The Setting Evolved: Geography of a Town

“It is a diamond far in the rough, here folk make a home out of what lies between the bitter peaks, the floating forest and the vast central plains; and though it lays upon the path to Serathis, The Ruins of Intrigue, it is not nearly as lawless. Yet, by no means is it as safe as a true city of the Hu-Charad. The town of Far-Rough is the Birthplace of Seral the Rune Messiah, and the Cradle of Nem, and I am its Steward“ as spoken by Vi-Carris; Steward of Sa-Haraz to Our Lady Protector; 6970 GT

Geography of Far-Rough

The Cradle of Nem, The Birthplace of Seral, Sa-Haraz; the town and the lands around it have many names, yet the most common is its human name, Far-Rough. It lies on the north-western edge of the Floating Forest near the Bitter Peaks, and the south-western edge of the central plains. It is commonly called “The Edgelands” by the locals because it lies on the edge of these three regions and because survival here often depends upon the edge of a blade. There are no hard a fast boundaries that define the edgelands, you’re in them only so long as the locals say you are.

Far-Rough’s size is mostly dictated by the slowly growing trade and a need for more farmland to support a larger population. All the farm land lies north east of the town away from the floating forest, being well into the central plains. Far-Rough has seen a rapid growth from modest town to its current near-city size with the opening of the trade route to Serathis, yet it this is not the only trade route, and the town is unlikely to grow further.

Most of the town sits on two high hills that sit on opposite sides the river known as Nara’s Estuary, it then spreads along the shores of a wild lake the local’s call Fanormere, protected by The Woven Wall (a wall built using the caementicium techniques of long dead Devania, and reinforced by the crystal weavers in those ancient times before the Dramojh Invasion; all covered by a veneer of stone.) Only the newest parts of the town, like the Traveler’s Burroughs lay outside this wall. Fanormere itself was created by the gigantic gassar trees of the floating forest, though those trees and their islands are long gone, and the Woven Wall creates a dam that keeps the lake constantly filled, and allows the farmlands to be irrigated.

The Woven Wall is pierced by tower gates, the Fanorwier which leads to the fishing docks of the lake; the Narawier, which has a path that leads north along the river toward the Ghostwash, The Floatingate, which leads to the lumber camps and toward the floating forest. Farmer’s Way which leads out int the central plains and most of the homesteads; and the Traveler’s Door, which gives entrance in to the traveler’s burroughs and to the Serathis trade route. The most current project under consideration by the Steward is a true road to Serathis, but it is meeting stiff opposition.

Vekik’s Watchtower sits atop the western hill upon a sky-isle of a gassar tree, and is the highest point in the city. Many long viewing devices purchased from the Verrik are stored here. A very small clan of merfolk, has been trapped in Fanormere by the dramojh fangmaster Sylythyss for over 800 years, and is at the lowest point of the city on the eastern side of the damn. There are rumors about the old undercity of Nem that was once with in the walls, but it seems these were all turned into cellars that have since been walled off but rumors persist.