Laketown

Esgaroth, or more properly "Esgaroth upon the Long Lake" was once an outward settlement from the proud Rhovanion capital of Dale, in the north-western part of the Long Lake. Only those from the noble blood of Dale, Elves and the nobility of Gondor refer to it as Esgaroth. All others refer to it as Laketown.

It served as an outward hub, providing plentiful fish from the Long Lake, serving as a trading point from places further down the River Running and providing viable land for crops and livestock along it's loamy shore. 

Proudly built in stone it was a shining wonder upon the shore, but at the Sundering of Dale in TA 2770 so too was Esgaroth torched by dragonfire by the terrible vengeance of Smaug the Red Terror, its stones tumbled and its people scattered. The pillars and remains of the once great city can still be seen in the clear waters of Long Lake, now simply fodder for plundering.

Upon the charred remains of Esgaroth was Laketown built, constructed entirely out of wood and stands upon lofty wooden pillars sunk into the lakebed. South of the Lonely Mountain, East of Mirkwood, North of Dorwinion, and West of the Iron Hills Laketown sits as the hub of trade for the whole of Rhovanion. 

For one grown in raised in one of the smaller villages and towns in Rhovanion - Laketown no doubt seems large if not massive as one walks through the twisted and bucking streets and waterways. But compared to shining Dale or Esgaroth of old or Dol-Amorth and Pelargir the great ports of the kingdom of Gondor, Laketown is but a guppy. 

In prior days, when the King under the Mountain ruled the Dwarves, and when Dale prospered, Esgaroth flourished with the trade between the two great settlements. But in the lifetimes since the Desolation, times have become tighter, the city more insular, and much of the brightness that characterized the area has been sapped. Laketown is not a bastion for good against the tide of evil, that much should be clear, but rather she at this point simply exists as a hub for the remains of the commercial tide that flows between the Elves of Mirkwood, the Dwarves of the Iron Mountains, and the Men further south along the River Running. She is ruled by gold, just as much as by the Master and his council, and those who believe no good deed goes unpunished might find themselves right at home.

Laketown is broken up into Districts, each of which have their own uses such as residential, market, labor, warehouse, and council.

Too, Laketown is mother to various Trading Companies such as those facilitated by Gondor, the Dwarves of the Iron Hills, House Kandavan of Dorwinion, and an embassy for the Elven trades sent from the court of Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm. It also hosts companies of Rhovanion birth and membership - the so called-Friends of Ongull Society, the White Hart Hunting Company and the Sons of Girion, a branch of the great Citadel of Mirkwood. 

Laketown predominantly exports fish and fish-based goods and serves as the way station in the flow of wine between Dorwinion in the south and the court of the King of the Woodland Realm. 

The Mirkwood Elves and the Dwarves of the Iron Hills are known still to call the place Esgaroth in the Old Dalish, with curiosities abound if perhaps "Laketown" is not something so readily translated or understood in their own native tongues neither of them being particularly water-bourne peoples.