Birhberra
A prosperous and growing city, Birhberrais fortunate to be at an intersection of trade routes to larger cities, as well as have fertile soil and resources. The Elves who originally settled here were content as a trade hub, but ambitious migrants are seeing untapped potential and trying to capitalize it. There are notable disparities here, which is fomenting some animosity along race and class lines.
Demographics
The city was originally mostly Elven, and most of wealth and property is still owned by them. Over time, there has been an increasing amount of immigration from the other races, predominantly being Humans, with some of the dwarvish and orcish diaspora entering as well. At this point, the Humans have become the majority population of the city, accounting for about 60% of its permanent population. The Native elves represent another third. There are small pockets of the other races as well comprising the remainder.
That the elves are no longer the majority of their own settlement has grown to be a point of contention with local and national leadership for allowing this to happen, unchecked. By contrast, the migrants are frustrated that the elves still own basically everything worth owning, creating a soft aristocracy in the area.
The orcs have been pushed into a small corner of the city, as have the dwarves. They are well behaved, generally, and have found unusual kinship for the two races in the Third Age. They remain an underserved population, economically, and informally relegated to mostly physical labor.
Government
The city is run by Obla Blanahd, one of the daughters of the founders. She is young, by elf standards, but shows genuine commitment to live up to her families legacy, and do the best she can for its people; to the degree that she knows how. The various governmental positions were appointed informally by the Obla family, with the understanding that these positions would be for life, or until the individual chose to stand down. When it was an overwhelmingly Elvish city, that worked fine. That mentality doesn’t work when humans are dead or approaching the grave by the time most elves become mature adults. With humans having become the majority population, there is pressure to resolve the imbalance of power. On the other hand, forced retirement or a tiered structure of governance isn’t popular either, especially with the elves who feel they are being pushed out of their own home.
Defences
Being deep in the interior and generally far from the danger of invasion, the city of Birhberra doesn't contain any walls or fortifications. There's a city watch that helps keep the peace in case of civil unrest and the case of bandits. For better or worse, the population of the watch reflects the town as a whole. Everyone can join the watch, and there is an open pitch for everyone to be working together. On the other hand, the leadership positions of the watch are held by Elves, with the humans and the other races resigned to the grunt work. For those seeking positive mobility, this seems hopeless; they're liable to die before most of these Elves retire.
Districts
The center of the town is the original portion of the town, the original homes long since been torn down to allow for larger and comfortable accomodations, and most of those farms cleared for larger residences. This cluster of homes and businesses are visually distinctive, with outer areas both larger and adopting architecture from other cultures. Humans call this seemingly antiquated, central hub as “Old Town”. Elves, some of whom were there when the homes were built, resist using that term, preferring the more generic ‘central district’. The city is branched out into rough quarter circle developments that were built separately, and have slightly different demographics. The northern area being the newest development, with the previous farmland incorporated into some of the homes, is where some generations of Orcs have taken residence. Rather than being called ‘north town’ or the ‘north side’, Humans have been calling it ‘the orc side’, even though orcs are not the predominant demographic.
History
Birhberra is a relatively new settlement, by elvish standards. According to local record, a pair of elvish sisters, Obla Dinahr and Obla Davehla, created the first structures here with their husbands and children. Personal diaries, kept by the local archivist, indicate that there was some form of personal disagreement that proved irrecoverable. The two families had made a successful run at farming, growing significantly in the span of a single elvish generation. Traders heading further into Elvish lands would stop here for fresh provisions. A few enterprising craftsmen would join the Obla sisters and their families, finding that moving closer to the traders and removing competition was a successful strategy, in the short term. News of this town’s development grew in both directions: Elves started coming out from the forest in greater numbers to establish their own farming families or crafting trade goods, while Humans, Orcs, and the like were carrying news of the town of Birhberra with them as they went. It had grown into a marked city by the time the Obla sisters passed away, though what would come next would dramatically change the demographics.
The Triumverate War had caused global catastrophe and uproar, and was felt in even remote areas. The Drow insurrectionists were interested in targeting population centers; by destroying vital governmental and societal areas from the inside. Despite it’s size, Birhberra was not of any real importance to the Varissian Theocracy. The Orcs were far less precise, and early in the war were driving countless amounts of humans from their settlements and kingdoms. Birhberra, with it’s healthy agriculture and considerable distance from any human areas of interest, proved a smart choice to relocate, for those able to make the long journey.
The elves had been gracious to the human migrants. Land to work was granted to those capable and willing to farm on credit, and businesses took the capable on as either apprentices, or even managing the establishments, allowing the original owners to enjoy a rare privileged life. In the short term, this was amicable, in that getting resettled, nobody was immediately concerned or even aware that paractically nobody in the diaspora had managed to be put in a situation to grow beyond their situation. Multiple human generations later, and the hard working humans, while healthy and content, felt that they weren’t enjoying in the city’s prosperity, despite now being an indispensable part of it. The Elves, who had welcomed humans into their city with open arms and who had built homes and farms for these refugees, insist that they had done absolutely nothing wrong, and should not be compelled to sell or give up what was rightfully theirs.
Climate
While the climate is normally good for farming, preparations have to be made, as the cold winter seasons can be especially problematic. At the very least, crops don't grow well during this time, requiring storage and rationing to make it through. More worse heavy snow storms and the like occur every few seasons. The warm seasons are also fairly cool in comparison.
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