101 Villages

Mining Communities

A Mining community, as the name implies, has grown around the output of a mine and it's product. most small mining communities will be young in terms of settlement. Once a mine plays out, most such communities are forced to either diversify their economy, or fold up as the miners move on to the next load or ore. Those mining communities that do survive the end of the mines tend to grow into townships and cities due to location and trade routes already established.

1. Khelerz

Population: 750

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Insular

Khelerz has seen alot of violence and bloodshed, the mines originally belonged to a tribe of hobgoblins who were slaughtered by a band of orcs. The orcs in turn were hunted down and destroyed by the King's Army, and their camp and forges were claimed by the humans. Since then Khelerz has traded hands six times through warfare. The smithies of the mining village have become adept at repairing armor and bladesmiths and weapon makers are almost as common as blacksmiths. The current population of the village are tired on constant fighting between noble factions and are slowly warming to the idea of independence.

2. Shujarja

Population: 580

Leadership: Praetorian

Attitude: Wary

Shujarja is an often overlooked village on the edge of a noble's domain and unclaimed wastelands, but the village seldom ever sends for aid and is fairly remote. The Domina of Shujarja has made her position permanent by placing strongmen in the posts of importance in the village. Outsiders are welcome, so long as they spend money and dont ask too many questions about how things are run. The villagers have found things run fairly well, things get done in a prompt fashion, and though taxes are a bit high in their opinion, better high taxes being spent to arm the militia to fend off orcs and goblins than to the Duke to buy another set of gold wine goblets.

3. Yemkeni

Population: 681

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Open

There are two things to be found in Yemkeni, grapes and gold. The Little Yemken river has a sizeable amount of gold laden in it's bed, but the amount present hasnt been enough to draw a serious mining guild or noble house. There are few poor in the village, and even the most common of the farmers has good quality clothing and the tools they need. The only thing is that the village has been having problems with goblins and bandits stealing from the gold panners and are looking to hire some adventurers-upon-return to weed out the threat.

4. Chojel

Population: 486

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Open

Chojel is slowly being torn in half, and only a handful of people know it. The patron noble has been pressed by the clergy for some time now to grant them a proper domain to build their next church, ideally in Chojel to launch a new campaign of sermonizing, conversions, and fundraising. One the other hand, the Merchants and Usurers Guild have also placed their eyes on Chojel and want to establish a chapterhouse in the village as the mine's output of gold starts to really grow. It is unfortunate that the guild and the church remain antagonistic towards each other.

5. Shumkus

Population: 368

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Open

Nominally an iron ore mine, Shumkus serves as a hunting retreat for it's patron noble. The hills and mountains around the village are thick with tawny great cats (lions) that offer great sport hunting, but are also a danger to solitary travelers and livestock. The corrals and pens in the area are thick and tall and most houses also have a barrier or spiny bushes to deter the great cats from lurking close to the houses around dawn and dusk. The great cat is commonly found on the devices of the local minor nobility and the village's singular tavern.

6. Chithaja

Population: 402

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Closed

The population of this village was previously nearly 800, but in the last six months villagers have been perishing by the scores. Almost all of the deaths have been in fights, duels, murders and other acts of violence and barbarism. The village council decided to close the village to outsiders until the cause of the killing is found. The truth is that many of the villagers are being possessed by ghosts and are being driven to acts of evil because of the malice of the undead. The first killed were the village priests and their acolytes, and only the actions of an ordained priest and exorcist can save the village before it becomes a true ghost town.

7. Yim-Kakra

Population: 394

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Insular

Yim-Kakra has always been considered a bit of a morbid village, with the local custom of preserving the corpses of the dead with special wrappings and baths of herbs and such. Adherents of the old Via Mortuus faith, the Yim-Kakrans keep very much to themselves and it is only the irregular oremongers who keep the village connected to the outside world. The mines produce onyx and basalt for construction, most notable being the three funeral towers in the center of the village, and the low black stone wall that encircles the better part of the village.

8. Bejesh

Population: 598

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Insular

Bejesh was once a friendly and open village that principally produced iron ore for the local lord. While the mines are still working, the friendliness has long since evaporated. The village has withstood three seperate sieges, the first from a thieve's guild that desired to make the town into a retreat and training ground. The second came from a band of brigands who were intent on a little bit of pillaging. The most recent siege came in the form of a mining guild that wanted to replace the village council as the beneficiary of the mine's output. The locals have since become hardened and bitter from constantly fighting to protect themselves from outsiders and no longer are welcoming to newcomers.

9. Kolmar

Population: 485

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Open

Self-claimed as the highest village in the world, Kolmar sits high in the mountains, almost above the treeline. Wood is scarce, and most food comes from imported grain and indigenous mountain goats. The Kolmarian mines are valuable for the precious and semi-precious gemstones, mostly sapphires and rubies, that they produce. While friendly as a village, the penalties for theft and claim-jumping is high, ranging from amputation of the offending hand to hanging in the public square.

10. Fotrosi

Population: 415

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Insular

Things are tense in the village of Fotrosi, and already more than 100 villagers have packed up their belongings and left for better prospects. The Fotrosian lead mine is still producing good lead ore for the glassworks and lead workers, but the Patron Noble of the village visited, acting strangely, and left in the middle of the night. The village coffers, filled once a year for taxes have been emptied and the tax collectors will be along soon. The common opinion is that they have been robbed by their own lord and they will have to come up with their yearly village tax a second time. The elders want to know what is going on, and where their lord and leader has escaped to.

Farming Communities

It is easy to forget in our modern era how much labor is saved by the use of mechanization and machines. No such machines exist in a standard fantasy setting, and many communities exist for the sole purpose of providing surplus food to townships and cities that have limited or marginal farming ability of their own. Farming communities also often produce animal derived goods such as leather, and finished goods such as beer, cheese, and the like for sale.

11. Senys

Population: 337

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

This small village is unique in aspect as well as leadership. While it is a fairly normal wheat growing community with some light ranching, it is different in that every year a new mayor is chosen by the Lady of the Leaf, a local agriculture spirit that blesses the village and it's fields every year. The Mayor serves as the 'Husband' of the Lady of the Leaf and is not only expected to perform spousal duties, but is also the emissary of the spirit. The Lady of the Leaf refused to allow herself to idolated as a goddess, though she can be petitioned to do things on the behalf of the local populace. Her favorite blessing? Blessing the beer comes second only to blessings for fruitful marriages.

12. Fenelthyn

Population: 308

Leadership: Other

Attitude: Closed

Fenelthyn doesnt appear on any maps, and it wont as long as it's founder has anything to do with it. The center of the village is dominated by a massive plant with man sized leaves and long stalks of hanging bell shaped flowers. The plant is a sentient demon that has brainwashed the village by means of it's hallucinogenic and euphoric pollen. The villagers are painfully thin and half mad from constantly tending to the main plant as well as tending to hundreds of new cuttings. Newcomers who arent affected by the pollen (20% random chance of immunity) are captured by the villagers and are sacrificed to water the roots of the demon plant.

