"I have not lived here long but I can tell you that Kramath always smells like freshly cut wood. The streets fill with sawdust and little wood chips and you must be careful in the wind or it will get in your eyes.
Here is seems as though the people never sleep. When any other town would go to bed, here a second set of people take their place. The sawmills stop only for repairs. They can't stop because the lumber is sent all over. Down the river, over the land, and even some up to the mountains.
There are many craftsmen working in the manufacturing of furniture, wagons, and incredibly detailed carvings. Truely a sight to behold, this town of wood."— Diary of Tiela Touk
The Town of Towering Walls
Early in the
Time of Rebuilding, a small settlement near the
Wildwind Woods grew at an astonishing pace - from a village of dozens to a town of thousands within only two decades. It owes this rapid growth to several factors. First, the river provides fresh water from the mountains all year round. Second, after the storms of the
Time of Darkness subsided, the always fertile soil was no longer too wet to grow crops. Finally, the ample supply of lumber, river to power mills and transport the lumber, made for a lucrative industry.
The Ashland
In the summer of 55RB - a particularly hot and dry summer - an unknown source caused a fire at one of the buildings near the city walls. The dry town - made almost entirely of wood - took mere moments to go up in flames. Even the river that ran through the middle of the town - a natural fire-break - was not able to save the other half of the town as winds carried the embers across what little water trickled through the drought-stricken river.
Not long after the fire began, Kramath was no more. The buildings of the town reduced to piles of ash, the surrounding farms scorched, and many people did not survive. Those that did left the town and the region became known as the Ashland.
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Memories of Home
After Kramath burned to the ground and all the inhabitants fled, few ever returned to the site. However, one did.
Ronas Baran was born in Kramath but fled the fires at age 16. He returned the year he turned 23 and sketched the landscapes of the region. Each sketch contains two parts, one of the present and the same place but as he remembers it. This collection of drawings is titled
Sketches of the Ashland.
"I sometimes wonder why Kramath was never rebuilt. The town was in a great position to dominate the lumber industry in the region.
Then I look around and see that the people who left took their knowledge and expertise with them and found new homes.
With the trees burned, the forest is still recovering and even now there can be no industry there for many years to come."
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