In the depths of every heart there is a tomb and a dungeon,
Though the lights, the music and revelry above may cause us to forget their
existence
And the buried ones or prisoners whom they hide.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Haunted Mind”
The Hamlet of Wiltshire
Welcome to the peaceful hamlet of Wiltshire, a village of honest country folk living off of the soil of the land and under the benevolent gaze of the noble House of Hartshorn. Found within the Kingdom of Darkon, Wiltshire is nestled just into the hilly edges of the Vesperwood above the floodplain of the Vale of Tears and only half a day's ride north of where the rivers Tempe and Somulus meet. The hamlet itself remains ever so slightly apart from the Vesperwood, for the forest is a haunted wood of rolling mists, maze like hills and the cursed creatures of your nightmares. Along the forest's edge and below its slopes can be found the hamlet's surrounding community of farming families, but only a few desperate or foolish families live within the forest itself.
Within the hamlet and surrounding community can be found a mixture of races with a strong human majority. The House of Hartshorn is the communities only prominent noble family, though there are stories of another house that has long since fallen in ruin. The rest of the folk of Wiltshire are commoners and merchants, living in extended families in which everyone tends to the family's one way of life. There are numerous kinds of families, from farming families to merchant families, but it is quite rare for families to be small or for lone members of a family to venture out on their own. The land of Darkon, even in fair Wiltshire, is dangerous and mysterious and to find any kind of security requires a strong family to support themselves. Non-humans within Wiltshire also tend to live within strong extended families, though it is more common to find a non-human pursuing a more dangerous way of life or living on their own. Deep within the Vesperwood, sunk down into a cursed boggy valley is a shanty town known as the Fallowmarsh. As horrid as the Vesperwood is, no citizen of Wiltshire in their right mind would venture into the Fallowmarsh for it is a rotting town of dark and unnatural magic, its population consisting only of the abominations known as the Caliban.
The master of the lands of Wiltshire is Lord Morgan Hartshorn, head of the House of Hartshorn. Like all families of Wiltshire, the Hartshorn family is large and extensive, consisting of numerous lines of relation, each one an extended family of their own. Other than a few distant relatives, the entire family lives within the Hartshorn Estate, sprawling over the Irecrag just outside the hamlet. On the edge of the forest and hamlet is a large cliff that rises out of the wood for over a hundred feet like a pillar. To gain entrance to the Estate requires a ride in a system of lifts worked by servants or an ascent upon the spiraling Bloodline Stair, upon which is the name of every member of the House of Hartshorn, a single name to each step. The Dwarven families of the hamlet have cast suspicious looks upon the Irecrag, but have always been wise enough to keep their suspicions to themselves about the cliff's supposed natural formation. However, the Irecrag has always been home of the Hartshorn and its family estate, for as long as anyone can remember. The Hartshorn's have, as long as anyone can remember, ruled the hamlet of Wiltshire and its surrounding land with a firm, but fair hand. Taxes are quite reasonable as well as Lord Morgan's wisdom, but woe to any who test his wrath for his justice is swift and final. One family that did so is now destroyed, a ruined noble house that believed itself to be above the rule of the Hartshorn. Lord Morgan's father lead the family against this arrogant family and razed it, plundering its wealth and leaving it in ash and ruins for its unholy crimes. It is rumored that the house may still exist in secret, seeking their vengeance against the honorable Hartshorn family. The only facet of any of the many stories and rumors that remains the same is the fallen house's name, the House of Drazor.
Wiltshire has a local economy based on the diverse resources nearby. The slopes make excellent grazing land for sheep and cattle, the lower lands are fairly fertile and can offer crops such as wheat, barley, rye and oats. Every family has a garden, some work large gardens and make their living exclusively upon potatoes, carrots, cabbage and grapes. The majority of the folk of Wiltshire make their living from farming, but there are other opportunities. The forest, if one can brave it, can yield timber, game, pelts and the occasional mine of silver, iron and gold. The Irecrag is rumored to hold a catacomb of mine shafts deep in the earth, worked by generations of slaves who supply the Hartshorns with their wealth. The rivers nearby are large enough to provide good fishing and could provide excellent trade routs to Karg, Maykle and Neblus if Morgan would allow it. For now the lands of Wiltshire trade exclusively with its own folk and they receive a more lenient tax to keep them satisfied with this arrangement.
