The Shearingvale

The Shearingvale is a fertile farming and herding area on the frontier of the Onorian Wilderlands. It stretches roughly 50 miles from east to west, and 20 miles from north to south, with the Great North Road running through the heart of the Vale. The town of Linden is centrally located. Linden is a town of approximately 1,000 inhabitants, including the neighboring farms, and is the largest settlement between the town of Wegley (50 miles to the east) and the city of Turil (60 miles to the west), both of which are beyond the borders of the Vale.

Shearingvale region (hexographer, 6 mile scale)

The territory of what is considered the Vale stretches from Pittston in the west to Grainger in the east, both of which are hamlets on the Road. The northern limit stretches in an arc above the villages of Draharr, Olmsby and Tardesk. In the south, the villages of Gulb, Bornil and Murtin line the edge of the Greenreach Woods. The Silver Hills and their resident communities of gnomes and halflings border the Vale to the northwest, and the dense and mysterious Shadowveil Forest is to the northeast. Futher north lies the Onorian Wilderlands, a vast expanse of untamed and dangerous territory.

Shearingvale detail (Hexographer, 1 mile scale)

The economy of the Shearingvale is based on farming, herding, hunting, trapping and forestry. The northern part of the Vale is made up primarily of rolling grasslands and fertile farmland. Thus the villages north of the Road (Draharr, Olmsby, and Tardesk) revolve around sheep and goat herding and related industries (weaving, textiles and cheese making), as well as farming, especially apple and pear orchards as well as vineyards and wine making. The towns along the Road (including Linden, Grainger, Sarenton and Pittston) have the same focus as the northern towns but also have businesses supporting the caravan traffic on the road. The three southern villages (Gulb, Bornil and Murtin) are much more involved in forestry and related products, as well as hunting, trapping, fur trading etc.

There is no strong central government in the Shearingvale. Each town and village is mostly independent and rules itself in its own way. To address larger matters that impact the whole community, there is a monthly meeting of Vale Elders. Because there is no true central government, there is also no organized military common to the Vale. However, due to the fact that these are frontier settlements, each village does have a militia of all able-bodied men (and women in some cases), and in many cases a sheriff or constable and some number of town guardsmen. Some of the merchant companies and trading costers operating in the area hire mercenary guards to patrol the roads, and these serve to supplement the town guards.

Adventurers are a fairly common sight in the area, as the lure of the untamed Wilderlands to the north, and the multitude of ruins dating to the time of the Elder Nations draw a steady trickle of courageous souls northward. Some of them even return... Basic necessities and supplies for expeditions into the Wilderlands are easy to find, but more uncommon items will need to be sought out in larger towns and cities, often quite far away. The people of the Vale are wary but generally friendly.