Darkmoon Vale Civilization

The town of Olfden perches on a low cliff at the edge of a rise, where the gradual decline of the shelf gives way to a sudden drop. The town of Falcon’s Hollow stands at the northern edge of the plain, near the ever-shrinking Darkmoon Wood. In the west, practically on the border with Cheliax in the Aspodell Mountains, stands Piren’s Bluff, a tiny community built around the mining of the nearby mountain peaks.

Most of Darkmoon Vale’s dangers remain outside of town walls and city gates.

Neighbors

While civilization seems to actively avoid Darkmoon Vale, it has little problem developing in the areas surrounding the insular vale. The following descriptions offer a brief look at the largest or most influential civilized locations of interest near Darkmoon Vale. The interactions of these locations with Valers varies greatly.

Highhelm: an ancient and expansive dwarven Sky Citadel within and beneath lofty Emperor’s Peak, Highhelm remains the center of dwarven culture on Avistan, as it has for millennia. Northeast of Highhelm, dwarves control the Five Kings Mountains with unquestioned authority, and passage among the many high peaks remains relatively safe from living dangers. Dwarven caravans from Highhelm seldom come to Darkmoon Vale, as most of them head west into Isger or Molthune. Roughly two or three times a decade, though, a group of Highhelm merchants gathers together and sends a caravan along the treacherous scree-covered trails that wind perilously through the mountains. The dwarves prefer to hire dozens of mercenaries to augment their tough dwarven guards and to act as arrow-fodder and spear-catchers during the inevitable attacks on these wealthy caravans.

Oregent: This large city several miles south of Darkmoon Vale houses the main office of the Lumber Consortium as well as it massive factory-like forges and sawmills. The government and people of Oregent consider themselves friends and allies of Darkmoon Vale, and particularly of Falcon’s Hollow. Most newcomers to the Vale originate in Oregent, either as citizens from that city or as travelers passing through from points south and east. In addition to company policies and replacement lumberjacks, Oregent also provides Darkmoon Vale with its main connection to the greater world beyond. Information flows into Olfden and Falcon’s Hollow through Oregent, and many Valers suspect the news provided to them also flows through a Lumber Consortium filter, painting the company in the best possible light.

Inn of the Wood: Situated a short day’s walk south of Olfden, Inn of the Wood is a popular place to relax for those traveling to or from Darkmoon Vale. The inn is the easiest place to find the sheriff of the Shire of Elberwick, Cage Blunnde. It is also the only safe place to spend a night between Olfden and Oregent, so it is frequently crowded.

Olfden

Although Olfden is more than twice the size of Falcon’s Hollow, it offers less than half the excitement. The people of Olfden are not stupid, and they can see the end of logging revenue in the future – not in their lifetimes, perhaps, but likely in the lives of their children or grandchildren. As a result, Olfden continues to look for new reasons to draw people to the area and for a whole new purpose in existing. With a relatively recent upsurge of interest in Raseri Kanton, Droskar’s Crag, and Darkmoon Vale in general, Olfden has positioned itself as a base of operations for exploratory groups and adventurers.

Where Falcon’s Hollow provides plenty of opportunities for adventure, Olfden provides adventurers with plenty of goods and services they need. Dozens of small shops, inns, and other businesses cater to the needs of the courageous.

Situated not quite halfway between Falcon’s Hollow and Oregent and perched on a low cliff along the Elberwick Rise, Olfden acts as the major civilizing element in the wild dale. With the help of the Diamond Regiment (whose headquarters, Adamas, stands only a few miles away) and the elusive Fangwatch (which only interacts with the town through the Diamond Regiment), Olfden works constantly to suppress the area’s werewolves and to ensure the safe passage of darkwood-laden convoys.

Olfden provides a relatively safe place to live for its inhabitants, as well as enough diversions – both classy and decidedly not – to make the town a bearable place to live.

