Machestaro's Cove

Perched between the dense, forbidding jungle of the Ascar Giss and the Centric Sea, Machestaro’s Cove is a relatively prosperous town surrounded by the plantations that enable it to trade with the wider world and survive in its otherwise remote location.

Demographics

On the whole, Machestaro’s Cove is deemed to be a relatively affluent town, with the majority of the population being employed either in the agricultural concerns or the secondary processing industries. The town has a healthy number of more affluent individuals, who most run the processing facilities or have trading businesses based in the town, but most of the agricultural land is owned by absentee landlords who rarely visit the settlement, and who have dedicated people to run their concerns on their behalf.
Whilst the population of the nearest villages are almost entirely comprised of Yaltharmians people, Machestaro’s Cove itself is a mixed ethnicity settlement, with the majority of people actually being Turelite in origin, having been drawn to the area by the prospect of good wages working in the plantations.

Government

Machestaro’s Cove is governed by an Alderman, appointed by the provincial authorities in Jakott to run the town on the Satrap's behalf. The Alderman is supported by a staff of local administrators who ensure that the town and its industries are able to function and that an adequate amount of tax is gained from the import and export of goods and people into the settlement.

Defences

On the western side of the town a palisade wall has been erected, which curves round from the southern to the northern cliffs and encompasses the whole footprint of the town between it and the sea. The northern and southern ends of the palisade are capped with two large wooden towers, which along with large central gatehouse act as the quarters for the town’s garrison of Provincial Troops.
Machestaro’s Cove has a garrison of about 100 troops, who have standing orders to defend the area of the town and the surrounding plantations. Machestaro’s Cove is regarded by the provincial troops of Greltor Province as being a quiet posting, which means that they often creep into being rather relaxed with regards to their duties.
Another wooden guard tower stands in the middle of the town’s harbour, which provides a defensive outlook over the bay. This tower also acts as the headquarters for the Provincial Captain who commands the garrison.

Industry & Trade

The primary industries of Machestaro’s Cove are based around the plantations that surround it. Spices such as chillies, peppercorns, allspice and cinnamon are cultivated and large parcels of land have also been set aside for the growing of sugar cane. Within the town there are several processing facilities to dry and package the spices, as well as facilities to convert the raw sugarcane into solid sugar cones that can be more easily exported. The molasses that is a by-product of the sugar production is also exported, and a couple of distilleries have been set up in the town to turn molasses into a spirit locally known as Sugar Whiskey.
Because Machestaro’s Cove is a coastal settlement, a fair number of people make a living through fishing in the Centric Sea.

Infrastructure

Its remote location on the edge of the Ascar Giss means that like most communities in the area, Machestaro’s Cove is not linked up to the road network that services the north of Greltor Province. The town’s connection with the wider world is its port, that is the easiest way to move both people and goods to and from the area.
The town itself is not laid out in any systematic way, but it does have a network of winding dirt streets that are kept free of most of the vegetation that tries to spring up in the empty spaces, and a conscious effort is made by the town authorities to ensure that pot holes and wagon ruts are kept from becoming too cavernous.
A small network of roads stretches from the town to the plantations beyond and then from there onwards to a handful of communities that are based just within the Ascar Giss. However, once the roads leave the plantations they become increasingly overgrown and almost impossible to navigate for anything other than foot traffic.

Architecture

The Yalthar Jungle, which is always threatening to swamp the town and its surrounding plantations is, despite its invasiveness an ideal source of building materials. Most of the buildings of Machestaro’s Cove have been constructed from wood felled as part of the regular efforts to push back the tree-line and almost all of the building’s roofs have been built out of a thatch made from the thick grasses that spring up wherever trees are cut down.

Geography

The town is located on a large bay, whose calm shallow waters make a perfect natural port, protected to the north and the south by cliffs. Machestaro’s Cove is set on the bay itself, with most of the towns buildings having been constructed on the flat land immediately to the west of the sandy beach that marks the edge of the waterline.
The land surrounding the town is made up of a rolling landscape of hills, much of which has been denuded of the trees of the Yalthar Jungle to make way for plantations of spice and sugar crops.

Maps

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  Machestaro's Cove

Type

Town

Population

c.3,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Machites or Covites

Location under

Yalthar Jungle

Owning Organization

Greltor Province