The View Aloft:
Haven: Remnants of Power
The old Plantation north of Termina became the refuge known as Haven.
HAVEN
Primary Cultural Influence: Human
Other Influences: Wood Dwarf & Gnome
Modifiers: Dexterity +1 / Wisdom +1 / Charisma -1
Languages: Common, Dwarven & Gnomish
Professions: Bards (40%), Clerics, Crafter, Fighters, Merchants, Nobels (20%), Paladin (15%) Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard
Skills: (Pick 2) Wood Shaping, Engineering, Edible Plants, Social Grace, Bartering, Seminary, Education, Scrapper
Ethos: Any
History
Before the Fall, the region near the base of Spirit Vale was dominated primarily by the Plantation. This was a Keeper’s farming facility where prisoners were brought to work a large area of farmland both to the west of the Plantation compound and further afield in the Spirit Vale to the north. Only prisoners who were of little security risk were allowed on the Plantation. This included inmates who were of the noble class and for whom physical labor in the fields was an unaccustomed and difficult experience. Nevertheless, conditions for the prisoners on the Plantation was far less harsh than those experienced in the stricter and far more punitive facilities such as Bastion or Khyran.
Immediately after the Fall, the Plantation faired better than most of the other Keeper facilities on Abarax. It had fields of crops and storage facilities on the Plantation which could supply their needs over time. Unfortunately, as time passed with no relief ships coming over the horizon, the other Keeper facilities – especially in the main city of Terminus – soon grew desperate for even the most basic needs.
Terminus itself became the focal point of the Possession Wars that followed resulting in its repeated sacking by the various factions that arose from the prisons. Keepers in Terminus fled primarily toward Eastbriar (now known as P’tar) as it had been their plan to hold out there until relief came from across the sea. However, there were a number of Keepers who were cut off from the Eastbriar Road who were forced to flee toward the Plantation. There, they hoped to establish contact with the Eastbriar Keepers and rejoin them there.
This was a doomed plan from the beginning. Those Keepers who fled to Eastbriar were soon overrun, a fate which ended in the tragedy known afterward as ‘The Drop.’ The Plantation itself soon was the target of the desperate pillaging armies of the Possession Wars but by the time they arrived, much of their strength had been spent. The Plantation buildings were largely destroyed but most of its fields remained intact and the invaders took only what they could carry leaving much behind.
Thus, was Haven born out of materials salvaged from the Plantation ruins. A town was constructed to the west of the original buildings largely comprised of human former inmates mixed with former Keepers as well as Wood Carver dwarves and several gnome clans. It became an early agricultural trade source as well as an important crossroads between the mechanical expertise of Salvage to the northeast and the other city-states to the south and west. Its eclectic heritage lives on today as a town where anything might happen.
Culture
Ethos. Haven itself was built of a hodgepodge of values that covers the entire spectrum of ethos. The best and the worst are found among them. Any Clan Ethos is acceptable as a cultural ethos in Haven.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Wood Dwarf and gnome. Humans typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Dragonborn curses, Fae musical expressions, Barong sayings, and so on.
Governance: After the Possession Wars, the descendants of the Keepers were able to reestablish their authority more strongly in Haven than any other place on Abarax. Three families emerged as controlling factions: the Bourdains, the Valshons and the Remanis. These three families have alternately allied or been at war privately for over a century but somehow have managed (often grudgingly) to maintain control of Haven. They have managed down the years to firmly root a local dynasty based on hereditary rule and an iron fist. They present a benevolent façade so long as everyone in the town pays protection to the masters and mistresses of Haven House. They preach the return of the imperial ships through the Imperator Chapel, which is patronized largely by a nobility of Keeper descendants and those who are trying to curry favor with them. Their rule is maintained through the strength of the Order of Haven -- a grandiose name given to a brutal gang of noble-sanctioned thugs dressed under a very thin layer of finery.
In more recent years, however, the struggle between the three families has spilled into blood and increased hardship for the people in the town. Tariffs and taxes have grown unbearable and the town has the feeling of a bottled fireball waiting to explode.