Wharram

General
Located in the The Misty Pines Forest is the town of Wharram. Wheat, Hops, Corn and Barley fields stretch out the north end of town and borders at Crom Lake. Small Docks are present at the lake with a few small row boats which are used for fishing. To the west is the Hungry Mire, a swamp which is rarely visited. To the east is the Valdrun Mountain range. Wharram is quite secluded from the rest of the empire and as such they are not bothered frequently. There are the occasional traders, adventurers and mercenaries who happen to pass through, but they are few and far between. Most of them stick to the main trade routes which move along the southern and eastern regions of Veldras. South-west, north-west and east of town there are three guard towers. There is one main road leading into town from the south-east. A small path leading north towards the docks and a wagon track leading out north-west towards The Misty Pines. Besides the roads there are multiple footpaths leading out of town towards various parts of the forest.

The town is built in what seems to be three sections:
 * Farming, north side
 * Industry and general purpose areas, center and east side
 * Housing and religion, western and southern sides

There are some houses outside the housing and religion area, but they are more purpose driven to allow for the townsfolk, who have to keep a close eye on the towns industry, to live nearer to their work spaces.

People and Atmosphere
Due to the towns proximity to Crom Lake the cold winds blowing inland from the great ocean known as the Traders Fate and the warm moisture heavy air from the Valdrun Mountains, there is almost always a low lying mist surrounding the town, which only starts to lift after midday but never truly dissipates. There is a constant fresh pine and dirt smell in the air with hints of flowers, grains and berries. During the day, there is constant movement in and around the large barn which stands in the middle of town with music playing from inside the barn. Come evening the town settles down and most of the movement is centered in and around the Sleepy Hollow Inn, where the music continues to play until the last patron leaves. The townsfolk are generally happy, hardworking folk who don’t rely on the empire for aid and support. You can hear folks talking and trading with each other, kids playing in the streets and you get the sense that this is a very close knit community of friends who greatly care for each other and are working together to the benefit of everyone.

History
Established in 651 AW by the Grinlok family, Wharram is now home to about 120 individuals of various races. Originally the land belonged to a wealthy merchant named Charles Cobblesteen who wanted to dabble in farming of grains as an alternative income to his texture business. The Cobblesteen's were caught in a storm whilst traveling through the Valdrun Mountains to Orlon. Only Charles survived but was in critical condition. Connor and Anna Grinlok, the family who ran his farming business left for Orlon immediately after hearing about the incident. With no heir and as his final dying wish he left the texture business to the Balter’s (family who ran the texture business) and the farming business to the Grinlok’s. Connor and Anna Grinlok returned from Orlon two weeks after the Cobblesteen's funeral. With them they had various families who wanted to start over elsewhere and upon hearing that the Grinlok’s were looking for a few workers to help them with their newly obtained business, decided to join them and so the town was born. Connor and Anna Grinlok were exceptional people and most of the families who came out to Wharram with them grew to love them dearly as they cared for each family like their own. They had one son, Paddy Grinlok. There were the few cases over there years of residents who got greedy but they were dealt with in swift manner by the residents of Wharram when their plans came to light and mostly without the Grinlok family even knowing there was trouble brewing. After their passing, Connor and Anna Grinlok left the business and the town to their son, Paddy Grinlok.

After the town was attacked in the spring of 711 AW, the towns defensive capabilities were upgraded dramatically.

Industry
The town is mainly a self serving community, but they do have surplus grains in the stores. These surplus grains are used to brew ale at the Grinlok Brewery as well as mixed with honey and berries to create a sort of a sweet bar which is quite healthy and sought after by the nobles of Orlon. Fresh fish is caught daily at Crom Lake and surprisingly they also have a fish hatchery where they breed more of the common fish they catch in the lake to sustain their consumption. They have a few hunters who venture into The Misty Pines on a weekly basis to hunt for food, but they have a strict policy on hunting only animals who threaten the lives of the folk of Wharram, only deer older than a predetermined age and no deer with offspring. The meat gathered from hunts are stored salted in cold stone rooms built from the stones gathered from Valdrun Mountains and the rest of the resources such as fur, teeth, hooves, claws and antlers are tanned and cleaned and re purposed for other uses. Twice a year they also make a trip south to The Plains to hunt the great game that migrate through The Plains. These trips are usually accompanied by wagons and some of the townsfolk who set up camp, care for the hunters and aid with the cleaning and preserving of the bounties the hunters manage to obtain. There is a large barn in the middle of town which serves as both the market, meeting, celebration hall and armory. Along the side walls on the outside of the barn are several smaller rooms attached to the barn which are used by the artisans to craft their various goods. Once every two months a trade convoy is sent to Orlon which takes surplus grains, furs and goods made in Wharram to the city to sell at the market which then returns with the supplies which are not available in Wharram itself. Occasionally traders from the rest of the continent visit Wharram out of curiosity and usually end up spending more coin than they planned on.

