Spindleton
"Twenty silver," the guard said. His delivery was brusque, his eyes constantly moving across the terrain behind me.
"That's all?" I asked, handing the toll over. "Don't you want to know my reasons for travel?"
"Nah, that's Spindleton East, ever since those Gryphon Knights took over," he declared, spitting to the side. Gesturing at the men atop the town gate, he jerked his head to indicate I should head through the opening entrance. "We make sure people arrive safe and leave safe, and they pay their tolls."
Spindleton is name shared between two different towns. Guarding and watching each end of Spindleshin Pass, they form the leaving and stopping-off points for travelers with reason to risk passage through the Spider Spires. Since 1041 MT, when Echelion expanded its territory to include Spindleton East, the two have developed into different sets of government, but the reason for the towns' existence and prosperity remains the same. No one wants to travel Spindleshin Pass unprepared.
Government
Spindleton West
Spindleton West is run by a mayor, who is elected by popular vote. The timing of the vote depends largely on how well the mayor is doing: the longest-running career was that of Mikel Halfway, a halfling who made a point of hearing every possible concern brought before her that she could make time for. She remained in the position for thirty years, before an unprecedented swarm of spiders out of Spindleshin Pass followed a fleeing group right up to the city gates. Half of the town's guard forces died in the resulting chaotic violence, and a longtime political rival used the event to stoke fears among the residents enough to call for a vote, which Halfway lost. The mayor directly commands the guards, though usually there is a head guard who the mayor appoints - it is rare for someone with significant military experience to also have the charisma necessary to gain the popularity needed to win a vote. All other members of the government are appointees of the mayor, whose jobs are defined by the longstanding town charter. While ostensibly they have the power to simply tell people what to do, successful mayors have all ruled with a light touch, intervening only in serious matters or when they are directly asked to. All the government members' income, including the guards, comes from the taxes on sales and the tolls for entry and exit of the town. This has historically resulted in a low level of corruption. Most guards and officials cannot be convinced to help someone dodge taxation rules that directly fund their own pay.Spindleton East
Spindleton East is now run by a council of eight, supported by various kinds of legislative staff. The three trade guilds that now dominate the town each provide two members to the council, with the remaining two members appointed by the local Chelian governor. The latter two mostly provide counsel when requested and ensure that any decisions of the council don't run counter to Chelian policies. Below the Spindleton Council bookkeepers, tax collectors, and judges administrate the daily details of running the settlement. As is their custom, the Chelian government stands at a distance from the conquered town, allowing it to run itself as long as it abides by their laws first and foremost. The Gryphon Knights have taken over all matters previously handled by local guards and militia, including enforcing laws both local and national.Defences
Both Spindleton East and Spindleton West sport fifteen-meter walls of mixed wood- and stonework around their perimeter. The only fortifiable entry points for trade across the Spider Spires, they have each been the target of acquisition by larger powers throughout the settlements' histories.
Spindelton West
In Spindleton West, small watchtowers stand just behind the wall all along its southern and northern borders. Those to the south watch for Spirit Tides, and are equipped with large polished-bone horns. The towers to the north are equipped with bells and watch for signs of orc raids from the northern forests and hills. The walls above the east and west gates are guarded in groups of eight at a time unless there is a specific reason for the settlement to be on alert. The gates themselves stay shut at all times, opening at the orders of those guards who accept the toll fees for entry.Spindleton East
Since the takeover by Echelion, the Gryphon Knights have put noticeable effort into further fortifying the defenses of Spindleton East. Its wall has transitioned to more stone- than woodwork through a series of careful incremental upgrades, and the watchtowers spaced every fifty meters have been raised and joined to the wall itself. Gryphon Knights have taken over patrols of the walls entirely, groups of four walking casually along its upper reaches twenty meters apart from each other. Although no one knows exactly what the empire expects to attack the town, the towers are all fitted with alarm bells and small ballista. The east and west gates have been upgraded to include portcullises, which can normally be seen in a raised position over the wall. While the gates are kept open during the day, arrivals and departures at night are subject to even more detailed questioning and scrutiny than usual by the Gryphon Knights on guard.Industry & Trade
For both towns, entry and exit tolls and taxes on all transactions within the city borders are the primary sources of income. While much of this is a result of the escort companies leasing space within the settlements, they then give rise to a wide variety of support industries.
