Crater Agricultural Township

Located on the continent's coast, within the crater left when New Gork ascended into the skies, the Crater Agricultural Township is a small settlement focused on cultivating the continent's flora for agricultural purposes.

With access to New Gork's former docks and wyvern stables, the township has become a waypoint for travel between archipelagic and continental settlements.

## History

### Founding

When Kanara sank beneath the sea in the 2370s, between seasons 5 and 6, they lost a good portion of their farmland as the Palisade, the arcane barrier protecting the city and surrounding lands from the sea, wasn't large enough to cover everything. Beyond this, very little natural light filtered through to the city at its new depth. A food shortage was imminent.

While others worked to find new ways to provide light to the remaining farmland, Smoke, a Moonblossom Academy dropout, decided to look for an alternative solution in the wild magic of the continent.

Smoke recruited a motley collection of naturalists, scientists, and gardeners to help him establish the initial outpost, receiving support from the Adventurers' Guild to secure the area and construct the encampment. Since then, the township has worked to combine the incredible properties of the continent's flora with the stability and safety of more mundane crops.

### Success and Growth

Although a number of CAT's early experiments escaped, including the infamous dragonfruit, and wreaked varying levels of havoc on the township and surrounding areas, they were quickly neutralized and contained by adventurers, and CAT began to see commercial success in New Gork and Kanara with plants such as their "bloodberries" becoming popular particularly among the adventurers who helped them.

While the full effect of their research on the food shortage in Kanara remained unclear at such early stages, CAT's efforts in creating hardier strains of plants that produced especially nourishing fruit began paying off as the township grew like the weeds it so painstakingly rooted out of its greenhouses. With these signs of success, the promise of relative safety in proximity to the continent's wild magic, and a distinct lack of regulation as compared to research facilities in places like Kairos, the population exploded. Entrepreneurs, aspiring researchers, botanists, and more than a few curious scholars flocked to the township.

Thanks to the multitude of resident druids, construction of new living spaces and greenhouses was relatively simple. As the population swelled to nearly 300 by early 2381, midway through season 6, two much larger greenhouses were built next to the original three. The borders of the township, mainly the arcane fences that keep out the hostilities of the jungle, were expanded appropriately. Seeing the burgeoning scientific and mercantile potential, the larger city-states of the archipelago began sending emissaries, middling dignitaries who brought gifts and flattery and trade offers of various kinds. Soon enough, there was even talk of a government, something beyond Smoke's informal, though unquestioned, leadership.

### Stability

Following months of experimentation, the greenhouses of CAT were finally graced by a breakthrough: goodberry bushes - mischievous and mobile and finicky as they are - began their blooms in truth. As their cultivators managed to glean the process down to a formalized system, the fledgling government began to not only introduce the new crop to their burgeoning population, remediating their food insecurity problem but also began to establish themselves as exporters of the food, first to Kanara but certainly to the rest of the archipelago in time. This secured the settlement’s takeoff into flight as a small town, now definitively settled within the continent.

Without the threat of a diminishing food supply, the town expanded exponentially. Among the expansions were dormitories, greenhouses, civic buildings, and other public works expansions. Most development has been at least partially funded by external sources in the Archipelago, but if there are ulterior motives at play in doing so they are not clear in their intention. Among the new facilities is a warmly-lit orphanage dubbed the Starlight House, founded by Neptune Seabreak, one of the deputies of the township. There, children who have lost their guardians are given shelter, food, and education. The presence of multiple generations is encouraging for the town's future as a place that will remain beyond one lifetime. With each of these expansions, the population boomed, reaching 600 residents by the summer of 2381.

Other figures remain of importance to the town. The dragonfruit, Varendon Treespeaker, became an unofficial guardian of the town, and the elderberry visits infrequently to speak on behalf of nature’s interests and the more amiable of continental creatures. Of course, with the proximity to the jungle, threats remain. But with the help of a few visits from the Adventurers’ Guild every few weeks and the collaboration of the council, CAT enjoys its peacetime well.

## Layout

The Crater Agricultural Township is made up of a magically enhanced wall surrounding a bunkhouse, an administrative building, a cafeteria and several research greenhouses. Unlike the rest of the settlement, which is made of wood and stone, the greenhouses are primarily made of thick, sturdy glass. The township has also reclaimed use of New Gork's former wyvern stables, though they fall outside the township's walls, and it's suggested riders spend the night within the township rather than with the wyverns, despite the stables having been constructed to house humanoids as well.

## Demographics

By 2380, the start of season 6, the township consisted of approximately 50 adults with varying roles in the management of the facility, research, and keeping the residents safe from the wild magic both inside and outside the walls. Tabaxi made up the majority of the population, with humans as the next most common, and a handful of other races represented in minority.

Within a few months, the population reached 300, and as the township's efforts grow more commercially successful, the population is expected to continue growing.

### Arcane Capabilities

While magical abilities are not mandatory for employment in the township, the vast majority of members have at least some knowledge of and skill with magic. Due to the focus of their research, most of this magic is nature-based, with druidic spells or education being the norm. This has proved useful in directing the wild magic and preventing external continent threats from endangering the township.

## Government

The township's founder, Smoke Over Ruins of Poorly Planned City, was the initial de facto mayor, arbitrator, administrator, and treasurer for the entirety of the township. As the population burgeoned into the low hundreds, there began to be talk of formalizing the governing structures.

Following the town's population growth, a need for a more formalized government became apparent. Smoke continued as the formal leader while retaining Julius and Neptune as deputies. Below them, the hierarchy is less clear, but nonetheless, a council is formed to manage the various interests of the township. Composed of the chief guard, six senior researchers, a representative from the Adventurers' Guild, and emissaries from other major cities - although these spots are not always filled. Together, they serve to keep each other informed and squabble over how things should be done in the future. The quartermaster of the township serves as head of the council as the most financially-minded member, particularly important with the rapid establishment of CAT on the trade maps. The senior researchers oversee the remaining researchers and administrators under their interests, in a better-documented, albeit intrinsically-chaotic way that seems to fit the rest of the town.

## Emergencies and the Adventurers' Guild

While most of the township's experimental crops are grown without serious incident, the highly volatile nature of wild magic makes it inevitable that something will go seriously wrong. The township keeps in regular contact with the New Gork Adventurers' Guild to ensure the safety of its staff and the preservation of its research.

The first problem severe enough to hire an adventuring party involved an overuse of wild magic in an attempt to replicate the *Goodberry* spell, resulting in many of the plants in Greenhouse Three becoming animate and hostile. Removing the wild magic focus and defeating the plants around it was necessary to regain control of the greenhouse. Security was tightened after that event, but experimentation continues as of this writing.

Other incidents include the escape of the dragonfruit and the near-loss of one of the head researchers to a vampiric orange tree. The dragonfruit, who has since named himself Varendon, continues living near CAT and is friendly to the township now that he's been granted further freedoms and is treated as a citizen, rather than an experiment. The tree, though it appeared to have limited sentience, was thoroughly antagonistic and was ultimately destroyed.

## Faction

*Main article: Crater Agricultural Township (Faction)*

The researchers of CAT eagerly welcome into their ranks anyone with an interest in aiding their research, whether that's through new ideas and experiments or protection for (and sometimes *from*) those experiments.