Game maps

Chapter One.

Chapter two.


Chapter three.

Slapershaven map

High on the great river Verdu is Slapershaven, a small village of some 30 souls with a further 100 or so local farmers, trappers and hunters situated on the southern bank of a lake called Slapersmeer where the slow moving Verdu meets the fast moving Ems running from the mountains to the south. Getting to Slapershaven from Takshendal is difficult as there are no direct overland roads. Travellers must follow the coast of the Starshine Sea and sail up river, a journey which usually takes two to three weeks, depending on the season.

The people of Slapershaven belong to the same ethnic group as the people of the Salten Reach and have a similar general appearance and linguistic traits. They are an independent group of people who have no need of defined borders beyond their fields and pastures, yet they accept the legal authority of Takshendal as do most other people in the region. For the most part however, they are an ignored and largely unknown community. The headman of Slapershaven is considered the guardian of the law in the region and he is often called upon to judge in any disputes. Slapershaven is fortified with a stout log wall and employs a guard to maintain a night watch. It is also the only place where supplies from the outside world can be bought and boasts the only inn on the entire river Verdu. Slapershavens only exports are agricultural goods, animal furs and fossils. The only currency accepted is the Takshendal Crown.

Farms in the surrounding area

1. Tenant farm belonging to Mattheus Lowhouse. Consists of two buildings surrounded by a palisade, and several external fields and pastures. Three farm labourers live here, tending a herd of nineteen cows and one bull.

2. Tenant farm belonging to Herluf Brethouwer. Consists of three buildings housing seven farm labourers, tending a herd of thirty two cows and two bulls and is surrounded by several fields and pastures.

3. Tenant farm belonging to Herluf Brethouwer. Consists of one building housing three farm labourers, tending a herd of seven cows and nine bullocks. Is surrounded by pastures and a forest.

4. The farm of Geert Brinkerhoff. Three buildings and a palisade housing nine human beings, four horses seventeen cows, one bull, eight goats and four swine. Surrounded by fields and pastures.

5. The farm of Verity Hacker. Two buildings housing six human beings, five goats, two horses and a swine. Surrounded by fields, pastures, the river and some forest.

6. The farm of Herluf Wetherwax. Four buildings housing fourteen human beings, five horses, twenty two cows, twelve bullocks, two bulls, four goats and four swine. Surrounded by fields and pastures.

7. The farm of Arnt Metternichen. One building housing Arnt, four goats and four cows. Surrounded by pastures and one field.

8. The farm of Samuel Hoogenboom. Three buildings housing eleven human beings, two horses sixteen cows, four bullocks and one bull. Surrounded by fields and pastures and the river.

9. The house of Mikkel Brinkerhoff (cousin to Geert). One building housing five human beings, one horse and three goats. Surrounded by pastures, two small fields and the river.

Geography

Takshendal is an independent city state of some one hundred thousand people, straddling the River Weyr. Its authority is undisputed within the range of its riders but it lays little claim to lands beyond. Even so the people surrounding it recognize its strength and accept its laws willingly as they are the only laws known to the region. Takshendal is an ancient city, a vast walled construction whose commanding dark presence looms omnipotent in the mental landscape of the peasants and pervades all around it with a sense of tradition and civilisation.

To the north are extensive marsh regions known as the Salten Reach and beyond that is the Starshine Sea. This marsh area is sparsely populated by small communities of reed dwellers where ancient, weather burned women in blue and white sweaters swap gossip and riding in traditional punts, fishermen spear eels and smoke sea weed in clay pipes. At the mouth of the Weyr is a small decaying port called Haven where rotting boats sink into the mud and sea birds tussle over fish heads. Fishermen of the sea live here, dark faced and salt stained, their children playing with bare feet.

To the south is the ancient town of Castelopea and beyond that the Rapthia Mountains. Beyond the mountains are shadowy lands whose names invoke the aura of spices, warmer climates and exotic drinks. Travellers from these parts are dark eyed, quick featured and avaricious but bringing trade from the south they are looked upon with pleasure and benevolence.

To the west is a long open stretch of anonymous arable land laced with rivers and dotted with myriad farmsteads where people live short uncomplicated lives, tending their fields and beasts. Occaisionally a marriage betweeen old families or the harvest festival will lighten the burden of living in these quiet regions but for the most part, life in the west moves slowly.

To the east the land curves away into a wilderness of forests and marshes. For a few days ride, sporadic farms dot the horizon, but beyond these is nothing but a frightening wilderness climbing ever higher into the eastern reaches of the Rapthia Mountains. Here the villagers speak of 'child demons' and were-people. The moon is regarded as a goddess and tales tell of dryads luring men to the doom.

All around Takshendal the land is moist and verdant, the earth dark and the air wet with mist. The weather ranges from humid to cold in the winters and from bright, warm to temperate during the summers. The cycle of seasons is terrestrial and the over all culture this promotes is Euro/Siberian in nature. Takshendal differs from this by virtue of its population density and the politics this inspires. Its technology and cultural perspective are as the European Rennaisance in nature.


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