Thorn–Meridian Belt
Where Nareth’s old forest meets its salt plain, a road is never only a road: timber, water, migration and passage are parts of one oath.
Table-facing places
- Thorn Gate: A market-fort where foresters, lumber families and travellers answer at the same stone bridge.
- Meridian Hearth: The last fresh-water stop for salt caravans; measures are sealed here.
- Dew Leap: A reed-roofed Harengon village whose council oversees garden watches and message-running.
- Shell Sound: A quiet woodland settlement of Bugbear households that drives off noisy plunder, not strangers.
Order and livelihood
Water shares are written before timber is cut. At Thorn Gate, a traveller is assessed by the trace left behind; repairing that trace earns a reduced toll. Elves and firbolg keep grove watches, while other households run mills, caravans and night safety.
Pressure and hooks
The Thorn Crown wardens fear overcutting; the Meridian Measurers fear untaxed salt. Escalation runs from a road dispute to muddied water, suspended oaths and a closed pass.
- Dew Leap’s message lines are cut at night.
- A salt caravan wants passage on Shell Sound’s sacred quiet day.
- An old bridge stone accepts passage only for someone who repairs a trace.