Rediton History

Rediton is a strange settlement with an unusual history and an unusual structure.

The very first settlers - well at least in our time span - were people who were leaving Urgon. Some just wanted a new life outside the feudal structures of Urgon, others were outlaws running away and yet others were just plain old fashioned settlers.

They discovered an ancient cliff village - houses and buildings cut into the face of a cliff over looking a rocky coastline. It had access to fresh water, a rocky beach and there was just enough land for a few fields.

They took over the hill dwellings, tidied them up, established fields, fishing boats and a flock or two of goats. And they had a village – of sorts. However, as the settlement grew, it became less able to support itself, and the criminal tendencies of some of its settlers came to the fore. Some of the Rediton fishing boats would set out as a fleet, capture passing vessels, steal the cargo and perhaps even demand a ransom for the vessel and the crew.

However, Rediton is notoriously difficult to get to, and while there was one or two attempts to clean ‘the nest of vipers’ out - they all failed miserably. The authorities had better luck with ‘Honey trap’ ship, apparently laden with cargo, but actually containing a strong force of marines. These drew the pirates in hoping for rich plunder, instead they were put to the sword and their boats sunk.

However, it wasn’t until the arrival of the ‘underground’ folks, the dwarves and the gnomes, that Rediton became truly self sufficient. The cliff dwellers knew the area had a lot of caves - some had even been put to use as community store houses or meeting places - but they hadn’t really explored them. However, once the first group of prospecting dwarves arrived and discovered the routes into the deeper caves - things started to get better.

Before long the dwarves had discovered tin ores, tourmaline deposits and thunder-egg beds - and then there was money to be made.

Perhaps the most important developments though, was establishing practical access to a series of (close to the surface) caves that a huge colony of bats used as a roost. High on the ceiling the bats hang, however the guano covered floor supports a veritable forest of different fungi - some of which are edible.

Before long they had goods to sell, and a ready market in the craftsmen of Urgon who wanted their metal and gemstones - and eventually Rediton was able to negotiate it’s re-entry into Urgon.


Notes:

Thunder-eggs are roundish rocks whose centre contains agate or jasper -depending on how lucky the miner is. Note however, that only a few of the roundish eggs in the beds are thundereggs. The rest are just roundish rocks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderegg

The Colossus Puffball reaches two metres or more in diameter and is difficult to mistake for any other fungus. It has been estimated that a large specimen of this fungus when mature will produce around 7 × 10¹² large spores, all of which can be ground to make a flour substitute.

Ripplebark is a shelflike fungus that resembles nothing so much as a mass of rotting flesh, ripplebark is surprisingly edible without any special preparation, although it tastes much better if cooked properly. Ripplebark grows naturally in living caves.

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