Rivers Rest

Rivers Rest is a town in the Pines that lies on the River Nethi, on an oxbow lake. It is the seat of the Gowen clan who built the stronghold called the Bower. Forty leagues downriver is the port city of Cirilos. Many trader ships from Cirilos make port in Rivers Rest, the smaller ships sometimes continue upriver to Woodhedges.

Layout
The town proper lies on an island in the middle of an oxbow lake that formed three thousand years ago. The place to ford the river is defended by the Pinewatch which today stands as a crumbling tower. Scholars from all over the island consider Pinewatch to be a place worthy of pilgrimage because of its library. On the west shore is the Greengate which leads to a bridge over the Nethi into the region of the West Hills. The Greengate, named for the moss that creeps up its walls, is a vibrant market where wondrous items are bought and sold. The Oldstones pass through Rivers Rest making it a hub of trade both by land and by water.

History
The town that would eventually become known as Rivers Rest started as a Velorian redoubt during their conquest of the Pines over the Wideface People. The first structure built was fort called Pinewatch and was supported by a small community of peasants who tilled the soil and fished the rivers. They made their homes on an island in an oxbow lake. The waters in this area of the River Nethi were calmer and easier for the Velorian horses to ford so the Velorians built a defense to guard the crossing, a tower called the Pinewatch. Named as such for its duty to vigilance along the borders of the Pinelands.

Pinewatch once was crucial in defending the ford of the River Nethi against the Wideface. They engaged in multiple bombardments against the tower which never granted them victory but was successful in reducing the tower to a rubble of stone and mortar after a year.

King Ulwyck Cirilos in an alliance with a contingent of Stoneborn pushed back the Wideface People into the Midland Mountains and out of the Pinelands for good. King Ulwyck's exploits were chronicled by his younger brother Ulwyn Cirilos, known as Ulwyn Inkfingers, or Brother Booklouse. After the final battle with the Wideface People, Rivers Rest was rebuilt to even great magnificence than it was previously.

A grand castle called the Bower was erected in the center of the island which Ulwyn expected his kingly brother to bestow upon him as a sign of gratitude for the fame Ulwyn brought him with his chronicles. Ulwyn never fathered any children and as such his older brother passed him over as Lord of Rivers Rest instead bestwoing it to one of his generals the Lord Geredock Gowen who had many heirs.

Ulwyn remained in Rivers Rest though and was given the role of advisor the Lord Geredock who quickly grew tired of the bitter old man's grumblings. So Geredock renovated the destroyed tower of Pinewatch and stationed Ulwyn as castellan there.

Once he grew too old to travel, Ulwyn hired bards to scour the lands and collect stories for him to write down for posterity. His library still resides within Pinewatch along with a plethora of volumes written by other scholars and bards who have followed in Ulwyn Inkfinger's example.

Notable Locations

 * The Bower, the castle of the Gowen clan.
 * Pinewatch, an crumbling fort on the shores of the Nethi. Now a hermitage for scholars.
 * Greengate, a fort on the shores of the Nethi. Rebuilt as a market known for procuring oddities.
 * Lost Tongue, a quiet tavern frequented by scholars.
 * Rivermens Square, a market where most shops are located
 * Frothy Barrel, a tavern owned by Betty Browntooth