Newick

Newick is a fortified border community. It is positioned along the easter border of the Yeomanry, tucked in tightly with the Javan River and directly across from The Viscounty of Nume Eor. The Javan River is quite wide along this border allowing larger water vessels to travel up and down freely. Newick can collect an interesting mix of residence, from run-away slaves, people escaping the Hool Marsh, or even people running from the Hold of the Sea Princes.

Local Population: 2100 (Registered). Presume 3x that for the population.
Transient Population:  300 to 600 at any given time. Local authorities do try to keep track of transients.

Military: Years ago, Newick has a Sherriff and a handful of deputies, in the last 15 years that has changed as they were overwhelmed. Loftwick, seeing the issue, assigned a trained group of 75 soldiers. There are 50 Privates, 10 Corporals, 5 Seargent’s, 2 squires (Resil Manna(F)/Yerle Griv(M)) and a Knight (Sir Lanis Marsk) that live in the community. The soldiers are stationed for six months and moved along to their next posting. This has created frustration with Sir Lanis Marsk, he gets a troop organized and embedded into the community and the soldiers are moved again. He has been fighting for a local Watch, using retired soldiers, even going so far as to offer people land, and homes.

Government: There is a Counsel of 8 Community Leaders. 

1. Mary Ogi. Mary has her fingers in a number of ecologically friendly goods. She is an environmentalist of the highest Order.
2. Horiz Vuedaft. He owns sheep and cattle. He also employs half the town. He is a retired Captain from a good Family and is NG. He takes people seriously.
3. Nalma Nusk (L8C). Local Orchard owner and Cleric of St. Cuthbert. She hurt her leg a few years ago and decided to stay. She trains locals at her home just outside the city walls. This training entails basic staff, spear, shortsword and Studded Leather armour. A number of local veterans participate.
4. Bror Goldroot. And odd Halfing, with a dry and caustic sense of humour. He owns 3 of the 7 inns in the community as well as one of the docks and two warehouses. His passive income competes with Mary Ogi… he is wealthy. Bror can be greedy at times but in the end, he is the one that fights for the walls to be repaired and locals to be cared for. He tries to hide his nature behind a wall of sarcasm but Mary easily gets him to show his best qualities. 
5. Teddie (L6R). No last name. A retired trapper he is too damn wise NOT to have on the council. He is awkward and strange with people but loves to sing at evening gatherings. He and Bror have a strange friendship. 
6. Wolgan Lefteye (L4C). A wolf Nomad that wandered into the community 25 or so years ago, wounded and missing an eye. The then cleric of Pelar healed her and set her to rights. She stayed and eventually took over for him when he retired back to Lofwick. She can be a hard person to deal with, but she will fight to save this community.
7. Star Flintwater. A gnome, he is the Clan Leader of the Deep Root Clan. While much of his clan work for Mary Ogi, he does not, he is practical, pragmatic and negotiates like a hungry badger. 
8. Sir Lanis Marsk (L9F). He grew up in Loftwick but was assigned here some 12 years ago, he and his wife (Slanie) are raising three children. He calls Newick home. He has two roles on the council: 1) The Military Liaison, 2) Senior Resident. His wife works at the local school, a project sponsored by Mary Ogi.

The community offers a number of healing options, but there are still limits to what can be done per day. There are two main clerics in the community that offer healing freely: Nalma Nusk, and Wolgar Lefteye. There are other low-ranking priests in the community that do not have spellcasting abilities. There are a number of Herbalists in the community, that offer healing concoctions (can heal 1 to 2 hp) to full Healing Potions. They go for PHB listed price. 

Clerical Healing is offered on a Free to Donation basis. The churches ask that people donate what they can. Most residents of the Newick region barter, trade goods and services (help to maintain the temples and shrines, for example). The standard price is (50 gp x L) + Material Costs = Healing Cost. 

Herbalism is a common Proficiency for many communities. It still does not mean any herbalist can get the required ingredients to make Healing Potions. There is still a base investment of 25 gp which the majority of the area can’t afford. Simple healing concoctions are only a few silver to make, often being traded for. A goat or a young pig is a good start to an offer.

 

As to the nature of the Yeomanry, at least in my setting, the majority of males have done military service, with females seeing less than half serving. Military Service is a major factor in getting the right to vote for leaders, important changes and numerous other details. Young people, males mostly, are encouraged to join the military, do a two-year rotation and return to civilian life. Many stay longer, up to four years. The Yeomanry prides itself on equal rights to ranks, seeing so-called commoners earning the rank of Captain. Sadly this is not always the case. The wealthy have a firm grip on the Knighthood and many wealthy early their Captain ranks much earlier than any commoner.

Newick is no different. They have no Captain, instead, Sir Lanis Marsk acts the role. He’s a progressive thinking, seeing opportunity in all peoples trained, and educated. As a Knight of Heronious, the Order of the Shattered Blade, he encourages active training to all in the community. They have Youth Programs, Young Adult Programs and Adult Programs. He finds himself working with Nalma Nusk, a cousin of his wife and letting her manage the general day-to-day training as well as the weekly contact bouts. He is often a participant in this training and demands his soldiers to do the same. 

The Shinning Orchard Training Grounds:

Nalma Nusk arrived at Newick years ago, a small caravan of mules, and several men-at-arms. Through a Loftwick agent, she bought the old Kiskangar Orchard and renamed it, Shinning Orchard. Not overly original but it does clearly state her mind at the time. Nalma was and still is a Billet, her rank and duty within the Order of St. Cuthbert. She was an adventurer, was wounded, and chose Newick, based upon a dream she had. As per rules, she introduced herself to Sir Marsk and quickly arranged training programs as well as integrated herself into the community. This is the standard behaviour of St. Cuthbert’s Billets.

Within a year the community built a large barn to store all their training gear. Sir Marsk encouraged the locals, and his own soldiers to participate in these regular training sessions. Training consists of physical fitness, team tactics, shortsword, spears, and shields. They all train in the use of studded leather. 

The Watch Office:

Within the wall is the Watch Office. It holds all military offices, including Sir Marsk’s, the soldier’s training area, and their barracks, as well as the city stores, and jail cells, are underground. The second, and third floors are for the community. The school utilizes both floors for a mix of classes. Any person charged with breaking the law is sent to the main judge chambers and then released for brought to the cells.

The Watch Office: The School:

The school offers programs starting from ages 4 to age 12. Children are taught reading, writing, math, history, music, geography and basic economics (geared towards their time period). Mary Ogi had a side entrance created so the children would not be gathering with the Watch or any criminals.

They also run adult classes for people who want to improve. 

There is an ulterior motive to the school. The children are taught that if there is an emergency, all the children are to go to the Watch Office.

 

Yeomanry Regulars:

Guard patrols regularly use the lower barracks for overnight stays and rely upon Bror Goldroot and two of his Inns to provide them with meals and rations. This is a good contract and Bror invests heavily in it. He has recently expanded the rations business to provide nearly 30% of the country’s rations. Mary Ogi is a silent partner. He also sells rations to Keoland soldiers, that business has been disrupted with the advent of recent events.

Yeomanry Regulars are usually in groups of 12 to 20 soldiers. 12 person units will normally have one corporal. 20 person units will have a corporal and a Seargent. They are normally armoured in Chainmail, with shortswords, crossbows, spears and shields. I use the standard 5e Guard with the following exceptions, see the image for the Yeomanry Regulars.