1419

## **North Point begins construction on town walls**

The support town sprung up north of the keep, toward the natural deep-water harbor. By **1419** **DR**, they started construction on town walls and defensible infrastructure, including septic and storm sewers, protected fresh-water wells and large cisterns.

It took another six years to finish the high city walls, digging the sewers, and paving the streets inside and out. Everything was taken into consideration to make NPK as self-sufficient as possible, though this wasn’t to cut ties with trade neighbors but rather to build a local economy and bring more trade in.

Even details as small as what happened to the sewage were examined. This was one example of the partnership Stonehearth built, in this case with would-be druidic farmers (having issues due to the Era of Upheaval), who otherwise treated and recycled the waste as fertilizer for the nearby lowlands agriculture.

The town walls were more for local confidence and a last-ditch defense. The Stonehearth Arms were already proactive, with regular – and irregular – rotating patrols and an active defense, riding out to meet threats while they were still in transit.

This was an important point: there were over 3,000 in the North Point area alone, and another 15,000 scattered through the Stonehearth highlands – the peninsular area directly claimed as Marquisate territory. The majority were ex-refugees from the 1385 Spellplague cataclysm who’d fled (or migrated) to Baldur’s Gate after Stonehearth’s invitation.

Now ten years after breaking ground, it was a well-known maritime waypoint for Baldur’s Gate-Waterdeep traffic. Despite suffering three attacks in the last decade alone, the port itself (under the watch of Stonehearth cannons and marines) was deemed safe. So safe, and becoming so traveled, that North Point itself was becoming a center for both import and export.

The greatest promotion was the testimony of the locals: despite the attacks, it was home and they couldn’t wait to get back. Seeing that kind of allegiance was rare in this day and age.

## **Mageweave Digs In**

As Stonehearth built walls around the city of North Point, the Mageweave Barony expanded into the hillside. Having a bunker complex just in from the cliff plateau was an absolute necessity, but they were expanding so fast that they they needed much more than just a fortress. They demolished the bunker and dug *Big*, going into the basalt walls to expand the town itself.

This was a carefully-designed series of levels and connections, with major groups of chambers and areas that would become spacious, subterranean living. This urban complex was centered around one major open-air area that became a meeting spot known as *The Grand Mall*.

This communal space was sculpted with a vaulted ceiling that was enchanted to put on a show 24-hours a day. Every hour, on the hour, for a minute, it would show the sky directly above the highlands. At night, even the dim stars were clearly visible on the ceiling. For the rest of the time, the pictures were calm, tasteful, pastoral and ever-moving. Guest artists were commissioned to create animations, and these moving frescoes would cycle.

By 1420, the success of the Grand Mall was so overwhelming that Mageweave dug a deeper complex called *The Exposition*. This was a demonstration area that was more suited to receive the tourists that the Grand Mall had started to attract. The Exposition became a kind of permanent World's Fair, an exhibition designed to showcase achievements of House Stonehearth, the SMC, the College of Stonehearth and all the associated Houses and special contractors.

The "Expo" instantly became *the place* for product introductions, announcements, unveilings and so on, especially for contractors. While temporary displays would come and go, the collective baronettes of the Mageweave Barony made a few permanent attractions, not the least of which could be ridden. So began what was essentially Faerûn's first permanent theme park.

## **The evolving Stonehearth relationship with *The Gate***

Now a decade since the official departure of the House, the Stonehearth political presence in Baldur’s Gate had actually increased. House Stonehearth was still a local patriar, and their gold was still enriching the city coffers, but there wasn’t the sovereignty pressure in the city. Because of that, the alliance between Stonehearth and the Baldur’s Gate aristocracy had grown.

There was a minor dip in the city tax collected from Stonehearth simply because there was now so much traffic going to North Point – but the SMC was still far and away the largest contributor in Baldur’s Gate. Where there was SMC coin, there was SMC power.

Similar to how it was before, Stonehearth patriars were on the City Council, the shadow “duke” keeping the main four honest.

There had now been three attacks against the Stonehearth jurisdiction, yet every attack left the area stronger than it was before. The legitimacy of Stonehearth was never in doubt, but seeing it proven under fire brought authority and credibility to House. These factors pushed Stonehearth into a new light among the local patriars.

From Baldur’s Gate, it was roughly 185 miles as the crow flies to Trollclaw Ford. It was about 160 miles from North Point, and considerably less when measured from the official eastern border of the marquisate. This led to questions of whether Stonehearth would claim the Ford.

That had been attempted before, including forces from Baldur’s Gate, but it had never held. If Stonehearth did hold it, would they charge a toll? That would be expected, but would increased security increase traffic to make up for that charge?

There were older questions, too – and those weren’t going away. The military power (if not the size) of Stonehearth easily outmatched the Flaming Fist… and the Stonehearth size was growing. All of that growth, however, was in North Point (and aimed squarely at Trolls). There was still a significant Stonehearth Arms presence in Baldur’s Gate simply because the presence of the SMC, but it was roughly half of what it had been before.

What would it look like if Stonehearth “turned against” Baldur’s Gate? The simple answer: *they wouldn’t*. Too much business at stake. But might they return to lay claim to the city? That was never even intimated, yet the patriars knew it was entirely possible. At that point, it was far more likely that Stonehearth would annex the city – and annex the Flaming Fist rather than fighting them. For their part, the Fist said they would fight if they had to, but didn’t want to test their defenses against Stonehearth cannons. Nobody wins there…

It was no secret that certain forces wanted Stonehearth to fail, if only to be able to pick up the pieces (or at least bring them under control). Those intrigues, from Baldur’s Gate and everywhere else, found their way to North Point, the Gate, and everywhere else House banner flew.