Phrygia-by-the-Gap

Introduction

Phrygia-by-the-Gap is one of the relatively isolated aldeias located on the Plains of Kataru. The population is roughly 600, and is mostly farmers with some synth miners and a handful of Aeon Priests living at the nearby hermitage they call The Phrygian Sound, from which the aldeia takes its name.
Phrygians speak Krellit, a dialect of The Truth known for its lilting melody, its habit of rolling two words into one when one ends and the other begins with a vowel, and its use of whistles as accent or emphasis. Krellit is generally well understood by other speakers of The Truth, though its ornamentation is often a cause for speakers of Hahr to roll their eyes.

Demographics

There are about a hundred families in Phrygia-by-the-Gap, and almost all off them are descended from The Krell Nation, one of the large tribes of nomads spread across the Kataru Plains. Over three generations of settlement, most Phrygians have abandoned their old religion for a vague, animistic and ancestor-focused religion that exists side by side with the pseudo-numenera worship the Aeon priests lead. A handful of families continue to worship the old gods of the nomads, but this religious divergence doesn't seem to cause a problem for the community.
The earliest generation of Phrygians experienced a larger than expected death rate of girls during menarche, which was discovered to be due to a bit of numenera lodged in the bottom of a newly dug central well. While it's been two generations since this was an issue, young girls are generally sent to visit distant relatives at about age eleven, where they remain until menarche. This means that the population of adolescent girls in Phrygia-by-the-Gap is always lower than one would expect. An unexpected consequence is that Phrygian women have greater ties to their nomadic heritage than Phrygian men do, and they are generally better riders, archers, and swordmen than the men are.

Factions

Even a town as small as Phrygia-by-the-Gap has power struggles, and these struggles reflect in the formation of associations between like minded people. In Phrygia-by-the-Gap, the primary factions are the small number of ostensibly neutral Aeon Priests of The Phrygian Sound, the Farmers' Union who want Phrygia-by-the-Gap to stay decentralized, and the growth-focused Progress Association.

Aeon Priests

The Aeon priests have a vested interest in the town being safe and secure, and they work to that end, trying to balance between the farmers and the miners. Their hermitage, Phrygian Sound, was here long before the aldeia grew up around it, but they've come to rely on the creature comforts provided by the townsfolk. Despite the distance from the Steadfast, these priests are members of the Order of Truth, and owe nominal allegiance to the Amber Pope, but their distance from Navarene means that they are practically independent and remain far more focused on local political affairs.
The Aeon Priests learned long ago to avoid making sweeping pronouncements regarding local political issues because the amount of power they wield locally is enough to make them nervous. Generally they only step in to mediate when other factions are not able to come to agreement, or if some bit of numenera is involved in the dispute. They tend to be pro-trade in the sense that they want travelers to bring them cyphers and artifacts for their research, but don't generally care about the growth of the village so long as their needs are met.

The Farmers' Union

The farmers aren't big fans of diving for relics or synth mining in the Gap, and they want walls and protective barriers on their fields and pastures. They are opposed to taxes and think that public spending should be voluntary and consensus-driven. By far, the Farmer's Union is the largest faction, and they've used the power of their numbers to ensure that at least some of their goals are met. There are no taxes in Phrygia-by-the-Gap, no mayor or sheriff, and no public employees. Unfortunately, they haven't convinced all of their members to chip in on protections for their fields, so walls and such remain patchwork.

Progress Association

The progress Association believes that Phrygia-by-the-Gap should be a "modern" village with conveniences like maintained sewage troughs, cobblestone roads, and the use of numenera to make life easier at home. They are highly opposed to trade taxes and think land should be taxed. Their primary argument is that trade isn't steady, but agriculture is, and agriculture should form the bulk of public spending. The Progress Association doesn't have much power, but a few farming families have joined recently after losing livestock to raiders.

Government

Phrygia-by-the-Gap does not have any formal government structures. The largest building in town is the Meeting House, which is a natural wooden structure with open walls and bench seating. Here, Phrygians gather weekly after the Aeon Priests' public liturgy to discuss matters that affect the community as a whole, In theory, anyone can speak in a public meeting, but in practice, the major factions appoint speakers for the day.

Crime and Punishment

Without a formal government or any written laws, Phrygians deal with crime as it comes. Theoretically, they have standard punishments for crimes based on prior decisions, but in truth punishments are debated fiercely. Often, the debates will go on for so long that someone will decide to table for a week. Some have gone so long with discussions tabled that the community effectively forgot to punish them, while other have been punished quickly and fiercely. The Progress Association has started keeping logs of punishments to ensure some kind of consistency, but the Farmer's Union opposes that on the grounds that each judgment should meet the real life context of the crime, which can't be accomplished with an arbitrary list.

Economics

If it weren't for synth mining, Phrygia-by-the-Gap would still have a non-monetary economy. Indeed, much economic activity still occurs through barter and trade - livestock for land, or a year's worth of food for an artifact that keeps a house worm, and so on. However, the synth recovered from the Gap is sold to outside traders for a variety of types of shins, and most Phrygians will accept shins as payment as readily as a trade.

Agriculture

The primary industry remains agriculture, just as it is elsewhere in the Plains of Kataru. Most families are able to manage about 45 acres of land with another 15 lying fallow; roughly 5 square miles of land is covered by active fields during the growing season. Since most families need about half of that to feed themselves, the rest is sent out in trade. The cottage industry that most Phrygians engage in during the winter is distillation, and Phrygian liquor has made a name for itself as a decent quality, low cost alcohol.

Synth Mining

About twenty families brave The Gap to recover long sheets and blocks of synth, which they fashion into standard sizes for building. A few times a year, when trade caravans come through, they dicker and bargain over the cost of materials. Income from synth mining is therefore inconsistent at best, but the families earn enough to ensure they can defend that way of life against their political enemies. Sometimes, the more bold of the miners will recover cyphers, artifacts, or iotum that can be sold at great cost.

Trade

Across the Plains of Kataru, Phrygian synth and liquor are well known staple goods. The trade caravans that come to town don't tend to come with exciting things, but they do ensure that villagers have access to some basic luxury goods, weapons, armor, and such.

Type

Village