Cairnstead-on-the-Rill

Cairnstead is more genetically diverse than most of the settlements of the Tiwwari plains thanks to its long reach into Khazig, its proximity to Dwarven Cekic and the Elven Kingdoms further west, and the commerce from the Savage South via the Nadi Strota road that runs the length of the eastern border of Tiwwar and terminates in Venen's capitol city. It also sees a large number of sentient quadrupeds like Centaurs and Bauriars, and more tribal races such as Goblinoids, Gnolls, Orcs and Kobolds than other cities due to their presence throughout the Tiwwari Plains.

The largest single ethnicity is Elinian human, but this group comprises less than 25% of the overall population.

• Elinian laws without Elinian land ownership restrictions have allowed the middle class to flourish , which in turn attracts more refugees fleeing Elinia; land is purchased with coin, not restricted by inheritance and title. The wealthiest people in the town are merchants, not the landed gentry.
• Extreme poverty is rare because the town always has unskilled work available in all seasons, either on the farms or in the watch levees. Those who are destitute generally suffered either an exceptional financial disaster, or are addicted to gambling. The demographic wealth split is 2% outlandishly rich, 10% quite wealthy, 60% solidly middle class, 22% struggling, 4% destitute and 2% abjectly penniless; and it's worth pointing out that about 20% of the population suffers from significant gambling addiction.
• Religious differences can cause significant friction because three major religions rub shoulders here: Kir Vashti from the Venenti, Celestii Magni from the Khazigiri, and Ancestor-Saint veneration from Elinia are not particularly compatible. The town has several shrines dedicated to Elinian saints, notably St. Lurian the Thrice-Beflowed, and a large chapel of Tarshiviel, the patron angel of gambling among other things, as well as chapels to Tzadkiel and Mdnothiel, the angels over all aspects of the family, agricultural fertility, and child-rearing. The demographic split on religion is 55% Elinian, 35% Celestii Magni, 7% Kir Vashti and 3% some other faith.

The refugees who founded the town, including the Sheridan, Andoza, and Hargea families, came to the encampment fleeing the bloody and endless warring among the vassals of the splintered kingdom of Elinia, and for most of the city's history it functioned more like a Merchant Freehold, without a noble class. Occasionally, deposed nobles from Elinia were mixed in with the refugees, sneaking away from battlefield losses to avoid execution, or inconsequential enough to merely be exiled rather than slain, but these never gained much traction when trying to assert control inside the town. But over time, the need for a single figurehead to better negotiate alliances and treaties with the surrounding clans became clear, as these were more important than walls or guards in keeping the town on the map. Significant concessions had to be made to the Orcs, Goblinoids, Centaurs and barbarian tribes in the surrounding area to provide some semblance of protection from clans of a more violent bent, especially the Gnoll warbands with little fear or sentiment about some ancient piles of stone.

As such, The prince's main role is practical rather than ceremonial, the one responsible to appoint and pay for the town Magistrate, the county Sheriff and other civic leaders including the position of town physician, who sees more sick livestock than humanoid patients. The Prince also acts as the ambassador and diplomat in negotiating large property, trade and treaty deals outside of the local purview of the Magistrate.

As a free city, the town holds no feudal obligations over its inhabitants other than requiring that able-bodied citizenry must engage in activities that benefit the town in some way, at the discretion of the Magistrate; people are not required to work land as serfs or to fill the ranks of the armies or civic watch as levees as in other feudal communities in Elinia and Khazig, though those roles are both available and remain popular fallbacks for those of a more wholesome or cynical bent, respectively.

Both groups are organized into psuedo-unions by an elected foreman in the case of the unlanded farmers/serfs, and by an appointed captain of the guard who answers to the Sheriff in the case of the regular militia. In times of dire need, the Sheriff may direct that the serfs also join the Levee for the defense of the city, but this has occurred only rarely in living memory in response to an existential threat.

The legal code is mostly Elinian, devoid of the religious trappings and Emperor cult of Khazigiri law, but enshrining Elinia's distinction between landed and unlanded citizens, with great preference for the former and restrictions against the latter; but the acquisition of land is relatively uncomplicated in Cairnstead compared to Elinia's rigid and complex system of vassalage, so the town feels (and really is) more free and liberated despite a similar legal code. The town has a broad middle class of merchants, landowning farmers, craftspeople, and professional entertainers, gamblers, innkeepers and educators as a result. The unlanded are at a disadvantage legally but are able to earn a living as the aformentioned serf or watchperson, or as employees in shops and taverns.

• Timber camp manages Cairnstead's , and the city must import from Elinia to meet its needs

• Crime in Cairnstead takes many forms, and tends to be independent rather than organized, though several criminal factions from the Empire are firmly rooted here as well - primarily the Glass Street Shankers, running numbers games, loan sharking and protection rackets, fencing stolen goods and skimming guild dues. The White Chests are a sometimes legitimate teamster organization that also participates in smuggling, but the black markets are in the more centralized and law-burdened places like Khazig and Elinia; they can move legal or illegal goods internationally and that means they do pass through the crossroads from time to time. The Steel Reciters are rumored to have an office here for the same logistical reasons.