Frugelhofen
Frugelhofen is a small rustic village located in the Frugelhorn Valley in the Grey Mountains. It is located right on the border between the Empire and Bretonnia, and occupied by peoples from both nations, but is claimed by neither realm.[1a]
Description
Frugelhofen is a village of only about a dozen buildings built mostly on the southern bank of the Vaswasser, a glacial stream. It has a single thoroughfare that passes west to east through the village, and from there to a couple of outlying farmsteads and a dwarfen gold mine.[1a]
Government
Since the village is not situated on land that belongs to either the Empire or Bretonnia, the villagers have no burghers or knights to rule over them, nor do they pay any taxes. The closest thing that they have to a local leader is the owner of the local watermill and orchard, Hector Brioche.[1a]
Defences
The main form of protection that Frugelhofen enjoys is it's isolation. Few wish to visit, fewer still see a point in attacking it. However, Alain Gascoine has a military background and remains skilled despite being effectively retired.[1a]
Trade
The residents fish for eels and albino carp in the glacial meltwater, both in the Vaswasser and in the lake that feeds it. They keep a few cows (but cannot sustain a large herd), as well as chickens, goats and rabbits. Wild rabbits are also caught to supplement the village's meat and fur supplies. Although the fields are fertile, the harsh mountain winters ensure that most crops have to be of a very hardy variety to survive, though a couple of fields of oats and barley manage to endure the weather every year. Hector makes brandy and cider from his orchard, which he sells from a small storefront, mostly to the locals. The village's most valuable export is speckled rustwort - a rare medicinal herb that grows in the northern Frugelhorn Valley[1a] and is used to treat Red Pox.[2] The locals sell the rustwort for a good price in Grunère.[1a]
Culture
Most residents speak both Bretonnian and Reikspiel dialects of Oldworlder, though a couple insist on only speaking Reikspiel, just to be awkward. Their particular local dialect may be a little thick for outsiders to easily comprehend.[1a]
The villagers all celebrate an annual festival called Stoning Day. The outlying farmsteads also take part in the festivities as local tradition claims it's bad luck to have anyone outside of the village on Stoning Day. It's origins come, generally, from the Old Faith and the Cult of Taal, but the specific origins are lost to time. The festivities include a lot of games and challenges that involve stones that are taken from the Vaswasser, which unintentionally deepens the stream, making fishing easier in the slower-flowing water for the following year. It ends with an open air feast, then drinking and dancing until the fall of dusk.[1b]
History
Very little of import has occurred in Frugelhofen, and much of it's older history has been completely forgotten.[1a]
In approximately 2412 IC, Emperor Dieter IV attempted to claim the Frugelhorn Valley as part of the Empire for the gold mines that existed in the region, but the Grey Mountain dwarfs kicked up such a stink that the matter was allowed to quietly subside for the remainder of Dieter's reign.[1a]
A century later, the Lichemaster Heinrich Kemmler, freshly restored to power by a pact with the daemon of Nurgle, Fachal'trethoulaer,[1c] attacked the village at the head of a small army of skeletons[1d] after assaulting the nearby Gimbrin's Mine[3a] and Wernicke's farm.[1f]
Sources
- 1: Return of the Lichemaster (WFRP), In Search of Famous Dead
- 2: The Enemy Within Campaign Volume 1: Shadows Over Bögenhafen, Herbs and their uses, pg. 37
