Oldmere
| settlement name | duchy | district/province | type | population | founding year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oldmere | Krethes | — | village | 4,939 | 4464 |
Oldmere lies on the south-eastern shore of Lake Pai. It is a quite settlement, known as a centre of learning and training. The skull of a gigantic serpent stands as a monument in the village square. The jaw measures over two metres.
Oldmere is home to Lord James Barret, the oldest son of the Duke of Krethes. Lord Barret is a devout follower of Qidra and a highly-skilled alchemist and goldsmith. His advice and fellowship is sought after by many scholars and students in the village. The Barret family live in a floating mansion, which is moved to a new location on the lake every few years.
The village elder, Aryell Berg, is a devout Aadite and known as a philosopher of repute. His writings are widely cited by legal scholars and theologians alike.
The captain of the town guard, Christo Glasier, commands a small body of skilled archers, who keep the peace. Captain Glasier is a retired adventurer and a polyglot, and often visits with alderman Berg.
The Small Hall of the Guild of Skinners & Tanners stands proudly as the largest building in Oldmere. Its Master Warden, Jaeck Neeps (cousin of the Poet Laureate Horayce Neeps) , operates large tanneries on the shore of the lake, some distance downwind of Oldmere. Fish skins and eel leather produced here, are much sought after.
The Guild of Tinkerers is very active in Oldmere. Master Kathryne Glazier is a skilled white-metal smith and believes in the value of training and education. She has organized an amazingly effective training program. Every year dozens of craftsmen are granted their papers and find easy employment across the kingdom.
A local member of the Royal Guilde of Mariners, junior master Braddeus Towny, lives in Oldmere and is an expert on design, construction, and maintenance of wooden walkways (such as used in the Pai Wetlands) and tiered construction supported by stilts. Oldmere has the richest, and most innovative, tradition of pile dwellings.
During July, the village holds a rain festival, in honour of Qidra and Lake Pai.
Local agricultural activity is centred on fishing and eeling. Many locals raise water fowl, providing the choicest feathers to scribes in Pai and elsewhere. Cotton, hops, red beet and potatoes are planted.
Some five years ago a ring of illegal alcohol producers was uncovered. They produced vast quantities of toxic liquor, made mostly from beets, and smuggled these to distant markets.
In the autumn of 4683, the village suffered a deadly attack by a water serpent that emerged from Lake Pai. The serpent was eventually killed, and its skull is still on display in the village centre. Nobody has yet been able to explain how it found its way into the lake, or where it came from.
Oldmere is the original human settlement on Lake Pai. In its original form, it flourished for several decades and grew rapidly. It soon became obvious, however, that the shoreline on which Oldmere was founded, was only stable for a limited extent, and that it would not be able to expand too far. In 4294, therefore, the town elders decided to relocate to the present location of Pai.