Piren’s Bluff

The town of Piren’s Bluff looks like a traditional Andoren town, with a walled keep acting as the seat of power and the rest of the town sprawled out around it. The wooden palisade provides adequate protection against most threats. And when it doesn’t, the town folk can retreat inside the keep to defend themselves. Piren’s Bluff is large enough that strangers can mingle with the town folk without calling attention to themselves. As a border town, standing as it does on the border with Cheliax, Piren’s Bluff sees a lot of traffic – merchants, adventurers, hunters, and trappers who ply their trade in the Aspodell Mountains and Arthfell Forest. Smugglers occasionally even bring Darkmoon Vale darkwood through Piren’s Bluff, despite the random searches of caravans coming through. Because of darkwood’s strategic importance, those caught smuggling it out of Andoran are hauled off to Adamas and never seen again.

Due to the rocky terrain Piren’s Bluff sits on, growing food is difficult and so trade becomes essential for the town’s survival. Fortunately for its residents, Piren’s Bluff stands only a few miles from the Aspodell Crossroads, so food and other commodities from Andoran and Cheliax constantly flow through the town, which in turn supplies both countries with an abundance of iron ore.

Lumber Consortium

A holdover from the days when Andoran existed as a province of Cheliax, the Lumber Consortium has watched its fortunes and influence wane with the rise of democracy. Although a mere shadow of what it was at its height, the Lumber Consortium nonetheless continues to exert incredible influence over certain regions and communities, particularly in the wild corners of Andoran. Nowhere is this continued power more obvious than in Darkmoon Vale, where the consortium’s major tree-felling operation occurs. The consortium owns the entire town of Falcon’s Hollow including, residents say, their very souls.

Management: No one man controls the consortium. A board of directors, all of whom share a controlling interest in the endeavor, oversees the operations of the collective, forming long-term and large-scale strategies and leaving the day-to-day operations to on-site foremen (known as gavels). The powerful and unscrupulous men who sit on the board of directors include lumber barons and timber magnates, all of whom make their fortunes on the backs of lumberjacks and at the expense of the forests. Never a group possessing high moral standards, members of the board have become increasingly sadistic and cruel as their power has eroded. Whispers tie a few of the directors to the mysteriously sinister Aspis Consortium.

Two gavels – down from the heyday of the consortium’s power, when more than a dozen of such men existed – maintain absolute control over the last of the consortium’s holdings. In Darkmoon Vale, the gavel is Thuldrin Kreed, a hateful and hate-filled man whose sadistic and cruel ways keep the town pinned under his callused thumb. As a gavel, Thuldrin Kreed has absolute control over the consortium’s presence in Darkmoon Vale, including its employees and hard assets. As long as he squeezes out a larger profit each year, Thuldrin Kreed can do no wrong in the eyes of the consortium (whose barristers have saved the gavel from the gallows on at least four occasions). With the passage of each year, though, it becomes ever more difficult for Kreed to increase his profits, resulting in ever-more horrific displays of exploitation and greed.

As a side-effect of his increasingly desperate need to turn a profit, Thuldrin Kreed keeps only one full-time underling: Payden Teedum. In addition to his loyal lackey, Kreed also keeps on retainer two other professionals who only infrequently work for him. One, a scribe named Weston, travels from Olfden for several days every few months in order to organize and update the operation’s books. The other, a young woman named Jillia Apta, appears two or three times per year to clean and organize both the consortium’s office and Kreed’s own house (usually just a few days before an inspection or visit from one of the consortium’s directors).

Despite his incorrigibly evil ways, Thuldrin Kreed actually represents an improvement in Falcon’s Hollow. His predecessor, a Lumber Consortium gavel named Kaxel Thaulrose, exalted in the town’s anguish and took greater pains in squeezing from the town and lumberjacks everything they had – body, soul, and mind. People who lived in Falcon’s Hollow under Thaulrose do not exactly praise Kreed’s less evil ways, but they do remind younger residents, “It could be worse”.

Business: The Lumber Consortium retains a monopoly over darkwood and other hardwoods feeding into Almas and Augustana, and it is thanks only to this absolute control that it has managed to survive. Every attempt by the Andoran People’s Council to shut down, break up, or otherwise compromise the excessive power of the Lumber Consortium has resulted in a cessation of delivery on the part of the collective. Although these refusals to deliver hurt the consortium’s profitability in the short term, they cripple the all-important shipbuilding industry in Andoran’s largest port cities. To date, every standoff has seen Andoran blink first, although rumors whisper that the last work stoppage very nearly bankrupted the consortium. The only power Andoran truly holds over the Lumber Consortium is exclusivity.