Spindleton West
In Spindelton West, most food and material supplies come from hunting and trapping. Preserved foods for sale tend to be kinds of jerked meat, and clothing options draw heavily on leather and fur materials. Smiths and other skilled producers here specialize more in repairs than full manufacture services; the possibility of Spirit Tides makes establishing mines on the west side of the Spider Spires a risky proposition at best. Its most individually-valuable export which can be said to be sourced locally comes from the semi-regular successful drake hunters who bring back the results of their deadly competitions with the forest drakes of the Spirited Lands.Spindleton East
Spindleton East is much better off in terms of access to natural resources. To its north and east, large swathes of rolling plains provide near-endless grazing land for various kinds of herd animals. To its south and east, Echelion's influence on crop rotations and methods of field re-plantings has nearly tripled the seasonal outputs of both edibles and pure textiles. Of course, being the hub for the safer side of the Spider Spires, its most valuable trade is in iron and silver. It hosts a group of long-standing family-run smelteries. They belch smoke and flame day and night during the late summer and fall, as miners returning after a successful season bring entire wagonloads of raw ore to be purified.Guilds and Factions
Several groups lease permanent lodgings in both towns from their respective governments. Multiple private companies specializing in escort services through the pass compete with each other for clients and reputation.
The Iron Wagons, although unimaginatively named, have traditionally enjoyed a reputation as the most effective company on both sides of the pass... and the most expensive. Their armored and war-trained mounts make for an impressive sight, as do their members, outfitted in well-kept and functional armor. Profits from escorted merchants and wealthy patrons, their main customers, are funneled back into equipment and armaments for their titular vehicles.
They are not without competition, however. For those willing to risk the possible unpredictability of gnomish engineering, the Powered Horses offer the fastest possible means of traversing the pass. Their self-propelled vehicles belch variations of steam and smoke and make a tremendous racket, but easily cross the entirety of the pass in half a day. The occasional explosion or breakdown in the pass is dismissed by the gnomes as an unfortunate but acceptable risk of advancing technology. Most of their excess funds go to liability payments, new materials, and fuel supplies for their vehicles.
A half-dozen other escort companies operate out of Spindleton East and West, though none quite compare to these two top contenders in terms of total profits and business. The majority of other businesses are ancillary efforts to the transport companies: smiths and armor crafters of all stripes make a brisk trade in repairing wagons, weapons, and armor of escort groups; tailors and cloth-and-fur traders keep travelers and their escorts outfitted in warm clothing for the year-round freezing temperatures of Spindleshin Pass, or for replacement clothing for the weather of the moment on the arrival side; those with connections to the outlying farms bottle and sell non-perishable foods, which come in handy if one finds themselves stuck in the pass waiting for rescue for any reason.
In Spindleton East most businesses have seen their local gains drop noticeably, due to new taxes, since the takeover by Echelion in 1041 MT. This initially caused concern that the profit-oriented escort groups might shift most of their business to the other side of the pass, but such concerns proved unnecessary. The transport groups who have survived the transition are those who recognized the importance of their primary business model and accepted the loss as an operating cost. In exchange, they have found a new source of income: the Gryphon Knights pay handsomely for consultation and escort services with regard to traveling through Spindleshin Pass, more than making up the difference.
In Spindleton East new guilds have been able to form under Echelion's rules of business as well. The Weavers, Breeders, and Traders now exercise political power directly, usually trying to aim policy to benefit their groups financially. The Weavers boast the highest membership, including every tailor, sheep and goat herder, cotton farmer, and even most armorsmiths in the area. The Breeders are populated by ranchers and herders of all other kinds, as well as those who make a living off their products. Leatherworkers and glue makers sound their voices among the Breeders. The Traders form a motley assortment of membership, their common thread being all of them trade in goods from outside the immediate area and facilitate the export of local products elsewhere.
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