Halvenspring - the Party's Hometown

Your character is a resident of Halvenspring – a small village of Mossreach within the Kingdom of the Seven Vales. Halvenspring has a population of around 400 – about 20% children, 20% elderly (50’s and above or equivalent), 60% male, and 70% human. The majority of the residences are on farms or woodland cottages in the surrounding area. Only about 35 homes are in the village proper.

Halvenspring boasts a smithy, an inn, two taverns, a church, and a single general store. Many of the villagers make their living selling hams and sausage, so pig raising is the primary industry of Halvenspring. Those who are not swineherds farm standard subsistence crops or are woodcutters, but in both cases they mainly provide for the village and do not export except to a neighboring village. A small few collect herbs and mushrooms for sale from the woods.

The town proper is nestled just on the northern outskirts of Firnockt Forest, right as it runs up against the West Almeneids and the Broken Hills begin. Though technically not in the Firnockt, large pines, fir, and ash trees tower over the village and most of its farmlands. Running along the edge of the village is Diving Creek a quiet shallow stream that runs with impressive speed before moving underground a mile south in the Firnockt. About three hour’s walk north and slightly east into the Broken Hills is the spring that serves both as the source of the Diving and of the Village’s name.

The buildings are sold two story affairs, where the first floor is stone, and the second floor mostly wood. The roofs are pine shingled and steeply slanted. Most of the buildings in the village, and indeed the surrounding residences, are well over a hundred years old and in some cases even as old as three hundred years. They are passed down from family to family often with multiple generations living in the same home. It is more common for a new farm or wood cottage to be built than a new village structure although it does happen. There are a few abandoned buildings though none in the center of the village.

There are few luxuries but they are not missed. No one in the town is wealthy by any means but no one is homeless or hungry either. Every community has its lay-abouts, and Halvenspring is no exception, but even those known for laziness are willing to put in an honest day’s work (if a short and not terribly productive one).

The community is kept from being stagnant by keeping open ties with two neighboring villages, Templemount, and Halvenstomb. The three villages meet for annual festivals, and young folk are encouraged to look for love out of town, so to speak. Most out of village trade occurs with these two neighbors, and a small isolated economy cycles healthily around. The pork goods and other products intended for export are taken to Carrageen for sale.

Halvenspring is governed by the Grey Circle, an elected group of four men and four women each over the age of 40 (or the equivalent). The Circle adjudicates disputes, sets temporary ordinances, and manages public land and edifices (such as the stone bridge over the Diving or the pave stones in town). Technically the villages are within the Barony of Templemount, but the Baron and his family have a very “don’t-rock-the-boat” ruling style, and have for generations. The Baron does however appoint a Sheriff for each village who works with the Grey Circle and acts as police, protector, and representative. The current Sheriff has been the Sheriff of Halvenspring for forty years and is well loved and respected. His name is Slignigh and is a reserved but friendly half-orc. A separate individual is Jovithe the Tax Collector, a tall lean human whose short beard has long turned to salt inspite of the significant pepper holdout on his head. Jovithe is the sole tax collector for the Baron. He swings through Halvenspring about four times a year. Taxes are only collected annually, but Jovithe is a fair and kind man, and keeps informed on how everyone’s crops and herds are doing so that he can arrange for assistance in making their taxes if need be. He also brings tales of the Kingdom, though it is often little more than weather reports and town gossip, and he is warmly welcomed at least three out of four annual visits.

Beasts occasionally come out of the Firnockt, usually giant boars or ravenous wolf packs, driven to violence by long winters or hot summers. More rarely are raiding parties of red-caps, vicious sadistic creatures known as Tainted Ones among the communities demi-humans. There has not been a raid of red-caps on Halvenspring in your lifetime, though the occasional traveler disappears traveling in the Firnockt and evidence points to the red-caps. The Firnockt also contains bears and other, darker things. Few leave established paths and none venture deep into the Forest for those who do seldom return and come back changed if they do. Because of these threats the villagers of Halvenspring for the most part know their way around simple weapons, and Slignigh is happy to train any who show an aptitude.

While there is a village druid, Onsmythe, most of Halvenspring has converted to the Omnian Church. The Church itself is a converted old watermill which can hold up to three hundred, and is led by the town priest, Father Theodore. Onsmythe and Theodore have an odd friendship and enjoy needling each other on theological grounds. Both have the ability to heal to some degree through prayer, and are quick to help those in need.