While the consortium holds a monopoly on hardwoods in the country, it may only sell its commodities in and to Andoran. For this reason, the Eagle Knights frequently perform investigations into Lumber Consortium practices, looking for violations of the trade restrictions and thus an excuse to shut down the operation. To date, the knights have never found any legally admissible evidence pointing at the consortium’s wrongdoing.

Within Darkmoon Vale, the Lumber Consortium controls most of the cutyards in and around Darkmoon Wood. Independent cutyards are allowed only to fell alder, pine, and other softwoods, and any darkwood or other hardwood trees they bring down are, by law, to be sold to the consortium for a fraction of the timber’s value. Those lumberjacks who refuse to affiliate with the consortium (and agree to its horrendously exploitative labor and pay practices) are often muscled out of business or simply disappear, even if they cooperate with the consortium and only harvest softwoods.

Employees: In Darkmoon Vale alone, the consortium employs 300 lumberjacks and 140 “security guards” – at best mercenaries and at worst hardened criminals given an air of legitimacy. These security guards do actually protect the lumberjacks from wolves and other predators in and around Darkmoon Wood, but that is hardly their primary purpose. Mostly, the security guards exist to put pressure on independent lumberjacks (often attempting to “persuade” those who don’t work with or for the consortium to change their minds). The guards also ensure that independent lumberjacks only harvest softwoods or turn over any hardwoods they fell. Although the Lumber Consortium vigorously defends its security guards and claims they operate within the bounds of the law, the Fangwatch has, on multiple occasions, uncovered dead independent lumberjacks obviously cut down by human weapons. Neither the rangers nor the Diamond Regiment have thus far found proof that ties the Lumber Consortium to these mysterious deaths, but most people in the vale suspect the “security guard” thugs are behind the murders.

Lumberjacks affiliated with the consortium work 12-hour days, 5 days a week, plus a shorter 6-hour day on Starday. They rest on Sunday, and many spend most of that day sleeping. For their labors, lumberjacks receive 2 silvers per week. The consortium does provide bonuses (of up to 5 silver), delivered on each solstice. Lumberjacks injured by accident (when they are at fault) and who cannot work can expect almost no support from the consortium, and most starve to death when their food runs out. On the other hand, lumberjacks attacked by fey and other local menaces or those harmed by accidents caused by others receive pensions and the best care the consortium can afford. Most employees of the forges in Oregent are lumberjacks recovering from injuries or wounds. For this reason, many lumberjacks secretly hope to be attacked while at work, provoking fey and wild beasts they find. The consortium buries more than two dozen lumberjacks and transfers another dozen or so to other jobs every year.

Conditions for other consortium laborers, while onerous, are much better than those of lumberjacks. Forge workers, for example, can expect to make 4 silvers per week, with solstice bonuses up to 1 gold.

Suppliers: The Lumber Consortium owns all of Falcon’s Hollow and everything within it (many people in Olfden and Almas bitterly remark that it also owns the downtrodden people of that town). The consortium imports all its tools (from the ubiquitous axes and saws of lumbermen to the largest lumber wagons) from its massive forges in Oregent, the raw supplies of which it gets as part of its contract with the government of Andoran. This monopoly of raw-materials supplies from the government helps ensure that Andoran can still exert some amount of non-punitive control over the consortium. Evidence occasionally surfaces, however, that the consortium smuggles in pig iron from other nations, but the company’s barristers always find ways to quickly suppress such unwholesome facts.

Relations: As might be imagined, the Lumber Consortium’s relationship with the government of Andoran can best be defined as “strained”. Neither cares for the other, but they rely on one another in a strangely symbiotic way. The government in Almas supplies the Lumber Consortium with the raw materials it needs to make its tools, the consortium supplies Andoran with nearly all of the nation’s hardwoods and much of its softwoods, and government buyers buy up every board-foot of lumber the company churns out. Despite this pat arrangement, both sides constantly look for loopholes in the trade agreements, with Andoran seeking out cheaper supplies of wood and the Lumber Consortium smuggling in iron and smuggling out darkwood to parties who pay more.

