Rancorheim

Rancorheim is a small lumber harvesting, fishing, and hunting village located in Graethengrag, stradling the Sainbord River. A small, isolated hamlet, its humble population is content to tend to their professions and engage in the daily ritual of village life. No roads lead to Rancorheim, and it maintains regular trade with only one other town, Xjardvord, connected only by a deep river. Rancorheim lies in the dark heart of the thick forest of Gardvard, and not much necessitates an interest for the happenings of the outside world.
Note: This article pertains to Rancorheim as it existed at the end of the Chroniclers' Era.

Demographics

The majority of the hamlet consists of Human descendents of the Graggoren warrior raider culture that travelled the lands three generations ago, leaving small, similar settlements along its path. (See History, below.) Since then, a few Dwarven immigrants from Xjardvorg to the north along the river and Halfling immigrants from Tameneel to the east have joined the ranks amongst Rancorheim's citizenry. The culture of Rancorheim appreciates hard work and contribution, and anyone willing to provide those things for the settlement for a significant length of time is welcome. As such a small number of families from those locations have integrated here.

Government

Rancorheim was once categorized by a traveling Chronicler named Marsen Pao as a democratic gerontocracy. The small hamlet is lead by a mayor, and while every mayor has been the son of the mayor before him, this is asserted by the populace that this is the coincidental effect of their elections, which are held upon the death of the prior mayor. In addition to the mayor, a council of elders act as advisors and maintain a great degree of control in the village's affairs.
The councilmembers are selected by informal means based off the socioeconomic status of their family. The citizens maintain a culture of respect for their elders and their rule has never been challenged in the three generations the village has thrived, or so Pao was told. They make decisions in conjunction with the mayor. Additionally, the council may call for an election for a new mayor as they wish by simply convincing enough other council members, and while this has occurred the standing mayor has always won.
The hamlet holds elections for mayor, adding new council members, making new laws, or any number of other matters; although although the mayor or council may also just choose to add new members or laws on a whim as well. Every "self sustaining, working citizen and their spouse are permitted to vote, each vote given a weight equal to their age in years," write Pao in his journal, claiming he was fortunate enough to witness an election to settle a dispute on crop rotations between two farmers on how and when to irrigate the land.

Defences

Rancorheim was founding by a culture of sailing warriors, and to this day stands ready to defend what it has forged from the wood of the land and the grit of its ancestors. The first and most imposing line of defense is the town's palisade, standing a firm 4 meters tall and completely enclosing even the outermost of the settlement's cropland. Around the town hub stands a second palisade, this one complete with a rampart all around downtown's border and dotted with watchtowers. Each palisade is adorned with pyrographic runes, a series of Graggoren prayers and warcries, and each spike headed by a charred, fire-hardened tip.
To man these walls a force of about 20 guards is employed. They work in shifts to keep the town watch running at all hours, day and night. These guards are divided into two platoons of ten, each headed by a sheriff, the two of whom work in tandem to lead the guard, answering to the mayor and elder council directly.
As the town is bisected by Sainbord River running north to south, one guard platoon oversees the east half and the other the west. At both the river's entrance and exit of the town's borders, a large wooden gate extends from where the outer palisade stands, preventing river travel without permission of the guard. Given it's isolated position, this is a rare occurrence, but one that has protected Rancorheim from more than one raider strikeforce in the past.
The town guard also acts as a police form in the event of a criminal accusation and subsequent prosecution.

Industry & Trade

Rancorheim was built on the ruins of a former lumberjack settlement, and took the same role upon themselves at the hamlet's founding. That role continues to this day, and the town trades it excess lumber to the Dwarves in Xjardvorg, their main trade partners from whom they obtain most of their metals. Beyond that exchange, the two remain very self sufficient.
Other resources, however, are traded when one of the two villages has a shortage, and by most standards each would consider the other an ally, at least economically. In almost every other way Rancorheim is self-sustaining, surviving off the crops, fish, and furs its residents procure, growing what they need to survive and protect their land.

Infrastructure

The architecture of Rancorheim can best be described as pragmatic. Wooden structures harvested from local evergreens fill a crowded main town, surrounded by a tall palisade of sharpened logs. The village is divided by a river into two east and west sides. Several wooden bridges connect the two.
The most ornate building is of course a chapel dedicated to Thär, the patron angel of Gardvard forest. It hosts a few large bells that ring on the hour throughout the day and carved wooden statues of various deities worshipped in the temple as well as some of mythic warriors of Graggoren lore. The bells are rung and the grounds tended by a number of acolytes.
The village also hosts a larger docking system for a town this size. At the points where the river both enters and exits the town, the palisade continues into large wooden gates designed to prevent boats from entering the village without the permission of the guard. Docks are built on both sides of each gate, enough to hold multiple boats for the town's rare visitors, and more docks are hosted in the center of the town for residential use. The northern gate in particular hosts one extra dock of a larger size, in order to host a major dwarven barge that visits from Xjardvorg once a year in the summer to engage in trade.

Guilds and Factions

[Return here later for an update on the prevalent family houses and other organizations of Rancorheim.]

History

Rancorheim was founded three generations ago by Elder Gorrick Värenhelm I, simply Gorrick Värenhelm at the time. He was employed as a young quartermaster of the Daamen, a small corvette in a fleet belonging to the travelling raider warrior tribe known then as the Graggoren. They were travelling downriver when they were running short on supplies for ship repairs, and discovered an abandoned logging settlement. Seeing it as good fortune, they set up camp and began ship repairs. Garrick was placed in charge of what would become a very successful operation, and the settlement stayed and thrived after the fleets moved on.

Type

Hamlet

Population

300

Inhabitant Demonym

Rancorheimer

Location under

Graethengrag

Owner/Ruler

Elder Gorrick Värenhelm III

Characters in Location

• Elder Gorrick Värenhelm III
• Helena Myrstandomm