Veriste
| Veriste | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Motto: | By Stone, Steel, and Ale | ||||||||||||||||||
| Realm: | Duchy of Urnst | ||||||||||||||||||
| Size: | Village/Fortification | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||||||||
| Authority: | "Bryn Everblood" (leader) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government: | Autocracy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alignment: | Neutral | ||||||||||||||||||
| Established: | 513 CY & 561 CY (moved) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Demographics | |||||||||||||||||||
| Population: | 600+ (in 591 CY | ||||||||||||||||||
| Races: |
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| Languages: | Common Orc | ||||||||||||||||||
| Groups | |||||||||||||||||||
| Religions: | Pelor | ||||||||||||||||||
Veriste is a free village in the Cairn Hills.
Description
Veriste is a free city and is often overlooked by a majority of the Duchy especially as the hallow was located off major trade routes and was in constant threat of war between the various orc, goblin and kobolds clans in the region.
History
Before the Great War, Veriste was a very minor mining village within the domain of the Duchy of Urnst. The defacto leader, Bryn Everblood, created a tenuous peace between the village and humanoids through guile, lies, and psychotropic beer. After an incursion of giant insects led by a cultist of Bralm in 561 CY, some attention from noble houses from Seltaren, and an increase of farmers and miners in the region, Veriste moved its village activites towards the center of the hollow and surrounded the Garcairn Stronghold to maintain the region better, leaving the original village to be called Olde Veriste.
Geography
Veriste is located within a hallow in the Cairn Hills, inland from the shores of the Nyr Dyv. There is a shallow river (no more than six feet deep) that runs from the Nyr Dyv to the Aalmarsh swamp, near to which Veriste lies.
People
The people of Veriste come from a variety of backgrounds, be it merchant, miner, farmer, and former adventurers. Additionally, because of the relatively isolated nature of Veriste, neither Duchy nor Greyhawk law hold much sway within Veriste (and the surrounding hallow) as it would elsewhere; Veriste has become a bit of a refuge for people seeking to escape their past, desire to find asylum, or quite simply running from the law. Bryn has a policy of offering amnesty to all that come to Veriste, forgiving them for past transgressions as long as they obey the laws moving forward.
Government
Every 3 years a customary election is held where Bryn Everblood is re-elected as mayor.
Languages
Common, Halfling, Dwarf, Orc
Religion
While Pelor is the most prominent religion and boasts a large cathedral, the Saint Korles Cathedral of Pelor, most of the residents of Veriste maintain ambivalence to most religious practices. There is a small shrine to Berei to the south of Veriste.
Resources
The main resources of Veriste are mining, eel fishing, farming, and brewing.
Veriste trades with other local settlements and the various humanoid tribes of orcs, goblins, and kobolds that live in the region.