Dyelpaloz

Dyelpaloz is a significant rural community located to the northwest of Elpaloz, and under the notional control of that city, or at least its branch of the Commercial Guilds. The village has existed for as long as anybody cares to remember but has enjoyed considerable outside investment over the last two centuries and has been built up into something of a company town, operating almost entirely at the behest of the Commercial Guilds. The village is given over entirely to the growing and processing of beetroot.

Early history

Like most of the villages that surround and support the Eleven Cities there are no written records of the foundation of Dyelpaloz. Those few people - mostly guild operatives - who have applied themselves to the question note that the village's location on the acute side of a bend in the Loz River would provided an excellent combination of irrigation, fertile soil and access to the markets of Elpaloz. Such a location would naturally become a focus for agricultural activity.
For time out of mind the village was led by a prominent family of millers known as the Lynads. The family and their watermill still exist, though their influence has been greatly eroded since the encroachment of the guilds on village affairs. 

Beetroot industry

Some two hundred years ago the Commercial Guilds of Elpaloz began to take an active interest in villages along the Loz River and approached the representatives of the village of Dyelpaloz offering them large sums of money to give up their current food crop (wheat) and begin planting beetroot. Despite some initial resistance, the villagers eventually decided to accept this offer, though they drove a hard bargain, demanding that the guilds build a school and undertake to educate their children as well as paying them. The guild representatives agreed and have essentially held up their end of the agreement.
The village has been growing vast quantities of beetroot ever since. Almost none of this beetroot actually leaves the village in complete form; the large majority of it is milled into beet sugar. Much of the resulting sugar is then shipped to Elpaloz, which exports it to the other cities. Most of it, however, is then processed further in the distillery that the guilds built in the village shortly after the conversion to the beetroot industry. There it is distilled in the presence of a mysterious liquid reagent shipped to the village in large glass carboys, creating a crumbly black substance similar to charcoal. This is then shipped to Elpaloz and then to Dypholyos where it is purchased almost exclusively by the Alchemist's Guild of Dypholyos, who use it as fuel in their experiments. It is they who produce the reagent that is used to manufacture the substance. Why they have the fuel manufactured in the village rather than shipping the sugar to their compound and making it there is one of their numerous professional secrets.
The village has become very wealthy as a result of this trade. The guilds came through on their promise to build a school and all the children of the town are taught to read. Most of the houses are built using stone foundations and and fireplaces and slate roofs. The people feed themselves by purchasing food from Elaploz and sharing it our amongst themselves.

Type

Village