Berleben

The ragged swampfolk that call this place home have remained due to familial ties, impoverished necessity, or the promise of work harvesting what natural commodities the swamp offers. Most find work has fishermen, hunters, harvesters, or manual labor, has the swamp still holds wealth in its natural resources. The population of the town is 62% humans, 17% halflings, 12% gnomes, and 9% other races.

Atop the Stilts region of the settlement lies the Summit House, home to Starosta Carliyle Vesperwind. Vesperwind greatly despises his assignment and quietly resents his inability to protest his appointment. He spends most of his time locked within his abode or traveling to neighboring locales to avoid responsibility. The governance of the town is mostly left in the hands of the Mossmire Temple's idolmaster, Julienne Droogba.

Though a bare-bones garrison of Crownsguard guards the town, sellswords protect travelers within the Labenda Swamp. Occasional detachments of Righteous Brand are sent to clear out any highly dangerous monsters that get too close to the town.

For the most part, supplies beyond basic goods and tools are uncommon. A handful of meager inns provide limited lodging for travelers passing through. However, the flora of the Lebenda Swamp allow for alchemical creations, so several alchemists have set up businesses to craft and trade these potions to other parts of the Empire. In addition, the dangers of the swamps can also mean an opportunity for those willing. A few hunters brave the swamp territories to bring back materials and items of worth, passing them along to merchants or traders who are willing to venture into the town.

Built over unsteady, stinking swampland, the somewhat miserable and half-sunken town is divided into thirds. The three districts correspond to different ages of construction in the empire and visually differ based on whatever construction materials the townsfolk had access to at the time.   The Puddles are the oldest and poorest region of Berleben, with numerous old stone and wood buildings that now sit in several inches of marsh water. The Puddles consist of small huts and hovels, mostly made of stone. Algae and other swamp plants grow from the bases of these buildings up the sides, where the water reaches. This section also contains a collapsed fountain that likely dates from Berleben's earlier, more successful days.   The Midway Docks are the central region of Berleben, where the workers and fishmongers do business and where a majority of locals socialize. This is where the stables are located and where many locals go for drinks and entertainment. The docks themselves extend out into the swamp; many small boats are moored there and are guarded by Crownsguard to prevent theft.   The Stilts are, for what little it's worth, the newest and most affluent part of town, marked by sturdier houses atop heavy load-bearing stilts that raise the buildings a few feet above the swamp in hopes of outlasting the rest of the sinking settlement. It contains the Summit House, where the Starosta of Berleben lives, and the Mossmire Temple, home of the druid who keeps the swamp.

Berleben was settled early in the expansion of the Dwendalian Empire, and the town initially showed promise with a booming industry in the cultivation of unique swamp plants sought after by healers and mages alike. However, the watershed from the Silberquel Mountains runs into the Labenda Swamp, and the land slowly grew unstable, causing half of the town to begin sinking into the surrounding marsh. Those who remained in the town have had to adapt over the years, as much of the settlement now sits uncomfortably under inches of swamp water.    Other regions of the empire regard Berleben with distaste and ridicule, colored by exaggerated stories of rampant illness, a perpetual plague of buzzing insects, and the failing landscape it was built on. Berleben is sometimes call "the Sog Sticks," a moniker used by outsiders to ridicule the town and by its denizens with sarcastic pride.

Berleben is a city 70 miles northeast of Zadash in the Dwendalian Empire. The city borders the Ounterloch to the northeast and is surrounded by the Labenda Swamps.