Adov

Adov is a small village in the heart of the Ederstone  Wastes of Deverkel. The land has been twisted by millennia of magical radiation and is crawling with aberrant flora and fauna - and yet, life continues along relatively happily. People farm, raise animals, trade, and create art. Feasts, holidays, weddings, and funerals are celebrated as usual. 
Atop its hill, the walls of the village may seem like ruins, with their earthen bases and ancient stone slabs. And they certainly do incorporate ancient buildings into them; old engravings covered with vines and pieces of now-unrecognizable statues are common elements of the wall's foundations. But these walls are the product of centuries of effort and community struggle, and are well maintained where it matters. Dozens of outposts litter the surrounding countryside, sending out puffs of smoke and raising colored flags at times. Wood-and-stone walls surround the farms and surrounding homesteads, layering together for added security in a huddle around the village. Adov, sitting on its hill overlooking Lake Gutrahd, is not imposing in the traditional sense, but it is hearty. 
Adov may appear to be a self-sustaining island of order in a sea of violent chaos, but it is actually part of a network of independent fortresses and villages in the wasteland. Adov has a particularly good relationship with the village-town of Hodov to the South, with whom Adov regularly celebrates major holidays, and a good trading relationship with the small village of Gurbek to the East. This network of villages is held together more by boats than by roads - all are clustered around the Great Lake Gutrahd. The once-Hainish citadel of Rolkirk protects the lake in exchange for the occasional tribute of food or soldiers, though this relationship is much more consensual than the typical feudal arrangement.

Demographics

500 humanoids and 30-50 cats live in Adov. The humanoid population is 26% Kobold, 40% pure Starspawn, 10% Prism, 12% Dryad, 12% Human, and 1% Other. The lines between non-Kobold species can be blurry, as all of them are at least slightly mutated by Ederstone radiation.

Government

A small village council manages the government of Adov and organizes the village militia. The militia always has at least some members on guard in case of monster of bandit attack, and might be understood as a town guard or men at arm garrison.
The town council is dominated by five of the most prominent village leaders: 

• Kenen the Trader, who owns the general store and helps run the market square when outsiders visit
• 'Big Krona' Greyhorn, the current matriarch of the Greyhorns - the oldest Kobolds in the village and the biggest ranchers in the village
• Ruwako the Green, a young Uvaran priest and druid from The Kingdom of Hain
• Yamara Hammerheart, elder of the Adovan branch of the Hammerheart family, a dynasty of farmers and Giant Lobster ranchers
• Opkin Silvergem, the most respected of the Prism miners and noted mason and builder.

And the village militia is led by Savrig Southlander, a former soldier from the Empire of Eketen 
The village government does not rule unilaterally, but relies on democratic town hall meetings for any big decision. Theoretically, Adov is a tributary settlement that is ruled by the neighboring fortress of Rolkirk, which was founded by the the Kingdom of Hain and is their fortress on paper. In reality, Adov is basically autonomous and Rolkirk is run by merchants and monster hunters from both Hain and Eketen.

Defences

Great earth and stone walls protect the village center of Adov, and smaller walls extend out from these encircle nearby fields and houses. Small outpost towers also dot the surrounding countryside to signal approaching raiders or monsters. Through smoke signals, flags, and drums, approaching attacks can be communicated to both the village and the surrounding countryside. These outposts and fortifications are manned by the village militia and supported by the united efforts of the settlement. When the militia is not able to muster the necessary personnel, nearby families take over and are often rewarded by praise and status at the next community festival.
In many ways, Adov is a fortress as well as a village. But unlike most fortresses, it is designed around the needs of the community rather than the leadership. Outposts and small fortifications protect food sources and access to basic resources, allowing miners, farmers, ranchers, and fishermen to live without much fear.

Industry & Trade

Ranching, farming, fishing, mining, and foresting are all common occupations in Adov. These are not big industries, to be clear: no huge workshops or great estates can be found here. Rather, imagine a small mine for Prism food, a ring of farmland, and a patch of grassland for animal grazing. People also manufacture goods in the household and community, though they rarely specialize. Crops grown include rice, wheat, yams, and maize. 
As for trade, the fishermen often pick up spare goods from the neighboring villages, and the villages exchange surpluses every few months during joint-town holidays. The bigger events are the merchant convoys every few months, which move between the Empire of Eketen and the Kingdom of Hain. These merchants provide Adov with goods in exchange for safe harbor and are often willing to barter various luxury goods in exchange for monster-parts and wasteland curiosities.

