Economy of Myrken Wood

Forestry

Forestry is a blanket term for the industry that takes place in Myrken Wood's expansive forests and woodlands. Agricultural land is limited to narrow strips along the valleys of the East Mavoiir River and Posehabnak River; the rest is given over to forests - old-growth deciduous forests in the lowlands, giving way to hardier pine and spruce on the mountain slops. Even the cleared farmlands are dotted with coppices of oak, hazel and the like.

Lumber

With such an abundance of trees it is not uncommon to see great trunks, hewn and stripped of their branches, being skillfully maneuvered down river and lake to the sawmills and lumber yards of Myrkentown. The majority is used in construction, though some of the more select wood - Myrken-grown ash, beech and walnut in particular - are exported further afield for the hands of craftsmen and artisans.

Charcoal

Charcoal is the preferred fuel of smiths, smelters and other metalworkers. A good portion of the industry is performed in the East Weald to avoid angering Myrken's elven neighbors in the west, with the colliers' camp of Charvale as a local centre of the industry. From Charvale's great stoves charcoal is hauled down to the Posehabnak River, to be shipped upstream to Myrkentown or downstream to the foundries of Kilnley and Ashmund.

Hunting

Beyond a few noble estates and hunting lodges, the greater part of Myrken Wood is both untamed and unregulated. The deep forests are rich with game, from black bear to squirrels. Deer, elk, and moose are regularly hunted; some of the meat goes to support the hardy folk who make their living in the wilds, while the carcass is packed with mountain snow and sold to the butcher in the nearest town or village. Pelts, teeth, claws, scales, and fine feathers for ornamentation are always in demand. Anyone with wits, determination, and respect for his prey can earn a grand living from the hunt.

Gathering

In the thickets, brambles, and undergrowth of Myrken Wood's wilds can be found a rich and secret harvest. Depending on the season the woods provide strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, mushrooms, herbs and flowers, walnuts, hazelnuts, edible chestnuts, acorns, pecans, and numerous other nuts, and sundry wild roots and tubers. Some are in high demand from confectioners, cooks, perfume-makers, apothecaries, and dyers, while the reast bring variety and flavour to the otherwise bland diet of Myrken's country folk.

Agriculture

Through use of plough, hoe, shovel scythe, those not content with scrounging for a living, or braving the waterways have tamed Myrken Wood's valleys and lowlands and turned them to productive use. By the efforts of Myrken Wood's country folk - farmers, herds and the like - the region is kept clothed, fed, and reasonably self-sufficient.

Crops

It is a struggle to maintain farmland, even once it has been wrested from the arms of a jealous forest. Nevertheless, with axe and fire, and long, hard hours, the centuries of decay, mild summers, and ample rainfall of Myrken Wood create prime growing conditions. Wheat is a major staple, with rice close behind it, grown in Geilston the periphery of Ghreu Fenn in the north, and in the terraced fields of Fitchton and Dunby in the south. Melons, squash, pumpkins, and roots thrive in the river valleys and slopes, with corn, tomatoes, and cabbage more popularly grown around Myrkentown proper, where they can be quickly shipped (or eaten) to avoid spoilage. Most citizens beyond Myrkentown's walls cultivate their own little patch of land for the sustenance of themselves and their families.

Husbandry

Most of Myrken Wood's open land is limited to narrow strips along the length of the East Mavoiir and Posehabnak valleys, and is devoted to arable farming where possible. With grazing land at a premium, then, Myrken's herders tend to shy away from cattle, save for small herds of dairy cows, teams of plough-oxen shared between several holdings, and pockets of fattening calves meant for early slaughter. Far preferred are hardier, more independent stock, better able to fend for themselves.

• Sheep are popular on the rocky uplands and moors, their fleece prized for its thickness and ease of weaving.
• Chickens, pigs, and goats are easy to keep and feed on tablescraps, and more common among the farmsteads and smallholdings of the Posehabnak valley. Of increasing importance is a popular new goat breed known as the Large Myrken White, whose propensity for twins, heavy-fatted milk, and wilful cleverness has made it a prime choice for further breeding and export.
• Most peasants and villagers typically keeps a laying hen and a squab or two, who wander and forage for themselves at no cost to their owner.
• Beekeeping is uncommon save for a few hives around Myrkentown itself.

Rivers & Waterways

Myrken Wood relies on four major rivers - the West Mavoiir, East Mavoiir, Posehabnak and Sagpa Rivers - and three major lakes - Silver Lake, Tewllyn Lake, and Lake Mavoiir. These rivers form the backbone of Myrken Wood's transportation network, with Myrkentown itself being situated on the shore of Silver Lake at the meeting point of three of those four waterways.