13. Estiyrg

Population: 446

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Wary

The Grange Guild has run Estiyrg for generations, carefully rotating crops and ensuring that the soil remains fertile. Fields are usually thick with winter wheat, legumes, and other staple crops. For the last year the fields have been parched of rain, even though most of the rest of the countryside has gotten plenty. The Guild, tired of paying tithes to the local shrine and its hoary old priestess decided to off the old bat with a few thugs. A trio of local air spirits have since driven off all of the rain until they are placated with suitable offerings. The Guild has no idea what to do and currently suspect that their ill-tidings are the work of local druids who they incorrectly think supported the old priestess.

14. Ithus

Population: 386

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Wary

Ithus grows wheat, and the Abbey at Ithus is locally known for the ale it brews from the excess grain. Most of the farmers in the area have been haunted by an apparition of a man wearing a dark robe and carrying a scythe and a lantern. The abbot has called the apparition a hoax, and he is completely correct since he is the apparition. Since he started haunting the less than pious farmers, they have been more attentive at mass and those who ask his blessings and offer proper tithe find the apparition leaves them alone.

15. Nenzon

Population: 496

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Open

The center of Nenzon is dominated by a stone shrine that is more than 1200 years old. The Nenzon Gate is a focal point for local spirituality, serving as a church, an emergency shelter, and in rare instances, a fortress. The structure has seen better days, but the methods of it's construction have since fallen, and weakening members can only be braced with newly raised columns of stone or more commonly wood timbers. The farmland around the Shrine is a mixture of orchard groves and barley fields.

16. Ovastte

Population: 460

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Wary

The Guild of the Eight Spoked Wheel runs Ovastte with a rather stern hand. Nominally a guild devoted to turning flax into linen cloth, it has since grown to encompass most of the activities of the village. The heads of the guild, three elder weaver-women have demonstrated minor oracular ability, stating when a person will die with uncanny accuracy. This power comes from the fact that the guild possesses a spinning wheel that is possessed by a shinigami, or a spirit of death. It has the power to state how long a person will live before their death as ordained in the skein of time.

17. Tinthale

Population: 738

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

Tinthale is known for two things, goats and musicians. The village raises a healthy alfalfa crop as well as herds of buff colored goats that are used to produce Tinthaler, a soft and buttery cheese. Far from any borders or conflict, it is a peaceful village with a large green commons, almost nothing in the way of defences. The Mayor of Tinthale has traditionally been elected from bardic tradition by means of a story-telling contest every third year.

18. Cenast

Population: 596

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

Cenast is known for two things, twins, as the local joke goes. It is rare for a Cenast woman to give birth to anything but twins, and this phenomenon extends for roughly two leagues in all directions around the village. Sharing, solidarity, and family are strong themes in Cenast, though it is not uncommon for a usual family to consist of two women and two men, as another expression holds that marrying one twin is to marry the other. Otherwise Cenast is an ordinary village the grows a mix of grains.

19. Loren

Population: 611

Leadership: Other

Attitude: Open

The Lady of the Mere, many name her simply Loren, rules the village that shares her name. This potent green-skinned hag runs an efficient river-stop village that makes a heady profit trading goods to river ships that pass up and down the river. While considered an eyeblight, Loren is a canny creature with a merchant's guile and a money-lender's wit. The village of Loren has not been late on it's taxes in over a decade, the population has grown, and the village militia has defended itself without calling on the crown for assistance in three seperate instances. The local ruler considers the village, hag aside, to be a model of efficiency.

20. Pithlyn

Population: 566

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

Pithlyn was built on the edge of a mineral spring and the locals have exceptionally good health. This good health has lead to increased vim and vigor among both the men and women, there are consequently very few single women of age and most couples have seven to ten children.

Fishing Communities

The sea can provide well for those who know how to coax her treasures from her. The most common fishing village has a small flotilla of fishing ships but is hampered in some way from becoming a major port, usually poor location, a lack of harborage, or difficult to navigate waters. Aside from the maritime tradition, most fishing communities function like Farming Communities.

21. Ellalith

Population: 410

Leadership: Noble

Attitude: Open

The Village of Ellalith, sitting on a gravel strewn coast is home to pearl divers and a small fleet of Skipjacks, small dredging boats that haul in baskets of oceanic mollusks and shellfish. The noble of the region (likely a baron or count) makes his permanent home in Ellalith and when not adjucating disputes and tending to matters of the court is commonly found on his own ship working the dredges or supping on wine and fish-rolls.

22. Alira

Population: 590

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Open

Located on an island sitting at a confluence of two rivers, Alira has only a limited amount of open space. Unlike most villages it doesnt have a common green, though it does have a small general market. The patron lord of the village has funded the construction of an inn and tavern on the island as well as two piers to offer service to ships passing along both rivers. The village gets plenty of business since the sides of the river are often stalked by bandits and brigands. Alira has a single wooden tower and several trained longbowmen who have long since taught the thugs to keep out of bowshot.

23. Laenulaia

Population: 437

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

The village of Laenulaia began as a toll station on the Laenul River, having little more than an armory, a pier, and a tavern with a single room. Now under the aegis of the River-Captain's Chapter of the Merchant's Guild, Laenulaia has a proper inn and tavern, a larger peir and a growing sense of prosperity. The King and Cup is a regular stop for traveling bards, while the inn has gained a bit of local fame for their excellently prepared river-crab dishes. The standing director of Laenulaia is often an up-and-coming guildsman who is being groomed to either join the greater Merchant's guild or earmarked to become a guildmaster of the River-Captains.

24. Harerin

Population: 515

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Wary

Several weeks ago, this quaint seaside village was rocked by shock and scandal, two youths of the same gender pledged their love for one another. This lead to an outbreak of violence and vandalism between their families and culminated in the two youths taking their own lives, one with a cup of black oleander tea, the other with an arrow thrust through the neck, suicide. Things are calm at the moment, but the families are still simmering, blaming the other, and in a moment things could go from simmering anger to drawn weapons in a heartbeat.

25. Calavel

Population: 790

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

During the day, Calavel is a sleepy fishing village, but things change at night. The waters around Calavel are rich with fish that are only active at night. Once the sun sets, the boats set out with their lights dim and nets ready to snare the nocturnal fish that flourish in the dark waters. Aside from most of the locals sleeping well into the afternoon, and working into the darkling hours of the morning, it is a normal village.

26. Kalsish-Dur

Population: 368

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Wary

Most of Kalsish-Dur is dug into the side of a sea cliff, with long stairways cut into natural crevasses leading to the actual homes among the stone. It is a naturally defensible position that has only been compromised by it's lack of harborage for larger ships. The village mayor and it's tiny continegent of militia are on edge since the shaman of the village has declared that doomwill be heralded by newcomers who arrive unannounced. This is a bogus vision as the shaman has actually accrued some debts out of the village and will use the warning he recieves to escape.

27. Tulia

Population: 479

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Closed

The Patron Noble of Tulia was robbed during her current visit to the village, and she is absolutely furious. The item stolen (insert mcguffin) is of great personal value to her and she will not stop of anything to have it returned. Since being stolen two nights ago, the Lady of Tulia has had the roads closed, and her guards patrol the borders of the village, with a heavily enforced curfew. this will continue, along with increasing taxes, interrogations dropping into torture, and the like until the mcguffin is returned. The daughter of the Lady of Tula actually 'borrowed' the item and is looking for some patsies to take the fall for her, rather than turning the item back over to her mother.