Wiltshire has no standing forces, it is too small a town for such. The House of Hartshorn has its own small, but more than competent, house guard as well as its own family members who are talented in swordplay as one of the many pursuits of noblemen. Wiltshire does have a very small town guard funded by Hartshorn and overseen by the town's Magistrate. Although Lord Morgan himself is the final officer of law, judgement and justice within the lands of Wiltshire, he has of late appointed the duties of justice and peace to others. Each year Morgan appoints a Magistrate with all his authority and duty of peace and justice. The Magistrate serves for a year before Morgan appoints a new one, or reappoints the same one for another year of service. His choices come from his own family as often as from the common folk and many of the young nobles of Hartshorn vie for this position. Anyone who is asked to become Magistrate is under no obligation to accept, though it is seen as a great honor to be found worthy of shouldering the responsibility and authority of the Lord of Hartshorn. Each new Magistrate is allowed to take on up to a dozen Constables to aid him in his duties and is free to keep those from the Magistrate before him or appoint new aids in his service. Constables have various duties, from being direct assistants of the Magistrate's investigations, to overseeing specific responsibilities such as the town guard, tax collection, the town's jail and public work projects. Constables, like the Magistrate, need not accept the position. Most Magistrates choose to keep on former Constables since they know their duties well and it is seen as a mark of achievement and ability to manage the hamlet on as few Constables as possible. The laws of Wiltshire are standard, anything that harms another against his will is a crime and is judged in accordance with its severity. A fair, but firm eye for an eye justice system has been established for generations by the Hartshorn forefathers. The noble members of the Hartshorn enjoy a strong leniency from the Law, but occasionally suffer from the judgements of a vengeful commoner turned Magistrate. Ultimately it is up to the Magistrate to judge criminals according to his will, whim or wisdom, though straying too far from the example set by Lord Morgan will capture both his attention and wrath.
At the foot of the Irecrag, built from the stone of the cliff itself is the hamlet's one and only church, Our Lady of Restoration, the Church of Ezra. Consisting of the lawful neutral Home Faith sect of the Church of Ezra, the anchorites provide the hamlet with both skilled healers and fierce protectors. Clerics of Ezra can be found serving the hamlet within the city guard as well as being good choices for the position of Constable. For the five years of Azalin's absence from the Kingdom of Darkon The Eternal Order was abandoned and even outlawed by the Hartshorns. Since Azalin's reappearance, Lord Morgan has lifted this ban on The Eternal Order, but it is still an unwelcome faith. Ironically, though the organized religion of The Eternal Order is loathed, the fundamental folklore behind the religion has never been truly abandoned and all citizens of Wiltshire grow up fearing the Hour of Ascension and the Undead.
The community of Wiltshire is made up of simple country folk who do not take kindly to wielders of the arcane arts. It is common knowledge that those who bend these unnatural forces to their will do so through unholy pacts with demons. Nothing good has or ever will come of such foolishness and examples of just what happens to those who delve into forbidden knowledge can be found easily within the Fallowmarsh. The Church of Ezra supports this opinion and any who flaunt such unnatural powers are shunned, branded, banished to the Fallowmarsh or executed. Any Caliban or arcane user who has ventured into Wiltshire too often has been captured and branded upon the forehead with a rune of warning to others of Darkon that the bearer is a cursed creature.
Wiltshire suffers from a unique status within the feudal monarchy system of rule that High King Azalin Rex has restored to the land of Darkon, it is part of no fiefdom. During the chaos of Azalin's absence the borders of Neblus and Karg shifted often and the Barons of both cities were replaced by inner treachery and assassination on numerous occasions. When order was restored by Azalin's restoration, Wiltshire found itself on the border of Neblus and Karg, but part of neither province and has since then been overlooked. This problem and its many heavily consequential solutions have weighed heavily upon Lord Morgan's family. While the absence of a Baron and an owed tribute has allowed Wiltshire and the House of Hartshorn to grow in prosperity and freedom, Morgan knows it is only a matter of time before one of the nearby Barons discovers his hamlet or worse, one of Kargat discovers the hamlet and its hoarded tribute. Morgan is no fool however and will risk discovery in order to investigate which Baron will best serve his own interest. Morgan may also procrastinate from approaching one of the Baron's in order to harbor the desire to approach High King Azalin Rex himself with the hoarded tribute in the hopes of being made a Baron himself.
As non-humans are more common in Darkon that any other domain and more common in Wiltshire than most other settlements in Darkon, the racial outcast rating for all non-humans is reduced by one, except the Caliban. Any stranger who enters Wiltshire is immediately the recipient of an increase of one to their outcast rating, until they become known and familiar to the hamlet. Anyone who is known to practice the arcane arts gains an increase of one to their outcast rating and those branded gain another increase of one. It is even possible to gain a Reputation Rating that gives a bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information and Perform checks, but does not effect Intimidate checks. All members of the House of Hartshorn start with a Reputation Rating of one. All of these modifications are subject only within the Hamlet of Wiltshire and its surrounding community.
