Meer
by Marc Saindon“Mere. This tiny village is primarily inhabited by halflings, though human folk, elves and dwarves live here too. This village is also under the protection of Gulluvia, but because it is located so near the Misty Swamp, D’hmis has little to do with it except at tax time, which is every three months. Escaped slaves and prisoners come here to equip themselves before journeying north through the swamp. Mereians say nothing about the slaves or prisoners, fearing that D’hmis would send guards to their village to catch them (and they want as little to do with Gulluvia as possible). This village has two taverns, one general store, and an inn.”
Meer – Village – Population 400 (Gnomes, some Elves, some Humans and a few Dwarf refugees)
In this version, the Halflings are replaced by Gnomes, which, if you’ve read any of my previous posts, should have a Belgian-like culture and speak Averoignais (the equivalent of French) but also be fluent in Flaemish (the Dutch counterpart). I suspect that the original author just took the russian word ‘Mir’ (village) and anglicized it, but I’d rather claim that the village is called Meer (“lake”) because there’s a vast underground lake beneath the surface (it connects to the same aquifer that provides Misty Swamp with water). The lake has weird warm water, its chemical properties making it suitable for potion brewing. The lake has its own flora and fauna, its own ecosystem, and the cave network surrounding it is a suitable environment for mushroom farming. Many village houses have their basements connecting to the caves, leading to many locals to describe parts of the village as “Uptown” and “Downtown”, with the underground village being itself a busy gnomish community (taller folks, like human and elves, rarely venture there out of claustrophobia but are still welcomed).
The plot line about slaves is removed. Instead of fugitive slaves, Meer has an open secret: it hosts a large family of refugee Dwarves, who fled Glantri during their expulsion in 828 AC. As Glantrians are known to kidnap Dwarves and experiment upon them – and Gulluvia would provide the wizards a close source – these prospectors prefer discretion.
The village of Meer is self-governing. While it pays taxes – notably with the Anterian Brandy (which seems to be a Star Trek rip-off) it produces and pays homage to the Barony, little is expected from Meer (or provided to). They are allowed an elected council, but not to raise fortifications or armies.
The economy revolves around Anter’s Distillery (“the Sign of the Blue Dragon”), which doubles as one of the village taverns, and could provide apprenticeship for Artificer characters that are Alchemist specialists in 5e. The gnomish owner, Anter employs several Dwarves to gather secret ingredients during expeditions in Misty Swamp, as these guys magic resistance is helpful in a wild magic zone. Other key ingredients is the strange waters of the subterranean lake.The second tavern (“the Sign of the Green Stag” or just “the Stag”) caters more to the “Tallfok” – Humans and Elves – and serves mostly Gulluvian Wheat Beer from N’Sau. The Stag is decorated with many hunting trophies and is a popular hangout with lumberjacks (and that’s okay) and outdoorsy folks. The General Store could be tied to “House Gouden” (a merchant house and store chain I’ve suggested in a previous post, serving a form of a Thieves’ Guild specializing in smuggling and with a golden rooster as its symbol), providing the village primarily with excavation equipment (shovels, spades) and do it shares of off-the-books Brandy smuggling. The “Sign of the Moon” Inn (which is a not the ‘Mere Inn’ to avoid the puns) could be an elven business that caters to people living off the forest.
During the events of B3, not much happens in Meer. It might see an influx of refugees from Gulluvia City, as the capital becomes more and more chaotic. Meerians, wanting normality to come back to their quiet community, may send envoys to the Silver Palace to ask the Princess deal with this problem, and hopefully get the outsiders back to their city. Another plot point is Badon Woods (changed from ‘Abbadon’ to keep with the fairy tale theme): it starts out as this beautiful forest, with unicorns and pixies, but over time, it grows darker, monsters emerge, and people vanish. The Elves and Human friends might want the Silver Princess to intervene and fix the magical flux or send reinforcements.
(art from: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fhntrzb4axhr91.png)
