Cromerth

"You want to see the a Tharian Orc an Elven druid & Hill Troll walk into a bar? Dragon's balls I don't but if I did, I'd go to Cromerth."

- Saramonus the Pure

Cromerth is a small town located by the Quivering Forest and serves a neutral trading point between Thar. the Quivering Forest and Phlan. The town is independent of the main factions, has no official leader or Government and is run on communal principles &highly values autonomy.
Historically, the town is aligned with Phlan, still serving its purpose as an outpost and early warning system against threats from its neighbours. Over the years, Phlan has tried to impose various forms of control on the town, either military, economic or political but over the last century these traditional links have faded. As relations with the Forest and Thar have settled down, a new wave of trade, culture and immigrants has given Cromerth its own identity. As a more neutral space, it has provided more opportunities for open trade and diplomacy, a situation that has benefited Phlan in the new & often rarer goods that these markets have access to as well as opportunity to sell its own goods to new markets. The townsfolk on the otherhand take pride in their independence, taking care of their own security and ensuring they remain at arms length from the machinations in Phlan.
Though it is a small sized town, it has a large migratory population of merchants and travellers and supports a lot of smaller villages, farms and communities in the region beyond Phlan. It’s more liberal attitudes to race has attracted more humanoids and other non-humans to the town to trade who would have otherwise shunned the more traditional trading hubs & population centres. Over the years many have settled there or locally, the town served by a number of farms and small industries in the forest fringes or in the more habitable sections of the Blacklands.

Places of Interest

Samus Row – Main road through the town that serves as a market place & main place of business for traders & merchants. Contains a variety of shops, stalls & hawkers looking to move goods.
Da Barrels, Bones & Teeth - A popular humanoid bar known for its more creative food options, a passionate anti-authority position of all things health and safety and a high body count.
The Molten Hammer – The town’s largest inn and tavern centred around a large dwarven forge. Serves as the town’s communal hub, occasional meeting hall and favoured place to do business. Owned and ran by the Dwarf & ex-adventurer Arden Ironcast, who is seen as the town’s de-facto leader.
Wyvern’s Claw – A middle class tavern that caters to the town’s richer merchants & military officers.
The Briar – The original stonework barracks that has been converted into the town’s hub for local governance. Technically staffed by Phlan administrators, they maintain the town’s public functions, a small treasury and militia armoury.

Government

Though technically still an outpost of Phlan, Cromerth is in reality an independent town that is self-governed and responsible for its own affairs. Outside of a small cadre of Phlanian bureaucrats operating out of the Briar providing basic administration duties, there is no formal government, council or judiciary. Instead, leadership has often fallen to individuals or groups given authority by tacit consent whilst bigger decisions opened up to lively town meetings. Laws are considered more general guidelines of behaviour and generally enforced by the communities will as opposed to any formal authority. Public works and the day to day administration, including defense, needed to maintain the town is led by volunteers which works due a high sense of civic duty and engagement from the locals - those who live in & rely on Cromerth do so out of loyalty to the freedom it provides and are invested in seeing it succeed.
The current leading figure in Cromerth is Arden Ironcast, local tavern owner & ex-adventurer, who is seen as to “go to” for local issues and commands respect of many of the town’s leading figures.

Defences

Positioned on raised ground and surrounded by it’s original wooden stockade combined with newer stone walls plus additional some goblin & dwarven ingenuity, the town is in a defensible position from all sides. The walls are enforced by a local hundred strong militia funded by trading tithes and donations from different settlements and parties to defend their trade route. This is further supported a local volunteers and population of ex-mercenaries, bandits and other humanoids who have settled locally and take an interest in defending their adopted home.

Guilds and Factions

The various factions have had mixed success in establishing themselves in the town, often waxing & waning with local events and the wider power struggles affecting the region. More recently, the town's changing demographics has seen the various factions traditional power base undermined and Cromerth's independent streak means locals have little interest if not actively hostile to those who would seek to influence the town. The Black Fists & Merchant's Alliance are openly not welcome, seen as symbols of oppression and fetters on the town's freedom. The other factions fare little better, their activities are suffered as long as they maintain only a small presence and do not look to disrupt the status quo. Theses attitude extended to organised religion & guilds, with folk given the freedom to organise and practice most religions & trades without harassment. However, preaching, closed shops and larger churches/guild halls are frowned upon if not actively disrupted and movements that threaten the town's balance, like the formal factions, will be put in their place.
At a lower, communal level the town can be split into five groups, generally along race & class lines; the town's wealthier merchant class, the local frontiersmen who live around or rely on the town's trade, the orcs & humanoids who tend to block together, the elven traders & rangers and then the general working town populace. No one group is more powerful than the other and each is invested in the principle & practice of an open, independent Cromerth.

History

Cromerth started out as a small miltary outpost on the border of “ known civilisation” at the timing of first landings in the Moonsea; with Phlan on one side and the wilds of Thar , the Reach and the Quivering Forest on the other. Over the years, as relations between its neighbours has fluctuated and cooled, what was once little more than a wooden fort on a hill has evolved into a sort of neutral ground and trading outpost, slowly building itself up into a town and community in its own right.

Type

Town

Population

Approx. 2171

Location under

North Moonsea

Demographics

35% Human
28% Orc/Humanoid
18% Elven
9% Dwarven
4% Gnome
6% Other