Sun Keld Rules v.3 : gazeteer

Darkin

Keywords

The town of Darkin is one of the principal administrative hubs of Nistray's Scion lands. Located about 10 days Nightwards and Turnwards of Wind's Canyon, and a Cycle Daywards of Last Home, Darkin is located in the midst of a fertile plain that is solidly cultivated and dotted with smaller villages and farms.

The town is located on a gentle rise in the middle of cornfields and cattle routes. Tall walls of mud-bricks and tapering square towers supported by wooden beams soar over the dusty grass, it has the clear look of a fortress, and any approaching traveller will be spotted by archers on the walls long before they reach either of the four gates. Inside the walls the town is a close-packed warren of passages, high-sided lanes, tunnels and caves that spiral down into the cooler earth. Narrow light-wells allow the sun to shine into Satvan-like shrines to Ningaur, but most of the town is always in semi-darkness. Covered Qanats funnel water from nearby bare stone flats into the town, where it is drawn up in well houses.

North300

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Turnwards-40

Greystone

KeywordsPort, Nightlands

RoutesIceway

SizeSmall Town

Region4th Aed of Ur

Greystone is the chief town of the 4th of Ur, which lies in the Ice Hills. It is Nightwards and Counter-turn of Ur. A typical river barge can make the journey in four days, while a Black Ship might manage half of that.

Greystone is a town of thick walled stone buildings lying at the mouth of a dramatic fjord. The cliff walls behind the town are steep and craggy, striped with bands of grey-green stone and overhung by dripping cloud forest. Four Klegs Nightwards a tumultuous waterfall plunges off the clifftop at the head of the fjord, throwing up a constant curtain of mist. Greystone is primarily a fishing town, and small boats ply the cool waters of the One River, catching Nirpad and Ubiku. Timber and Zerom wool from the interior are brought down to be traded in the town, and fish sauce is a major export.

Greystone lines on the Iceway, the road that links Chald and Derzak along the line of the Ice Hills. The road proper is actually six Klegs Nightwards, above the head of the fjord. A smaller outpost, Greystone crossing, lies at the junction.

North-64

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Turnwards-70

Meerok

KeywordsFarming

RoutesThe Reachway

SizeSmall Town

RegionSword Coast

Meerok is the principal town of Derzak's Sword Coast holdings, a swath of farmlands on the Sunwards plateau of the One River well to the Turnwards of Nistray. Protected from the worst of the sandstorms by the Ahzkuun shieldlands, and given access to shipping through Sword Landing this is a generally quiet area, that conducts some trade with Nistran villages further to the Counter-turn and keeps an eye on Chald to the Nightwards.

Meerok's principal function is administrative, serving as a base location for Derzaki Clerks, Mages and Bonded Ones to oversee the scattered farms and holdings. Many of the farmers here are ex-soldiers, granted land on the Sword Coast as a reward for military service. This lends Meerok a roudy air, full of places where old soldiers come to drink and reminisce about past campaigns. It also means that crippled Keldians are a surprisingly common sight on the town's streets.

Meerok is built on a slope overlooking a wide wash through which water flows after rain. There is often a trickle of water here amongst the drying mud even when rain is long overdue, and Meeroki children are normally handed the duty of risking the mud to fetch water, or set to hunting the Striv that burrow everywhere in the wash. The town itself is mostly built from rough stone cleared from the fields and plastered with river mud. Higher status buildings are painted with ochre in varying shades.

Sorgan's Fall

KeywordsNightlands, Port, Battle

RoutesIceway, Night's Valley

SizeSmall Town

Region4th Aed of Ur

Sorgan's Fall is a small town built where the Iceway crosses the Coldwater, a wide and rapid river that thunders through the black ice Hills rock and surges away Daywards to the One River. The waterfall known as Sorgan's Fall was the site of a famous battle between Ur and Derzak in the 6th Century of Empire. The river is navigable to small boats both below and above the fall, but boats must portage around the falls themselves.

The town of Sorgan's Fall is built on the Turnwards side of the river with a long bridge of rough wood crossing a series of stone piers just above the top of the falls (which are level with the road). A steep trail leads down to the lower part of the river, where a second dock is located. Small barges unload at this lower port and transfer their cargo to the upper one. Often this cargo is then loaded on a second boat, but sometimes the boat is raised by crane and winch to the top of the falls.

Sorgan's Fall is beholden to Ur, but the lands of Derzak lie just on the other side of the river, where a small guard tower is located to watch the crossing. It is 3 days Counter of Tarfell.

North-70

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Turnwards-178

Wind's Canyon

KeywordsTax

RoutesNingaur's Steps, The Canyon Trail, The Anvil's Way, Drover's Road

SizeSmall Town

RegionWind's Canyon

Wind's Canyon is a complex maze of bazaars, lanes and houses dug into the caves and rock of a narrow point in the canyon. Walls block the approach from Turn, Counter and Sunwards, and the flat tops of the canyon are too high and fragmented for an attacker to use them for launching an effective attack on the town. Hedges of Marama Thorns block the main entry routes a little distance from the walls, funelling anyone approaching along the roads themselves. The gates are of Zerom wood, studded with copper bosses, and always guarded by a small group of Nistran soldiers operating from a fortified gatehouse.

Within the walls, mesas of rock break up the town into small sections, separated by narrow winding streets or passageways. Colourful awnings of dyed Maugey fibre add extra shade, and there are many Hunut and Ganam in the streets. Daybats and Brightflies zip and swoop overhead. People live close packed in Wind's Canyon, with families living together. The main market is near to the Drover's Gate. At the back of this market stands the Low House, where the Clerks are based, and the taxes are tabulated. A little way to the Counterturn and at a higher level is the High House the grander home of the Bonded Ones. A number of smaller districts, located in their own crevasses, surround the main part of the town.

Main routes leading from Wind's Canyon are: The Canyon Trail, leading to Kuthar and Urukag; Ningaur's Steps, leading to Darkin; The Anvil's Way, leading Sunwards across the Sun's Anvil; and Drover's Road, leading to hellgrass Reach.

North330

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Turnwards-180

Gazeteer : Small Town

5 entries found.