Ten-Towns
Ten-Towns didn’t spring up overnight. It started from humble beginnings four centuries ago. Immigrants from all over Azthir-Terra came here in search of escape or adventure and built a modest trade post atop the hill where Bryn Shander now stands. One by one, settlements sprung up on the shores of Maer Dualdon, Lac Dinneshere, and Redwaters. The ever-present threat of orcs and other monsters compelled the poorly defended lakeside towns to turn Bryn Shander from a modest hilltop trading post into a walled town capable of defending all Ten-Towners if and when the worst comes.
Most of the towns contain trace evidence of the immigrant cultures that birthed them. This evidence is carved into houses, statues, and other fixtures. For example, the dinosaur carvings on the older buildings of Good Mead remind folk that many of its original settlers were from the Summerlands deep to the south.
Residents of Ten-Towns tend to remain indoors when they’re not working, since it’s so frightfully cold outside, which gives each settlement a deathly quiet aspect. Most people who venture outdoors are bundled up in so much cold weather clothing as to be barely recognizable, and they don’t stand around long enough for the cold wind to get the better of them.
Auril's winter spell has caused the population of Ten-Towns to dwindle and has heightened rivalries that have simmered for years, turning neighboring towns against one another as competition for resources becomes increasingly intense. The alliance of Ten-Towns won’t hold if the mounting tribalism continues to threaten the common good.
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