Authority
The town seems to be run by the people and they have one “leader” who is elected by the people to act as a final say in matters which are tied. The current elected leader seems to be Paddy Grinlok.

Before spring of 711 AW
The town does not have any specific guards, but they do have a sort of farming militia which consists of townsfolk. Militia training is quite important to the town and there is a practice/sparring area in the south eastern area of town. Everyday some of the militia are training for the entire day. Once they are done training they will only train again when everyone else has had their chance. More can be found in and between the watchtowers during the day. A minimum of two per watch tower and six walking between towers. Once those walking between the towers reach a tower, they take over the watch and the guards who were at the tower walks back to the tower their replacement came from. This allows each guard to be stationed at each of the towers throughout the day. Other guards sleep during the day and take the night watch where the same routine is followed. The rotation directions are selected at random each day and night to prevent patterns from occurring. In the event that any alarm is raised, the pattern immediately changes to the other direction. The hunt master is considered to be the leader of the militia.

After spring of 711 AW
During the spring of 711 AW, the town was attacked by spiders. They realized the town required better defenses and set out to wall the town off with two main exits. They managed to defeat the spiders with the aid of the DILDO's, a group of adventurers who happened to find themselves in the area at the time of the attacks. Unfortunately the town militia suffered severe losses with a total of 32 dead which brought the population down from 157 to 120 individuals. The towns hunt master, Burk Brayon along with its current leader, Paddy Grinlok, decided to send a envoy to New Port in attempt to arrange for some properly trained soldiers to defend Wharram in the future.

Sleepy Hollow Inn
Owned and operated by Paddy Grinlok. Located at the eastern side of town is a large rectangular stained pine building, two story, well kept and cozy establishment which supplies food and lodging for travelers. It also doubles as the towns local bar and entertainment. It has a small bar, small stage and kitchen along the left wall and seating for about 40 or so patrons, with a comfy set of couches on the right of the entrance Stairs lead up to five rooms on the second floor with another set of stairs leading further up to a attic which is mainly used for storage of linen and general items required to keep the rooms clean and tidy for guests. Kitchen times are 06:00 to 10:00 and 18:00 to 23:00.

Wharram Stables
Owned by Paddy Grinlok, operated by Peter Blane and Radur Brayon. Located just east of the Sleepy Hollow Inn on the eastern side of town but slightly outside of town. The stables are open from 06:00 to 23:30 every day.

Grinlok Brewery
Owned and operated by Paddy Grinlok. Located just north of the Sleepy Hollow Inn on the eastern side of town. The brewery was established by Paddy Grinlok to help reduce the wasted grains which the town could not put to use. The brewery supplies the local inn and market with ale. Barrels of ale are sent with traders to Orlon to sell or trade with at the market.

Specialty Ales

 * Grinlok Special
 * Dark ale
 * Strong flavors of smoked wheat
 * Strong ale
 * Sweetheart's Choice
 * Light ale
 * Sweet to the taste
 * Flavors of berries and wheat
 * Pinkish in color due to the berries
 * Workers Tears
 * Medium strength ale
 * Brownish yellow in color
 * Flavors of barley and hops
 * General ale that’s sold most often in town

The Fishery
Following the road leading north out of town, through the wheat fields, you will reach the Wharram Fishery. This Establishment was one of the first expansions Connor created after the death of the Cobblesteen's. During the Cobblesteen's short time of rule over Wharram, they retained trade contracts with the Empire to supply the town with for rations every month. This was all good while there were a mere 20 or so residents, but as soon as Connor and Anna came back from Orlon with more mouths to feed, Connor decided to build the fishery to supply the towns most basic food needs. This along with the occasional hunt, resulted in enough meats and with the new families planting vegetables in the nearby fields, the contract could be cancelled. After Connor's death, in honor of his memory and the effort he put in to provide the new town members with food, the townsfolk built a fish hatchery next to the fishery where they breed the fish most commonly consumed by the people of Wharram.

Fish species in Crom Lake:
 * Long Jaw
 * Palefin
 * Ripper
 * Dart
 * Yellow Belly
 * Mudder

Known Characters

 * Paddy Grinlok
 * Sarah Brayon
 * Mary Grinlok
 * Peter Blane
 * Carden Noll
 * Tilly Tanglestrand
 * Burk Brayon
 * Lorus Brayon
 * Kaldur Brayon
 * Radur Brayon
 * Elyn Kathil
 * Mera Kathil