Resulting both from its monopoly and also from its treatment of its employees (who are often called slaves by those wishing to break up the company), the Lumber Consortium has few friends outside of the Andoran government (not that it has many within the People’s Council). Most citizens who live outside of Darkmoon Vale or the consortium’s other heavily controlled area – the Verduran Forest in Andoran – know little about the company or its practices, but many have heard nothing good about it. Occasionally, sympathetic people in Almas, Bellis, and Carpenden organize protests against the Lumber Consortium and its treatment of its employees. These well-meaning protests tend to have no effect (outside of making the protestors feel better about themselves) and are quickly forgotten by those in positions of power. More rarely, organized groups of well-meaning people work within the system in attempts to crack the consortium’s monopoly, shut down its suppliers, or otherwise disrupt its business to the point of forcing change. For the most part, those who participate in these sorts of actions tend to fade quickly into obscurity – usually due to unfortunate “accidents” that claim their lives.

Despite an entire nation guiltily tolerant of its indecencies and numerous groups bent on its destruction, the Lumber Consortium is not without its supporters. Those whose lives depend on the consortium – aside from the lumberjacks, who are both the most vital and worst-treated employees – are more than willing to look the other way when questions of the company’s ethics come up. For the most part, these affiliated companies and people exist within Augustana (home of Andoran’s massive shipyards and prime benefactor of the consortium’s inexpensive lumber) and Oregent (where the consortium started and still maintains an office, where most of its directors live, and where its immense forges and sawmills stand). In fact, Oregent only exists because of the consortium, and nearly 8 jobs in 10 in the town exist – directly or indirectly – thanks to it.

Syntira and her druidic allies (both the Greenfire Circle and the Third Veil) have attempted on numerous occasions to make contact with Thuldrin Kreed and establish some sort of discussion. Kreed has rejected every attempt, often contemptuously. For obvious reasons, the fey queen and druids hope the Lumber Consortium changes its ways, and to that end they occasionally engage in sabotage and harrying tactics. Lately, dark whispers by lumberjacks speak of fey also employing violent tactics, although, to date, there remains little actual proof of this.

Silverers

Despite the hatred of werewolves in Darkmoon Vale, those who live in the region realize that most lycanthropes are also people. As such, most captured werewolves can expect to face a quick and painless beheading from a silvered axe.

Not all Valers treat their lycanthrope enemies with such reasoning and mercy, though. One movement in particular devised a cruel ad excruciating way of both torturing and killing captured werewolves. Calling themselves Silverers, members of this group (all of them common folk with a bit of wealth, such as landed farmers or merchants) concoct a suspension consisting of silver and wolfsbane. When a known (or suspected) werewolf is caught, Silverers infiltrate wherever it is held and force the creature to drink the elixir. If a werewolf is too strong for the Silverers to overpower and force-feed the elixir, the Silverers first throw a dose of the liquid into its face, taking the fight out of all but the most powerful lycanthropes.

A werewolf (or other lycanthrope) subjected to the Silverers’ elixir dies in a most excruciating way. The silver in the elixir attacks the werewolf’s body, causing an intense burning pain wherever it contacts exposed flesh (such as the lycanthrope’s esophagus). Like a mild acid, the silver eats away at a werewolf’s digestive tract, ripping away its stomach lining and causing blood to pool in the creature’s stomach. Through the werewolf’s weakened stomach walls, the silver leaches into its bloodstream, where it quickly spreads throughout the creature’s entire body, causing severe internal hemorrhaging that leads, eventually, to death. The entire process takes roughly 2 minutes, during which time the werewolf is subjected to such intense agony that most pass out after the first 30 seconds or so. Even after death, the uncontrollable spasming caused by the werewolf’s body ripping apart from within continues for hours. The woflsbane in the elixir serves no real purpose other than as insurance against the creature’s survival.

