Monkberg

Monkberg (/monkberg/ [Translation Unavailable]) is a subtropical Town located in the Gumada Provence of the Kingdom of Hobben.

The name Monkberg is derived from the Sylvin language, as Monkberg was founded by Strekka Bryan, who was culturaly Sylvin.

Climate

Monkberg has a yearly average temperature of 25°C (77°F), with its average temperature during the summer being a warm 30°C (86°F) and its average temperature during the winter being a cool 20°C (68°F). Monkberg receives an average of 276 cm/y (108 in/y) of precipitation, most of which comes in the form of rain during the summer. Monkberg covers an area of nearly 5 km² (2 mi²), and an average elevation of 3770 m (12368 ft) above sea level.

Overview

Monkberg was founded durring the early 13th century in fall of the year 1214, by Strekka Bryan. The establishment of Monkberg was somewhat plagued by a lack of willing colonists, leading to Strekka Bryan electing to pay people to resettle in Monkberg.

Monkberg was built using the conventions of Sylvin durring the early 13th century. Naturaly, all settlmentss have their own look to them, and Monkberg is no diffrent. The town's buildings feature waddle and daub construction with good timber frames and a stone foundation protected by thatched or shingled rooves. Most buildings with second floors are built in such a way as to overhang into the streets on the upper floors for more space, as building size seems to be the primary indicator of wealth within the community. Most buildings are not decorated with any integral features, but instead use ivy, flowers, and other natural elements in planters of on trellices to breathe life into the structure they grow upon.

Monkberg is buildings are arranged arround a network of premissive baked earthen streets which form a diamond shaped grid, where each diamond verries in size given the proximity of the paralell streets forming each section. The ocasional smaller diamond has been used to construct a park, plaza, and other communal structures. The town has a defencive wall made from querried stone. The wall is equipped with a full set of battlments but the nature of its construction methodology leaves it somewhat vulnerable to siege equipment. That said, the town is well defended against anything short of an army. The town's cost-cutting-focused defences have recently undergone extensive repairs and renovations, such that the repairwork is imeadiently apparent and can be spotted due to the diffring ages of materials. One can't help but wonder what brought the need for those repairs to the town.

Monkberg is not quite well. Something happened here, perhapse recently, perhapse long ago. Whatever it was, it settled into the very soul of the town like a festering wound. The people go about their day well enough, but there’s a tention in the air you can cut with a knife. You get the terrible feeling that whatever it was, the wound it left will simply never heal. This town is as a necropolice.

Civic Infrastructure

Monkberg has an animal control department which works to enforce local ordinances relating to the control, impoundment, and disposition of animals.

Monkberg has an Office of Civil Vicary, which is responsible for providing a livelyhood for all officialy recognised religious figures within Monkberg.

Monkberg has a Gravedigger's Guild, which is responsible for collecting the dead and laying them to rest according to all applicable laws and religious customs.

Monkberg has a Highwayman's Guild, which is tasked with maintaining the roads and highways leading into town as well as keeping them safe for travelers.

Monkberg has a monistary of an order of Civil Monks, who provide divine-related services to the general public and maintain Monkberg's public wards, blessings, and other arcane systems.

Monkberg possesses an older civil lighting system consisting of street lamps. These lights provide nighttime illumination to most city streets.

Monkberg has a Parks and Recreation Department, which is responsible for the construction, management, and usage rights for all of its parks and parklands.

Monkberg has a public schooling program overseen by the Hall of Sages who has the responsibility of ensuring access to affordable high-quality education in all basic classes (Reading, Writing, Mathmatics, General Sciences, General Arcana, and Social Education) is made available to all citizens.

Cultural Notes

Monkberg's bank was built using a different architectural style from the rest of the town. The style used is admittedly strange and non-linear style rooted in defiance of symmetrical shapes. It championed the creation of buildings with a unique visual appearance. the structural norms of classic buildings and deforms or moves away from elementary architectural principles. By including non-linear designs processed into its buildings and favoring fragmentation, this style expressed a form of controlled chaos. Its buildings appear out-of-the-ordinary, draw the eye in immediately and sometimes create a feeling of strangeness. These distorted shapes and structure are not reserved to the building’s outer facade, they destabilize interior elements too, favoring minimalism and play on people’s perceptions by injecting a futuristic touch.

In Monkberg every night at precisely midnight every structure in town is engulfed by sailors fire until the end of the witching hour.

The Nightcaller near Monkberg are known to be a mutant strain of the creature.

Monkberg's citizens partake in a curious ritual relating to their local kami. It takes place in autumn and involves square dance to channel Elven High Magic energies of tier 1 via oath swearing.

Economy

The following information was obtained via the Imperial Census Bureau as part of the Eyom Economic Outreach Program. It differs from Standard Imperial censuses in that many of Tom's citizens, regardless of culture, work in more than one occupation or hold more than a single job. The Imperial Census Bureau has ruled that a job is a job, hence, the intigers within the data presented here can count an individual more than once.

Monkberg Census Data: Year 2000

380 of Monkberg's population work within a Foundational Occupation.

• 25 work in Agriculture
• 83 work as Craftsmen
• 31 work as Merchants
• 64 work as Service Workers
• 35 work as General Laborers
• 12 work as Skilled Laborers
• 54 work as Civil Servants
• 38 work in Cottage Industries
• 18 work as Artists
• 20 work in Produce Industries

777 of Monkberg's population do not work in a formal occupation, but do contribute to the local economy. 100 (8%) are noncontributers.

Points of Interest

Monkberg was unknowingly built atop something unstable, and now that substrate is crumbling. It may be swampy ground or a decaying coastline, or it could be an ancient buried city that’s now giving way. In the case of some antique habitation, the denizens that once lived there might be boiling upward as their home is collapsing, or new opportunities may be revealed even as the community’s present structure is ruined.

POI

History

In time immemorial, reportedly some time during the early 2nd century the Kami spared the town from the rampage of a legendary monster. One of Monkberg's local festivals commemorates this miracle.

History