Lord Wainwright's Manor

This stately home, surrounded by its stable, shop, and servants' quarters, is the grandest property outside of the city walls. It had its beginnings as a humble wagonmaker' s cottage and shop, when the Free City was still in its infancy.

The wagonmaker, and later his child and grandchild, was skilled at his profession, and his prices were reasonable. As Greyhawk's prosperity as a regional trading center increased, the Wainwrights (as the family had come to be called) slowly expanded their shop.

They built farm wagons, two-wheel carts, and huge freight wagons. Wainwright wagons, recognizable by the "W" branded onto the bottom of each near the hitch, have become the most sought after examples of their types. The quality of the work has improved over the generations, as each new master to the art offers his or her own refinements to the building process. They have added luxurious carriages and sturdy chariots both hunting and military-to their line.

Now it seems that a half-dozen youths and young women are always undergoing apprenticeship, with several more journeymen teaching them. And the Wainwrights always have at least three master builders in the family, one of whom is the current lord.

Living in the manor are three generations of the family Wainwright (five men, seven women, and 11 children). some ten house servants, and five men-at-arms the lord employs as bodyguards and watchmen. The barn houses another 12 men and women-workers who tend the horses and perform much of the menial labor of wagonmaking, leaving the Wainwrights to tend to matters of quality and finishing.

Examples of the family's work- a cart, a farm wagon, a carriage, and a hunting chariot-all stand proudly in the court yard. Others can be found in various stages of completion in the half of the barn that is the shop. The other half of the barn contains stalls for the two dozen horses owned by the Wainwrights.