Elmshire

This isolated halfling town lies on the southern coast of the Nyr Dyv’s shallow Midbay arm, 12 miles east of the mouth of the Selintan River. The largest demi- human settlement within the Domain of Greyhawk, Elmshire sits near the middle of a strip of temperate, fertile grassland between the northern slopes of the Cairn Hills and the Midbay, measuring about 35 miles long east-west and up to 6 miles wide north-south. This green, rolling region, which locals call the South Shore, is dotted with the farms and herds of many dozens of halfling families, with a few gnome and human families living among them. Elmshire appears quite different from human communities, as it is spread out and has no community core. There are few large wooden buildings like barns or inns, which humans are accustomed to seeing in villages, and even the larger structures here are widely separated. It is said that a man could walk from one end of Elmshire to the other and be only vaguely aware he has passed through a significant settlement.
Elmshire is bisected by a large stream called Green River that flows down from the Cairn Hills, forking once near the shore around a small island delta (Big Isle). A second, smaller delta (Little Isle) lies at the mouth of Eastbranch, the lesser watercourse splitting from Green River. Green River divides the town into two general districts, Westfields and Eastfields, with the farms on Big Isle forming a small third district. The Green River is roughly 30 feet wide and rarely more than 5 feet deep, and it does not appear on most maps of the area.
The land for miles around is entirely cultivated or used for pasture, except for numerous small woodlots and the sand- and-rock beach on the east side of Elmshire. Farm borders are marked by stone posts and ditches, unless ponies, sheep, goats, or cattle are kept and wooden fences are used. Most homes of the halfling population are actually underground, dug below low mounds of earth that are piled higher and made broader when the homes are constructed. A typical burrow mound measures 40-50 feet across and 5 feet high, housing beneath it a family of two to four adults and up to twice as many children. A clay or metal chimney invariably pokes up near the top of the mound, emitting blue smoke at various times of the day as one of the halflings’ four or five mealtimes approaches. Some mounds are covered with ivy, herb or vegetable gardens, shrubbery, decorative stones, sculptures, or wildflowers, but many are covered with thick grass on which livestock graze. Some mounds cover underground tool sheds, chicken coops, breweries, bakeries, or food-storage cellars. Broad, low-roofed barns are uncommon but present on larger farms. Elms are the most common tree, but willows and oaks also abound.
A wide, stone-paved, well-built highway called the High Road leads down to Elmshire from the rugged Cairn Hills, connecting the town with the City of Greyhawk (about 58 miles away to the southwest) and one of its three mining communities. Steaming Springs (about 28 miles away). High Road crosses the Green River at White Bridge, a large and cleverly designed wooden structure built in 551 CY. Because of its location. White Bridge is sometimes taken to be the center of Elmshire. Four inns lie within 400 feet of it, and outdoor celebrations usually take place here by the banks of Green River. Many curved dirt paths spread out from High Road to the town’s farmsteads, with short stone pillars at intersections displaying the names of the various routes. High Road is not paved beyond White Bridge; it is called Long Trail as it winds along the shoreline to the east, soon turning into a footpath and ending about 17 miles away in hilly wilderness. Several narrow paths lead into the hills from Elmshire’s southernmost farms. These trails are used by hunters, goat and sheep herders, mushroom-pickers, and the occasional fortune-seeker.
Along the northwestern Midbay shore, weathered wooden piers extend into the shallow waters, which are in many places covered with cattails, reeds, and other tall lakeside plants. Midbay provides fish for local dinners and for export. The shipping trade here, though minor compared to Greyhawk’s, is still important to Elmshire’s economy, as noted later in this article. At night, the South Shore is lit by many candles, torches, and lanterns, often used by ships on the Nyr Dyv to guide themselves toward the entrance to the Selintan farther west.