28. Malren

Population: 586

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Wary

As far as coastal communities go, Malren is post card perfect, with dramatic stone bluffs, small sandy beaches, and a quaint village of pale white wood and dark thatch. The patron noble is currently in the village inspecting damage done to the pier and to the official buildings. It is obvious that the locals are upset and some of the buildings show fire damage. Malren has recently suffered a second raid from goblin pirates and the militia is on full alert. Shortly after the PCs arrive, the 3rd goblin raid is launched.

29. Dahuur

Population: 563

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

Dahuur has a ghost ship, and they are proud of it. Nearly a century ago, the three masted Dahuur Kiss was lost as she sailed home from a bitter and bloody sea battle. Damaged as she was, the ship foundered and broke on the rocks within sight of her home. The ship and her crew of 150 were lost to the sea, but on the anniversary of her loss, the ship appears on the horizon and repeats her last trip, ending on the rocks where she sinks beneath the waves. The locals hold a festival on that night, lifting giant balls of pitch on long poles along the coast. These giant torches are lit at sundown and the local tradition holds that who ever lifted the torch that goes out last is blessed for the next year.

30. Walelishul

Population: 650

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

A growing village, Walelishul is in the process of celebrating both a local festival to honor their patron goddess of the catch, but also their annual wedding tradition. In Walelishul, all couples to be wed are wed at the Festival of the Catch and each couple asks the blessing of the goddess. Wine is overflowing from the cups, and great feasts of cold water fish and other oceanic delicacies are served.

Forest and Lumber Communities

Wood, like stone, is a valuable commodity. Aside from the basic building material, lumber is needed to feed blacksmith's forges, baker's ovens, and for the production of wagons, furniture, and the multitude of wood's other uses. Like mining communities, lumber communities tend to be young as after a certain amount of time, clearcutting and the slow growth of trees depletes the forests near the village mill. The old village can either fold up and relocate closer to the forest, or convert from lumber to agriculture.

31. Oofoel

Population: 472

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Wary

Oofoel sits on the edge of a wide grassy plain and the bawn of a great forest, sponsored by a patron noble in need of ample supplies of lumber for his greater plans of war and conquest. The lumber harvested finds it way to the noble's castle where is is contructed into mobile ballistae, catapults, and his engineers are trying to contruct a trebuchet but thus far have failed. Knowing the source of the lumber, the lord's rival has sent troops to sabotage Oofoel's lumber mill more than once, with the last attempt causing a medium sized fire that almost overtook the village.

32. Hultod

Population: 577

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Wary

Hultod is on armed guard as a number of head of livestock have been poached and two gangs of woodcutters have gone missing. A few locals claim foul play, or rivals poaching their game and lumber claims. The woods near hultod have recently been claimed by a young and relatively weak green-scaled dragon. The Dragon could be overcome by a well armed and organized party of heroes, but against unorganized mobs of lumberjacks and weekend militiamen the dragon is unstoppable.

33. Unbeac

Population: 358

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Closed

The forest around Unbeac is dense and shows little sign of activity, though the road itself has been blocked by a number of large fallen trees. The last tax collector and his retinue were executed by the village and since the act, the village has effectively closed, barricading the roads and turning the mill into the base of operations. Roughly a third of the villagers have relocated following the act, the rest fully resent the nobility for only showing up when taxes are due, and never when the forest goblins are rioting, or when the old wizard went batty and started turning the local children into giant bats.

34. Sunayn

Population: 458

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Insular

Sunayn has seen better days, most of the timberland around the village is ashes and stumps, as is most of the village. A few stone buildings survived, and reconstruction efforts are underway. The nobles have sent aid, mostly in the form of a detachment of soldiers to help rebuilding and a constable to find who started the fire. With the promise of crown aid in rebuilding, the area is crawling with squatters and beggars looking to get a free hand-out, much to the ire of the locals who did loose their homes.

35. Vumpek

Population: 493

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

Despite the cordial greetings of the locals and the smiles on peoples faces, the village of Vumpek is at war, and has been for about half a year. The militia numbers about 120 men and women, and their weapons of choice have been spears and the longbow. The war was started when a band of mongrelmen, mishappen amalgams of animal parts, arrived in the area and started making a fuss of things. The sheriff and the militia have since killed a large number of the mongrelmen with minimal losses on their side. Any newcomer is generally welcome and the lumber guild offers a 5 silver piece bounty for the heads of mongrelmen. Adventurers-upon-Return could get a generous contract to eliminate the mongrelmen once and for all.

36. Obael

Population: 485

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

The Open Leaf Guild of rangers run affairs in Obael, keeping what is normally a destructive act, logging, clean and useful to the forest. The ranger's guild works with local druids, centaurs, and treefolk to weed out the weak, dead, and dying trees to keep the old growth forest young and vital. While not massively profitable, nor particularly efficient, Obael is able to pay it's taxes when the collectors come around.

37. Orgais

Population: 533

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Open

Some of the best heavy lumber, and some excellent draft horses come from the village of Orgais. The Orgais Draught Horse has been bred specifically to haul cut trees, creating a strong and hearty animal, as well as improving the size of the lumber that can be felled and drug back to the lumber mill. Orgais also has a number of bee keepers and the local brewer makes meade as well as ale, though this meade generally is saved for festivals and such.

38. Lumpheyw

Population: 400

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

The village is Lumpheyw is associated with pan-pipes, which there are a number of master instrument makers in the village. It is an open secret that the majority of the locals are practicing diabolists and engage in wanton fornication, drunkeness, incest and cannibalism. The only reason that the village hasnt been burnt to the ground yet is that most outsiders are ignorant of the local customs, and they keep to their own ways. Local tradition has the bodies of the dead ritually prepared and cooked for feasts, while the orgies remain consensual.

39. Umej-Untel

Population: 290

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Insular

Until recently, Umej and Untel were two seperate villages, quite frequently at odds with each other over disputes of logging privelages and hunting claims. The local lord, tired of the endless squabbling, had both charters abolished and combined Umej and Untel into a single village, forcing both groups to rebuild their homes and mills at a third site between the two original villages. Once this was done, the lord had both old villages burnt. Now the new village is cleanly divided in half, Umej on the west side, and Untel on the east, strangers and visitors are expected to show loyalty to one side or the other. Those who try both are treated as pariahs and outcastes.

40. Roois

Population: 482

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Open

There is a special school in Roois, the village has a strong tradition of swordsmanship, and the Rooisian swordmasters have long served noble and country as bodyguards. Roois is more commonly known for making wooden swords, toys, and the hooded robes worn by the council elders, all of whom are sworn by the sword.

Unique Communities

The Unique community exists exclusively because of a one of a kind local condition, phenomenon, or some-such. The village near the ruins is the most common version of the unique community.

