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THE
FIELDS
OF AURIUM |
Southern
Sarvonia knows plenty of fertile fields that provide
the inhabitants of the Santharian Kingdom with
their daily bread. But few of these places can compete with the renown of the
Fields of Aurium, halfway the Gulf of Maraya, east of Ravenport in the
Manthrian province. Poets suggested that this is the
place “where Jeyriall descended on the
earth / at the moment she was given birth”,
pointing at the extraordinary fertility of the fields. As the bard
Judith of Bardavos noted: "Rippling
golden rain grain, bright in the
autumn sun, gives the Fields of Aurium their
name. Overseen by the coastal town of Ravenport, the grain fields spring from
the same rich black earth that nourishes the
roots of the Auturian Forest." Whether or not
the mythical origin of the Fields has a core of truth or the above-average
growth is explained by the nourishing earth
comparable with that of the nearby elven
forest, the local population certainly makes a profit out of it.
Shneerin, the village south of the Fields, controls
the grain exportation to the coast or towards the rest of the
Manthrian province.
Description.
Aurium is one of the most precious metals in Caelereth,
with its golden hue glowing by lantern light in the mines of the
Thergerim. As such, Fields dubbed with this
epitheton must be quite a sight. Right before harvest, in early autumn, with
the sun just right and the occasional
passing cloud, the Fields really look like a golden sea, with waves of grain
stalks breaking on the surf; the edge of the Fields.
This doesn’t mean that there’s only grain to be seen. The Fields themselves are
the property of different families of the Shneerin
community. Their farms, adorned by the woodworks so typical for the region, are
located in small communities across the fields and near the bigger roads that
surround the Fields in the south and east. The road in the east is built
alongside a small brook called the Aura, which is said to be partly responsible
for the fertile earth. Fieldside, the
easternmost part of Ravenport, borders the Fields to the west. The farmers
working on these fields have moved ever east over the centuries in the course
of time. If you look close to the architecture in Fieldside, you’ll find some
of the buildings are in fact old farms, or new incarnations of the old
versions. With the growth of the nearby harbour town, these farmers have moved
their residence ever more eastwards and currently live just on the outskirts of
the town, only separated from the citizens by a few
dashes of grassy fields,
dotted with snowpuffs, candlebushes
and ale nuts. In the north, a small community called Knight’s Rest marks the
edge of the wheat fields. As the observant cartographers of the
Compendium correctly drew, the
ground to the north isn’t as fertile as the rest of the Fields, and in the
course of time even abandoned to all farming activities. The grain fields
concentrate to the south, with the northernmost farms build approximately 15
strals south of the
junction between the roads near Hallowhills.
Each family of farmers controls a particular part of the Fields. Through
marriages and the like the properties of the families have varied a little over
the centuries, but have all in all remained rather stable. Tradition is – but
what isn’t around Shneerin – that the eldest child
inherits the properties of his father. Younger brothers and sisters often come
to work on the fields of their older siblings. Another tradition concerned here
is that a daughter often brings a (sometimes only small and symbolic) patch of
land with her as wedding gift. It is thought that in the older days this was a
way of proving her fertility: she would be as prosperous as the fields she
would bring with her. Trees, planted especially for this purpose, have always
constituted the borders of the properties. After the failed experiments with
cultivating malus trees in the region,
some of this particular species were used to note the borders, effectively
starting a tradition which lasts up till this day. Be careful not to taste the
malsapples, which were always very sour
here. Corbie birds, a true nuisance
to the poor farmers, are often seen watching over the Fields from the top of
these trees.
In late autumn, when the harvest season is over and the seasonal labourers from
Ravenport are drinking up their salaries in the bars of Stormside, taking a
stroll over the empty Fields at Sundown is a very rewarding experience. Your
first choice is to follow the paths and trails made by the farmers over the
centuries. Some of them take special pride in adorning the trail going
alongside their homes, creating avenues with oaks or
malsapples, which can be seen rising up
from the Fields all year round. Another choice is to just walk across the empty
fields. Stalks of grain lie here and there, fallen from the hands of the
labourers or left there in small bundles as a small gift to the
Fruitful One. Verily, the emptiness of
the Fields, with the rippling golden
rain now harvested, is not what it seems, a
shir that may be seen on the horizon being but one counter argument: only
now you can appreciate the bare rich soil, a little moist to the touch, filled
with little insects like the notorious luck bugs and if you go a little deeper,
the occasional myrmex. Cheerks are fortunately rarely seen here, and should you
happen to let the earth spill through your fingers and notice one of the little
buggers, be sure to notify the nearest Shneerin
family, for it will be appalling news. If we continue our walk and pass by some
of malus trees, you will notice the family
shrines that are only now visible to the eye. It’s tradition among the farmfolk
to perform a small ceremony to Jeyriall
here before the day starts. Usually the shrines are nothing more than stacked
rocks, formed into a rough pyramid. The bundles of grain will surely be present
here, one for each labourer that has worked for this family during harvest. If
you peel the seeds from the plant, you will notice why the plant is called
golden rain: shaped like a raindrop,
the grains will reflect the Injèra’s light,
revealing their golden teint.