History

The South Shore was probably home to nomadic bands of Flan hunters and fishers for ages. The ruins of very old gnome burrows and cottages are also found in the area, but these have little of interest to treasure hunters. The Flan and gnomes were likely chased off over six centuries ago by early Suloise settlers; these established some farms but were eventually driven off themselves by large bandit gangs around 100 CY. This fertile land was resettled in force by a large halfling family, the Hardiggins, in 335 CY. Their cluster of farms attracted many more halfling settlers from the Cairn Hills, and this spot was named Elmshire after a large grove of elms by which the Hardiggins first built their homes. (This grove exists today just beyond Westfields.) The Cairn Hills here have little in the way of valuable metal or mineral resources, and both the Nyr Dyv and the hills have bad reputations for their inhabitants (monsters, pirates or bandits, lethal ruins, and others). These factors encouraged humans to build farms else¬ where, to the halflings’ relief, and the farms prospered. Bandits occasionally raided the area, but the farmers had little worth stealing. Moreover, the halflings became adept at scouting, setting traps and ambushes, firing missiles from cover and camouflage, and gaining forged iron and magical weaponry from Greyhawk. Having found a fertile niche in the world, the halflings were determined not to lose it.
The community prospered while Zagig Yragerne was in charge of Greyhawk, as he ignored the halflings except to have the Selintan’s mouth carefully marked with buoys and lights to allow Nyr Dyv shipping to pass safely through the shallow waters of Midbay. Zagig also directed many attacks against bandits who had traditionally lurked in the Cairn Hills, and his name is revered even now among Elmshire’s inhabitants. (Some of the oldest citizens here even remember seeing him personally.)
Elmshire has one historical figure of note: Pontus Hardiggin, a halfling traveler who ranged widely about the world between the years 350 and 390 CY before retiring to Elmshire to write his memoirs. Life Afoot is found in many libraries across the Flanaess, and it is one of the most entertaining travelogues ever written. Among other stories, some obviously fabricated, Hardiggin described a visit to a secret, idyllic land in which halflings and giants lived in peace, blessed with fertile soil, health, and a great deposit of gold, emeralds, and useful metals. Hardiggin placed this land in the Yatils, but this may have been intended as a joke or a deliberate attempt to protect the inhabitants of that happy land by misdirection. Pontus met Zagig Yrageme several times, but he privately felt the Lord Mayor was “as crazy as a Midsummer Night werewolf.” A few halfling adventurers call Elmshire their home—_"walking in Old Pont’s footsteps,"_ as some locals say. However, adventuring is generally regarded here as inordinately dangerous and uncomfortable.
Since Zagig’s time, not much of note has occurred in this town, aside from a few notable lake monsters coming ashore or attacking ships, and a period when pirates raided the town before being crushed by warships from Furyondy (525-526 cy). Bandits are still a problem every year for outlying farms, though with the Greyhawk Militia out in force since the Greyhawk Wars, few marauders have been sighted.
For almost a century, Elmshire has been governed by a mayor, usually a former adventurer or wealthy merchant who traveled widely beyond the town but who spent enough time in Elmshire to still be considered a trustworthy local. The mayor is elected for life but can retire or be voted out of office by a simple majority of voters. Only the town elders (the heads of each farm household) can vote; two-thirds of the elders are male. Elmshire mayors have been elected since 499 CY, one year after Greyhawk proclaimed it was a free and independent city. A total of nine mayors have served here, eight of them male or female halflings and one a male gnome, a veteran of the Hateful Wars in the Kron Hills to the west. Until recently, the town was always independent of Greyhawk’s authority. The only requirement for the position of mayor is that the townsfolk have confidence in the candidate’s abilities to defend and protect the region, which includes settling local disputes and making trade deals with outside groups as much as it means organizing and leading the local militia, if it must be raised.
Elmshire has no standing army, nor any defensive walls or ditches. Its militia is quite ragged in appearance. One able adult male from each household must serve in the militia, though volunteers are accepted in any number. Females may serve if they volunteer, but they are not required to serve except in grave emergencies. About 500-600 troops can be called up within a day’s time, these being divided into five companies of 100-120 each and led by an experienced warrior. Every soldier has leather armor, with a leather cap or metal helmet; each also has a dagger, though a few have short swords or hand axes instead. Three companies are armed with short bows and a variety of arrows, about 20-30 per halfling. The other two companies use short spears (two-handed). Some halflings have small shields, for use if they must fight hand-to-hand with daggers, swords, and the like. The militia has been mustered a few times in the last two decades, nearly always to fight bandits from the Cairn Hills.
The current mayor is His Honor Windsor Greenshade, a former adventurer who left Elmshire in 540 CY and returned twenty years later, wealthy but weary of the state of affairs in the world. He was elected mayor after the murder of Her Honor Marigold Runner and six other halflings and humans in 571 CY by bandits on the High Road. Mayor Greenshade successfully led the town’s defense against these and other bandits until 574 cy, when the City of Greyhawk sent strong patrols through the Cairn Hills and began improving the High Road between the two communities. Greenshade personally led seven assaults on bandit lairs near Elmshire, and he is credited with killing twelve brigands and executing another dozen. He later negotiated trade deals with restaurants in the City of Greyhawk to supply them with smoked fish and goat cheese, starting the town’s most recent economic boom. Mayor Greenshade had another notable effect on Elmshire in encouraging more halflings from the Cairn Hills to come to the South Shore and join their fellows, seeking safety in numbers from brigands.

Type

Town

Population

5100