When Silverers first made themselves known to the people of Darkmoon Vale, the commonfolk initially celebrated their arrival. At last, the Valers reasoned, someone was going to stand up to the werewolves and show them how it felt to live in fear. That reaction changed to horror upon the Silverers’ first public demonstration of their technique in Falcon’s Hollow. When the test subject finally stopped screaming and lay silently dying on the stage, the people of Falcon’s Hollow rose up in protest. No one complained about the death of a werewolf, only in the method and gruesomeness of its death. Today, Silverers stay hidden to avoid persecution from those opposed to their practices.

Races in Darkmoon Vale

All of the common races live in or very near Darkmoon Vale, although humans and dwarves dominate the region.

Humans: Most humans in Darkmoon Vale come from Chelish stock, although Ulfen blood is readily evident. Nearly every human ethnicity has some representation in the vale, usually within almost-cosmopolitan Olfden.

Dwarves: The dwarven influence around Darkmoon Vale is very strong, particularly in the northern section of the region where the mountains give way to foothills. More influential than even the ubiquitous humans, dwarves reigned supreme in the northern parts of Darkmoon Vale for millennia – far longer than any other race. Although they can no longer muster the numbers they possessed at the height of their civilization, dwarves nonetheless continue to return to the Five Kings Mountains. As part of that resettlement effort, many end up on the flanks of Droskar’s Crag, which leads them into Darkmoon Vale. As a result, the stoutfolk represent a relatively high percentage of the vale’s rural population. The dwarves don’t frequently live in the human towns, but they do a great deal of trade with Olfden (for foodstuffs and other supplies) and Piren’s Bluff (for the raw ore mined nearby).

Elves: Never a stronghold for elves, even at the height of their power, Arthfell Forest (and later, Darkmoon Wood) was always seen as the sovereign home of Queen Syntira of the fey. As a result, at most, the elves maintained a small enclave surrounding its embassy. When the elves retreated from the world, though, that enclave disappeared. Only in the past few years, as the elven presence on Golarion has finally grown enough to warrant it, have the elves returned to Darkmoon Vale. What they found here depressed them. As a result, a number of adventurous elves came to the vale to work toward reuniting the forest and supporting the plight of the fey. These goals, of course, make elves in the area unpopular with the human majority, and even those elves who don’t know of or support the “elf agenda” in the region face prejudice and anger.

Gnomes: As former members of the First World and still connected somewhat to fey, gnomes find Darkmoon Wood a comforting and welcoming place. Many gnomes serve Syntira as spies, soldiers, alchemists, and diplomats. A fair number belong to the Greenfire Circle and happily (if by no means skillfully) act as ambassadors and go-betweens between the fey and the humans. In the towns of Darkmoon Vale, gnomes do as they do in other civilized locations across Avistan: they try desperately (but fail spectacularly) to fit in. Their racial oddness and uncomfortable connection with fey make gnomes a distrusted lot in the vale, and their overeager attempts to fit in wins them few friends and many enemies.

Half-elves: Despite the tensions between humans and elves in the area, humans continue to find elves breathtakingly beautiful and elves still find humans forever intriguing. As a result, every few years, a half-elf is born in Darkmoon Vale. The most famous is Falcon’s Hollow’s sheriff, Deldrin Baleson. Of course, half-elves born elsewhere also occasionally immigrate into the region, but the race remains relatively rare.

Half-orcs: As a wild, frontier area with an economy based on a labor-intensive industry, the strength and toughness of half-orcs make them welcome lumberjacks and security guards. For this often disparaged and hated race, Darkmoon Vale is a land of opportunity, where hard work and a natural talent for thuggery makes advancement truly possible. Indeed, one of the most powerful people in Falcon’s Hollow is a half-orc, and he employs several other half-orcs as bouncers and heavies (no one, not even the half-orcs, thinks Kabran Bloodeye does this out of racial loyalty, but instead only because half-orcs make excellent bouncers and heavies).

Halflings: Escaped halfling slaves who brave the Aspodell Mountains tend to end up in Olfden. There they work as they did in Cheliax, as house servants, chimney sweeps, and other light laborers. In general, halflings are unpopular in Darkmoon Vale, both because they carry the stigma of possibly being ex-slaves of Cheliax (an area of contention between the neighboring nations of Andoran and Cheliax that continues to cause boil-ups in border regions like Darkmoon Vale) and because valers cling to a long-held belief that halflings don’t carry their own weight. Of course, those who subscribe to this “lazy halfling” theory forget that halflings require much less sustenance to live. Regardless, halflings know they aren’t welcome in Darkmoon Vale, and many leave as soon as they can, resulting in a relatively low number of them.

