Haven Hill

The hub for crusaders and pilgrims set to exploring Old Queen's Forest.
For the decades it took to construct the "Canal Name," few would have thought that the end result would be the township of Haven Hill. While the Empire of the Night would set off to built "rival city name" closer to the edge of the Red Mountains, the nobility of the Rhod Unity would found Haven Hill to overlook the southern edge of Old Queen's Forest. 
Taking direction from the tales of the questing knights of old, the church of the Lady would found the town in accordance with the legend of Louis the Rash, the first Questing Knight. These apocryphal tales tell of a hill where Louis saw a vision of the Lady beckoning him before she entered Old Queen's Forest. Despite the veracity of this story, the township would be build around the largest hill in the region, one that, like in the old stories, overlooked the southern edge of the wood. Upon the top of this hill, a small shrine would be constructed that, over the coming decades, would grow to become the largest building in the region. The shrine also houses the Order of Questing Knights , which act as the town's primary military force.
This shrine acts as both the religious and literal center of the town. Small households, businesses and farms developed around the shrine. It is made likeness of the greatest of Rhod's cathedrals; a massive stone structures that feel part holy site, part military fortification. In comparison the simple wooden cottages and thatched roof homes of the village seem like a squalid backwater. In this way, it mirrors the many other villages of the Rhod homeland. While a sparsely populated town for the majority of the year, Haven Hill is designed to serve the many thousands of travelers that swell the town bi-annually.
The town is at its core a pilgrimage site, housing the Reliquary of Louis the Rash. While only the most fanatical or suicidal nobles choose to quest into the Old Queen's Forest, nearly every noble of Rhod is encouraged to make a pilgrimage to the shrine at least once in their lives. Most often such a journey is made to coincide with the Green Equinox and the Feast Day of the Royarch Ascendant, creating a seasonal influx of travelers during Spring and Autumn receptively. During these times the city becomes dwarfed by an expansive tent-city that nearly quintuples the size of Haven Hill as the lords and ladies of Rhod bring their courts and indentured servants upon their pilgrimage. While this would ordinarily present an opportunity for raiding and looting by bandits or other criminals, the presence of so many trained knights of the Rhod Unity's highest nobility often dissuade the worst of these crimes. 
Since Haven Hill's founding, the site has ever been at risk of attack and conquest. With the Mon Empire to the South and the Empire of the Night to the North, Haven Hill is an isolated colony of the Rhod Unity set betwixt ambitious enemies. Yet, the town endures. The religious significance of the site, combined with the seasonal influx of so many trained warriors also prevents the area from simply submitting to its powerful neighbors.