41. Amelcote

Population: 607

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Wary

Amelcote was originally a farming community that was founded to harvest red ash from a forested valley. About 20 years ago, a stone pillar was found in the woods and a few hours after that all the males in the village vanished. This phenomenon is ongoing, causing men who enter the village to vanish (5% cumulative chance per hour) Since this started, Amelcote has earned a local reputation to be a safe place for women to escape from abusive husbands and ill-wishers.

42. Dread Ahneme

Population: 552

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: open

This village was founded as a number of barracks clustered around a common green and a pair of battlefield forges. It is a place of blood, injury, death, and a little bit of hope. Owned and operated by a conglomeration of mercenary guilds, Dread Ahneme is a training ground for mercenaries in training, and sees regular drills, mock battles, and tournaments. There is something in the water that drives the men in training to not hold back in their exercises. While casualties are rather high, medics also recieve bountiful training with injuries and healing. The village is open to travelers, and anyone wishing to take a bit of training is certainly welcome to.

43. Monukka

Population: 623

Leadership: Noble

Attitude: Open

Monukka would be completely forgettable as a village, mostly grain and grapes clustered away in a region of rolling hills and light forest. But the village has since become infamous for being the home town of a heartless assassin, and has since become a sort of holy place for would be assassins and murderers. As long as visitors behave themselves all is well, but the Baron of Monukka has a special cadre of guards for dealing with suspected assassins.

44. Woroil

Population: 504

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

Almost two villages that happen to be very very close to one another, Woroil practices gender segregation on a level that borders on almost insane. This is based on a quasi-heretical interpretation of scripture, and the men and women will live almost completely seperated from one another. Buildings that are not duplicated on both sides of the village are located in the center and are partitioned to prevent mingling. The strangest practice in the village is reproduction, where the act of mating occurs through a small hole in a partition wall, neither party seeing the other. Male children remain with their mothers until they turn 6, upon when they are given over to the men during the single night of the year when the genders are allowed to chastely mingle.

45. Kunecyta

Population: 814

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Wary

The Woodcutters and Carpenters Guild runs all of Kunecyta village, and has done very well as the village continues to grow in size. Within a few decades, it will shed it's appelation as a village and become a Township. What no one knows is that roughly 1/4th of the population are actually wooden dolls that have been inhabited by local spirits. That number is increasing as the quasi-religious guild makes more and more bodies for the spirits to inhabit. There recently has been some violence and a few members of the guild have begun to suspect the motives of the spirits animating the wooden bodies the guild has provided for them, even as they work tirelessly and for no pay.

46. Everfrost

Population: 480

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Open

Situated in the mountains, Everfrost has the dubious distinction of being the icebox of the nobility. Situated in a region of glaciers and a seemingly endless winter, the villagers live to cut ice, package it in insulated wagons and cart it down the mountain as fast as possible so that the lords and ladies might have their wines chilled even in the hottest months. Almost all food must be imported, and the villagers are either there against their choice, working off royal debts, or the like. Outsiders are always welcome as it increases the potential workforce, and being little more than a source of ice for nobles, there is no trade through the village.

47. Nenilebe

Population: 363

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Open

Also known as the glowing village, Nenilebe is somewhat known for the fact that the stone mined from it's quarrey glows a phosphorescent green color under the light of the moon. As the moon wanes towards darkness, the stone glows brighter, until at the new moon it has a radiant gold color. During the full moon, the glow is a barely noticable green hue to the stone. This luminescent effect only lasts within a four league radius around the village, and stone removed from this area retain their glow for one rotation of the moon.

48. Raavel

Population: 536

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Open

The patron lord of Raavel is quite mad, but his insanity is hidden quite well behind a veneer of philanthropy and a love of felines. The Noble has commisioned statues to be carved of cats, as well as maintaining the only breeding facility of great cats (lion sized) around. The number of cats in the village is exorbinant, with the average village household possessing no fewer than 6 felines.

49. Moreinel

Population: 468

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Open

The village of Moreinel can only be found after the sun sets, or on days when the sun is hidden behind thick clouds of heavy rain. Long ago the village council worked in concert with the priests of a god of death to preserve the village. Though the circumstances are now gone, Moreinel remains under the control of the spirit of darkness and death. The entire populace exists as if they were ghosts, and though they may not leave, visitors can enter the village and leave as they like so long as they leave before the first light of dawn, otherwise they become trapped with the rest of the villagers.

50. Tirulomo

Population: 233

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

Once a much larger community devoted to the arts of calligraphy, scribery, and making vellum and paper, Tirulomo was struck deaf in a flash of light. There are markers around the village that mark the area of effect, within those markers no sound can be uttered by a human voice, though sound otherwise is unhampered. Music can be played and dogs can bark. While the business of writting continues, and some adherents of Vows of Silence are commonly present, Tirulomo is slowly dying. Within a few years, the village will be all but deserted as the farmers and merchants have already closed their stalls and farms and moved to a place where they can laugh and talk freely.

Subsistance Communities

Often the Subsistance Community started as another type of community, but due to some circumstance, has been economically isolated and has long since stagnated. Most subsistance communities are older, run down, and have insular families and long standing feuds.

51. Lazpolcheen

Population: 526

Leadership: None

Attitude: Wary

Most people preface Lazpolcheen with the adage Don't go there. Crops dont fare well in the area as swarms of insects are dangerously common in the area. Most of the locals have since abandoned the notion of agriculture and have taken up eating the larger and non-venomous insects that crawl seemingly everywhere. Sanitation is also non-existant and has only encouraged the numbers of parasites in the village.

52. Ddelgarum

Population: 586

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Wary

This village ekes out a meager living through ranching meager cattle. It was formerly a more robust community, but it has been ransacked by bankruptcy and agressive usury. The lesser nobility have had to evacuate their holdings in lieu of payment of debts, and most of the craftsmen have had to mortgage their holdings against debts they too owe. The only business thriving in Ddelgarum is the brothel business, with the wives and daughters of the locals selling themselves to pay for the things they didnt need but bought anyway. Once every last coin has been squeezed out of the village, the Usurers Guild will pack up and move to richer pickings, leaving behind a husk of a village.

53. Dtiachakim

Population: 405

Leadership: None

Attitude: Insular

The only law in Dtiachakim comes from the ax and the dagger, as the local leadership collapsed after the mines played out and the soil proved worthless for large scale agriculture. The remaining residents cling to family holds and eke out meager amounts of tin for smelting from the dead mines. Several theive's guilds keep flophouses in Dtiachakim as a place for thieves looking to lay low to wait out officials. As can be expected, this small and worn village has since been erased off of most current maps.

54. Ceetinaugh

Population: 445

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Wary

I'd sell me mother for another bowl of Ceetinaugh leaf, or so the expression goes. Ceetinaugh was formerly a thriving township, but when the route of trade dried up, the demand for crops also fell, leaving the township to shrivel up into a village again. Aside from growing enough food to eat, the locals grow a variation of tobacco leaf that they enjoy smoking. Almost everyone in Ceetinaugh smokes, with most getting their first pipe when they turn ten years old or so. Feuds start when tobacco farmers, Leaf-Burners by name, sabotage each other by burning drying houses, or setting fire to fields of their rivals.

