When Winter Became Forever
Silverwick was founded after The Longest Night, when survivors emerged to find endless winter. Exactly when is unclear—earliest records date back three centuries, but references suggest the town was already established. Best estimates: 300-500 years ago, when desperate humanity scattered seeking any hope of survival.
Most settlements from that era failed. Silverwick survived. The question is: why?
The answer lies in three gifts this valley provided—and bargains made by people whose names are forgotten.
The Three Gifts
The River Ys: A river flowing year-round despite endless winter, splitting around a defensible peninsula. Fresh water, fish, mill power, trade routes. But many rivers exist. What makes the Ys special is the peninsula—geologically, it shouldn't exist. The Ice-Singers say the river chose to split here, creating sanctuary.
The Warding Ore: Rare ore deposits that conduct and hold Glimmer energy, making the magical walls possible. Without it, Frost-Walkers would have overrun the town generations ago. The founders knew about the ore before building—they came here for it. How did they know it existed?
The Grove's Protection: Something ancient in the Thornheart Grove commands Frost-infected animals. The founders made a bargain: tribute in exchange for keeping corrupted beasts away. This agreement has held for centuries. But how did desperate survivors know such negotiation was possible?
The Fragmentary Records
Father Solace maintains founding documents—texts so old they're sealed, written in evolved languages. Pages are missing, damaged, possibly deliberately removed. What remains raises more questions than answers.
Key Fragments:
"...the river called to us through dreams..."
"...ore veins mapped by the one who showed us stone. We did not ask the price then..."
"...the bargain was necessary. The tribute seemed small compared to what was offered..."
"...three families came first. By spring, only one remained. The others went into the forest..."
"...the Great Pine was already here, ancient beyond reckoning..."
"...we swore our children would remember. But already I see them forgetting..."
These fragments suggest people guided to this valley by dreams, taught to build defenses by someone they called "the one who showed us stone," bound by bargains whose full terms even they didn't understand.
The One Who Showed Us Stone
This phrase appears repeatedly: "the one who showed us stone." Not "discovered" or "learned." Showed. Someone taught them.
Theories:
A Powerful Glimmer-User: Perhaps a founder possessed multiple Glimmers and extraordinary knowledge—understanding ore-work, Glimmer theory, engineering. Their achievements became near-mythical.
An Outsider: Someone from an older civilization that survived The Longest Night with learning intact. They taught the founders, then departed or died.
The Entity: The darkest theory. Perhaps "the one who showed us stone" was the Grove entity itself. It taught them how to build walls, survive in the valley. In exchange, it demanded the Midwinter Tithe. This means the entire town exists because that entity allowed it, for purposes the founders didn't understand and descendants have forgotten.
Few speak this theory aloud. But it explains too much to dismiss.
The First Families
Records mention three founding families. Only one is consistently named: Whitewood. Grandmother Sile's line.
The Whitewoods provided every Tithe-Keeper in documented history. The duty passes through their bloodline. Sile is the last.
The other two families are referenced but never named. One "went to the forest and did not return." The other disappears from records after the first generation.
Three families came. Effectively only one remained to pass down crucial knowledge of why Silverwick was built and what bargains maintain it.
Why This Valley?
Of thousands of northern valleys, why here?
The Dream Theory: Records mention "the river called to us." Perhaps founders were guided through dreams. By what? The River Ys? The Grove entity? Something else?
The Pre-Existing Settlement Theory: Perhaps Silverwick wasn't founded but resettled. The Great Yule Pine's age and living-wood bridges' sophistication suggest people lived here before The Longest Night. Perhaps desperate survivors found walls already standing, bridges already grown—ready-made sanctuary they moved into without understanding what existed before.
The Deliberate Sacrifice Theory: The grimmest possibility. Someone or something needed humans settled here, maintaining walls, feeding an entity, preserving bargains. The founders weren't survivors finding hope—they were pieces positioned for purposes beyond their comprehension.
The Great Yule Pine
The massive pine predates the town—tree-ring counting suggests 800-1,000 years old. It was ancient when founders arrived.
Founding texts call it "sacred ground." They built around it, made it central, established traditions of hanging memory-filled ornaments. But they didn't plant it. They found it and recognized something important.
What made it sacred? Does it mark the valley's power center—where river, ore, and entity intersect? Or is it simply an old tree desperate humans chose to revere?
Father Solace believes the pine is why the River Ys splits. Ice-Singers say river and tree connect at depths no human perceives. Guildmaster Thorne calls both views superstitious.
But everyone agrees: the pine is central to Silverwick's identity. Harm it, and something fundamental breaks.
What the Founders Knew
The founding generation knew things Silverwick has forgotten:
How to work warding ore with maximum efficiency
Full terms of the Midwinter Tithe bargain
Why the River Ys splits around The Hearthstone
Who "the one who showed us stone" truly was
What dwells in the Thornheart Grove and why it accepts tribute
The purpose behind living-wood bridges
The significance of the Great Yule Pine
They knew, and didn't fully record it. Either they believed oral tradition would suffice, deliberately kept knowledge restricted, or were forbidden from writing it down.
Three centuries later, Silverwick survives but no longer understands why. They maintain traditions without comprehending origins. They pay tribute without knowing what they're truly paying. They walk on bridges and shelter behind walls built by methods they can't replicate.
They live in a house built by someone else. The blueprints are missing.
The Founding Day Tradition
Once yearly on winter solstice, Silverwick commemorates its founding at the Great Yule Pine. Father Solace reads fragmentary texts. The Guild of Frost recounts the official story—survivors finding sanctuary, building walls, establishing community.
But the oldest ceremony part includes Father Solace speaking words in that ancient language—the same dead tongue used in Midwinter Tithe ritual. No one understands what the words mean. They're simply repeated because founding texts insist they must be.
Perhaps blessing. Perhaps thanks. Perhaps renewal of ancient promises.
Or perhaps reminder: We are still here. We remember our bargains. Please continue to honor yours.
The founders knew what they were saying. Silverwick has forgotten.
But they keep saying it anyway. Because tradition is survival. And in a world that tried to end humanity, you don't break patterns that kept you alive for three hundred years.
Even if you no longer understand why.