Paboto
Guarding the Heart of the Wilderness
"I actually came here to heal an affliction of my lungs, but I ended up falling in love. Not just with my wife, but with the town itself. Secluded, tight-knit, resilient Paboto. Uniting in the face of the dangers of the wilderness to protect a gift of life itself. There's a beauty in that I just knew I couldn't leave."
A town a couple day's journey upstream from Zesteulor along the Severbless River. Known for the healing properties of the Jewel Pond, a gift from the Dwarven goddess Ryuna. The trees nearby are tall and proud and the people are friendly and live for a long time, so it's a small but relatively popular retirement and vacation spot alike.
Pilgrim's Rest Stop
Government
Like other places in the region under the Citrine Alliance, government is left up to local preference as long as tribute is paid to the Citrine clan of dragons. For Paboto, this means most things are run by clerics of the Brazen Order, specifically of Ryuna. Being so separated from the rest of the Order, they are relatively lax.
Industry & Trade
As a pilgrimage destination, much of the local economy revolves around tourism, especially on the quiet, relaxing side of things. There are inns, gardens, spas, and temples. Because that industry is small and unreliable, and save for that artificial flow of people it's rather isolated, it has to be very independent. So there are plenty of farmers and craftsmen, and outside of what they ham up for the tourists, they keep things very down-to-earth.
As for what little trade they can manage, this town farms pondmelons and assortment of medicinal herbs that it trades downstream. As a place known for healing, its tinctures and healing potions are especially valuable exports.
History
The legend of Ryuna's Gift was the beginning of this town's history, because before, it was simply the middle of a rainforest, the middle of nowhere. There was no interest by the ancient Ereduarn Empire to populate this region although they laid claim to it, and few objected.
After the Wake, word spread of a sacred spring deep in the rainforest. Clerics of Ryuna received witness that it was her doing, and went on a long quest to locate it. When they did, they founded shrines there and made it their duty to lead people to it through the dangerous wilds to be healed. After a while, they decided that for the sake of those who had to stay long-term, a settlement should be built around it. They gathered some volunteers and founded Paboto.
Over the centuries, the temples, shrines, and secular buildings of the town were built. The same suborder of clerics has led the town over all that time, and things have been much the same. That is, until very recently, when the downstream seaside town of Zesteulor made travel upriver much easier. Now there's been a welcome boom of pilgrimages, and much more growth.
Tourism
Unless they are passing through to other places, most people visit this town as pilgrims to Ryuna's shrines and the Jewel Spring they surround for its healing properties.
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