Religion

While not a particularly religious or spiritual bunch, the people of Darkmoon Vale nonetheless pay lip-service to numerous divine entities. Among the 20 most powerful and common gods of Golarion, only Gozreh, Iomedae, and Sarenrae have managed to acquire “worshipers” here. They frequently compete with older faiths for the hearts of Valers.

Asmodeus: Although the worship of the archdevil Asmodeus is hardly welcome in Andoran, the accepting tolerance exhibited by Cheliax makes his reverence along the border almost a surety. Certainly, a number of Piren’s Bluff citizens bow to the infernal god, as evidenced by the existence of the Pact Hall in that town.

Droskar: Of course, any discussion of religion within Darkmoon Vale must include the cruel dwarven god of toil. Although the dwarves originally attempted to hide their conversion to the worship of Droskar, they eventually abandoned their poorly kept secret and went so far as to name a mountain and various structures after the god of toil.

Gozreh: Surprisingly, the very lumberjacks who exploit nature and cause its destruction also frequently bend knees to Gozreh, the god of nature. The loggers pray to Gozreh in his aspect as the god of weather, entreating him for sunny (but not too hot) skies and cool (but not cold) nights.

Iomedae: Thanks to the unpopular temple of Iomedae in Falcon’s Hollow and Iomedaen paladins in Adamas, the Inheritor has a disproportionally large presence in Darkmoon Vale. The wide presence of her faith should not, however, be confused with popularity, for her church lags behind those of Gozreh and Sarenrae in numbers.

Sarenrae: The Dawnflower’s faith came to Darkmoon Vale with St. Elth, a pious and righteous cleric of Sarenrae who fell during Baron Novotnian’s conquest of the region. A relatively large temple of Sarenrae stands in Olfden.

Green Faith: Predating the arrival of even Droskar’s church, older faiths have long held sway over Darkmoon Vale. These ancient beliefs, collectively known as the Green Faith, continue on in Darkmoon Vale despite the best efforts of churches of newer deities. The Green Faith focuses on ritualized communing with natural forces, particularly the Five Elements of Green – air, earth, fire, life, water. Most of the druids in Darkmoon Vale (including the evil ones) practice some version of the Green Faith.

Cults: Rumors say that worshipers of Urgathoa and Zon-Kuthon hide among the populations of Olfden and Falcon’s Hollow. The church of Iomedae staunchly refutes these claims, but the whispers predate the Iomedaen temple and persist to this day. On the other hand, these whispers only ever seem to begin when an unexplained murder or disappearance occurs.

Night of Silver Blood

In the middle of the night, just as 11 Arodus turned into the 12^th, 4707, at the height of a full moon on a clear summer night, an army of battle-hungry hobgoblins and hunched-backed werewolves swept from Arthfell Forest. In the most coordinated werewolf attack Olfden had ever faced, the army enveloped the town and immediately set to work building up besieging fortifications and rolling in siege weapons. Trebuchet and catapults rained down destruction on the town’s walls, while hobgoblin archers arced burning arrows into the settlement, igniting the wood and thatched-roof buildings within. Worse, the silvered weapons that Olfden’s defenders relied on seemed to have no effect at all on the werewolves. Strangely, though, whenever silvered weapons struck werewolves, the creatures seemed to bleed silver-colored blood.

During the long night, three waves of werewolves, bolstered by hobgoblin allies and led by Shadow Pack druids, assaulted the town walls, striking from the west, the south, and the east. Olfden’s defenders, used to raids from small groups of werewolves and unprepared for the massive and well-organized assault (to say nothing of the strange silver immunity), very nearly lost the walls at several breaches. Fortunately for the town, however, the heroics of several individuals held the attackers at bay long enough for a sortie of Diamond Regiment soldiers and Fangwatch rangers to break the siege.