Beliard

Beliard

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Geographical Information

Size: Village • Location: Dessarin Valley, the North

Societal Information

Populace: 200 (50 in village, 150 in outlying farms)

Religion: None

Imports: various

Exports: Cattle

Political Information

Government: Landed Knighthood

Ruler: Saer Ithtar Erodar

Military: Local Militia

A small, tree-cloaked villages found east of the Stone Bridge, Beliard is a market town for the local cattle ranchers and drovers. Many ranchers in the area simply build steads within Beliard proper and then drive their herds into the hills and plains outside the town proper.

People

The folk of Beliard are mostly human and halfling, with a few gnomish and dwarven steads in the hills south of Beliard proper. Their nearness to the Iceshield orcs (and the occasional alliance between the town and the orcs against marauding Gray Wolf Uthgardt bands) has resulted in a handful of half-orcs within Beliard's population.

Government

Beliard is a traditional holding of a small landed knight called the Tower Knight. For generations, that knighthood has been in the hands of the Erodar family, although their lineage as Tower Knights only goes back a hundred years or so. Their arms is a tower upon a hill, with a steer's skull at the base of the tower. The current Tower Knight is Saer Ithtar Erodar, a knight of the Order of the Gauntlet.

Defenses

Each household above a certain size is expected to contribute a certain number of its folk as yeomen militia, trained by the Tower Knight.

Places of Interest

• The Knight's Tower: Fortification. A tower standing upon a hill overlooking both the small pond and the rest of the village, the Tower includes a modest manor house wherein dwell the Erodar family and their few men at arms. The tower has a separate door allowing access to the Tower Knight's study, where he holds audiences daily from elsun to thulsun, through the highsun feast.

Mercantile

• Halamar's Horses: Stabler. A local stabler, Halamar's is also something of a defacto local orphanage. Younglings without parents are taken in by the establishment, giving them food, board, work, and an education, a tradition that goes all the way back over a hundred and fifty years. The stables are run by folk who were once orphans there themselves, and they act as a tight-knit family.
• The Stronghouses: Warehouses. A set of strong stone warehouses, the Stronghouses are run by the Gempurse family, a small family of dwarven merchants sworn to the Stoneshield clan.

Nightlife

• The Watchful Knight: Inn. A 16-room inn, built of logs and somewhat drafty. The Watchful Knight has a central hall with a massive chimney at either end, and two floors of rooms that overlook the hall.

Temples & Shrines

None

Trade Routes

Roads & Trails

• The Dessarin Road: A meandering country path from out of the Dessarin Hills, continuing south from Beliard into the Sumber Hills and eventually to Womford.
• The Stone Road: A long road leading from Westbridge across the Dessarin River via the Stone Bridge, ending in Beliard.