Abarakeen
Abarakeen is a rough and utterly lawless settlement located about 60 miles south of the Leflot Hills of eastern Daynmor in the Kingdom of Aria. Nestled in a high and very rugged valley of the northern fringes of the mighty Arak Mountains, it has a population of almost 1,500 souls, most of which are Human. There are 71 renegade Dwarves (meaning they have lost all Clan affiliation due to crimes committed towards the Clan) and 58 Drowkin Elves that have also committed enough mischief and trouble that even the Drowkin won't have them in their midst.
The town is made up of stone and rough-wood huts and hovels surrounded by an incomplete stone and timber palisade wall with no defendable gates to speak of. There is one spring within the town to provide fresh water, and any resources other than that provided by the spring (food, fuel, consruction material, clothing, etc.) has to be brought into the town from somewhere else. Only two functional routes lead to Abarakeen, and both are rough, unimproved paths leading from (roughly) the north to the south following two sides of a sharply rising ridge of bare rock. The approach to the town is steep and narrow the entire way and leaves anyone making the approach vulnerable to attack from above.
Demographics
1,500 lawless souls with no where else to call home.
Defences
An incomplete wall surrounds the town and is made of wooden posts holding up a dry-stone and debris wall that averages 7' high and 4' thick. There are two gates, both crudely constructed of wooden posts and boards and secured with a rusty chain and no lock. The only actual defensive capability that the town has is the simple fact that every single one of its residents is constantly armed in some fashion.
Industry & Trade
Theft, murder and brigandry are the primary industries of Abarakeen. There are no inns or taverns, and every house brews enough ale or mead to drown their sorrows each night.
Infrastructure
Abarakeen is made up mainly of walls and buildings constructed of dry stone stacks and wooden posts and palisades. Roads are unpaved and unimproved, little more than tracks in the dirt. No building stands higher than two stories, and no wall is taller than a tall man can reach with his arms above his head.
Assets
Located in a high and particuarly rugged valley that has a single natural spring of cold and remarkably fresh water that never seems to freeze, even in the coldest winters. This spring is the towns only valuable resource and a resident's proximity to the spring is the single greatest indicator of wealth and prestige in the entire community.
Points of interest
The town has a strong fresh spring that pours as much as ten gallons of cold, fresh water out of a rock fissure near the center of the settlement. A rough wooden shelter has been built over this spring and a large stone trough catches the water before it flows out of the stone basin and into the nearby gutter to wash away the refuse of the street. Inknown to the residents of Abarakeen, this springs pours out a remarkably effective healing water that is the only reason most of them are still alive and healthy.
Tourism
There is little to no reason for anyone to visit Abarakeen. The people that call it home do so only because they have no where else to go. There are no stables, as there is no means by which grain or fodder can be provided other than the time, effort and expense of carting it up the steep mountains paths from the grasslands miles below. There are no inns or taverns in Abarakeen, either. People eat and drink what they can provide for themselves, and will charge cash or barter for either to strangers, then probably attempt to rob them while they sleep.
Geography
The town is located in a small, narrow valley high in the mountains. Accessible only by a narrow and winding trail that leaves any approaching party extremely vulnerable to attack by arrows, bolts or even thrown stones. Weather in the valley is often harsh, dry and difficult. No farming or agriculture is possible here, and all food must be hunted or gathered from further down slope and then hauled up by hand, horse or small carts.
Climate
Short but hot and dry summers with long, frigidly cold winters. Winds in the middle of winter can blow at 50 mph and drift snow as high as a horse in just an hour.
Natural Resources
The town's strong, natural spring is actually a font of healing waters. Unbeknownst to the town's residents, the only source of fresh water available to the town with any sort of regularity is a spring of healing waters that has kept the community healthy and strong when without it, most would already be dead of malnutrition and disease. The stony soil and typically insufficient sunlight of the valley make growing any sort of produce next to impossible, meaning every meal eaten in the town of Abarakeen is lacking in vital nurition, especially vitiamin C. The magical waters of the spring keep the residents (and few visitors) that drink from it healthy without their even knowing it.
