Jarren's Well

Jarren's Well (Euluska- Skaronsvela) was a very notable, very rural, down-to-earth small city in the Western Danderillon Salient. 
== History ==
=== Prehistory ===
The area where the modern town lies was well known to the Vreigardt indigenous groups of the Danderillon as Zharenvontu, a fertile plain near the shores of Lake Pilgrim with good hunting grounds. These Old Vreigardts inhabited the general area from about the second millennium before zero onwards. The name they gave the area, Zharenvontu, came from the Anoquit Gildegran tongue. These Anoquit fled their homeland in the eighth millennia before zero, passing through this area and leaving several notable low burial mounds to the town's north in the marshland. It seems most likely that 'Zharenvontu' came from one of the names/inscriptions on the burial mounds, which read Kitcikitcagenvontoq - here sleeps the king of all kings. No records survive of who this Anoquit king was - he was certainly not the only other Anoquit king known to history, Meekadox Ławglas - so it may remain a mystery forever.
=== Imperial Era ===
In the fourth century, the Euluskan Empire began colonising the Danderillon, having founded Felonil in 299 and Datria in 329. The Imperial colonial conquest stretched eastward from Felonil following the Reiros and Reidos east and then the Dvoryac river south. Settlers also came to the Scarossar Overflow lake and followed the main tributary of the Dvoryac northeast, the Juron, coming to a passable ford near a fertile prairie, and founded a small homestead there. This place, first settled in 342 TE and officially recognised as a town of over a thousand by the year 387 TE, was named Jarren's Wellspring. The 'Wellspring' described the local freshwater springs, and the name came from settlers asking the Vreigardts if the place was named (and then transcribing Zharenvontu to Jarren).
Due to the local topography with the hills and thick forests (like Firth), the town's location was chosen to be the point where travellers from Felonil would stop and rest before moving on, hemmed on their course southeastwards by the Western Danderillon Salient corridor. Therefore, it flourished with very regular and numerous traders and travellers passing through on the Great Western Road. Until the advent of the Great Southern Road in the sixth century (a land route that bypassed the Salient entirely by swinging low past the Nethir Upland and rejoined the Great Western Road at Accipiter), Jarren's Well (as its name became now simplified) was an entirely necessary stop for anyone travelling from Felonil to Accipiter and onward. 
The town also became primarily known for its farming industry. It was rich in corn, barley, rye, cows, sheep, leather, and famously whiskey. Administratively, it lay under the ward of Felonil as an outlying supply town (where food was brought from to feed the capital), although in the 1100s when its population hit 10,000, the Empress regnant granted Jarren's Well the Right of Charter, officially making it a 'city'. It received an incorporated government and continued to grow, as did Felonil. It was still a city only 'technically', because Felonil made everything nearby look like a hamlet.
=== Post-Imperial Era ===
In 1514, Felonil declared independence and declared its outlying countryside (Jarren's Well included, on the very cusp) as the free state of Scarossar. It remained this way for quite some time; the Empire collapsed from 1519 onwards, but Jarren's Well remained relatively steadfast, self-sufficient, and independent of its environs. In 1561, Felonil became Halcyon. Jarren's Well was thereafter administratively placed under its rule, but again, was entirely self-sufficient and independent. The people just got on with their lives and didn't bother anyone.
Also, notably, in 1572, the Halcyian expedition to the New World south of Indratera settled and founded a colony town in 'New Halcyon' named after here - they called it Jarren's Reach.
=== God Wars and Collapse Era ===
During the God Wars (1622-1694), Jarren's Well was the site of a few battles. It owed allegiance to Halcyon, who was constituent in the Euluskan League superpower, one of the three axes of the war. Jarren's Well was the site of nasty fighting in the 1632-1635 Veltai Offensive waged by the Vortai-Lakayan Union, pushing north from the Burning Hills. It was occupied during these three years by the Union, until it was liberated by the League again. It remained a stronghold of the Halcyian army thereafter until the 1660s, when, long after the start of the Everlasting Night, it was cut off from Halcyon during the city's Sack by the Vortai-Lakayan Union & Boreal Alliance's pact. The town remained a dwindling stronghold until the war fizzled out due to the extreme cold and darkness of the eternal night and all fighting had began to cease - some of the Jarren forces left to go to Accipiter, and it was left destitute and destroyed.