If we continue our stroll up north, the landscape will change radically. When
we pass the farms that are located at the edge of the fields, the land becomes
rather dull. The earth is of a different
hue, browner than the dark soil to the south. Where there was a certain
diversity in plant life, there’s now only bare
earth, with patches of grass scattered here and there, dotted by rough
shrubs. The grass seems to resemble ar’pun grass, but survives the regular
rainfall that it common in this climate. The farmers have tried to cultivate
the grounds for centuries, but with little success. The ground is even so
innutritious that it won’t support enough plant life to feed goats with. Long
time this characteristic of the landscape has proven a riddle to the
population, until a host of White
Knights bought the lands. It is believed that the
earth holds some sort of alchemically
important mineral, but the farmers couldn’t care less. They sold the land, as
it was no use to them. The Order
still resides in a complex up north in the Hallowhills, coming down here with a
certain regularity. You might bump into them right after harvest time, when the
Fields are empty except for the accidental trespasser.
As said earlier, the farmers have formed different communities across the
fields. Here follow some of the best known:
Braura
Braura is located in the east, bordering the
Auturian Woods. It was originally the location of a bridge build by the
Darian settlers to keep in touch with the
Tethinrhim from the woods, but
since these elves have always remained at a
distance from others, the bridge is long gone. Only the name of the community
reminds them of the bridge across the Aura that used to be here.
Knight's Rest
Knight’s Rest is found at the northern edge of the fields. This is one of the
largest communities with several families and their kinsmen living together.
The origin of the name can be gathered from two historical reasons. Either it
refers to the many soldiers who’ve died during one of the many battles fought
here in the Fields, or it refers to the community of
White Knights in the
Hallowhills, who used to encamp here when they had an expedition to the Fields.
Jacob
Jacob is found more in the centre of the fields. From here the annual festivity
of the Chase is held, which is described in the Myth and
Lore section. The origin of the name remained a mystery for long, until a
brilliant trespasser connected the local
Jeyriall cultus with this name, which would have simply been
Jey’s cup.
Location. The Fields of
Aurium are located in the Santharian Kingdom at the
Southern Sarvonian continent. They’re part of the
Manthrian province, essentially being the property
of the Shneerin community, a hamlet to the east of
Ravenport. The Fields are surrounded by the communities of
Shneerin to the south, Lareith to the east,
Kreeswind to the north and Ravenport to the west. The rich soil is said to
originate from the Auturian Woods to the east
and northeast.
People. The farmers of
the Fields of Aurium are all members of the Shneerin
community, a hamlet with a tradition. Like their kinsmen living ‘in town’ - as
they say in the Fields – that is Shneerin, they focus
on the tradition of their ancestors, keeping up with the local cult of
Jeyriall, visiting family on Fastday in
the Broken Wing in town and decorating their homes with woodwork. Even more than
their brothers and sisters in town, the remark that
Shneerin people look like their ale, “dark and strong”, applies to these men
and women; strong from the hard work in fields and tanned from the same labour,
hinting at their Darian origin like there distant
Shendar cousins.
Coat of Arms/Sign.
Though the fields are no separate domain with an own heraldic sign, it is an eye
catcher for the village of Shneerin nearby. As such,
it has appeared as the central motive on the coat of arms of this village.
Climate. The Fields of
Aurium share the mild climate with Shneerin, this due
to low altitude location of the location. From the Gulf to the east a salty wind
will bring clouds filled with rain over the Fields, but they empty themselves
just as often as not. The relatively steady climate, with rainfall in regular
intervals and not too extreme temperatures make sure the
golden rain will thrive at the
Fields. While the grain is dormant in the winter, it may be covered by snowfall,
which happens almost every year.
Flora. Those who look
beyond the obvious presence of golden
rain, will find that the rich soil nourishes more than just wheat.
Malus trees serve as border marks for the
farmers, sometimes exchanged for
mapletrees or oaks, which are found there
as well. The borders of the fields, closer to the roads or the Fieldside
district, also harbour a variety of small bushes like rapsberries and small
patches of wild foridus, which blossom
nicely weeks before the big wheat harvest starts. Nearby the farms you will also
find the private fields of the farmers.
