Category: Society

The Hax

Folk say the Hax came over the sea eight centuries past, not in conquest but in kin-fleets of carved boats, their hulls packed with beans, peas, and sacks of grain. They hailed from a wooded peninsula, river-laced and marsh-edged, a landscape they carried in their very bones. They were not tall, but built square and…
Kiln Green Market Day

Come early for grain and loaves enough to last, stay for the cider and talk. Rope twisted strong, stoneware cut true, eggs set out fair by the dozen. Lanterns to light the dark months, herbs for what ails. Pride of the ridge, plain but steady — coin well spent, measure kept honest.
Rupa: Wool-Beast of the Steeps

Stocky and sure-footed, the Rupa roam the upper flanks of the Camorren Steeps in small, scattered herds. Shaggy guard hairs keep off sleet and rain, while beneath lies a dense, downy coat shed in spring. The High Morna brush them then, corralling the beasts for a day so children can gather the fleece — a…
A River Dispatch: The Foot-Ferry Tavern

By Thistledown Quillweaver, Correspondent-at-Large Evening Light, River-Side It begins (again) with a river. Doesn’t it always? This time, it’s the Vel — wide as a thought you’re trying not to have. It slips along Gildraen’s southwestern flank, skirting the edge of order, gathering tributaries, settlements, secrets. I’ve taken it into my head (and my editor’s…
The Exchange

Origins and Evolution:Originally a humble ledger for goods, services, and travel notices, The Exchange began as a practical community resource pinned in folk inns and village halls. It included listings for livestock trades, requests for weather omens, and odd jobs — but somewhere between second-hand boots and offers of cider-making, the heartsick began to post.…
Frills & Loom

Gildraen’s Romantic Publishing House “Where stories bloom and hearts entwine.” Overview Frills & Loom is Gildraen’s most beloved (and occasionally mocked) publisher of romantic fiction. Their titles range from tender rural courtships to sweeping Evergild dramas, mysterious masked lovers, and sizzling magical entanglements. Their books are widely read across class lines — easily found in…
The Three Quills of Lindral

They never asked for the name. They never agreed to it. And they certainly never use it around each other. But to the readers of Lindral, and increasingly across the wider realm, The Three Quills are a fact of life — a triumvirate of ink, ego, and wildly differing interpretations of the truth. Between them,…
The Lindral Observer

The oldest and most respected paper in the citadel, The Lindral Observer prides itself on balance, wit, and an ink-stained affection for facts — or, at least, the most interesting version of them. Housed in a narrow slate-roofed building, the Observer serves as a hub for writers, archivists, cartographers, and the occasional runaway poet. It…
The Citadel Voice

The Citadel Voice is a sharp-tongued, fast-turnaround publication known for its biting headlines and no-nonsense tone. Marketed as the “paper of the people” — though its definition of ‘people’ is often under review — the Voice has become a staple among those who enjoy their news spiced with suspicion and a little fear. The paper…
The Velvet Quill

The Velvet Quill is Lindral’s most outwardly refined publication — its pages are beautifully typeset, its columns draped in florid prose, and its contributors always introduced with two middle initials. Yet beneath its embroidered tone lies a great deal of well-masked venom. Less concerned with national politics or breaking news than its rivals, The Velvet…