In the Collapse Era (from 1694, when sunrises came again), the city was more like a town - small, independent, faintly under the lesser reach of Fascist Halcyon, but concerned only with itself and its farming. When, in 252 C, the Winter Revolution occurred, Halcyon declared itself a communist republic. Jarren's Well was left to its own devices, independent, too far away to rule effectively.
== Geography ==
Jarren's Well was located on a fertile banked prairie a few miles north of Lake Pilgrim, a large basin fed by numerous rivers (mainly the Juron), which flowed out toward the Scarossar Overflow that led to the famous Dvoryac River. Across the lake lay Shrike's Roost, a small outlying town which at times through history had supplied Jarren's Well or Felonil with mined metals and timber. Jarren's Well lies at the north end of the Western Danderillon Salient, a flat north-south corridor of plains and prairies, crisscrossed by rivers, and bounded by steep forested hills and the Firth wooded mountains. The area was an ancient glacial valley long ago, which carved out a massive wide area. The city and its surroundings enjoyed hot summers and chilly winters with a mid-intensity rainy season in late summer/early autumn (Köppen Cfa, the same as Northern Italy, Missouri, or mid-Patagonia). The surrounding biome was overwhelmingly hilly prairie - extensive golden grasslands with very infrequent lone great trees. It gave the landscape a very open look. 
== Flora, Fauna, Food ==
The most notable local flora were the great swathes of golden diverse grassland and spatterings of flowers, punctuated by the occasional giant oak tree. Orange trees also grew in numbers near the damper soils. Cultivated flora included dragonstooth chilli plants which grew in the chalky dry soils to the north; crabapple trees, strawberry/blackberry/blueberry pastures, and cabbage fields. And of course, the corn, rye, and barley fields took up most of the local pasture. Notable local fauna included great numbers of wild horses, a huge population of local deer, many Rusty coyotes, and crows. The slow, muddy fringes of the waterways were notably home to catfish and lungfish as well as wading birds like herons. In the skies among the crows, you might rarely see huge roc owls by night, and by day behold the great numbers of amber bees (which made very sweet thick honey) as well as orange, blue, and yellow-and-white butterflies. The latter, specifically the Pilgrim Butterfly, bore the colours copied for the town's flag (forewings gold, hindwings white). 
Produce of Jarren's Well was iconic and delicious. This included large amounts of fruit preserves (like blueberry jam, orange marmalade, blackberry confiture, etc). It als included a huge amount of grain-related products - cornbread, flatbread, and rye bread were all local staples. Jarren Whiskey, distilled from the local barley, became worldwide famous, sometimes flavoured with local honey that also graced the local dishes and its famous malted beers. Grains and granola, furnished with honey and berries, formed a large part of local cuisine. These were supplemented with hunted venison, raised beef, and sometimes the firm oily fish (like the catfish) from the waterways. The numerous local cows also bestowed milks, creams, and cheeses - most notably, Tavjen cheese, a traditional Vistu style hard tangy cheese with lots of air holes.
A typical fine hearty Jarrenian meal might be a thick helping of Stagwheat (a thick mix of cooked ground venison, honey, and granola) with roasted crabapples dripping in beef gravy, thick slices of Tavjen cheese, some cornmeal flatbread on the side, washed down with a malty beer or a little honey whisky for special occasions. Dessert might include cream topped with blackberries and orange rind, or perhaps local honey-biscuits furnished with marmalade. 
