Falron's Camp
As the Divine War has raged on for so many years, there are many parts of Kelbonnar's Material Plane that have not felt its deprivations for several hundred years. The relative peace that accompanies these ebbs in the fighting have given courage to some to try and rebuild the lives that they or their ancestors once had.
Falron's Camp is one such place born out of this hope. Established in 570DW by the enterprising Human, Falron Wolfsbane, after whom the place is named, Falron's Camp is little more than a collection of tents and shanty houses on a hilltop, whose people are trying to scratch out a living from the wide tracks of the Wyrm Steppes around them.
Demographics
The population of Falron's Camp is made up of three distinct groups which roughly split the population into thirds. A group of Humans, whose core are the original clutch of settlers who followed the camp's founder Falron into the Wyrm Steppes, a group of Dwarven settlers and a group of Orcish and Half-Orcish settlers who both arrived as defined groups to settle in the area as well.
As all of those who live in Falron's Camp have transferred their entire lives to live in the establishing community, they are all relatively close to one another from an economic standpoint, with all having to work just as hard to eek out an existence in the landscape as everyone else.
The main disparity amongst the camp's populace actually comes from racial tensions between the Human and Dwarvish settlers and their Orcish neighbours. This tension is fuelled partly by the fact that the Orcs and Half-Orcs were the most recent group to arrive, but also by a lingering suspicion on the part of the Humans and a steadfast reluctance to accept that they truly want to settle down on the part of the Dwarves.
Government
Falron's Camp hasn't really existed for long enough, nor is its population large enough to have a set governance structure. Generally decisions that require the whole community to decide are made in an unofficial town meeting setting, which only occur as and when they're needed.
As the founder of the settlement, Falron Wolfsbane commands a modicum of respect amongst all of the camp's residents and is the most capable of bringing its three parts to agreement and peaceful resolution of the camp's problems. Despite this, he has never been formally declared as the community's leader, nor does he appear to want the title.
Defences
As wood and stone are a scarcity in the Wyrm Steppes, Falron's Camp has no formalised defences and it is a very porous settlement, with multiple entry and exit points.
The residents of the camp take it upon themselves to look out for one another and they frequently come together to drive off wild beasts who stray too near to the town or individuals who seem bent on causing trouble, but there is no formalised defence force. This means that a number of the camp's residents go missing every year, something that is generally put down to them being dragged off by the creatures of the Wyrm Steppes.
Industry & Trade
The inhabitants of Falron's Camp are attempting to establish themselves as an agricultural hub, and this accounts of the majority of the work of its residents. Many fields have been carved out of the thick grass of the Wyrm Steppes in recent years. As the work is so hard and resources so scarce, these fields are normally worked on collaboratively by a number of the camp's residents, rather than just by individual families.
In recent months their hard work has paid off enough that they have been able to produce a small surplus that has been traded to the Burg of Volhof to the north, something that Falron's Camp's residents hope will grow into a viable and thriving trade exchange in a few more years.
Infrastructure
The only infrastructure that Falron's Camp has is that it is situated at the side of the Steppe Way, the major trade route that snakes through the Wyrm Steppes.
Other than this deliberate situation of the settlement, it has few formalised pieces of infrastructure. The buildings and tents are placed wherever their owners decided to put them, which has meant that there is no formalised road structure and the camp has taken on the form of a number of circular nodes of tents or shanty houses formed around a central fire pit.
Some work for the communal good has taken place, however, primarily the digging of wells for domestic and agricultural use.
Tourism
Falron's Camp has no features that would bring tourists to it, but travellers do stop in the settlement to rest overnight and restock during their journeys up and down the Steppe Way.
Most visitors to the camp focus their attention and spending money on Fal's Rest, the tavern and general store that has been built by the town's founder Falron Wolfsbane.
Architecture
There is little architectural coherence to the structures in Falron's Camp. The vast majority of its residents live in tents, but those with enough money to import the materials have started to construct lean-tos and shanty houses, but there is little that would be recognised as a formal building in other settlements.
The largest structure in the settlement is Fal's Rest, the tavern/general store, a hotchpotch wood and canvass structure built by Falron Wolfsbane to house his business.
Geography
Falron's Camp is set on a large oddly round hill set a few hundred metres to the east of the Steppe Way. The hill gives a good field of view over the surrounding landscape and provides a naturally more defensive positions for the community.
The residents of the camp are keen to let any visitor to the settlement know that, according to a mage who passed through on their way north a couple of years after the camp's establishment, Falron's Camp is set on an ancient burial mound, most probably given its size a Giant of some description. This information, which has quickly become local legend is either met with fascination or deep superstition by those who have come to call Falron's Camp home.
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