Nowhere

An old saying goes, "Tieflings belong nowhere". Thirty years ago, a small group of tieflings and their friends decided to challenge that assumption by making their own place to live. They found that place inside the [Great Rift(location)], the canyon that cuts through the western desert; a small oasis, shaded by the canyon walls and watered by the [Rainbow River(location)]. They discovered that the walls were honeycombed with caves and tunnels left behind by some long-gone creatures, which they converted into homes, businesses, and public spaces. Referencing both the old saying and the remoteness of the location, the settlers dubbed their new home "Nowhere".

Government

Nowhere is a loosely-organized collection of individualists held together by a mutual desire for community; there's no rigid hierarchy, just a set of basic rules and obligations that everyone is expected to follow. As long as you don't kill or hurt anyone, steal anything, or otherwise create a hazard to the community, you can do as you please. Decisions that affect the entire community and projects that require their collaboration are brought up at the monthly gather for discussion. The "gather" is half town meeting, half bonfire party, held on the last day of every month at sundown. Most of the village comes together in a cleared-out area on the Rift's eastern rim, where they bring some food and drinks, build a fire, and hash out plans for the next month. After the talking is done, it turns into a party.

Defences

Nowhere appears at first glance to be a disorganized, undefended shamble, but that assumption has gotten quite a few bandits and desert beasts killed. Most tieflings grow up fending for themselves, and they are viciously pragmatic in a fight. There are also two dozen or so skilled fighters in the village, ranging from adventurers to retired hitmen, who will not hesitate to take up arms in defense of their home.
Another thing that helps is the simple geography and architecture of the village. Its vertical layout means that the only points of access are above and below. The former way is guarded by gates and a watchtower, while there are some basic stockade walls on the canyon floor to protect the farm from animals. Any attacker who managed to breach those defenses would find themselves facing a new problem: the village itself. The only way to get around is via walkways and bridges, most of which can barely fit two average-sized humanoids shoulder-to-shoulder, and some of them probably couldn't bear more than two hundred pounds of weight at a time. Those bridges also make it difficult for a flying enemy to move around. Combine that with a hundred angry tieflings (and a few non-tiefling friends), and one can understand why the settlement has only had to repel a couple of attacks in its brief history.

Industry & Trade

The location of Nowhere provides few resources besides the real estate itself. It's also far away from the nearest settlements, and its inhabitants are not particularly interested in dealing with outsiders. They came here to be around their own kind, after all. But there are artists and crafters among them, and sometimes they're willing to trade with visitors.

History

Nowhere was founded by a small group of ten tieflings and three non-tieflings who were invited along. The de facto leader of them is Nobody, a tiefling adventurer/cartographer originally from Acadia. He made a reputation and a modest fortune mapping some of the more inhospitable parts of the frontier, where his infernal physiology made the heat more bearable. On one of his expeditions, Nobody was charting an unmapped section of the Great Rift when he came upon a section where the canyon walls were pockmarked with peculiar, round caves. On closer inspection, he discovered a series of abandoned nests left behind by some sort of animals. Camping inside one of the caves did not trigger any aggression from whatever used to live there, so he concluded that it was safe. And in his logbook, Nobody made a note that this place could potentially make a good spot for a settlement.

Architecture

Nowhere is defined by its total lack of a consistent aesthetic. Everyone who moves in simply picks a cave and builds the facade themselves, usually out of adobe and wood, then decorates it however they please. Some are plain, but some are decorated with paint, natural pigments, or designs cut into the adobe with a stylus before it's dry. The canyon is crisscrossed by wooden and stone bridges, and walkways along the walls are either built of wood or carved in the stone. An elevator is under construction to make travel between the different levels easier. There's an overall sense that everything has just been improvised as needed.

Geography

This town sits within a comfortable oasis. Shade from the canyon walls and moisture from the river below creates a cooler climate than the desert above (though it is still warm, and gets hotter as you go up).
In the surrounding area, one can mostly find sand, brush, sand, rocks, pine trees, and some more sand. The flatter land on the east side of the Great Rift is part of the Low Desert, which gradually blends into the Roaring Plains; the rockier west side is part of the High Desert, leading into the Dragonspire Mountains.

Natural Resources

The presence of the Rainbow River is what makes Nowhere liveable. Along the riverbanks on the canyon floor, the inhabitants can grow crops, raise livestock, and even maintain a few copses of trees to provide lumber.

Founding Date

2574

Type

Village

Population

128

Inhabitant Demonym

Nowherian

Location under

Great Rift

Owner/Ruler

Nobody