55. Ceehinquair

Population: 483

Leadership: Military

Attitude: Closed

The local noble has recently arrived in Ceehinquair, and found the situation unacceptable, there were many more people present than the scouts had been reporting, all of whom had not paid taxes in decades while harassing road traffic with banditry and thievery. The noble has since departed for fairing smelling surroundings and has left the cleansing and processing of the locals to one of his trusted captains. The Captain has since cordoned off the village and is interrogating the locals, taking a census and redistributing the land claims. The locals, long used to being ignored, are ready to riot, and the noble's men are ready to put what think are criminals to the blade.

56. Tailyeny

Population: 402

Leadership: Praetorian

Attitude: Insular

There is little wealth in Tailyeny, and it is all held by the village 'Boss' and his gang of guards. The boss changes from time to time, as determined by the guard, but greed and incompetence are generally hallmarks of a short-lived boss. Things have gotten tense as the current Boss things himself very strong and has ideas of increasing taxes on the villagers for his own mock court, and dismissing the gang. The villagers know that it wont be long before the boss either vanishes or is found bloody and dead.

57. Eagedenyer

Population: 705

Leadership: Other

Attitude: Wary

The Prefect of Eagedenyer has always lead the village of Eagedenyer since as long as the villagers can remember. Things started to go bad over a decade ago when the Prefect passed away at the relatively young age of 43, leaving no heir to take his place. A replacement was brought in the form of a six year old boy. The child is physically still six years old, frequently forgetfull, and whimsically mischievious. This has lead to tantrums, poor decisions for the village, and the loss of both several acres of good land, and several score of alienated villagers. The mysterious child merely laughs and goes back to playing with it's toys, carving jewelry, or speaking in a strange and alien tongue.

58. Lazsernyit

Population: 520

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Wary

The village of Lazsernyit until recently was a very prosperous place known for growing good grapes and good quality craftsmanship. The Village Guild, an amalgam of vinters, coopers, woodcarvers, and farmers were hit with a double load. The crown upped their taxes, while the Village Guild was annexed by a larger guild. With their profits brutalized by increased taxes and guild dues all leaving the village, the locals complained. The new Guildmaster of Lazsernyit levied the militia and had a dissenter's lands siezed for treasonous activity. Formerly on the cusp of becoming a township, the population has fallen by almost half, with those remaining being more earthy grain farmers and the like. The guild and the crown are both unhappy that such a ripe fruit has so quickly wilted, but neither has taken steps to slow the exodus of villagers or to reduce the tax load.

59. Fazenechbel

Population: 475

Leadership: Despot

Attitude: Closed

The despot of Fazenechbel has long terrorized the populace of the village into doing his bidding. The main source of his power is a number of magical relics, the most important being a magic rod that induces fear in his subjects. The villagers tend to the despot's every whim under the strained notion that the outside world has been destroyed. They have been indoctrinated to believe that outsiders who do show up are demons from the realms of chaos there to destroy them and their village. This remote community has a high median age as the Despot has dictated that only he may father children, and each year a few younger and more adventurous villagers escape his watch, decreasing the population. They never return since once they escape his magic rod, they are afflicted with a magical amnesia as to the existance of the village.

60. Ceerothverbel

Population: 617

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Insular

Also known as the village of whores, Ceerothverbel has prostitutes more in line with a township four times their actual size. Given the lack of morality in the village, the church reached an agreement to turn the temple in the village into a mission to convert the obviously heathen whores to the faith and turn them back into farmers and weavers and such. Things have gone poorly since most of the prostitutes know nothing about farming, and most of the land around the village is considered poor for farming, and mineral resources are low. The only reason the village exists is that it sits at the junction of three minor trade roads, and the traveling merchants like to toss a jug of wine, bounce a wench, and be on their ways.

Racial Communities

In a setting where race is not a matter of skin color, but of actual genus and species differences, racial communities are very likely to spring up near larger cities and in rural locations as racial communes and enclaves in the middle of the seas of humanity. Alternately, there could certainly be human racial communities in areas primarily populated by other races.

61. Gobbo-Town

Population: 593

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Open

Gobbo-Town was founded and chartered by the local noble as an act of charity and kindness. The village started as little more than a sanctuary for goblins to flee to from their orcish task masters and quickly has grown into one of the largest non-clan/tribal goblin settlements. While disparaged by their human neighboors, the goblins are genial and good natured, as rude humans are a far cry better than murderous orcs. The goblins have added to the local culture with their unique cooking techniques, and goblinmade wares such as goblin harps and gobilin-stitched clothing.

62. Svirfwassan

Population: 384

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

Founded by a clan of gnomish inventors and steam engineers, Svirfwassan is a center for their research into creating a steam powered oceanic vessel. Stepping away from using sails, the gnomes have spent a good deal of time investigating natural lifeforms to find a model for their new vessel and in the process have become educated in marine biology. Thus far, their whale and fish shaped steamers have failed to work due to failures in the linkages that would undulate the propulsion aspect of the craft's tail sections, and one ship has had a catastrophic failure after incoming seawater hit the boiler and caused a giant steam explosion.

63. Feuercenn

Population: 658

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Wary

Most centaurs are solitary or cling to small herds, Feuercenn is one of the rare centaur villages and is easily among the largest of the horsefolk settlements. The focus of the community is artistic creation, most notable being sculpture in stone. Fountains are the most common creation, and are fed via water magics that are unique to the centaurs. On a final note, the centaurs tend a certain plant that they dry and smoke much like tobacco but functions on them as a euphoric and aphrodesiac. Humans find it rancid smelling and almost intolerable.

64. Grobbopple

Population: 551

Leadership: Noble

Attitude: Closed

At first the noble though the creatures to be degenerate goblins, but observation prevailed that they were rather gremlins, small and somewhat malicious cousins to the fey. These settled gremlins have taken a strong bond to plant magics and live in relative peace tending gardens that alternate between artistic, functional, chaotic and horrific. The noble has since kept the gremlin village under close watch, some of the strange plants the gremlins spawn with their green magics have already been 'exported' by the noble for his own profit.

65. Green Swarding

Population: 498

Leadership: Other

Attitude: Insular

As villages go, Green Swarding is very strange, as there is not a single animal in it, no agriculture, and no industry to speak of. The village is also inhabited by mainly by dryads and forest nymphs, and thus have no need for crops or forges and hammers. The dryads have shaped trees into their meeting places and halls for trade with humans and the like, though they prefer to let their allies among the druids and rangers deal with merchants to get the jewels, gemstones, and other rare things that the treelings desire. The village is heavily defended by dozens of treefolk, and the dryads can rouse even mundane trees to uproot themselves to do battle.

66. Unhonaud

Population: 528

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Wary

A subsistance community with a strong magical tradition, Unhonaud is as peaceful as it is strangely beautiful. Hidden deep in the forest, this village is a cultural nexus for a minro race of pale complected humans with spiral horns protruding from their heads. The offspring of forbidden unicorn-human matings, the Unhonoi are wracked with guilt and shame over their existance, and try to redeem the sin of their ancestors through promoting healing magics, meditation, and creating works of art.