Fishing

Anyone with the time, inclination, and a line or trap may catch a fish or two for supper. Most of Myrken Wood's fisheries are situated on the shores of the region's lakes: Shawburn on Tewllyn Lake, Myrkentown on Silver Lake, and Quagside on the tidal estuary of the Posehabnak River, which ships its catch upstream to Foggy Bottom to be pickled, salted, and taken to market. There are also various industrious individuals that fish all along the rivers and streams for rarer catches and roe. Foggy Bottom, at spring and at fall, becomes an attraction with the running of sturgeon and salmon, with workers migrating upriver in order to have a chance to make some quick coin.

• Quagside
• Myrkentown
• Shawburn
• Foggy Bottom

Transportation

Myrken Wood's roads are of variable quality - while efforts are made to keep main thoroughfares like the North Passage Down traversable, maintenance of secondary roads most often falls to those who rely upon these routes for their livelihoods - woodsmen, farmers, herders and the like. Many of these roads are thus deeply rutted and often impassably muddy for part of the year. Fortunately Myrken Wood's rivers and lakes provide a faster, more reliable and more comfortable means of transporting passengers and cargo throughout the province. Settlements along Myrken's waterways rely upon river traffic for a good part of their economy. Teams of horses and oxen (or sometimes even local youths) wait at outposts along most major waterways to haul vessels upstream for a fee. Meanwhile Myrkentown's location on the shore of Silver Lake has established the it as the region's main interchange between road and river traffic.

• Ostmere, Erlkynwold, and Lindock lie along the West Mavoiir River and are the major shipping outposts between Myrken Wood and Amasynia. Erlkynwold, though almost unreachable by overland routes, serves as an important trading post between Myrkentown's merchants and the inhabitants of the elven enclave deep in the Western Woods.
• Many more small settlements provide similar storage, hauling, and travel services along the banks of the Posehabnak River.

Industry

To the west lie the Silver Mountains, and to the east lie the Sikasoon Mountains, which trails down to form the border between Myrken Wood and Derry, and between them they provide much of the metals that helps fuel Myrken Wood's industry and exports.

Silver Mountains

The rich silver deposits that originally brought humans to Myrken Wood have, for the large part, long since played out, and the Silver Mountains are riddled with abandoned shafts and workings. That does not stop rumors of further veins and undiscovered lodes from luring many would-be prospectors to the deep ravines and the snow-frosted in the shadow of Mount Dawnfire. The elves at Erlkynwold do little to discourage such rumours by casually trading gems and stones of surpassing quality and craft. Among the prospectors, those few hardy souls who survive the mountains' hazards become furtive, secretive, and paranoid, emerging but rarely to trade pouches of cautiously-packed raw gems and ingots of rough-cast precious metal before scurrying back to their jealously-guarded claims.

• Silver
• Copper, Gold, and Electrum, in smaller quantities
• Diamond
• Topaz
• Obsidian
• Peridot
• Emerald
• Arsenic and mercury

Sikasoon Mountains

Long respected as the craggy domain the Dwarflords, recent years have seen the humans of the lowlands increasingly daring - some might say brazen - in their exploration of the Sikasoon Mountains. The long and inexorable decline of the Sikasoon dwarves has left many of their mountain halls empty and abandoned, the sprawling networks of subterranean chambers surrendered to the deep darkness and the creatures that lurk therein. Enterprising humans have made efforts to clear and reopen some of these ancient Dwarven workings, picking over mines whose yield was deemed inadequate by their precursors, yet still offers enough to justify human toil.

This is not to say that dwarves are entirely departed - they yet inhabit a handful of their most well-defended strongholds, and have a longstanding (if pragmatic) relationship with the province of Derry, having historically gifted the rulers of Wrexham with intricate machines or weapons of keen Dwarven steel.

Those who are less adventurous settle instead for tapping the iron and coal deposits in the Sikasoon foothills. The town of Wheldale serves many the mines of the Iron Mountains, a small spur of the Sikasoons, and the ore gleaned is taken to be smelted in the foundries of Ashmund and Kilnley. From there the ingots are shipped to the forges of Minehead to be crafted into tools, implements and weapons, or sold in the metal market of Foggy Bottom.

• Iron
• Coal
• Opal
• Turquoise
• Garnet
• Jade
• Lapis Lazuli
• Pyrite
• Shale
• Earth-pitch, Earth-tar or naphtha, as it is known by the dwarves.