Rockport Village - Player Guide

Rockport Village — Player Guide

A thorough guide for new arrivals and village‑born characters alike. Everything here is public knowledge or common sense in and around Rockport.

Quick Facts

Nature: Independent farming and fishing village between two kingdoms; neutral to both.
Government: Elder’s Council (5–7 elders) rules by consensus; a reeve handles day‑to‑day disputes and market law.
People: ~150 residents across ~30–35 households (many extended families).
Defense: 3 stone guard towers (60 ft) each with 4 full‑time guards; 25 total in the town guard (13 full‑time, 12 part‑time). Able to muster 40–60 militia in alarm.
Water & Land: Three spring‑fed quarry lakes (Deepstone north → Willowmere east → Millpond west) linked by an underground river; north lies forest and the basalt/copper mine; south and west are wheat fields with orchards and olives on warm stone terraces.
Roads: A looping village lane ties into the Rockport Spur, a 10‑mile track to the main trade road that runs ~90 miles border‑to‑border.

How Rockport Feels

Rockport is practical, deliberate, and neighborly. Stone and water set the rhythm: wheat and beans in tidy mounds, willows tracing bright lake edges, copper‑kettled bakeries breathing out warm bread. Outsiders are welcome so long as they mind the springs and pay fair weight at the scales.

Geography & the Three Lakes

Deepstone Lake (North): Deep, cold, clearest. Trout and grayling, with rare pearls in the mussel beds. The mine and quarry works overlook its stony shore.
Willowmere (East): Shallowest and warmest, a reed‑ringed spawning lake with willow roots and sun‑warmed shelves. Crayfish, perch, and tench thrive. The Stone Temple, market green, and many cottages face this shore.
Millpond (West/Outflow): Cool, steady water with eel weirs at the outlet and a few carp pens in coves.
Underground River: Water rises into Deepstone, spills to Willowmere, then Millpond, and finally passes out through the cave network. Caverns carry eels and lampreys seasonally; children are warned not to explore beyond the posted markers.

Government & Law

Elder’s Council: Elders are chosen informally by age, reputation, and service. Council meets each restday at dusk in the temple hall.
Reeve & Beadles: The reeve keeps order, weighs disputes, and reads council edicts. Beadles post notices and patrol markets.
Laws (in plain words): Pay debts; don’t foul the waters; don’t cut living willows; don’t poach in closed weeks; no blades bared in market; mushroom and herb rights belong to plot‑holders unless posted as commons.
Punishments: Fines, restitution, days of labor; shunning and banishment for repeat offenders; cells under the southeast tower for drunks and brawlers.

Religion & Customs

Rockport honors field, water, and stone—a practical folk faith with a harvest/fertility deity and local land‑spirits. The Stone Temple keeps rites; 2–3 clergy and 2–4 acolytes serve.

Holy Places & Rites

The Springs: Hats off, voices low; coins or bread‑ends offered at first water.
Sowing Blessing: Families blue‑steep seed in spring water overnight in copper kettles while the priest prays; part ritual, part seed‑dressing tradition.
Closed Weeks (Pearl Beds): Two weeks after the first willow catkins; no mussel harvest. Temple collects a Pearl Tithe (1 in 6 pearls) for lamps and alms.
Festival of the Silver Eels (Autumn): Night weirs, songs, lantern boats; eel pies, smoked lamprey, and river tales.
Winter Bread‑Sharing: Families bake traveler’s loaves for those short of stores.

Taboos & Etiquette: Don’t spit near the springs; don’t snap willow boughs; ask before taking fruit from any tree; greet the nearest shrine when entering or leaving town.

People & Work

Principal Households & Trades

Farmers & Orcharders: Most folk. Crops in order of land area: wheat (Willowgold landrace), beans (2–3 kinds), corn, squash, melons, apples, oranges (hardy bitter stock, walled plots), cherries, walnuts, grapes, acorns/pecans (for pannage and nut oil), olives (warm terraces), and maple on higher ground for syrup.
Miners & Stonecutters: Basalt block, rubble, and copper ore. Quarry tailings ("stone meal") are spread on fields each winter.
Smiths (2): Tools, nails, billhooks, wheel‑bands; can set lightning‑rods on towers and granaries.
Bakers (2): Traveler’s loaves keep for days; feast breads glazed with maple syrup.
Butchers (2): Smokehouse and saltery on east bank of Willowmere; buy pigs fattened on mast and spent grain.
Tanners (2): Bark‑tanned leather; set far downwind & downstream.
Alchemist (1): Buys “greenstone” crystals and odd shells; sells simple tinctures, salves, and lures for fish.
Miller & Malthouse: Water‑driven stones at the Millpond outflow; small malthouse attached to the inn brews a brown ale.
Carters, Coopers, Wheelwrights, Basket‑makers, Charcoalers, and a few Hunters/Trappers round out the crafts.

The Guard

Captain of the Watch rotates between tower lieutenants. Towers signal with horns and mirror‑flashes.
Arms: spears, billhooks, shortbows, a few crossbows.
Custom: Hunters and travelers surrender quarrels before entering market crowding; weapons peace‑tied in the inn.

Economy & Trade

Exports: Wheat and straw, smoked meats, eel and lamprey in season, basalt block and crushed stone, raw copper, greenstone curios, traveler’s bread, walnuts/pecans, olives and grape must in small lots.
Imports: Salt, fine cloth, iron bar, specialty tools, medicines, wine, and luxuries.
Caravans: The Merchants’ Guild of both kingdoms schedules caravans twice monthly in fair weather; independents pass daily. The council keeps a neutral weigh‑yard and scale‑house.
Measures & Money: Grain is traded by bushel and sack; stone by cord and block; fish by string and basket. Locals prefer coin for outsiders and barter among themselves.

Fees & Tithes

Market stall (day): 2 sp.
Caravan yard space (night): cart 5 cp, wagon 1 sp.
Ferry/boat hire on lakes: 2 sp per hour (with rower), 5 cp to cross at work punts.
Pearl tithe: 1 in 6 to the temple; eel weir licenses are free during festival week.

Food & Drink (What to Try)

Willow‑Smoked Trout (Deepstone) with herb butter.
Eel Pie with onion and barley gravy (festival).
Traveler’s Loaf: dense wheat bread that keeps a week.
Maple‑glazed Cherry Tarts when the first sap runs.
Brown Willow Ale (house brew at the inn); nut oil dressings from walnut/pecan presses; limited olive oil from terrace groves.
Nixtamal corn cakes (ash‑lime treated) with bean stew.

Landmarks & Neighborhoods

Stone Temple & Green: Rites, council, notices, and markets.
The Three Lakes: Docks, laundries, eel weirs, and boat‑sheds. The Willow & Anvil Inn & Tavern sits in the central lane, just west of the Stone Temple and south of the mausoleum, with a small grape and olive field beside it.
The Mineworks: West of Deepstone; entrance patrolled, blasting bell rung at noon on workdays.
Southfields: Broad wheat mounds and vegetable plots with stubble lanes for sheep/goats after harvest.
Orchard Row: Grapes and olives on heat‑holding stone banks; little press house.
Spur Gate: Way‑shrine, hitching rails, and the scale‑house at the road junction.
Stone Mausoleum: Family niches, memorial carvings; quiet ground.

Bridges & Paths: Timber footbridges span narrowings; reed causeways cut across marshy shelves. Carts keep to gravelled lanes; fines for track ruts after rain.

Services for Travelers & Adventurers (prices are guidelines)

The Willow & Anvil Inn & Tavern: The only inn and tavern in Rockport, located centrally between the three lakes. 5 sp common room bunk; 1 gp private room; 3 sp hearty meal; 1 sp bath; 5 sp stable & feed; 2 sp to rent a skiff for the day (deposit 1 gp). It also tends a small grape and olive field on its west side.
Smithing: tool repair 5 sp; weapon haft/band 1 sp; custom job by quote.
Temple Aid: herbs and poultices at cost; minor blessings for donations (typical 1–5 sp).
Alchemist: salve vs. leech/biting fly 3 sp; fish‑lure oil 1 sp; buys odd fossils/pearls at fair rates.
Guides: young fishers or charcoalers know trails; 1 sp per half‑day.