Guilds and Factions

While certain families are more numerous or organized than others, there isn't a lot of stratification, as the community holds everything in common. Ranchers ranch together, farmers share their food, and many industries (such as the community bee-hives) are held in common. In short, Adov is too small and too inter-reliant to have major factions that aren't just social cliques. There aren't even any blood feuds!

History

Pre-1200

The history of Adov is long and short at once. The strategic position of a hill overlooking Lake Gutrahd, with access to mountains, forests, and plains alike, is one that many groups in history have seen as appealing - and yet, the Deverkel wastes are cruel, and many of these groups have been wiped out in time.
Once, a great civilization attempted to build up Lake Gutrahd into a fortified oasis - the ancient Kingdom of Gudriverza. On Adov, it is said, they built the Gates of the Sun - a fortress-city built according to astronomical calculations after the end of the Great Storms in the 290s ME. But, Gudriverza fell over time, worn away slowly but surely by monsters, famines, and civil wars. By the 600s ME, the Gates of the Sun were in shambles. The land was never fully uninhabited, even as the walls fell and monsters began roaming the shores. In 810 ME, the Gates of the Sun were re-built somewhat as a trading port for those who traded from Eketen to Hain. But this only made the ruined lands vulnerable to Mageplague in the late 900s ME. In 1090 ME, a great surge in monsters and a Starspawn hivemind demolished the Gates of the Sun and drove away the survivors. 

Post-1200

It wasn't until 1200 ME that a new group would come to claim the Gates for themselves. A group of tribes to the Southwest, monster-hunters known as the Esameta people, had been displaced by war and moved North seeking a new homeland. Two legendary heroes and twins, Grudek and Klindek, led their people to Lake Gutrahd to build new homes - supposedly following a the God Ustav in the form of a Stag with the sun in its antlers. Adov was one of the fortress-towns they supposedly founded. 
The Esametan warrior-tribes allied with local Liberated-Path Kivish and non-controlled Starspawn, and their alliance of warriors kept the Lake safe. During good years, this system worked well; during bad years, monstrosities would manage to slip into the Lake, where they could terrorize the peoples of Gutrahd with ease. Every decade, a grand hunt of the Lake Monsters would take place to remove these - but these hunts would be dangerous and difficult to coordinate. In 1490, the system finally failed entirely, and the settlements began to turn on one another. 
The Lake peoples cried out, and The Kingdom of Hain rode in to the rescue. Specifically, one of their lords seeking new land - a certain Margrave Tovilen rode in with their knights and claimed the land for themselves. Tovilen dreamed of bringing all the Lake Gutrahd area for themselves, and promised the peoples of the lake protection in exchange for fealty. Tovilen constructed the Fortress of Rolkirk and attempted to pacify the surrounding areas, but ultimately failed. In 1605, the descendants of Tovilen were forced to sell the lands to the Order of the Spring Knights , who promptly decentralized its control and handed the fortress off to local peoples. The Order began leasing the citadel outright in 1700, and stopped even charging the occupants leases in 1800. Spring Knights still occasionally use the citadel as a base of operations, but Rolkirk is now its own self-sustaining military order and trade outpost. And with Rolkirk and its associated land grants slipping from Hain's grasp, so to did Adov slip between the cracks.

Architecture

Thatched roofs, low buildings, and deep basements all mark the small and squat buildings of Adov. Old stone bits of ancient buildings are sometimes part of walls, but usually it is wood and adobe.

Geography

Adov's main village is built into a hill overlooking Lake Gutrahd. The hill's center has long been hollowed out by ancient architects, but the old shell of the hill has become the foundation for the main wall. The peripheral overlapping walls go all the way down to the lakeside, where a small fishing dockyard stands. 
Dominating Adov's skyline is the massive Lake Gutrahd, which is 31 by 25 miles across and stretches across the horizon like an inland sea. In the North, hills turn to mountains. A small mountain range known as the Little Rurategs sit in the North, surrounded by open plains to the West and East.

Founding Date

1200

Type

Village

Population

500-600

Inhabitant Demonym

Adovan

Location under

The Deverkel Wastes

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