Becklinberg
They say the clay in their mine is magic! That you can cook it to be strong as stone and real light. They say it also can heal injuries and melt away years from your skin too! Course, they also say the clay is more than capable of defending itself too.
Becklinberg is one of the many communities that dot the area around Lake Bask though it was notable for one particular thing, their clay. A nearby clay mine was said to be home to magically infused clay with healing properties as well as engineering applications.
Becklinberg was originally built by Balmoran settlers many centuries ago but its famous clay deposits weren't discovered until shortly before the The Queen's War. The news of it's miraculous clay were largely lost to the backdrop of the war.
Becklinberg remained a powerful trade post in the region until a particularly heavy rainy season led to the flooding of the mine and the abandonment of the town. Only a few diehards remained, hoping to reopen the mine somehow and bring prosperity back to Becklinberg. Decades past and the holdout population made little progress in cleaning up the mine all while their population dwindled further.
The flood damage made the task difficult but the growing population of mud/earth elementals bubbling up from the murk made organized attempts particularly dangerous.
In the final decade of Becklinberg's life their scouts discovered something deep beneath the mine where Lake Bask's underground pockets connected with open tunnels. It's there they found a sleeping behemoth in the stagnant pools there that seemed to have a very passive control over the elementals that had been making the mine so dangerous to approach. They found that gifts of food and prayer would, from time to time, result in brief periods where the clay elementals would vanish from the mines and allow access to the clay again. The amounts they could gather were small but valuable all the same. Eventually the citizens of Becklinberg turned to worshiping the creature, hoping to appease it and earn its favor.
In Becklinberg's last days a charlatan known as Heinreich Klamp came to the township after having learned of the healing clay and a considerable chuck of @manacite unearthed in the mine. He pretended to be an oracle to the so-called Frog God and that he could speak for the creature. His spells and dwindling supply of manacite were more than enough to convince the simple townsfolk here though. He spent the last few weeks of the township's existence milking it for money, manacite and anything else of value while using his magic to make sure the thing stayed asleep. After having taken everything of worth he convinced the citizens to participate in a scheme of luring travelers to the town, taking their valuables and feeding them to the Frog God. This became a profitable source of income for Klamp until the arrival of a scouting group from the Westbound Star Company.
They too were meant to be feed for the Frog God but managed to break free of the trap, defeat Klamp and destroy the Frog God. Becklinberg is now a depopulated hovel left to the mercy of nature and the inevitable attacks of Clay Elementals.
Demographics
Human
Government
Traditionally the mayor but prior to its abandonment it was the Cult of the Frog God, a small offshoot of the Cult of the Scorned One
Industry & Trade
Clay Mining
Assets
Mining equipment. Magical Clay
Architecture
Becklinberg's architecture is a very simple variant of old Balmoral
Geography
Becklinberg is built on marshy land prone to frequent flooding. It is situation beside the Becklinberg Clay mine and the forests of Lake Bask
Natural Resources
Access to lumber and the magical clay from the nearby mines
Type
Town
Population
Likely zero now
Inhabitant Demonym
Becklinberger
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
Related Reports (Primary)
Related Reports (Secondary)
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