Enim

"If there was a town in the Empire furthest from the light of Yaltur lass, this is it. Might only be a few locals, but the damned army make up the rest of it. You ever seen a man when he thinks he might never be coming back from Sakamohr? All he wants is a woman, and he ain't too fussy. The winters are harsh, but some of those soldiers are worse."

High up in the Edge Mountains, at the Imperial side of the pass to Sakamohr, lies the city of Enim. Its permanent population is probably less than a thousand, yet it can swell to over ten thousand when the pass clears in the spring and its regular guests start to arrive; The Imperial armies.
It has a reputation in the The Empire of Belyos as a place where one can buy the affections of another more than anywhere else, save Belyos itself. No one can spend money like soldiers off duty, and the town has attracted large numbers of compliant men and women quite happy to help.

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History

A town has been present on this location since not long after the founding of the Empire, but for most of its history it was a small village servicing the loggers and timber industry who worked in the region. The pass over the mountains was known, but largely ignored; the lands of the Empire had been provided by the gods, and there was little motivation to travel beyond.
This all changed when Pexld the Conquerer brought his army through the pass and attacked the vulnerable lands of the Empire. The small settlement on the site of Enim was utterly destroyed, the fate of its few inhabitants was not recorded, and it was left abandoned for almost three hundred years. When the old Imperial states banded together to force the Sakamohr out of Imperial lands, Enim was the location where a small force was always kept to guard the pass. More of a fort than an actual town, it was perceived as an unpleasant posting, and troop rotation was frequent. It was, however, where the individual who would become known as Til-Yaltur received his vision and began his crusade to unify the Empire once more.
After Til-Yaltur's crusade was complete, he was content to leave the Sakamohr in peace, but the Sakamohr saw the loss of the forces defending the pass as a return to the weakness of the past, and a number of tribes allied and attempted to invade again. Til-Yaltur showed them no mercy, and pushed back into Sakamohr itself, devastating the lands around the pass and sacking and razing the city of Cheingo. Upon his return to the Empire, he rebuilt Enim as a fortified town, and decreed that regular patrols into Sakamohr would continue, to ensure they remembered the might of the Empire.

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Architecture

Only one building in Enim is made of stone; the large central building known as 'The Tower' where Imperial officers are housed, plans for patrols are made, and where there is a small ecumenical temple. All the others are constructed of wood. Clustered around The Tower are the tightly packed houses where the local live, their sharp roofs and raised wooden walkways displaying a canny awareness of the environment, site of the many inns and brothels that service Enim's transient population.
The common soldiery that pass though the town on a regular basis are housed in long buildings around the edges of the town, regiments separated by distance, to help reduce the inevitable rivalry between units. These buildings, referred to as 'The Sheds' are good enough for the conditions and house hundreds of men in close proximity, to help with heating in the cold winter months. Not all The Sheds are occupied over the winter, and it's not uncommon for those left empty for too long to suffer from maintenance issues. A flash flood one year saw several break from their foundations and float away, thankfully unoccupied.

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Geography

Enim is sited in a wide depression atop a high plateau, with large forests to the north, and the tall Edge Mountains to the south. The pass to Sakamohr lies in that direction, and the road is well marked and maintained, although the winter snows make it impassable for a couple of months each year. The depression keeps the worst of the winter storms off the town, but it is a cold place in the winter, and most of the local industry is devoted to bringing in enough firewood to last. Food is brought with every regiment that arrives, with more than enough to last through the winter and beyond.
In the spring, when the snows begin to melt, there is often flooding in the town, but it opens up the roads, allowing new regiments set to patrol Sakamohr during the summer months to arrive, and those who wintered over to depart.

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Founding Date

1712

Alternative Name(s)

Soldier City, Watchtower of the Empire

Type

Town

Population

varies, usually ~10,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Enimian

Owning Organization

The Empire of Belyos