Apr 22, 2026 1:59 am
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Apr 22, 2026 4:19 am
Falcon’s Hollow has had numerous tragedies and violent conflicts with monstrous neighbors during its century and a half of history. Tales of these events are passed on from one generation to the next, cobbled together from gossip sessions known alternately as "cutting dust" (chatting in the cutyards) or "blowing cinders" (telling tales around a hearth fire at one of the town’s taverns).
Founded in 4573 ar, Falcon’s Hollow was hastily erected by one of Taldor’s oldest companies, the Lumber Consortium. Over those first desperate years, Falcon’s Hollow successfully clung to its existence in the face of wild beasts, monstrous threats from deep within Darkmoon Vale, and other horrific trials made all the more desperate by self-absorbed leadership from the Lumber Consortium itself.
The survival of Falcon’s Hollow is a testament to the steely resolve of its three founding families: the taciturn Larko clan, the brave Samkils, and the brutal Kreeds. These families weathered the Harpy-Hag Massacre of 4603, finally ending that conflict by marrying a Larko son off to one of the hag Ulizmila’s seemingly innumerable daughters. They endured the decade-long period known as the Misery (4631–4641), which claimed many of the children of Falcon’s Hollow until the attic whisperer responsible was defeated by the eldest of the Kreed daughters, Balkri.
Eventually, the three founding families began to die off. The Hobgoblin Strife of 4679 claimed the last living scion of the Samkil family, though more than a few old-timers insist that the crossbow bolt buried in young Jebrika Samkil’s back bore a suspicious resemblance to those used by Kreed’s patriarch. Then in 4701, the Falcon’s Feud culminated in the eradication (by mass burning) of the Larko clan by a panicked mob who had come to believe the Larkos had become "unnatural folk"— changelings and stranger kin (thanks in no small part to rumormongering from Kreed lips). Today, Thuldrin Kreed and his son Jurin are the only surviving descendants of the original founding families, and the sole owners of the whole region’s lucrative Lumber Consortium chopping rights.
DAILY LIFE
Far from the cares and demands of civilization, the dense forest and crystalline river near Falcon’s Hollow might seem to promise freedom, but in truth, those who dwell here do so under the oppressive auspices of the Lumber Consortium and Thuldrin Kreed’s harsh vigilance.
Nevertheless, the resilient folk of Falcon’s Hollow find a grim pride in their work. The cutyards are a pumping, bleeding heart of the town, with shifts around the clock cutting and shipping darkwood and other lumber down the River Foam. Laborers break their backs and lose limbs to saw and axe in the yards, seemingly aging several years for each one they spend toiling under these grueling conditions. They’re a rough and honest (for the most part) folk who generally don’t turn to heroes - their problems are their own. Though they’re usually too proud to look to strangers for deliverance, recent events have forced some of the townsfolk to ask for help.
This cutyard culture dates back over a century, with rituals persisting from the earliest years of Falcon’s Hollow. Disputes between loggers are settled on the river in a bout referred to as a "loggerheads." Every so often, a shout rings through the yard with one logger challenging another to go loggerheads on their dispute. The combatants balance on logs in the water with a length of knobby timber in hand. The first battered into the water is pulled out by the rest of the crew and acknowledges the truth of the other’s claims. Some superstitious loggers believe that water sprites judge the contests and take delight in ensuring that the wronged party gets vengeance, even in defiance of the competitors’ comparative strengths and skills. From that moment on, the dispute is "given to the river," and no one speaks of it again. This phrase is also common parlance for a slight judged unworthy of actualdispute, with grumblers urged to give their complaints to the river and move on. Old Kreed approves of this logger justice, citing the old maxim, "People are soft and bend to lies. Timber is hard; let it decide."