Saving the world on a Sunday afternoon
Maiden Ery is a small village on the White river in the south of Van Heusen’s barony, fairly close to the border with Arboria to the south, and very close to the border of the lands of the Hassani to the east. It is situated on a trade road that leads between Hassani lands and the town of Carlin Howham, the largest in the area, about a day’s walk away from Maiden Ery. Around the village square and well it boasts a small chapel to a local minor god of Balance and a ‘pub’ converted from someone’s front room, and just over the river a reasonably well-built forge, mostly suited to turning out ploughshares, and a tannery that serves both the herders on the Chalk and the hunters of the Bringewood.
Carlin Howham is a fairly lively trade town, on routes that lead from the Baronial capital to both Hassani and Arborian lands. It is big enough to have a local garrison, and temples and chapter houses for most of the Kingdom guilds. Travel to the Capital takes just over a week if making good time.
The other villages in the area – Foggy Furze, Langbaurgh and Garmondsford Bridge – are all much of a muchness. Foggy Furze’s one claim to fame are the marshes and wetlands that have developed in a swan neck of the White River, said to be good hunting for ducks and geese (so long as you stick to the paths).
To the north is an area the locals just call The Chalk – a tongue of chalk downland covered in short grass and sheep. One lone outcropping bears the overenthusiastic name of Howdontorbrynpenknock Hill, a relic of the downsides of diversity. Both The Chalk and the Hill have, if the locals are to be believed, their own special and mysterious breed of sheep-thief; the only evidence of this is the occasional sighting of a sheep going backwards at some speed.
To the east is a range of mountains called the Spears, beyond which lie lands claimed by the Hassani Eagles. There are several passes over the mountains, the main one comprising the trade road from Carlin Howham. The Spears hold the sources of the river Ehen and the White river, and there are rumours of precious metals and gemstones to be found in the peaks and valleys. The Hassani, clearly of the opinion that good fences make good neighbours, police each of the passes to ensure the security of the mountains.
Owing to the proximity of Arboria, the Bringewood is possibly one of the best-managed woodlands in the Kingdom. There are charcoal burners, loggers and hunters present, but the burners tend to their blazes very carefully, the loggers only take trees that need to be removed for the sake of the forest, and the hunters make sure to use every part of any kills they make.
The Seven Stones of Hordron have a great many stories to their name. The problem is that no two people can agree on them – even the number of stones is up for dispute. One thing that is known is that they surround a Durae’el Shift Siphon site.
The area maintains a friendly relationship, and trading links, with both the Arborian druids and the Hassani. The Hassani border is watched over by the Hassani Eagles, an honourable and relatively (for the Hassani) personable tribe of skirmishers and light warriors.
The dig is currently based around five trenches. Trench A was the first to be dug, on and around the landslide that drew people to the area in the first place, while B and C are later additions following contours, earthsigns and miraculous power. All three are around the steeper ground at the north-west of the site, and A & B have acquired tents to act as working areas for identification of artefacts. Not much in the way of portable artefacts have been found yet; those that have have been positively identified as Pre-Kingdom at the very least. Trenches D and E are later excavations.
Trenches A and B appear to contain sections of wall; on the walls have been found runes in variants of most of the miraculous and magical scripts (although so far no one has found any sign of Anarchy) and in multiple tongues, as well as at least one that is currently unidentifiable.
Trench C is more unusual; the rock underneath the turf is very smooth, and it resonates to miraculous power more than anywhere else in the site.
Trench D shows the same smooth rock as Trench C, and contains a now open doorway with the message “Cooperation is key” written on it in Balance runes, leading down into what has been discovered to be a Durae’el Shift Site.
Trench E currently shows similar smooth rock, but no other notable features, and the dig there has been closed down for now.
In order to service the site properly the Guilds have arranged for large tents to be put up to house the main facilities – a mess, a kitchen, a storehouse, a handful of scratch workshops, and the Library (donated by and largely populated by the ToF). All of the tents have since been shored up with wood to make them semi-permanent, with the intention to make them permanent as time and materials permit.
Two wells have been dug to provide water to the camp, and tents for the workers (theoretically four to a tent but so far only half as many people are in residence at any time) have been set out in regimented order by the Defenders. The area in front of the mess and stores is both used as the unloading area and as a practice yard by off-duty Defenders and anyone else who feels like taking a beating for fun (usually the Masters and Champions).
Three makeshift barracks made of wood, canvas and wicker for the Defenders working on the digsite have been built near the mess tent, and includes bunks for 24 people (split into ‘rooms’ of 4 people with two bunk-beds, four storage lockers and a stove) and a small washroom. Plans have been made to slowly turn these into solid buildings as time allows.
A chapel has been built next to the mess tent, and an infirmary has been built facing it with an adjunct dispensary.
A solid house has been built out to the east of the main building complex and is now the Eylish embassy. It has roses trained around the walls, and a small vegetable plot out the back.
A small shrine in the form of a carved slab has been carefully laid out east of the chapel. This has been dedicated to Redfan, dragon god of Might, by Master Halamar during his tenure at the digsite.
A small, solid, stone fort has been built near the middle of the digsite, now used as the main offices for the dig’s administrative team.
The main trail from the digsite to Maiden Ery has been formed mostly through wear and tear and largely follows the lie of the land and farm boundaries. The road is slowly being rebuilt to make it more weather and traffic proof. A notable feature is the light towers built alongside the road at regular intervals, used to pass information quickly to Maiden Ery and even as far as Carlin Howham.
At the present time, the administration is as follows:
In addition to the above are ‘advisors’ from the other Guilds, various assistants and notable personalities.
As an adjunct to the digsite, and both as ambassadors and guardians of the Shift Site, are two Eylish: