Bearthrimble's Brogans & Boots
by Jesper AndersenEarthew the Cordwainer is the owner and master of Bearthrimble's Brogans & Boots, the most famous shoe- and boot-making establishment in all of Specularum. Earthew is a 4th-generation cordwainer - a person who makes fine shoes and boots (as opposed to a cobbler, who merely repairs them). He took over the shop from his father 13 years ago and just two years later disaster struck, when the entire shop and living quarters above it burned to the ground in a terrible fire that consumed large parts of a section of the city.
Once reconstruction began, Earthew decided it was too risky to have his new shop wall-to-wall with others. So he invested everything he had left and bought enough square feet to build 3 houses on and then he cleared all the rubble away and started his new shop and home with plenty of open space around it. The result was one of the most unique buildings in all of Specularum - if not the Known World; a 5-storey house and shop in the shape of an enormous boot!
In the "foot" of the boot is the shop itself. In the "shaft" of the boot are four floors of storage rooms and the private living quarters of Earthew and his family. (For pictures of boot-shaped houses see here).
Today, Bearthrimble's Brogans and Boots supplies the entire upper class and much of the upper middle class in the city with fine footwear. Earthew employes a team of no less than nine cordwainers who see to the city's needs. He mostly runs the business himself, making sure payments and deliveries are met, but every once in a while he takes on an assignment if a client wants something particularly rare and challenging - such as footwear made from a particularly exotic type of leather or something meant for an enchantment.
Some of the old families in Specularum are beginning to envy Earthew's financial and social success and popularity. If he is not careful and if he does not seek an influential patron, he may just loose everything in a tragic fire once again!