Thar

Thar is a small town in The Western Forest on the eastern shore of Lake Thar, from where it draws its name. Sitting along the only road through the forest, it is frequently visited by merchants traveling between Pillaran and the Aurean Empire. The lord of Thar and the lord of Ilka, a town a short ways north, also co-rule the farms and villages in the small area of cleared land on the east side of the lake.   The town is inhabited mostly by merchants and craftspeople who provide services to farmers in the surrounding area. It is surrounded by small stone wall, which was built by the empire 2 millennia ago and has rarely seen use. Thar's population is a mostly a mix of humans, elves, and half elves, with most humans having some elven ancestory and vice versa.   Thar was founded by some of the earliest human settlers in the region, who arrived in 2824 AY. These settlers were encouraged by the Aurean Empire, which was hoping to expand toward the coast and sent a garrison when the town was still small. At the time the area was populated largely by a number of small elven tribes, who largely avoided confrontation with the empire, and many elves even settled in the town.    It wasn't until 4828 AY, during The Purge, that the elves began to attack the empire in large numbers, after an Aurean army raised the elven holy city of Aru Fennar and burned its city tree. The disparate and fractious tribes in the area united to drive them out, and in 4833 AY the towns of Ilka and Thar expelled their Aurean garrisons in a bid to avoid attacks from the elves. This mostly worked, the elves leaving the towns alone, while the empire soon went further into collapse and was unable to reoccupy the area, except briefly around 4941 AY.