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Chapter 4: Beyond the Westmarch
An excerpt from the Visitor’s Guide to Taladaria, by Cyrus Sardinus, circa 950.
The Barony of Sheffield
On the Western edge of Taladaria, where it borders the Westmarch is an untamed land, the Barony of Sheffield. While more populous than the Westmarch, it is a place of small rural settlements that are largely self sufficient. While the Baron does make an effort to uphold the peace and the Duke’s Regiment does patrol the caravan routes, the reach of the law often fails to extend to its more remote communities. As a consequence, people sometimes take matters into their own hands and results can be somewhat mixed. On the western side of the fief commerce is conducted my means of the Barony’s roads as the only place where the Iceflow river can comfortably be approached is near the Ford Inn, where river traffic is impossible for most of the year. The Baron holds court at Pearson which is not the largest town. There is, however, a great crossroads and one of those roads leads to the walled river town Caubiac, on the fief’s eastern border, river barges can reach it both from Peyrepertuse to the southeast and northwest to Doncastle, Citadel Howle and of course Port Mistral. From what I learned, I would expect Caubiac’s vastly superior location to Pearson to play an increasingly important role in the fief and it would not surprise me if the Baron elects to move his seat there before long.
Aside from being accosted by highwaymen or bandits on three distinct occasions, my path through the County was largely uneventful. The people have little reason to trust strangers and are insular and focused on their own daily hardships. I would not recommend the Barony as a destination. Pearson is a fortress town and the only settlement that is reputed to be aesthetically pleasing and prosperous is Caubiac though I did not visit it myself. I made the decision to continue my travels rather that risk being waylaid once more.
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