Stillsong Pines

Stillsong Pines

Stillsong Pines sits in the east-central Oblivion Vale. It is a tight forest of straight pines on hard, dry ground. After the Drying, the soil lost most surface moisture and the air carries fine dust. Open water does not exist here. Survival depends on deep wells, sealed cistern vaults, and strict control of fire and cutting. The inner forest is held by the Stillsong Enclave, a gnome realm built on engineering and secrecy. Entry is controlled by marked lanes, watch posts, and sealed gates.

Land and Conditions

The pines stand close and tall. Lower branches are sparse because light and water are limited. Undergrowth is thin and often cut back to reduce fire risk and improve sight lines. The ground is packed needles, dry sand, and exposed root ridges. Old river channels cut through the forest as shallow, empty trenches. Some are lined with stone from pre-Drying works and now serve as road beds. Wind is common. It carries grit into lungs, locks, and pump housings. Storms are short and violent, so runoff can cut lanes and expose buried hatches.

Water System and Engineering

Water sites are the true center of Stillsong. Wells are deep and narrow, drilled through hard layers and lined with stone or fired pipe. Many are hidden under root lines with low hatches and false sheds. Cistern vaults sit deeper, with sealed doors and vents cut to avoid detection. Pumps and filters use valves, pressure rings, and grease seals that can be serviced without opening main lines. Each major line has a ledger mark and a matching seal stamp. A broken seal is treated as an alarm, not as wear.

Leak reports are treated like crimes. A leak can mean sabotage, theft, or a failed oath. Pump crews record pressure shifts, filter changes, and valve work. Grease, sand, and spare parts are issued by tally. If a crew cannot explain loss, they are locked out of the line until an inspector clears them. Punishment can include ration cuts, exile from inner lanes, or forced labor in outer yards.

The Stillsong Enclave

The Enclave is a small kingdom that survives by planning and controlled trade. Reservoir wardens, craft heads, and border planners hold real authority. Leaders are judged by stable volumes, intact lines, and low loss rates. The Enclave avoids open war. It relies on traps, misdirection roads, and treaty clauses that buy time.

Workshops are built low and quiet. Many doors are buried, screened, or set behind false walls. Tool sheds are plain on purpose. The inner forest bans open flame except in sealed pits. Lanterns sit behind slats. Smoke vents are filtered and dispersed through pine screens.

Law, Passes, and Lanes

Stillsong is not a public forest. Entry lanes are marked by posts with seal marks and numbered plates. Bell wires and trip cords run along key cuts. Some lanes hold camouflaged pits or deadfall rigs. Escorts know safe steps and signal calls. Watchers use short whistles and shuttered lantern flashes.

Passes are stamped and time limited. A pass lists the permitted lane, the escort name, and the allowed hours. Many passes include a tool list, because tools are counted like weapons. Any unlisted blade, saw, or auger can be seized. Unauthorized fires are treated as assault on the Enclave. Unapproved cutting is treated as theft. Water theft is treated as treason in practice.

Economy and Supply Chain

Stillsong timber is valuable because it is straight and dry. Cutting is done by quota. Cut lines are planned months ahead. Each log is tagged, counted, and stacked at guarded yards. Before leaving the forest, timber is stamped and matched to a ledger entry. The Eastern Ledger-State relies on these stamps to track casks, crates, and building stock across depots and store towns. This link brings wealth and danger. It also brings inspectors, contract clauses, and penalties for delay.

Caravans move by schedule under treaty clauses. Guards are paid in ration notes that can be redeemed at approved depots. The Enclave prefers ration notes to coin because coin does not keep pumps running. Caravans carry pumps, filters, seal kits, and precision craft goods out of Stillsong. In return, they bring grain, metal stock, medical salts, and lamp oil.

Food and Hidden Production

Stillsong cannot feed itself through open farming. The Enclave uses small orchard pockets where soil is improved with compost and careful drip lines. These orchards are fenced and guarded like wells. The Enclave also relies on fungus halls. These are low underground chambers with controlled humidity and strict spore handling. They produce food, feed for small livestock, and raw material for some medicines and seal pastes.

Security and Threat Patterns

Raiders target Stillsong for tools and water, not for land. They ambush scheduled caravans and try to capture engineers. They also try to steal pass stamps and escort tags. In response, the Enclave uses false trails, dummy pump sheds, and trap lanes that funnel intruders into hard ground where sound carries. Outer lanes use visible guards to deter raids and satisfy treaty partners. Inner lanes rely on silence, misdirection, and sudden response.

The Golems of Stillsong

Constructs appear in Stillsong because living labor is scarce and trust is fragile. Not all constructs in the pines serve the Enclave.

Clay Golems
Clay golems are used in outer work yards and emergency trenching. They are shaped from pit mud, ash, and ground bone. They dig, haul, and brace walls without rest. The Enclave uses them when drought labor would break a living crew. Clay golems are kept away from orchards and well heads because their collapse can foul soil. Crews also keep wet stores locked, because a damaged clay golem will smear itself together with any wet matter it can reach.

Stone Golems
Stone golems exist in older sites within Stillsong. Some were carved from blocks taken from pre-Drying river works and old shrine stones. They stand near sealed ruins, culvert shrines, and abandoned channel markers. They attack any living thing that disturbs the blocks or breaks old cuts. Their presence makes some dead channels dangerous even when the ground looks empty.

Iron Golems
Iron golems are escort tools on high value convoys. Charter houses and state depots rent them to protect caskyards and deep pumps, and to break riots at timber yards. In Stillsong, an iron golem is most often seen at a gate station or stamped log yard during loading. They follow stamped orders and seal slots, not voices. This makes forged orders a serious risk, so inspectors treat any mismatch as a major security event.

Flesh Golems
Flesh golems are not an accepted Enclave tool. They are built from plague-pit corpses and obey simple token marks. Their presence in Stillsong is tied to crime and war. Raiders and outlaw surgeons have used flesh golems to guard stolen wells, hold hostages, and push through trap lanes without fear. When a flesh golem is found, Enclave inspectors treat it as proof that a plague camp, corpse dealer, or oath-break mage is operating nearby.

Faith and Social Pressure

Stillsong is not ruled by temples, but faith shapes behavior. Life rites appear around orchards, births, and injury care, tied to ration discipline. Death rites are enforced hard near body work, because rot and panic spread fast in a closed forest. Fate language is common in treaties, seals, and escort oaths, because the Enclave survives by contract. The gods do not speak, and blessings are not treated as proof.

Social pressure is constant. Everyone is measured. Every task has a tally. A missed stamp or a loose seal can destroy a family’s status. Outsiders often call Stillsong cold. Enclave citizens call it necessary.

Current State

Stillsong Pines endures because it treats water and timber as law. The Enclave is valuable to the Eastern Ledger-State, but it is also a target. Raider probes, quota pressure, and seal fraud are constant. The forest stays stable only while pumps keep running and fires stay small.