North-the-Lake

Government

A Lughlinn Mór oversees the 3 noble houses of Lughlinn. Those in turn enforce the law in the surrounding area.

Demographics

The caern-rath of North-the-Lake covers an area of approximately 30 acres, with a total population of 1,800 people. The town has 8 Lighlinn houses and 1 Lughlinn Mór house. The peace is kept by 11 guards conscripted from nearby caern-hearths, and another 33 on standby.

Few folk have reason to stop here, unless they're coming to or from Lwyg-Rath, but considering the ominous pall that hangs over the caern-rath many simply choose to avoid it. Those who make their home here are hardy and quiet people, mostly humans with the occasional Fwoarians and fey-lineages.

Industry & Trade

The industry of North-the-Lake stems from a collection of farming communities and logging camps that feed directly into the Market Road district. Trade comes to North-the-Lake along the Righ Bothair road connecting it to Lwyg-Rath, the High Way Road tracking across northern Tailté na Bearú and the Murmurers' Road south to Dòchas Ùr and the Edgewold Road beyond that. Many are surprised to find so much travel passes through North-the-Lake. Rarely do people stay, though the forest and its occupants have grown less dour in recent times thanks to the Pale Serpent pact.

Districts

North-the-Lake is approximately 10 square acres.

The only things resembling districts within this caern-rath are the caern proper and its rath; Loch an Chaisleám (Lake Castle), the White Hollow and Willowbranch Farms, and the Market Road leading southward where all of the tradesman gather their hovels.

Infrastructure

Decent walls defend the town from some dangers and the farms tightly packed beneath the bent and aged trees sport some windmills, but nothing about North-the-Lake cries innovative or artistic. A pragmatic, if peaceful, place.

The fishing villages are pitiful, at best, with two or three small carachs a piece. These towns typically have four families and are so small they're not even named. The amount of fish they actually bring in and deliver to North-the-Lake is minimal but it does afford the nobility there a change from tuber and fowl. The villages are at most three days journey west from the caern-rath.

Most buildings are made of wood. The Keep and surrounding houses are a mixture of stone, wood and plaster.

Places of Interest

Halla na Laochra & Heroholm - A short travel east along the High Way Road is a caern-hearth known as Heroholm which is the residence of Halla na Laochra, the halls of the famous adventurers known as the Fianna Mór. This place remains a prestigious location for would-be adventurers seeking to join the esteemed ranks of the legendary heroes of the inisa. The hall itself sports dormitories, stables, a medical ward and apothecary wing. A large statue in the main hall is dedicated to Kiora of the Wilds, Ithil’las the Wanderer and Tana the Champion. A bath house of some notoriety is attached to the structure and dedicated to Ayen the Íseal Righ. It also sports a fancy vineyard.

Geography

The forests that surround the lake are gnarled, leafless with immense and treacherous roots that pile along the forest floor. The Ardenroots Mountains rise menacingly some few miles to the northeast and appear as some looming monsters above the town. This close to the mountain its almost always dark, and so the sleepy caern-rath of North-the-Lake keeps torches burning along the main fairway and along its low walls. To the east there are rolling hills for miles, and its in these tracks of land that hunters seek beasts for their pelts. In the west old burial mounds and fishing villages dot the coast all the way to the edge of the Horselands.

Locals gather wood from the forest and stone from the Ardenroots to the north, albeit infrequently. Deer, wolf and various other kinds of skins are brought in from the wildlife. There is also a surplus of ground-tubers and Night-Hens.

History

North of the White Woman's Lake in the northwest of the Coillte Ciúin, the Silent Forest. It's said that in the early years of the Age of Summer this caern-rath was built in conjunction with the White Lady of the Lake. As such, they typically do not have many issues with the fey in the surrounding countryside. This means they have larger farms and better pelt-trades which they use to bribe campaigning armies into looking the other way on the fishing villages they control along the northwest shore.

The fishing villages sprang up much later during the War of Spears when the caern-hearths between North-the-Lake and Lwyg-Rath came under constant contest of two warring states. Many were forced to flee their homes southward and made shanty towns along the coast where the plied the waves for fish and squid.

During the War of Spears, however, Lwyg-Rath eventually manage to force North-the-Lake to capitulate and bend the knee. However, it was regarded as a very clever ploy by historians. When their enemy tried to use their Loch to launch a fleet of boats, the inhabiting fey sabotaged them, sinking and killing many soldiers and municipals. Eventually, North-the-Lake was forced to build yet another fishing village for their lords in Lwyg-Rath, but held much of their number, which they'd quickly bolstered by cajoling the surround caern-hearths and fishing towns, in reserve.

After Lwyg-Rath launched its brand new fleet, North-the-Lake struck and laid siege to their foe's caern-rath. While the siege did not last long, nor did it gain them much, it caused the carachs to return and is a hallmark of the tactics that North-the-Lake would employ over and over for the next two hundred years until the War of Spears finally died down.

The next great war, against foreign invaders, did not see North-the-Lake fair much better. When the Fomorii sacked the city it was left abandoned. Yet, the defacto lughlinn mór Maureen swore to avenge her caern-rath. It changed hands over the following year as the forces of the Queen of Night and Hunger overtook the city. However, the Lady of the Loch took exception to this and then routed those forces as well. When Maureen returned, she found North-the-Lake abandoned. Since then, North-the-Lake has struck hard against the world and grown larger and more steady than when it was razed. While it is still relatively small, new industry and trade has been a boon to the quiet and reserved residents of the little caern-rath with the proximity of the new national capitol.

In RE, 2809 AoA, the Ard Righ of the time brokered what has become known as the Pale Serpent pact. Essentially, the peoples living in An Coillte Ciúin cannot overly tax the land and any expansions or new settlements must first receive the blessings of the White Lady. In return, the White Lady keeps the forest's more bizarre denizens from preying on mortal-kin.

While the realms around Loch Bán are safer, with people moving and growing between the new caern-hearths constructed along the coast following the destruction of many in the Year of Invasions, they are no less eerie. The forest, while serene, can still be dark and distressingly quiet. Many claim to still feel watched as they not only travel, but merely live, under the boughs of the Silent-Weald. Perhaps, agents of the White Lady still stalk the lanes and hedgerows, ensuring the mortals keep their word.

Heraldry

Halved in fields of blue, for the Roiling Sea, and black for Loch Bán. The single tower represents the caern-rath itself, with its ivory coloration rumored to pay homage to the Lady of Swans.