Georgsholt

Georgsholt is a moderately sized settlement on the River Running, about twenty miles north of the confluence of the River Running and the River with No Name (north of Utterby). Roughly four hundred people live here in isolation - few venture forth and the only regular contact with the outside world is the traders who work up and down the river to Laketown. Although there is a small inn and trading post, the denizens are typically suspicious of strangers and pride themselves on self-reliance. Logging (of oak, pine, and willow) is the major export industry with trapping as a distant second. There is no mill, so the wood is shipped raw. Fishing and farming are also common trades, but the output is used locally. The local garb comprises leathers and furs, locally trapped and worked.

Traditionally, Georgsholt has been run by a council of elders, with one elder from each of the old family-clans. Foreigners are thus excluded from politics, and since the council regulates logging rights, they are also excluded from the most lucrative trade opportunities. Still, the protection offered by the strong wooden palisade and the local militia provides a safe haven enough that families live in Georgsholt that are unaffiliated with the old clans - the lesser clans, as they care are called. In special circumstances, a lesser clan may be absorbed into an old clan, but on the whole they are a downtrodden minority.

Historically, there have always been political rivalries between the old clans, but in recent years the political landscape has shifted dramatically after an influential elder died under suspicious circumstances. Out of the ensuing power imbalance, one faction arose on the council to dominate the decision making. A period of consolidation followed, and the new reality is that one wealthy clan rules the village with the council as its puppet. Refusal to follow the council mandates can mean forfeiture of logging rights and even seizure of property. The more headstrong clans chafe under these rules, and the atmosphere has become deadly tense. They have begun to align themselves with lesser clans who thirst for more say in their lives. Many believe that violence is inevitable at this point.

Under the circumstances, the unthinkable has happened. For their many reasons, people have begun to emigrate.

Georgsholt produces much by way of cattle which they herd in the grasslands east of their edge of woods and therefore deal in much milk, cheese and other dairy products produced by said cattle.

Georgsholt has a small tavern called the Captain's Daughter.