago the town was nearly destroyed. A group of bandits had sent a few of their numbers into the town separately over the span of a day. In late afternoon they attacked the guards of one gate. Holding the gate open so that the rest of the bandit party could attack. This was successful and the bandits were set about sacking the town. When a set of youths arrived. These youths while young were well trained and had been for some years. They were called Taxton's Seekers, an adventuring group that had been groomed for exactly that from the time they could first remember. Taxton's Seekers made very short work of most of the bandits. Using ambush tactics and combat magic they caught them in groups, Malakai Taxton specialized in fire magic and when one of the bandit managed to get over the town wall to escape into a field of rye he threw several bolts of fire after him setting the whole field alight.
While the townspeople were grateful for the bandits being stopped they weren't very happy with the raging fire that was now burning homes and crops. When asked about the fire the group of young adventurers decided that it wasn't their problem and demanded payment for getting rid of the bandits. The village elder of the time refused and told the group to get out of his town or he would set the kings guard on them for property damage. Taxton's Seekers took offense to this and killed the elder and any other towns people who got in their way while they looted what they felt they were owed. Most of the townsfolk weren't there or the group might have been overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Several people died fighting the fire before they attempted to retreat behind the walls of the town (which were fire hardened and resistant to flame). That would be when Taxton's necromancer and sorcerer wove their magic together and animated the dead trees of the town walls and walked off with them. This left the town vulnerable to fire as cinders spread on the wind and after teh fire finally burned itself out... In the next three coming years there was no protection from wandering creatures nor bandits. The town population was taken down to only twenty eight people before the Baron of the time passed and his daughter the current Baron inherited. She invested in new brick and mortar walls for the town. She then committed to the long and expensive process of contacting cousins and other distant kin of those who died and seeing if they or anyone else wanted to come back and take over the land, with no taxes charged for the first year they were there.
This resulted in a boom as people came and as trade continued along the road business began to pick up again and the town is now flourishing. Most of the main tradesmen in the area are those who survived from thirty five years ago, or their direct descendants. This has left the whole town with a bitter outlook towards adventurers.

Architecture

The buildings of Riminhold are mostly built in the halfling manner with the arched doors and ceilings to accommodate larger races. The halfling preferance for curved angles and graceful lines rather than any hard angles makes it easier to build with less material (though a higher skill is needed). Which has become popular since all lumber is imported and while brick and mortar are fairly easy to get a hold of most people don't want to deal with the cold of winter and trying to heat a brick residence by fireplace.

Type

Town

Population

514