Thornbrook

Thornbrook is a small village inside the forest west of the Dragonfang Mountains, on the southern edge of the forest where it meets the plains. The inhabitants live around a sacred spring that posses healing qualities and attracts the ill and wounded from far and near. The spring belongs to a lesser known deity, Phyllium. Phyllium is the goddess of clean and healing waters, rivers and herbs. She doesnt live in this well, but due to the amount of worshippers frequenting the well, her influence is especially strong here.  

History

Thornbrook was founded in the midst of the trials and tribulations of the cataclysm. A small group of wounded rangers set up camp near the now holy spring because one of them found some medical herbs there. The fortified their camp to rest and let their wounds heal. A while later when they were back on their feet they marked the spot on their maps and returned to crows rock. For a while the place was forgotten, the wooden pillars and barricades rottet away and nature reclaimed the small camp. Around a decade later some student in one of the medical schools stumbled across one of the rangers maps and some notes about the herbs while he was looking for some new remedy for a nasty infection that had spread during the last autumn. He gathered a couple of fellow students, a ranger and two mercenaries and set out for the spring. It took them a while to find it, but they eventually stumbled about the small pond and rebuild the small camp.   The pond and its surroundings turned out to be a true treasure hort of rare herbs with most of them possesing some healing capabillities. In the following years students and scholars came and went until some clever farmers set up some small huts and started to specifically grow the herbs the cities healers needed. Over time some healers set up a small herbalists refuge to be right at the source. This led to an increased amount of people seeking a cure limping into the small camp. On their heels a few carpenters, craftsmen and tradesmen followed. A few decades in someone set up a small inn and started to rent out rooms.   Since the foundation days of Thornbrook the people had left small offerings at the pond, when the camp earned the label hamlet one of the healers who allways had been in love with plants and the wild set up a small shrine for the goddess Phyllium - which he associated with this place. Later his daughter became the first priestess of Phyllium there and build a solid small temple that now hosts between five and seven priests and priestesses. Around that time people started noticing that not only the herbs were great remedies for a lot of stuff, when applied to heavily infested wounds, the water from the spring would help cure otherwise uncurable wounds.  

The people

The inhabitants of Thornbrook are friendly towards the ill and wounded seeking cures for their diverse illnesses. Due to their reputation as exellent but poor healers they arent bothered by bandits or other outlaws. Some of them even sneak into town to ask for help with their own wounds and bruises. This way the townsfolk lives free of fear in their little hamlet, most of them farmers and healers, but in the latest years an alchemist-couple set up shop here and started to brew a multitude of potions one can buy for reasonable prices. According to them they wanted to escape the stressful city and want to add their part to the towns role as a place of healing and tranquillity.  

The village itself

After being founded as a small camp, the little town grew quite a bit. Nowadays it hosts around 80 people. The old tents and wooden baracks have been replaced by small cottages in the center of the town on a little clearing near the pond of Phyllium. In the middle of the town are to big cottages - the town hall and the inn. Around the cottages and the temple next to the pond a few treehouses have been set up over time giving the village a druidish vibe in its way to blend into the forest.  

Local customs

Since most of the people here are either healers or herb-farmers, violence is frowned upon. People go out of their way to be nice to each other and have a towns board that acts as a council to resolve disputes among the townsfolk.   Even though they arent activly against other deities, all inhabitants worship Phyllium. Unnecessarily soiling water is one of the worst sins one could commit. People around here pay close attention to dump their wastewater far away from the small rivers and their holy pond.   Its seen as good fortune to hatch and care for plants so visitors find the village allways covered in pots and flower beds, most of the inhabitants garden as a hobby - or service to Phyllium and her forest and water spririts.   The water lilly is the holy symbol of Phyllium so it is seen quite often around town.   Once a year when the first water lilly opens her blossom, the town celebrates a huge fest in the honour of Phyllium. The town is covered in flowers, everyone (exept the healers that are absolutly needed) stop working and drink, eat and dance for so long as it takes until 12 more blossoms have opened. This normally takes around a week.