Bredden wheat is commonly seen here for use in the local bakery, with
snowpuffs on the borders, which bounce in the wind
like balls in the surf. The grass found in the northern part of the Fields is
still a case study for New-Santhalan herbalogists
but seems to fall outside of any of the currently specified species in the
Compendium. Special note should
be made of the occasional presence of cylian poppy around the Aura Brook.
Farmers speculate that these are harvested by the
White Knights, though it’s just
as probable that the local population of unfortunate
tarepi sometimes eats these plants,
providing easy food for other animals like the grass- and rosesnakes or the
eagles that dominate the skies above the Fields.
Fauna. The vast region
of flatland that the Fields are provide the homes for dozens of species, and are
a perfect example of Arvins’ Balance, the
cycle of life and death. From the smaller kinds like luckbugs and
field mice via
tarepi and
mimsies to the bigger hunters like eagles and
foxes.
The Fields are especially rich when it comes to harbouring various smaller
mammals. The farmers would have loved to have had a population of flax rats,
which would have taken care of some of the notorious cornstealers like
mimsies and
field mice. Their cousins, the
common rat, is often found more to the east,
near the Aura Brook. Another bother to the farmers, though not necessarily
because they eat all the corn, are the
throwing hedgehogs, which
sometimes attack the children playing Hide and Seek in the fields. Though not
naturally aggressive, the hedgehogs
will not hesitate to defend themselves when seemingly threatened by the playing
children. It’s not for naught that the
hedgehog verse originates from
the nearby Tolonian Heath. All of these creatures are hunted by their natural
enemies like ferrets and
foxes. There also snakes to be found, the
green and golden grass snakes the most
commonly encountered versions. Rosesnakes
are sometimes seen as well, though they need their fellow hunters or the cylian
poppy on the banks of the Aura to provide them with easy meat. The skies are the
domain of corbie birds and eagles, though the former are often hunted by the
farmers and will flee to the outskirts of the
Auturian Woods.
Resources. The one
resource the hamlet of Shneerin depends on is the
common earth of the Fields. The rich soil
provides the villagers with everything they need. It is often noted that the
ground seems the same as the soil of the nearby
Auturian Woods, which might explain its fertility. Shneerin people often
point at their history, saying that these lands were once part of the
Auturian Woods, giving a logical explanation to
the origin of the soil.
Golden rain grain is produced in
abundance and exported over the west road to Ravenport, where it is used or
shipped to other locations. The rich taste and appearance of
golden rain bread opposed to
bredden or common Wheat bread make it a
prized commodity. Small fields of wheat grain are kept besides the golden rain
for personal use in the village. The stalks of the wheat are used for various
household items.
On top of this, the earth provides them with
the vegetables they need for their own food. The grass and food for their
animals that provide them with milk, wool and meat, flax plants for linen and
trees that are used for lumber are but a few examples.
Myth/Lore. Once a
year, Fastday before the harvest in autumn, the families of the Fields don’t
visit their families in the Broken Wing in Shneerin
in the normal way. Instead, they have a day of worship for the upcoming harvest.
The families gather in Jacob in the morning for a kind of service with rituals,
consisting of sacrificing freshly cut
golden rain and other local crops. Afterwards, the women and children leave
for Shneerin, but the men remain. During the rest of
the morning, they create a maze in the fields of wheat, by cutting paths through
them. Somewhere between Sunreign and Sundown, the children and women return and
the children play a game in the maze called "Tail Chasing" of simply the
"Chase". They’re divided in two groups, where one group has to gather snowpuffs.
They are the prey, the tareptail weed
marking their kind, while the others are the hunters. The men and women then
spread up across the maze to watch the chase and to make sure the children don’t
ruin the remaining grainstalks, which are to be harvested during the coming
weeks. Children who do leave the paths are severely punished, fortunately this
rarely happens. First, the tarepi are free
to find a place in the maze, a minute later the hunters will try and catch them.
When the last tarepi have been caught, the
day is usually at the end. After a blessing by
Jeyriall priests overseeing the start of
the harvest, the families return home early, preparing for the busy weeks to
come.
As a result of the Chase, the saying "chasing a
tarepi tail" became common and spread from the fields to town and beyond, to
Ravenport and the rest of Manthria. Where it was
originally used to comfort anxious parents or siblings of children, pointing out
that the child was just playing a game, nothing scary whatsoever, it later
became better known as "chasing a lass".
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