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~ Hardaxe Village (Overview) ~
Geography: Hardaxe Village is located some thirty miles away from Arconis, deep within the Khardran mountains, in a low valley surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs that protect the village both from sentient and from non-sentient dangers. The weather in Hardaxe is even more brutal than in Arconis, and for the winter months the village is basically inaccessible.
Appearance: Nestled into the valley floor, the mines where the dwarves of Hardaxe work, located in the cliffs above the village, are the first marks of civilization which a traveller sees. The village itself is nothing more than a series of low, circular one-storey buildings made of well-fitted stones and thickly-thatched roofs. There is no particular arrangement to the houses, but two of them, which stand at the center of the village, stand out by their sheer size: the house of the Laird and the House of Priest of Cetheron. At the center of each house there is a firepit, and smoke rises through angled openings in the thatched roofs to prevent snow from falling directly into the buildings. The roofs are supported by a series of stone pillars.
Politics: To be determined.
Demographics: The Hardaxe Village is dominated by the Hardaxe clan and the Laird is a member of the Hardaxe clan as well. Nevertheless, there are also families that hold allegiance to other clans in the village, namely members of the Stonedun and Redbeard clans as well. The village is made up almost entirely of dwarves, except for a very few half-dwarves who have sworn themselves as allies of the Hardaxe clan. In its entirety, the village has a population of about two hundred.
Exports and Imports: The dwarves of Hardaxe support themselves on a diet made up mostly of meat, supplemented by whatever wild fruits and vegetables they can find over the summers and what they can harvest from a few gardens. Most of the work centers around the mines, which are rich in quartzes as well as smaller veins of sapphires and diamonds. Some of these they export in exchange for foodstuffs, clothing, and other goods, but many more they store for the future. The village also supports a few blacksmiths, all of them of the Stonedun clan, who create weapons and tools of dwarven steel.
Opportunities: Hardaxe, while relatively open to itinerant travelers and other dwarves, is not a place for a non-dwarf to spend too much time in. The only way the villagers will accept a non-dwarf who wants to stay for more than a few brightenings among them - or who wants to learn their secrets - is if they swear allegiance to the Hardaxe Laird in a formal ceremony. For dwarves and allies of Hardaxe, opportunities might include access to the stores of wealth the Laird of Hardaxe allegedly has hidden away beneath his house, training in the secrets of dwarven mining and blacksmithing, as well as access to the local Priest of Cetheron, who is said to be able to do fabled and ancient magics long lost to the outside world.
ooc: rough sketch of Hardaxe Village.. full description in the works. Comments are welcome and much appreciated.
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