The Mud Palace

The Mud Palace is not actually made of mud. Not anymore. It is now a building made of wood but covered in mud as per tradition. It is the town hall of Mud Town that lies in an oasis in the middle of the Searing Sands Desert on the continent of Rodico. The large town has a population of about five thousand and in addition to the town hall, has a general store, a tavern, an Inn and a smithy and shrines to Mitra and Thalena. All the buildings are made like the Mud Palace with wood but covered in mud. Mud Town was founded in tragedy as the inhabitants of a village were left homeless when a group of desert bandits raided their homes, put their dwelling to the torch and rode off to leave them to die from exposure. The villagers in desperation fled into the desert searching for food and shelter. They prayed to the gods for deliverance, the story goes and as all hope seemed lost, they came upon an Oasis that no one knew was there. Some think that either Mitra, the goddess of Hope or Thalena, the goddess of Mercy, took pity on them and created the oasis for them.

There was plenty to eat with lots of wild fruits and bugs to eat and plenty to drink, but shelter was an issue. They didn’t have the tools needed to cut down and work the wood of the trees of the oasis, so they used mud and created a structure large enough to house all the refugees. It was never meant to be a permanent home and more homes were built around it. As these other homes were built, also from the mud, the refugees eventually began to move out of the Mud Palace.

In time the community grew, and trade began as this new oasis sprang up near a major trade route. Merchants use Mud Town as a waystation as they travel from city to city. With trade came access to better supplies and tools and the Mud Town buildings were eventually converted to wood. The Mud Palace, though reinforced on the inside with wooden timbers, is still mainly made of mud. Though some may consider Mud Town to be an insult, the inhabitants wear the name as a matter of pride as reminder of how the founder rebuilt their lives literally from nothing more than mud and the Mud Palace remaining mostly mud is a symbol of that pride.