67. Aeichenix

Population: 132

Leadership: Patron Noble

Attitude: Open

Inhabited solely by the Leiche, a sub-race of humanity that has cannibalistic tendancies and an extended lifespan (500 yrs on avg), Aeichenix is the friendliest place a traveler can ever die in. The local advice it to not act like food, and most travelers who keep their wits about them and remember their manners can expect the locals to do the same. Boorish guests, thieves, and the like can expect an even more genial welcome, with their hosts thanking them for coming even as the cleavers fall and pieces of bloody meat are dropped into the cookpot.

68. Wyvayaix

Population: 691

Leadership: Other

Attitude: Wary

Sitting atop pilings, seemingly growing from the swamp around it, the village of Wyvayaix was built by a race of reptile men. Borrowing heavily from human culture, they have advanced quickly, adopting an early tribal government, domestication of swamp animals, and organized fighting tactics rather than one on one hunter/stalkers. The rulers of the village, a mix of elected shamans and decorated warriors wear elaborate harnesses that give them the appearance of having wings as they believe that they are the spawn of wyverns and dragons. While not normally friendly to humanity, the locals have discovered that playing nice makes their life easier, for the time being.

69. Hrafnstein

Population: 747

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Insular

There are villages that have secrets, and then there are villages that have secrets, and Hrafnstein is one of the latter. The village is inhabited by were-ravens and their mundane kinfolk, homid and avian alike. The kinfolk outnumber the wereravens roughly 20 to 1, and hold most of the positions of authority in the village. The wereravens tend to be traveling thieves, vagabonds and such who travel roughly a third to 2/3rds of the year and bring their spoils back to the village. They keep quiet around outsiders as knowledge of the village of raven-men would bring the church and the nobles and their armies to burn the place and put as many of them to the torch as possible.

70. Strughal

Population: 216

Leadership: Other

Attitude: Open

A village of primitive dwarves, Strughal is odd in that the dwarves follow the directions of a spirit beast, occupying a mortal shell, most often a large and surly badger. A Holy keeper and tosser of lots interpret the will of the spirit beast as it hunts among the tossings they give it. The dwarves are known for brewing strong but foul tasting liquor and being excellent trappers and hunters.

Frontier Communities

A common theme in fantasy is exploration and living on the edge of human territory facing the unknown, and while medieval demographics show that most villages were seldom more than a few miles apart, contemporary fantasy draws on the wild west era of the US with it's strung out border forts and isolated communities threatened by climate and hostile natives. Frontier communities exist in a hostile enviroment and are dependant usally on a military presence to protect them from indigenous races.

71. Fort Lliesth

Population: 443

Leadership: Military

Attitude: Open

A model of frontier efficiency and prosperity, Fort Lliesth is less than forty years old and the garrison has all but destroyed the opposition of the indegenous Lliesthian Orcs. With the area swept of immediate danger, the military will soon be ready to turn the territory over to a noble backed civilian government. Some of the military officers oppose this turn-over and would rather see the fort remain in operation as a base of operations for further orc extermination.

72. New Chrinald

Population: 375

Leadership: Military

Attitude: Wary

Sponsored by the guilds and council of Chrinald, now Old Chrinald, New Chrinald is supposed to open a trade route on a river as well as offer a place for Chrinald's growing middle class population to settle outside the old stone walled city. More than two weeks away by horse, the new settlement and it's complement of 100 soldiers now finds itself face to face with a previously unknown necromancer. The death-clad sorcerer resents the intrusion of the military into it's affairs and is currently assessing the village for the best way to destroy it in such a fashion that the pesky humans do not return to pick up where their peers were slaughtered like lambs.

73. Fort Sakilm

Population: 588

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Wary

Fort Sakilm was turned over to a village council a year ago, but the changing of hands was premature. Since the change and departure of the greater part of the Sakilm garrison, the village has been attacked several times by raiders from the mountains. The village has been forced to retreat within the fort for the most recent raid and everything but the fort was burned. The mayor blames the military for leaving, the military advisor blames the mayor for honeycoating the situation to get an early change in power. The thing that makes the arguement all the more vitriolic is that the military advisor is the mayor's husband.

74. Thogarm Hill

Population: 448

Leadership: Military

Attitude: Insular

This village, situated atop a hill of the same name, is girded by newly set stone and wood walls. The main point of the settlement is to acclamate the local tribe of humans into the greater part of the expanding culture. Things have not gone well as there are factions on both sides that would rather be done with being civil and get down to the business of killing and looting. The militia has the upper hand with strong defences and better weaponry, but the local tribesmen have greater numbers and a distain for the soft settled folk.

75. New Neklar

Population: 800

Leadership: Military

Attitude: Open

The skirmishes have ended suddenly and in the favor of the New Neklar militia, much thanks to a local shamaness and flower-tender. A death-sorceress of no small skill, the Shamaness cast magics that decimated the enemies of New Neklar and has protected the villagers from illness and injury. The locals bring her white flowers as a way of thanking her for the works she has done on their behalf. Each tribesman and orc she slew with her magics granted their remaining natural years to her life, so though she is well into her second century of age, she looks no older than 17.

76. Ost-Boorx

Population: 502

Leadership: Military

Attitude: Wary

Frontier villages are often filled with people of spirit, sometimes revolutionary spirit. The militia has spent the last month putting down a frontier rebellion mounted by a faction of settlers. Though the violence has ended and the corpses have been cleaned away, the remaining settlers are now nervous around the militia, and the soldiers are on edge since it is a common thought that the revolt will flare again, it just needs to right wind to fan the flames.

77. Nealeston

Population: 395

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Closed

The fortress at Nealeston lies in broken ruin, as waves pounded the structure until the walls collapsed and the men inside were swept out into the bay. The military leadership is in ruins and a hasty village council has risen to take control of the situation at hand. A potent merfolk sorcerer has made it clear that it will not tolerate humans operating their ships on it's water and the destruction of the fortress was a demonstration of power. AS an effort to placate the merfolk, the council has closed the village, and outsiders and traders are all turned away.

78. Fort Truskin

Population: 410

Leadership: Praetorian

Attitude: Wary

Some revolts are not put down, and sometimes the captain and his men are the ones left in chains or on the field of conflict. The villagers stormed Fort Truskin during a market day, and with the element of surprise, they captured the wooden fortress and put the officers to death. The captain remains alive, haggard and forlorn in the stockade of the fort, and he is awaiting his day of trial when he will be called to account for his actions while in command of the fortress.

79. Rhodens Crossing

Population: 505

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Insular

It is ironic that with such a ratty name that Rhodens Crossing is one of the most opulant and lavish villages in existance. Every building is made of cut and sculpted stone, the streets are all paved, and roughly 2/3rds of the populace are servants. The village is a private retreat that is owned by the powerful Merchant's Guild and serves as a retreat for their elite and powerbrokers. Outsiders are not welcome and the inn is for guests of guildsmen, not for road weary merchants. All common needs are handled at a large warehouse removed from the village, and commoners are encouraged to hurry up and be off.

