July 993
I have found my way up river, to Brax on a swift courier and am now settled in to wait for a company traveling by water or land to Tucor. If one does not arrive shortly I will be forced to travel alone. My uniform is growing threadbare from this long service and I would hate to have to hike my way any further. I am told that the trek through the temperate rainforest of Vaunaphasuak will be hard enough.
The town of Brax is a bustling hub of trade activity. Though not overly large when compared to Dorchak or Silverthorn herself, she is a well planned and put together city. I am told she was designed to guard the mouth of the Silver river from northern raiders before Suspin and Dorchak joined the kingdom. As such the four span high stone walls and guard towers are quite impressive. She no longer has the guard complement originally designed to be here and some of the barracks and training grounds have been converted into apartments for local residents. The rent is paid directly into the barons coffers and goes to maintaining the cities sewage, street, and wall facilities.
The council here is quite relaxed, it seems that their duties are largely managed by the baron himself, and that little action ever takes place in this sleepy seaside barony.
-Strider Al’Terra
The barony of Brax is situated on the mouth of the silver river and has long been a loyal bastion of defense for the nation of Silverthorn. In recent years however its usefullness has fallen by the wayside and the area has fallen into a slow decline of elegant decay.
Great granite walls stretch along the cliff-line, enormous ramparts protect the harbor, and iron gates rust in grooves that have not been cleaned in years. The heart land of Silverthorn, at the end of the king’s highway, directly from the north gate of the capital city has little to fear from invasion, foreign or domestic. And so, in a port that is only stopped in briefly, to or from the capital, great barraks, foundries, and smithies, lie dormant from nearly a century ago when this was the frontier of a new-born kingdom.
Ecology
The wildlife this close to the Capital city remains quite tame. For the most part danger is scare and living simple. However, there seem to be a large number of strange slimy fetid pools in the lowlands south of the cliffs overlooking the inner sea. Some of the locals claim that these pools are actually liquid creatures capable of moving onloy at night and devouring people and cattle alike.
The Baron
Baron Stannish Worthshire has lived his entire life in the decline of a once great trade city. He has watched as his people have slowly moved away, not to be replaced, searching for new frontiers and richer opportunities. The town was built to hold ten thousand people at its prime, and now just over half that number remain inside the ivy covered walls. Land here is cheap but no-one is buying.
Town of Epsom (Population 600)
Epsom pays fealty to Brax but has not been heavily taxed in years. She is a small community owing mostly to the lack of ambition on the part of the Thane Ollent who keeps his manor here. The twon exports a bit of barley and wheat, but is mostly comprised of self sufficient farmfolk who want little to do with the outside world.