Poori

Poori is the last town on the usual inland sea merchant routes as they ply their way along the Gulf and north through choppy waters and ship-flipping gusts. Its main goods are timber, furs, and meat collected from the vast swamps and forests stretching several weeks' hike further inland. The people are mostly too poor to buy much from the passing merchantmen. For these two reasons many vessels pass it by altogether, turning back south from Gar to more profitable ports.

Poori is one of the gateways to the Old Ways. It is at one time the last bastion of civilization which struggles to maintain its grip. The New Faith, based from its threshold here, tentatively reaches into the wilds, but as often as not these tendrils are swallowed up after thrashing around a while.

In this, two main elements mix in the muddy streets and low wooden houses: the city-builders, with family names from Gar to the south and long-ago migrants from warmer climes to the southwest; simple farmers, loggers, and hunters with their own language and ways, struggling to adapt to a more urban life.

Although officially outlawed by the passive rule of the Baron and by the more active efforts of the New Faith, the Old Ways are king in the inland reaches and simmer below the surface in town. Here they are expressed as a reverence for the wild, monstrous, and deadly legendary beasts and the mysteries of the swamps.

Overlooking the town, on a hill to the north, is the Baron's fort, mostly quiet and staffed by local boys, many of whom strain their muscle for work on the side. To the northwest, on another low hill, is the house of the Magister Hienimi, the Gray Wizard. Respected by the few who bother to concern themselves, he has long offered his occasional wisdom and intellect in exchange for being left alone to his studies. The docks are relatively rough and the hotbed of the strongest Old Ways sentiment, while the rest of the town quietly labors and struggles to stay warm and dry.

In the docks area stands the Old Oak Inn, the most welcoming establishment to outsiders. Inside the single room towers the eponymous giant tree, powering through the roof and with branches hanging over adjacent buildings.