80. New Fort Thrachan

Population: 463

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

Built on the ruins of Fort Thrachan, itself built on the ruins of Thrachan Hill, this village has been razed and rebuilt a number of times. Throughout this loss and destruction, the spirit of the people has not been broken, and each time they rebuild, the buildings get a bit larger, a bit stronger, and a bit better built. The locals are infected by a certain espirit d'corps that lets them laugh in the face of adversity.

Wizarding Communities

Wizard's towers are found throughout fantasy, and unless stated otherwise, towers are built by hands and laborers and stone. The longer the construction time, the more likely that a village will grow either at the site of the wizard's tower, or clese enough that workers are able to reach it in a short time.

81. Giamorium

Population: 365

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

With the village crest being a gorgon's head closed in a triangle of bare swords, few mistake Giamorium for anything but a wizarding village. Situated in a medium grade agricultural area, the village is only remarkable for the commonality of abjurationists and ward makers who live in the community. This magical presence has been fostered over several generations by a local blood family of wizards. Most of the villagers know how to effect basic lock spells, as well as some degree of warding magics and glyphs.

82. Beyoughian

Population: 580

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Wary

Following a redrawing of feudal boundaries, the village of Beyoughian was removed from a noble's domain and added to a parcel of land granted to the Faith. Interested in their new acquisition, the clergy has established a new Abbot as the head of the village and placed him in charge of assessing the village, it's value, and converting it to more open worship of the faith. Things have grown tense after the Abbot spoke against magic as being heathen and unholy, and the village has been custodian to a number of arcane relics, as well as a folk magic tradition.

83. Moenias

Population: 640

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Wary

Nominally a mining town, Moenias has long delved into the magics of earth, stone, justice, and order. As such, the Mayor-Arbiter is considered one of the most impartial and fair judicators that can be found in the general area. This translates to the village having a rather draconian application of law and tradition, leaving most of the locals rather on their toes about things.

84. Kleyaugh

Population: 568

Leadership: Patron Wizard

Attitude: Open

Outside of any noble or clerical domain, Kleyaugh is protected by a potent expatriot magus. In exchange for magical aid and protection, the village supports a unit of chariot mounted spearmen and archers. While their arms and armor are light, they are fast and strike well for militia quality troops. The locals are friendly and accepting of magic on a daily basis. The only things that arent tolerated are blatant displays of power that cause collateral damage or other odd phenomenon. The horses of Kleyaugh tend to be pony sized and are more suited to pulling chariots and light carts that for riding.

85. Fleerais

Population: 597

Leadership: Patron Wizard

Attitude: Closed

Fleerais has been cursed, and it is a potent curse. Darkness shrouds the village and the people move about in a strange and disjointed fashion, often leaving flickering trails and afterimages behind them. The patron sorceress of the village is currently about inspecting the extent of the magical curse and is working on a counter-curse powerful enough to collapse the current one and free the village from it's shroud. She has positioned sentries at the road leading to the town, turning merchants and travelers away for their own good.

86. Meitium

Population: 440

Leadership: Other

Attitude: Open

The village of Meitium exists as a subsistance community focused on a run down temple and the oracle who lives within. The oracle changes from year to year, and is chosen to be the bride of the temple's fickle god. What the villagers dont know is that the 'fickle god' is actually a shapeshifting mage who is an accomplished illusionist, and the village offerings go to supporting the mage in a rather comfortable if not opulent lifestyle. He will have a sharp eye for attractive adventurers-upon-return.

87. Kuwor

Population: 400

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Open

The village of Kuwor is unique in that it has an honest to goodness Magic Shop in it. This shop is the base of operations for an enchanters guild that makes minor magical items for sale, the most common being magical arrows, potions of healing, and the like. When tax time comes, the guild pays in swords of minor enchantment (Sword +1) and with quivers of Hunting Arrows (Arrow +1)

88. Groiam

Population: 510

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Open

Founded by a patron wizard, Groiam has fallen on hard times and is desperate for outside assistance. Their patron mage was assassinated and now his magical creations are running wild and loose and are more than the militia can handle. adventurers-upon-return are heartily welcomed and offered almost anything to lend their considerable skills to hunting down sorcerous monstrosities and potion contaminated wildlife.

89. Weechaia

Population: 616

Leadership: Other

Attitude: Open

Weechaia is governed by a golem made entirely of gold and hammered brass, a gift from a wizard now two centuries in the grave. The golem, bestowed with benign intelligence and calm countenance looks like a woman wearing ancient robes and she speaks with eloquence and charm, despite being a 2400 pound piece of metal. The village is still heavily invested in farming and pays it's taxes on time, but several magi and nobles would like to take the golem apart, one to see what makes her tick, the other to smelt her down into gold bars.

90. Braepole

Population: 403

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Open

At first Braepole seems like a normal, if slightly haphazard village. The populace is quite friendly, but conversations tend to be often disjointed, with awkward pauses or launching off on strange tangents. The wizard who was the original patron of the village was an ardent explorer of the realms of chaos and chaotic magic. Though he has long since been dead, the effects of his magic remain. Many of the villagers are quietly mad, their perceptions altered from the normal. The madness seldom manifests as frothing psychopaths, but more as the blacksmith tends to think of people as figments of his imagination, and the bakers weeps as he bakes his loaves of bread he he imagines each has a soul and dies screaming in the oven, but he must bake his bread.

Religious Communities

The Religious community exists around an object of the faith, be it a ring of menhirs, a shrine, or a monastary. This community is governed by the jurisdiction of the faith, and while largely subsistant in nature, many more industrious communities produce a certain product for sale to raise funds for themselves and for the faith. As a real world example, the Dom Perignon wine was the product of a Benedictine Monastary, and was named after the monk who worked out the process.

91. Saint Moseus Village

Population: 385

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Open

Saint Moseus Village is a small community that has grown around the home of Moseu, a holy man and hermit. Moseu has been dead for roughly a decade now, but his tomb is said to retain healing powers, especially for people afflicted with illnesses of the blood and the head. A handful of acolytes have adopted the position of being caretakers of the tomb and have since erected a small shrine for the local saint.

92. Kinyshire

Population: 530

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Insular

FEw know that Kinyshire is ruled not by council or elect, but by the guildmasters of the Prostitute's Guild. This has worked well in the past, as Kinyshire sits on a minor trade route and is host to a temple to the Goddess of Lust and Love. While the facade economy of Kinyshire is agriculture and minor trading, flesh-peddling draws in the lion's share of taxes. Unlike other rural sex-peddlers, Kinyshire is a place of refinement as well as exploration and documentation, with both the guild and the temple working scribes to write Kama Sutra type scrolls.

93. St. Ainesbury

Population: 576

Leadership: Guild

Attitude: Wary

The original settlement, it's name now obscured, was begun as an orchard/hamlet community situated on top of an elevated section of land. Later digging revealed ruins within the hillock the community was growing upon. The ruins proved to be a collection of ancient temples, dedicated to what appear to be recognizable faces of known gods, but being worshipped in heretical fashion. The community knows little of the ruins they live above, but the faith has spent some time and money investigating the ruins, but these ventures tend to be short lived as each excavation reveals more and more heresy. The village was renamed St Ainesbury after the patron saint of cats, fever, and misbehaved children.

