Varnhold

Varnhold was a fledgling colony comprised primarily of single adults evenly distributed between craftsmen and farm laborers, though there are a number of married couples and even a few families with children.

It was sponsored by the Swordlords as a means of strengthening their southern border, and perhaps over time reclaiming some of what is referred to as 'the Stolen Lands'. It was established in the territory of Nomen tribes, somewhat xenophobic centaurs who had little appetite to share their lands with grasping bipedal humanoids from the north.

Fortunately for the settlers, the Swordlords has anticipating a less than warm reception and had commissioned a warlord from the northern borders of Brevoy, one Maegar Varn, to build a permanent defensive dwelling and protect the settlers from privation. Maegar Varn not only built an impressive stone gatehouse protecting the entry to the track to Varnhold, but also a 100 mile road and a small castle within the town itself.

When the centaurs gathered their strength to repulse these trespassers, they were no match for Maegar's forces, and he crushed the strength of the tribe, effectively taking what remained as allies to scout the wider area and foretell of possible aggression from other centaur tribes.

The discovery of precious metals in the Tors of the Leveines to the south of the settlement generated further investment from the welathy of Restov and beyond, and the colony soon grew from a modest village to a bustling town. Such was its health that it even inspired the Genetie, traditionally river gypsies, to found 'Bright Town', a small trading village to serve the ever growing needs of prospectors that rushed to Varnhold to make their fortune.

Aside from the small castle, the town quickly developed a number of farms and trades, as well as a large inn known as 'the Crosswinds', a take on the ever present winds that rushed down from the Tors that surround the settlement to the south and the west.

Fortune rarely loves company so the saying goes, and the fall of the colony was as sudden as it was complete. The flood of ever more curious and capable strangers into the colony destabilised what was already a delicate balance of interests, leading to open fighting in the streets and the swift erosion of individual rights to property and liberty.

The end seemed to come with the arrival of an early and vicious winter, which coincided with an apparent breakdown of order within the town. Reports from survivors that made it to Nivatka's Crossing include tales of townsfolk being murdered in their homes, or just disappearing over a night.

Little is known of the fate of those that remained, though it seems that only the bravest merchant will take their wares now to Varnhold.