The Wychkeeper Holds

Rather than a single town, the Wychkeeper Holds are a collection of small towns within Ghearas placed on the outskirts of the Wychwode, and are both supposed to monitor activity coming in from the Feywild and help organise the collection of lumber.

Demographics

About half the population is involved with the lumber industry in some capacity. They identify the groves that are sufficiently grown, they help organise the guild of lumber (which they have major share of control over), actually cut down the trees, and transport them. The rest of the population are either largely foragers delving into the woods, or part of the Keepers.

Government

The Wychkeeper Holds are unique among the parts that make up Ghearas in that it is largely politically independent from the rest of the city. While the Wychkeepers do have allegiance to the Eleven Stewards, they are required to pay no taxes as such things are impossible to enforce. As such, they have their Wychmaster, elected from among the Keepers, who works together with the guilds who need access to the woods and organises administration between the villages that make up the Wychkeeper Holds.

History

Even before the city was truly a city, there were rangers and forestfolk living in the Wychwode. Firbolg, and Wood Elves, and Wood Gnomes, and Halflings, living simple lives as keepers of the forest. During that time, those keepers had to band together to fight back incursions of evil Fey every once in a while, something that eventually led to the formation of the Wychkeepers.
Around them, though, the city of Ghearas just grew and grew, until Ghearas, then under an imperial dynasty, tried to force their will upon the Wychkeepers and attempted to annex them and their territories. This... didn't go so well. The Wychkeepers melted into the woods for which they are named, and started a constant guerilla war against the troops occupying their villages. Due to their knowledge of the terrain, and the good relations they had with the more benevolent Fey of the Wychwode, occupying it's outskirts soon became impossible, and Ghearas soon had to relinquish their attempts of conquest. Instead, Ghearas and the Wychkeepers signed a treaty guaranteeing the political independence of the Wychkeeper Holds, the legal term for the area the Wychkeepers stewarded over, and which included promises of monetary and military support for the Wychkeepers. In exchange, the walls of Ghearas were allowed to be built around the Wychwode to encompass it completely and the Wychkeepers were to pay nominal allegiance to the Emperor of Ghearas.
Though it has been nearly a millenia since then, and many things have changed around Ghearas and in the world since then, and despite numerous attempts from numerous governments reigning over Ghearas to conquer the Wychkeeper Holds, no such attempt has succeeded, and life has strangely remained the same for the Wychkeepers.

Type

Ward

Population

43,000

Location under

The Wychwode

Ruling/Owning Rank

Wychmaster

Owning Organization

The Wychkeepers

Characters in Location

• Heratos Sábo-de-sanh