Trebkernstad (Skijspik, lit.: "city of the wayfinder Treb") was a Ferdskjonner settlement on the Mjnfar Peninsula, northern Ferdrskjisle. It was founded in a common effort by three clans.

Layout

The town had begun as a cluster of warehouses and habitations on the gravel coast, on the east bank of the Trebflur river. New buildings simply grew from there, spreading out along the coast and heading further inland. The settlement was surrounded by a wide moat-and-levee palisade fortification around 800 b. OW. The northern part of town, nicknamed the "Borg" (literally: "city"), was sectioned off by an additional palisade; this was where the wealthier citizens and accomodations laid, separate from the bustling port, markets, and animals and gardens.

A large stave church dedicated to Ferda, considered the patron spirit of all Mjnfar, was built in 809 b. OW on a former field. An alcove opposite the main rise was dedicated to Gaia, in honor of the town's older tradition for that spirit.

Part of the land west of the river was also built up, and connected via a guarded bridge to the main town. This part, the "Windside", was used by some manufactories - including the tannery and butchery - as well as the very poorest folk.

North of the village, in the early days a reasonable distance away from the coastal habitations, was a small promontory hill, on which the colonists built their first earth-and-wood fortification. This was expanded into a large three-story stone bergfried with a small walled courtyard, and was known simply as the "city chief's castle"; on maps, it was often marked Trebkernstad Castle. A stone building next to it, initially a chapel dedicated to Gaya, was later used as a military garrison, and then as an annex for the castle.

Economy

As a colonial venture, Trebkernstad was founded with economic profitability for its patrons in mind - i.e., valuable export goods. It was a trade hub from the very beginning: there had been hunting expeditions in centuries prior, and now even local hunters and small communities had been established in the vast pine forests. They brought the valuable furs they'd hunted down to Trebkernstad to trade. By 850, the first tannery was opened, treating the raw materials on the spot and releasing noxious scuds in the river.

The town grew beyond the size of a trade outpost most of all thanks to its fishing industry, exploiting the rich Mjnfar coast. As it grew even larger and became a regular small city, it adopted additional businesses, including logging, textile mills (making use of flax fibers cultivated in the fields that popped up around the settlement), other manufactories geared at the local rather than the overwater market, and visitor accommodations.

Politics

Officially a dependency of its founder clans, the city was in practice administered by a single official, called the "city chief". He was notionally the representative of the patron clans, but in practice, as long as he was sufficiently forthcoming, he was simply whoever could get hold of local power. He collected taxes much like a clan would (and gave the proper amount to the church), commanded a corps of semi-professional local militia, and oversaw a simple local system of governance quite similar to the usual clan and its elder council.

Trekling Wars

When Drubark began invading Mjnfar in 633 b. OW at the start of the Trekling Wars, Trebkernstad saw some action; Ferdskjonner troops used it to defend, and then evacuate the peninsula. The city chief and about half his residents chose to stay when the orcs came to occupy, living as a new client owing heavy taxes to orcish overlords and serving as a minor military base.

In 629, a Drubark army retreated across the bridge into Trebkernstad in retreat. The Ferdskjonner besieged both the town and the occupied castle, eventually forcing the orcs' surrender after their relief army failed to arrive. But the city had been ravaged by war. It was then used as a military camp for two years, troops landed on the shore and used the deserted buildings as lodgings (the castle had been reduced to rubble in a fire), but virtually all economic activity had ceased. After the troops left, the town was left deserted.