Shadycreek Run

Shadycreek Run is an outlaw town just north of the Quannah Breach, encircled by the Savalirwood in the Greying Wildlands. As of 835 PD, the power over the city is divided between the Tribes of Shadycreek Run, Greytrader Union, and the Grudge Gang.

Description
Shadycreek Run is a sovereign city that lacks cohesive shape, instead, it is a "crooked, long town" built in a long line along the edges of the Savalirwood and its creek. The northern half of the city vanishes into the woods that historically kept the Dwendalian Empire at bay and protected the sovereignity of the Run.

Based on one reliable source, the name of the town is derived from the creek that is in nearly perpetual shade from the nearby pines, or, alternatively, according to the "age-old adage" that speaks of the volatile and chaotic nature of Run's society: "they call it the Run for a reason".

The neighborhoods of the city are built around Clover Alley, a three-mile-long central street that passes through the North Clover, Clover Plaza, and all around the southern treeline of the Savalirwood in one throughline. It's slick with mud, lined with hovels, and shelters ragged peasants, hoping for an alm.

North Clover
North Clover is in part built into the Savalirwood and is the heart of wealth and power in the Run, housing most of the ruling families. Northwest, in the woods, there is Estate Sybaritic, home to the Mardoon family.

On the outskirts of the forest, there are broken down tent cities and hovels. Deeper into the thicket, the roads and alleys break down and becomes sparser, the buildings are further apart. It's less of a gridded city and more of a cluster of buildings that are generally more well made.

Wickerskids
On the western end of the Clover Alley, the Wickerskids, farmers tend to the harsh land of the north with remarkable perseverance, producing food for the people of Shadycreek Run.

Clover Plaza
Clover Plaza is the central square that meets with Clover Alley and the cradle of commerce, conflict, and sin within the city. There the factions of the city openly make contact and do business, with with their true motives hidden behind a veil "bawdy and loud lifestyle of indulgence and excess".

The open area of the plaza is dotted with log benches, safeguarded by a four story tower with two balconies and of motley colored stones standing vigil over the area. Crossbow- and longbow-wielding roughnecks known as Taskers often watch over the area from the top of the tower.

There are a few establishments located on the plaza:
 * The Landlocked Lady: A very beautiful two-story brothel on the eastern side of the plaza.
 * Plaza Emporium: is run by a pleasant but occasionally murderous dragonborn. She is not affiliated with any of the unseemly folks directly.
 * The Trench: A tavern where the Iron Shepherds always hang out. It's located on the northern side of the plaza.

Gruff Slum
Gruff Slum on the eastern end of Clover Alley established a cluster of peasants and cutpurses in "drug dens and pig pens".

South Clover
The neighborhoods of the South Clover are "the most impoverished and least maintained" parts of the city, known for its extremely forlorn denizens.

Society
Being outside the supervision of the Empire, the Shadycreek Run has few regulations. It is often spoken of as a haven for criminals, thieves, and murderers, but is also described by The Gentleman as home to "the truly free entrepreneurs of Wildemount" and known for tough communities of hunters who attempt to tame the rigid environment of the north and have risen to become significant traders. The minority amount of denizens work as artisans, craftsmen, farmers, mercenaries, or entertainers. Moreover, groups of farseeing individuals have begun to organize and civilize life in the Run, hoping to bring a fraction of order, while the figures, customary to the chaos of the town, fiercely fight against their intentions.

Most of the people live here escaping the prosecution under the imperial law, seeking a taste for the brutal lifestyle, or stayed out of their necessity for essential needs, either because "they came seeking fortune and failed, or they came to indulge in vices that have slowly crushed them". The rest of the populace are usually armored to some extent in patchwork hides, chain, or leathers. Almost everyone is armed, with a general sense of needing protection amongst the chaos. Some folks look like they're trying not to be seen, but many parade their thickened arms. A very unique and curiously motley group of people call this place home.

The scavengers of the Shadycreek run, adventuring into the Savalirwood and the ruins of Molaesmyr for lost treasures from the distant past, have developed a conflict with the people of Uthodurn, seeking to reclaim their heritage. The looters themselves, the Tribes and the Greytrader Union, battle over the export of these artifacts.

Government
In 835 PD, the Shadycreek Run don't have any sign of legislative system and the spheres of influence in the Shadycreek Run is divided between three competitive factions who are governing the city: the Greytrader Union, the Grudge Gang, and the Tribes of Shadycreek Run.


 * The Greytrader Union: A faction of reformed outcasts and criminals who claim to seek safety for their city: turn the Run into a respectable destination for trade, increase the safety of civilians, make the community more functional, and eventually diminish the influence of the Tribes and the Grudge Gang. Despite the above, they enjoy the freedom of a lawless lifestyle, but with minimal violence, instituting self-appointed marshals to keep the peace and attempting uproot the legacy of violence famed for the Shadycreek Run. Their ranks are filled with trappers, hunters, builders, and craftsmen from all walks of life.
 * The Grudge Gang: Former deserters from the Dwendalian army, they became an organized company of mercenaries working as the main muscle to enforce local interests within the Run. They will happily work for any faction in the city, but staying neutral and keeping to their principles of avoiding "bloody enough" business that harms innocents or "puts the safety of the Run at stake". Members of the gang are toughened by their hardships and grown loyal to each other.
 * Taskers: Are the members of the gang who have assigned themselves to maintain order in a lawless lands and protect innocent from city's predators, frequently bending the bar and beating everyone involved to a pulp. They priorities: work that pays greater, maintenance of livable streets, and keeping the dangers of the Savalirwood and the Dwendalian Empire out of the city.
 * Tribes of Shadycreek Run
 * The Mardoon family: Primarily involved in organized crime, brothels, and the slave trade, and has a number of contacts and alliances with Myriad.
 * Jagentoth family: Assassins, slave traders, and drug dealers, who have a reputation as the most violent of the families. In 835 PD, they are rivals with the Mardoons and once employers of the Iron Shepherds.
 * The Uttolot family: Importers and poachers, a family who controls the passage through the Quannah Breach that leads to the Empire.
 * The Trebain family: Heavily involved in smuggling antiquities from Molaesmyr.

Demographics
As of the year 835 PD, Shadycreek Run has a population of 14,770: 56% are humans, 15% are elves, 14% are dwarves, and 15% are other races.

Notable people

 * Gustav Fletching: Apparently came from Shadycreek Run.
 * The Iron Shepherds: A group of slavers headquartered northeast of town, in the Sour Nest.