Year‑Round Calendar (what’s happening when)

Early Spring: Sowing Blessing; watercress picking; first trout at Deepstone.
Late Spring: Orchard bloom; Closed Weeks for mussels; lambing and kidding.
Summer: Bean and squash surge; crayfish pots heavy in Willowmere; charcoal clamps smoke in the northwood.
Harvest (Late Summer–Early Autumn): Wheat cut; stubble grazing; fairs on the green; first olives and grapes pressed.
Late Autumn: Silver Eel Run in Millpond and lamprey smoke; hog slaughter, salting, and sausage making.
Winter: Ice shelves; repair tools, weave baskets, mend nets; winter bread‑sharing.

Growing Up in Rockport (what locals just know)

Which willow roots are safe to leap from; which shelves hide snapping turtles.
Never pull more than one basket of mussels in a family day in ordinary weeks.
The south wind carries tannery stink—hang laundry on a north breeze.
The caves breathe cold; if the breath turns warm, don’t go in—it means a storm surge underground.
Elders settle arguments after sunset; daylight is for work.

Names & Notables

Elder Asha Willow‑wife: Chair of the council; firm, patient, carries a willow switch she taps when thinking.
Elder Bran of the Mill: Grain‑wise, quick with stories.
Serj Jory Flint (Reeve): Ex‑carter; fair‑minded and stubborn.
Captain Mara Reed: Watch captain of the middle tower; drinks tea, never ale, on duty.
Master Hobb & Mistress Tilla (Smiths): Hobb for heavy iron, Tilla for finework and kettles.
Old Rellan (Retired Wizard): Garden full of strange beans; will trade lessons for seeds and honesty.
Sister Fen (Temple): Keeps the pearl tally and Closed Weeks notices.
Perrin Nettles (Alchemist): Cheerfully stained green; pays best for clean crystals.
Mara & Darek (Innkeepers): Hosts of the Willow & Anvil; their brown ale keeps no secrets.

Rumors & Table Talk (player hooks)

Roll 1d12 or choose:

“A sinkhole’s opening in the reedbed—hear the mud singing at night?”
“Pike big as a child’s leg took Old Den’s net—teeth like nails.”
“Greenstone dust makes gardens leap, but don’t breathe it—Jakka’s boy coughed green for a week.”
“A caravan wants sole pearl rights—coin on the table, chains under it.”
“Something scratches under the mausoleum when rain pounds hard.”
“Charcoalers saw mirror‑flashes from beyond the Spur—no towers that way.”
“The eel run’s early; the weirs aren’t ready.”
“A warm gust in the caves—storm water coming, the elders say bar the mouths.”
“A copper vein shows blue in shallow water by the mine—guards won’t let folks near.”
“Tanners swear someone’s stealing the lime buckets for witching.”
“A boat came back with only lanterns, circling, no oars.”
“Old Rellan’s bean trellis hums at night—says it’s only wind.”

Character Options (plug‑and‑play for most fantasy systems)

Background: Rockport Native

Skills: Choose two: Nature, Survival, Animal Handling, or Insight.
Tools: One of: fishing tackle, woodcarver’s tools (for weirs/baskets), or cook’s utensils.
Feature — Water & Stone: You can always find clean water, safe footing on reedbeds and causeways, and a friendly roof among Rockport’s households. In harvest or eel season, you can call in help (1–2 commoners) for a day’s work if you return the favor later.
Suggested Traits: Steady as stone; thrifty; hates waste; patient as a weir.
Names: Single names with by‑names (Asha Willow‑wife, Bran of the Mill, Fen Rivers‑bless).

Background: Spur‑road Teamster

Skills: Animal Handling, Persuasion.
Tools: Vehicles (land), Carpenter’s tools or Smith’s tools.
Feature — Guild Friend: You know caravan schedules, weigh‑yards, and who to bribe for space; advantage to find passage or buyers for bulk goods.

Safety Notes

Children and strangers are kept from cave mouths unless escorted.
The council may close bridges during flood surges; heed horn calls.
Visitors found poaching during Closed Weeks pay fines or work the reed‑cut crews.

Welcome to Rockport. Respect the springs, mind the willows, and deal square at the scales—you’ll always find a seat by the hearth.