Eldergrove

Subregion of the Northwind Barrens

Overview

Eldergrove is a rare pocket of calm and learning tucked into the harder north. Where surrounding lands favor brute survival, Eldergrove grew into a refuge of music, scholarship and quiet faith — a place that outwardly honours the crown (taxes paid, laws obeyed) but inwardly considers itself free. Its people prize cooperation with the land and one another, fiercely guarding that freedom while remaining, as a whole, unaware of King Alistair’s deeper schemes.

Elderhaven — the city at the heart

Elderhaven sprawls around the Eldertree, an ancient, towering tree whose trunk and roots form streets, public halls, terraces and market rings. The city is built vertically as much as horizontally: wooden promenades, warm bathhouses, open-air taverns, libraries and the famed bardic conservatory fill its lanes. Temples to Lathander stand on sunward plazas; prayer and song mark dawn every day.

Key POI: Eldergrove Council Hall — the public seat where representatives assemble. It’s not a throne room; it’s a round chamber beneath Eldertree’s lowest boughs where debate, votes and disputes happen in full view of the citizenry.

Hidden, discrete refuge: Haven of the Forsaken — a network of safehouses and a small, secret compound where a few persecuted folk escaping Golden Reach or Sunset Coast sometimes find shelter. It is whispered about and fiercely guarded by locals.

Faction — Freefolk of Eldergrove

Freefolk of Eldergrove — Faction
A diverse alliance of settlers, druids, refugees and scholars who found peace in the untouched lands of Eldergrove. They are governed by a council of equals (the council meets at Eldergrove Council Hall) and value freedom, mutual aid and harmony with nature. They maintain local defenses and customs but, as a community, are largely unaware of the king’s hidden plots.

Council members (representatives):

  • Luminara — a fae representative, soft-spoken and quick with old forest lore.

  • Sultanna — human merchant-advocate, practical and stern in trade matters.

  • Thara — a half-orc elder whose steady voice represents the frontier clans.

  • Vaelrin — an elf scholar and keeper of histories; cool, patient, precise.

(Note: the Council Hall is a POI; the Freefolk of Eldergrove is the political faction that acts through it.)

Elderhaven Wardens (military / guild faction)

Elderhaven Wardens — Faction
The organized defenders and militia of Elderhaven, headquartered at the Elderhaven Wardens Guild. They balance discipline and restraint, keeping the peace and defending the Haven from predators and opportunists.

  • Commander Rhasa — a dragonborn veteran who leads the Wardens with iron calm.

  • The Pacifists (ironically named champions within the Wardens):

    • Kira — a lithe tabaxi with foxlike features; she fights with a spear that moves as if it is part of her own body — quick, fluid, almost a blur in her hands.

    • Bloody Earnest — a dwarf berserker whose ferocity in battle belies a strange code of honor.

    • Alyss, the Razor — a human swordswoman famed for blade-work so precise it looks surgical.

The Wardens are selective with recruitment; they train with the Conservatory’s performers in discipline and mobility and serve as the city’s last line of defense.

Religion — the faith of Lathander in Eldergrove

Lathander’s worship in Eldergrove is central to daily life and public ritual. Drawing on classical D&D themes of the Morninglord — renewal, dawn, creativity and healing — the local cult emphasizes sunrise rites, rebirth and acts of mercy. Temples are sunlit halls where clerics lead Dawn Vigils (early morning prayers), perform Blessings of First Light for newborns and travelers, and hold Renewal Rites in spring that blend music, incense and communal bathing in Eldergrove Lake.

Clerics and lay healing orders tend the sick, bless the fields and run healing circles at the lake. Pilgrims come to Eldergrove Lake seeking cures and spiritual refreshment; the lake’s waters are reputed to accelerate recovery and soothe soul-weariness. Festivals tied to Lathander’s calendar (dawn-feasts, dawn-processions) are major civic events, bringing music from the bard school and rituals from the temples together into public celebrations that bond the community.

Education & Magic — two pillars of culture

  • Bardic Conservatory (Elderhaven): a renowned school for song, lore and oratory. Bards train there in performance, diplomacy, guerrilla storytelling and coded histories that preserve Eldergrove’s true memory.

  • Eldergrove Magic School (on an island in the Eldersea): Faction, led by *Archmage Velarion. Tall rune-etched towers, secluded groves and rune-lit halls host apprentices from across the continent. The school is an arcane hub and a guarded place of study, balancing practical research with the Freefolk’s wary openness to outside influence.

Eldergrove Lake — sacred waters

Just south of Elderhaven lies Eldergrove Lake, vast and crystal-clear. Clerics and pilgrims cycle through its banks for rites of healing, midnight vigils and seasonal ceremonies to honor Lathander. The lake’s medicinal reputation draws humble folk and learned healers alike, and its shoreline hosts small retreats and hermit shrines where personal vows of renewal are made.

Skyreach Village — Aarakocra sanctuary

High in the range between Eldergrove and Pinnacle Heights, Skyreach Village sits on cliff-shelves and suspended platforms. Home to a clan of reclusive Aarakocra, Skyreach is a place of meditation, ritual flight and sentry watch. The Aarakocra trade little but maintain respectful ties with Elderhaven and sometimes ferry messages or scouts between the high passes and the city.

Economy & daily life

Eldergrove’s economy mixes agriculture, artisanal crafts, academic patronage and controlled trade. Markets sell cured herbs, enchanted trinkets crafted by apprentices, music scrolls and fresh catches from the Eldersea. Students and pilgrims swell the local economy in seasons. The people prefer barter and community-supported projects; coin flows, but social capital counts more.

Defense, diplomacy and secrecy

Eldergrove defends itself through the Wardens, natural barriers and community networks like the Haven of the Forsaken. The Freefolk handle diplomatic ties cautiously: they obey the laws and pay dues to the crown but resist overt political control. By design and habit they remain mostly unaware of, or uninterested in, the deeper political manipulations of King Alistair; they consider themselves a refuge of learning and liberty first.