Stonewall

Stonewall is a port city in Southern Zenxon, most famous for having once been the home of Airrin Underwood.

History

Before humans arrived on Zenxon, the island was occupied entirely by sprites, who had developed little trade with outside nations, and what they had developed was primarily with the Mermish that lived among the Western Islands. Once the humans began to colonize the area, they began building cities in a different fashion than the sprites. Stonewall is Zenxon's first official port and one of the oldest cities on the island, and it received it's name from the stones which the humans used to build their structures, rather than the wooden ones built by the sprites.

Legacy

Stonewall's most famous resident is Airrin Underwood. Born in the 11th century, Underwood was orphaned at an early age and survived on the streets, stealing and begging for scraps from traveling merchants. As a child he showed an affinity toward wood, and was adopted by a master carpenter who suspected he might have an in-born magical ability towards the material. This is when he adopted the surname Underwood, as he was apprenticed to a woodworker. It was not long after this that Underwood began to show a gift for woodwork that remains unrivaled to this day. As a child, Underwood befriended the daughter of a merchant girl who often brought him food when her family met Ethite merchants at the port. When she offered her hand in marriage as payment for spices and other foodstuffs during a drought, Underwood presented her with a going away gift--a pale colored wooden staff carved with a variety of animals in honor of her gift as a shapeshifter. It was not until long after the deaths of both Underwood and the first owner of the staff just how unique the item was. Decades later, the Underwood's staff was revealed to be immensely magically powerful. After the death of its first owner, the staff disappeared, only to return to sight when it chose a new owner. The staff proved to be an item which could store magic, allowing the owner to tap it for later use. It has also mysteriously lasted for nearly a millenium, almost as if it is in new condition today. In total, Underwood created ten of these staffs, each one unique and having lived through many owners over the passing centuries. The items are so famous that Hermes Swift and Olive Newell traced the history of each in a ten part book series.

Stonewall Today

by Andrew R

by Vidar Nor

The legacy of Airrin Underwood and his amazing magical staffs has made Stonewall into as much of a tourist town as it is a port city. The shop where Underwood worked still stands, and visitors can tour it as well as watch current carpenters make everything from chairs to wood carvings which can be purchased in the gift shop. Though all of Zenxon is known for its rich forests, Stonewall has become best known for woodwork itself, in honor of Underwood's legacy. Even Zenxonian sprites honor Underwood as a national hero, despite the long conflict between sprites and humans in the country. This feeling may be in part because sprite connections and rituals around the growth and care for trees became more quickly honored and respected in Stonewall than other Zenxonian cities because sprite practices helped maintain the nearby forests while simultaneously providing woodworkers with their needed materials.