Valley Lodge

Valley Lodge is a remote fortification, deliberately left uncharted by cartographers of Bastonia, believed to be somewhere in the Frontier Counties - usually, this position is given as any of several near the city of Laurenburg. In actual fact, is located several hundred miles east of this potion, and slightly further south; a crow flying point to point from Crucible Rock to Val Verra could pass immediately over it. The fortification is a somewhat rudimentary Motte and Bailey structure, with the town in its walls being known by the same name. The valley it occupies is said to be the birthplace and pre-sainthood hunting grounds of San Lauren, the patron of hunters and the wild, in whose name several Chivalric Orders were founded. Of those, the Order of San Lauren is considered the most senior, and is nominally headquartered at Valley Lodge.

In practice, the fortification is neither politically nor strategically critical except in terms of its significance to the order that holds it. It is far enough removed from the road between Val Verra and Crucible Rock as to effectively be bypassed by it.

Geography

Valley Lodge is located at the northwestern, upper extent of a temperately-forested rift valley known as the Hartwood Vale, famous for its hunting. This location places it in theoretically-striking distance of the road between Val Verra and Crucible Rock, but the whole of the Hartwood Vale separates the two. The fortification cannot be reached by any currently-extant maintained road, and requires significant ranging to reach - either through the vale or across the forests otherwise surrounding it.

The area around the fortification itself is inhabited by a loose collection of one-off homesteads and minor villages which are all considered part of the general holding of the Valley Lodge. Traditionally these lands were considered extremely wild, and prior to the Frontier Counties' settlement, they were effectively outside the rule of Bastonia.

Economy

Most of the economy of the Small Town of Valley Lodge is in farming, forestry, and fishing. Much of the city's diet is tied to well-conserved hunts and game meats are a principle staple of the townsfolk, not merely reserved for the Lord Captain of the Lodge. In point of fact, a government position of the town is that of Gameskeeper-Conservator, who is almost always a high-ranking member of the Order of San Lauren or one of its offshoots, retired from active ranging and with the express mission of overseeing a network of local rangers that maintain the upkeep of wildlife in the surrounding area.

As no roads reach Valley Lodge, trade is limited, even depressed. The town makes do with quarries and mines in its immediate vicinity.

Politics

Valley Lodge is the titular holding of the Lord Captain of the Order of San Lauren, a position politically quivalent to a high-precedence barony, and a requirement of which is renouncing all other titles and benefices. All other lodges of the order, as well as (at least in name) the lodges of other Chivalric Orders dedicated to San Lauren, pay fealty and coordinate their activities with Valley Lodge. For their own part, however, the knights of Valley Lodge hold varying loyalty to the Crown, and only occasionally send reports to Whiterock, which is referred to in the Code of San Lauren as the duty to inform.