== Notable Locations ==
* The Lira's Chosen - the local inn, several stories tall. Once named the Leaky Pot, it was renamed in honour of the mercenaries below
* Lira's Chosen Statues - in the town square on the wide main street stood verdigris copper statues of several famed mercenaries who went forth from the town in 1490 TE
** Those being Father Baddhuk (a cardinal),
** Saint Elias (an Euluskan saint),
** Michael Shoemaker (world-famous luthier),
** Trajan of the Mountain (legendary Wanderling).
* The Rusty Fork - a small, crumbling old public house about a mile north out of town in the cornfields, surrounded by scarecrows. Home to a Baker's (Thieves) guild stronghold in the mid-200s Collapse Era
* The Kirk - the town's main Evasanktaran church of white wood, which stood on the tallest hill with a great spire and stained glass windows.
* Ikyevolra Cemetery - a large extensive graveyard to the town's east nestled in the hills. Home to many of the famous Jarrenian dead. 
== Notable Jarrenians ==
Jarren's Well boasted a nice amount of Saints (three - Evadne, Verehia, and Eleiäs) and an inordinate number of adventurers.
* Saint Evadne the Pagan, a Vistu nomad, dwelt here in the early seventh century and warned the Euluskan Archon (pope) of an attempt on their life, and canonised for it
* Saint Verehia the Sunburnt, a local farmer who in the eighth century was martyred defending the town with farming tools against raiders, and canonised.
* Daisy Meliketh - Sheriff from 1486-1500, sister of the corn farmer Martta Meliketh
* Praelus Goodberry, Wildegard ranger active in the 1480s and later embroiled in the Datrian crisis
* Lucio Castaldo, famed noble and politician who led Datria to rebuild in the 1500s
* Karrus Weyloran - seeker of Xánwyr in the 1490s and 1500s. Their father, despite being named Jarren, was not actually from here.
* Trajan, Baddhuk, Paul Prescott, and Michael Shoemaker - not all Jarrenian locals, but spent most their time before adventuring here in 1490 along with:
* Saint Eleiäs - part of Trajan and Baddhuk's posse, he lived here for some years and was later martyred in the Burning Hills. Local monuments were dedicated to him.
* Dagul Ikyevolra - Lord of Felonil murdered in 1502, and his son Renair Smytt, later moderate politician in independent Felonil
* The Naysayers lived here for a time in 1502, the famously rich mercenaries-
** Fionn McCullen, a pirate
** Velarin Naysayer, a preacher
** Jed Wood, a conman and the later anti-immigrant mayor of Naysayer
** Tolen Gold-Dust, a mage alongside Vittoro Athalanta in 1504 by the Last Crusaders
** Boris Chaffwheat, a halfling guardiaman
* Henri "The Astonishing" Anžir - later a world famous magician and one of the most notable murders of all time - he grew up here in the 1530s
* Mercenaries who witnessed the Razing of Kawrow in 1549-
** Koldaren, Skolas and Brall
* The founding members of the Night Watch were from here or otherwise joined forces here in 1560-
** Morgan Belphane, an Oracle experiment
** Mortimer Campbell, famed soldier and travel writer
** Adrienne 'Vishara' Ophiuchus, double agent of the technofascist shadow cabal The Oracles
** Namfoodle Swindle, a Lanmoppian tinker
** Jane Caramel - a Felonilian journalist
** Francisco Disforza - youngest son of the hero and legendary ruler Machavellio Disforza
* The Angels gang met here in 1596-
** Stephen Hazelhome, a rabbitman
** Guldar, a knight
** Dr. Elisabeth Kane, a medic
** Dominic Alban, a clergyman
* Raina Kanél - Sheriff from 1582 to 1611
=== Collapse Era ===
* Valka Reeves - Sheriff from 243 to 252 C; daughter of the oil baron Lucrezzia Reeves
* Silvia d'Abavël - Sheriff from 252 C, previously a captain of the Wildegard riders
* The Di'Romila noble family of vampires
* Beren Bythwell - in the 240s and 250s C, once a petty thief turned Accipiter guard turned mercenary
* Lavina Vitandyž - active in the 240s too, a mage and local drifter
* Fat Ernie, a local boxer
* Sfina di'Skaronsvela - a Marshal of the Communist Army of Halcyon in the 250s C
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