Crestwood

Balin Dvergr originally founded Crestwood. While he did not do so alone, his is the only name recorded and remembered by the people. Around 50 years after the end of the Great War, he rapidly grew very ill and erratic. Many of the laws established on what and how they were allowed to mine were likely written for a reason. However, Balin was unable to communicate the reasoning behind the laws towards the end of his life (to the current generation and the previous). The current mayor, Siobhan Lee, won the election for mayor 5 months ago. They ran on a platform of keeping the old laws in an attempt to retain the spirit of their wise founder. While it could be more profitable to expand, and given that they don't remember why the laws were there in the first place, Siobhan's opponent argued to repeal some of the old laws. This last election was one of the most divisive. There was still a lot of love for the old founder. Under the current laws, the town is flourishing. However, with progress comes a wish for more. They can't look into the future and know for sure if keeping with the way that has always worked or changing tacks to push into the future will be the best for the people. Now, around 100 years after the end of the Great War, the town has recently undergone a horrendous flooding incident. It cannot be referred to as even a 100 year flood because nothing of this size has ever swept through Crestwood. It collapsed some of the mines on the miners inside, soaked through many of their food stores, and ended up bursting the damn the lay just outside the city. The damn collapsed and drained, revealing an unknown temple at it's base.  Now, around 100 years after the end of the Great War, the town has recently undergone a horrendous flooding incident. It cannot be referred to as even a 100 year flood because nothing of this size has ever swept through Crestwood. It collapsed some of the mines on the miners inside, soaked through many of their food stores, and ended up bursting the damn the lay just outside the city. The damn collapsed and drained, revealing an unknown temple at it's base.

It had finally stopped raining. I wanted to be outside. It was raining so long I was just desperate to see the sky, but I looked up and... the sky. It was as if the sun itself was being sucked away. That night, there were no stars, and there's been nothing above us for a week now." - Ivy Kelly

Temple to The Magician

Approaching the now empty basin, the heavy smell of dirt and mud lingers here. The rain was strongest over the dam, though it wrecked havoc throughout the town as well. Bisecting the basin, is a preserved stone channel. It appears to have been built into the bedrock, and the remain of a bridge across it can even be seen. The river now runs primarily through this channel. It must have been expertly made and for the purpose of directing the river to have survived over 100 years submerged. However, it is difficult to focus on the masonry. Past it, the subject of the horrified whispering of the townsfolk is revealed. Rows upon rows of statues surround the entrance to the temple as if lined up in an amphitheater, all poised as if simply paused mid step to some song they could all hear. The dull grey stone comes into sharper relief upon approach. Each statue is distinct and precise, horrifically precise. They are all different species, seemingly littered throughout at random. The party healer runs down row upon row of statues, seeing the grimaces and screams of grey stone teeth upon teeth glaring out under the weeping lines of horror on each face. Each is different. Each is the same.
There is no sound. The birds do not call and no rodents rustle along the muddy ground, but if you're quiet... if you're very, very quiet. It's as if the weight of whatever music these souls listened to still sits upon the air it must have once sang unto. The weight of the silence seeps all who approach. There is no evidence of a religious ritual and whether or not that evidence would have endured as well as these stone creations is unknown. It is a stark realization that the people do not look weathered. A century of submersion in this dam and they have not eroded. There is enough detail to see that the lesser known races can be seen here. There are gnomes and elves, both of which are nearly impossible to find in this day and age. All that is truly clear is that these poor creatures, for they certainly did not start their lives made of stone, wept in the unseen agony that gripped them in their final moments.

Points of interest

The Dam

The dam was built sometime around the end of the Great War. The reason for its creation and the date that work began or finished are no longer remembered. It's existence isn't even mentioned in the written history that Crestwood has held onto. Though it has been forgotten, the un-watering of the Temple will eventually give shape to its past. The Magician, in what she represented at the time, was one of the Unknowing's greatest adversaries in protecting the Material Plane. The Unknowing's agents killed most of the occupants and began a ritual to turn the tide, using the strength of the Temple's location against it, but the residents of Crestwood that had survived the assault brought a secretly cultivated plan to bare, and flooded the basin in an attempt to stop the ritual. This has been forgotten. Though the ritual was temporarily thwarted, the Unknowing at least succeeded in that much.

Climate

Crestwood is a temperate place. There's enough water to sustain some crops, but the rain is hardly ever heavy. While it gets colder in the winters, they generally too far west to see any significant snow fall. Otherwise, the climate tends to be stable for most of the year. It is windy throughout the year.

Natural Resources

Crestwood is a mining town that primarily mines iron. However, with the recent flood and discovery of the Temple, Toruum - Spark Glass has been discovered. The economy, thus, is on the edge of a new age given the discovery of such a rare element.

RPG Plot Hook

The Forgotten Goddess - The Magician

The figure is made of white marble and stands serene and confident, though partially erased by time and the elements. The figure's right arm points to the sky holding some kind of object, though it's impossible to tell what it is as it's been broken. Long, draping robes fall from their shoulders, and their left hand points out of them at the ground. The bottom of the statue is too faded to see what might have been there with any clarity. A fire, bright and comforting, burns around her feet - lighting the way and asking those who come to seek it's purpose.

"May the fires of potential light your path"

the remains of a blessing older than memory

 The Goddess Tanm is currently worshiped in Crestwood, a pale comparison to the full strength of The Magician, but she proved too strong an idea to wipe away entirely.

Founding Date

1480

Type

Village

Population

450

Owner/Ruler

Siobhan Lee