Velbalt

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* Map

Velbalt is an outpost standing vigil near the borders of the Ashenvale.

## Government

The Presbyter of Velbalt takes the lead on the routine management of the minor settlement, but they find themselves frequently superseded by the Exegete of the Ministry of the Curio, who frequently leads expeditions into the Ashenvale themselves.

## Defence

All those that reside at Velbalt do so out of a primary focus, the prevention of denizens from the Ashenvale spilling from its borders by means of Long Divide or overland through fields and plains.

## Commerce

Conventional trade is largely unheard of at Velbalt, and so the settlement offers little in the way of supplies for those not affiliated with the Academy of Erudition.

## Organisations

The ongoing excursions into the Ashenvale by parties travelling through Velbalt has caught the eye of a few particularly bold smugglers that specialise in the acquisition and sale of artifacts and relics pulled from the area of magical blight. Such trade is banned by the Exegetes, allowing those successful to charge a high price for such illicit and exotic prizes.

## Description

Velbalt once existed as a settlement of Gawylthlan upon its border with Atralran, serving both as an outpost to watch over the transition between the territories, as well as a mining town for the Velbalt Plains, an expanse of salt flats. This mineral-rich salt was harvested and exported, with many scholars believing the region to be formed in the cataclysmic aftermath of a battle during the time after the First Gift, in which the heat associated arrival of Lord of the Eight and Duke of Brimestone Mephistopheles onto the Material Plane vapourised a lake that once existed in its place.

Much of the Velbalt Plains have since been consumed by the Ashenvale, an arcane blight that has lingered since the breaking of the Siege of Iron in 974AG. The Ashenvale has since spurred interest and horror alike, with the settlement of Velbalt serving to respond to both. The Ministries of the Curio and the Preternatural from the nearby Academy of Erudition hold a particular presence within the minor settlement, serving to study the region through remote and more direct methods and expeditions, as well as identifying and categorising items of note recovered by such endeavours. Most objects recovered are quickly sequestered away or sent to the Pentadel of Oxresh, but the interest of many parties across the continent is matters historical, martial or otherwise unusual has spawned a black market for the recovered items, those organisations involved in their acquisition intercepting expedition parties on the verge of emergence from the region, any casualties dealt in such thefts misreported as missing in the Ashenvale by Liturgists and Notaries responsible for their chronicling.

In the mind of many though, Velbalt's main purpose is to watch over the borders of the Ashenvale, acting to move against any and all that stumble from within - a rare occurrence, but a worry for many nonetheless. Of particular concern for the residents of the Timberlands is the Long Divide, for the river passes directly through the Ashenvale on its journey south to the coast near Oxresh. Velbalt's positioning along the banks of the river are deliberate, and the river has been locally dammed to further reduce the likelihood of egress of monstrosities, abominations and anomalous creatures that might otherwise find themselves washed downstream to lands more heavily populated.