Edgemead
| settlement name | duchy | district/province | type | population | founding year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edgemead | Toreen | — | village | 2,475 | 4477 |
Edgemead is a rustic farming settlement along Morkin Valley. It is a quiet village, somewhat off the beaten track, and its inhabitants seem to like it that way. Edgemead is technically one of the eight settlements in the “basket loop”, but unusually it focusses on a single product: coffee. It is, in fact, the major supplier of coffee in the Kingdom. The leader of the settlement is Aenglo Hydes, assisted by First Councillor Jaeremiah Peers.
Umber coffee trees thrive here because the water table around Edgemead is very near the surface, and the ground is consequently mostly waterlogged. Vast stands of umber coffee trees spread out around the village, occasionally interspersed with stands of simper reed. The simper reed is used to provide purified water to some umber trees, which apparently gives the beans an enhanced flavour. This special process is used exclusively for coffee sold to nearby Esterhedge Haven.
The settlement’s coffee trade is regulated by Theodorus Days. The beans are collected and processed in the village. The coffee is transported to Cordell by barge (and sometimes by wagon caravan) and from there to Torbeck for wider distribution. Josaeus Smoke is in charge of storage and transport of the coffee, and personally supervises the special supply line that runs to Esterhedge Haven.
The Oohmian Nycholas Storm looks after the Chapel of Oohm, which greets visitor to the village on the road from Cordell.
The town guard is captained by Oscoe Shwimmer, a retired military officer.
Edgemead was originally called “Edgemeer”, because when it was founded, about 200 years ago, it stood next to a beautiful lake, richly stocked with fish. Within a few generations, the lake dried up, and the surrounding land became waterlogged. It is unknown how this happened.