94. Mount Worey Monastary

Population: 500

Leadership: Military

Attitude: Open

Operated by the Arms Militant of the Faith, Mount Worey Monastary is a retreat for soldiers in service to the church but have reached a point where they need time for spiritual recovery and healing. Mount Worey is a place of peace that reverberates with military precision.

95. Sister of St. Shayis

Population: 737

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Open

St. Shayis was a minor saint who was renowned for being both beautiful as the dawn, a gifted dancer, and a chaste maiden of (insert faith and/or diety). The Sister of St. Shayis is a quiet agricultural community that is host to great pear orchards and the Convent of St. Shayis, a place where women of the faith are educated in both arts of music and dance, as well as matters of theology and scripture. The village is locally known for it's pressed pear cider and pear wine, as well as Almsday theatre plays.

96. Poleshire Hill

Population: 557

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Open

The grain, the grain, it sways in the light, under the shadow of Poleshire. This community grew around a natural holy place claimed by an elder diety of the sun, growing things, and healing. The center of the village is a giant sundial, the gnomon standing more than 24 feet high. This is the focus of worship for the small solar cult, as well as where the local grain farmers, brewers, and horse breeders come to pray and make offerings. Unlike other often bitter, cynical, and often world-weary villages, locals live in a blessed place and they know it.

97. Saint Orean Cloister

Population: 446

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Open

The village of St Orean originally was based around mining silver from a shallow gravel-laden mine. It was some years later that the Cloister of Saint Orean was built and the village moved from the mouths of the mines to the walls of the cloister. It is considered a progressive place with conservative values where noble families and the wealthy can send their daughters of privelage for proper education, be it specialized in the arts of reading and mathematics for the daughters of merchant-princes, theology and chivalry for princesses, or even thaumaturgy, clerical magic, for those who find themselves burning with faith.

98. Loraeburr

Population: 345

Leadership: Clerical

Attitude: Wary

Vinyards stretch for miles around Loraeburr, with the center of the community being the grape presses. Here, the harvest of grapes is mashed and fermented into communal wine to be used in religious ceremonies. The wine is blessed before, during, and after being processed, aged, and shipped. What would normally be an idyllic community is pressed from all sides by thieves, bandits and brigands. Roughly 1/3rd of the wine shipped never reaches its destination. Some of the bandits operate close by, stealing wagonloads of wine, others are more stealthy, tapping barrels during the night to steal the wine but leave behind an empty barrel.

99. Etisshire Green

Population: 691

Leadership: Mayor

Attitude: Insular

Outwardly a logging and timber community, Etisshire Green has a secret, it retains the clergy and faith of the natural world, IE druids. The temple of the dominant faith is in some disrepair and inquiries into the status of the local priest the locals mumble about the old priest moving on and the bishop not sending a replacement yet. Those familiar with the old traditions might notice the locals ding little acts of devotion and prayer to the spirits of the trees, the wood, and such. While not hostile, the locals make it apparent that outsiders are very much outsiders and are not welcome to stay long.

100. Tinaushrine

Population: 490

Leadership: Village Council

Attitude: Closed

It is a common enough nightmare, that miners delve too deep and awaken something that has slumbered since elder times. While nothing that dramatic has happened, something close has. The mines under Tinaushrine have had a dramatic cave in, killing more than 130 able-bodied men of the village, leaving more than four score women widowed. The cave in also caused a sink-hole that swallowed half of the Tinaushrine Abbey, killing the priest and his two acolytes. The entire village is deep in grieving, windows are closed and countenances are blackened. Some are whispering that the village is now cursed.

Relevant Tables and Definitions

A number of tables were borrowed from an old 1988 sci-fi RPG I picked up for $4 from a used game bin at a now out of business gaming store. I modified the tables when I was rolling up the 101 villages and will reproduce the tables below for future use. Thank you.

Population

Assuming a population cap of 1000 for a village, the population was generated with a mix of rolling 10D100, and 5D200 (using online dice rollers) For the most part the results were satisfactory, if somewhat repetative. Most rolls generated a total between 400 and 600. I generally found that the more dice that are rolled, the more homogenous the numbers become, and the fewer used the more random it becomes. I would have done 1D1000, but the generators I found could not roll more than a 3 digit variable.

Leadership

01 - 20 Village Council

21 - 30 Mayor

31 - 35 Noble

36 - 37 Despot/Warlord

38 - 42 Military

43 - 44 Praetorian

45 - 70 Dependancy

71 - 75 Theocracy

76 - 95 Guild

96 - 00 Other

Village Council - A highly democractic body of leadership that rules by general consensus and it's members are selected from the local populace, either by merit, appointment, or general election.

Mayor - Superficially similar to the Village Council, a Mayorship concentrates power in a single figure rather than a council. Mayors have similar appointments as councils, but are less confined by the need to reach a majority decision. Mayors are often supported by councils of advisors.

Noble - A member of the nobility, often nothing more than a knight, baronet, or baron presides over the village. Lacking fortresses and armies, these lesser nobles require the general support of their village, as well as conforming to the demands of the higher ranking nobility.

Despot/Warlord - The despot has likely siezed control of the community by military means, though they are not affiliated with the military itself. Most maintain their position though intimidation and fear, as well as superior martial capability.

Military - The village is governed by an appointee from the standing military, usually an officer of some standing and capability. This often denotes the placement of martial law, or a location that is focused on the military and it's support.

Praetorian - A joint civilian/military leadership mode with military personel in positions of importance. Nominally under rule of a single figure, usually civilian, the power behind said leader is the military. Praetorianships are generally passed by assassination of the previous office holder.

Dependancy - When rolling, I used Patron Noble as the default answer for Dependancy, representing an absentee noble who ruled said community usually be means of an appointed plenipotenary, or some other noble backed governing body. When generating clerical communities, I alternated patron noble with clercial, and so on.

Theocracy - Clerical or ecclesiastical leadership, most often in the form of an abbot or abbess. This is a mix of church and state.

Guild - The community is governed by the Guildmaster/s of a certain guild and thus the community is run like a business. Thix can be a highly corrupt location governed by the thieve's guild, or a port that is run by the merchant's guild.

Other - Just what it says

Attitude

01 - 05 Closed

06 - 55 Open

56 - 85 Wary

86 - 00 Insular

Open - Your standard friendly rural village, outsiders are welcomed as being sources of information about the outside world, as well as bringing both money and a demand for services to the village. This is going to be the most common aspect villages have unless there are alternate circumstances. A party of orcs in a human village can expect villagers to be less friendly, as can villages that are in or are close to war zones and the like.

Wary - Agents of law enforcement are present, and outsiders are inspected to make sure that their intentions are not detrimental to local interests. Some goods and services can be expected to be 10% to 25% higher, mostly food and lodging.

Insular - The village militia is likely active, and outsiders can expect to be regularly questioned and their objectives obstructed by locals policing and patrolling. Unles they have business to attend to, outsiders and travelers are encouraged to be on their way. Prices can be elevated between 50% to 100% more than usual.

Closed - unless invited by the local leadership, or agents of a higher power, travelers are not allowed to enter the town. This can be a self imposed siege, a medical quarantine, or so on.