EDIT: for the purposes of this post, i am not referring to \"Rangers\" as in the guild name but \"Rangers\" as in the common Fantasy RPG Class/Job/Type of player.
OK, i\'ll take a stab at this. I read the whole thread thinking about a forest outpost for the rangers, and it wasn\'t mentioned until the last few posts. however, since their posts were thin, i will elaborate.
Possible names: Sylvania, Sierra Station, Lake Alta, Walker\'s Roost, O\'Rourke\'s Camp, or Fort Courage. (ok, those last two are a \"nod\" to F-troop.)
for the purposes of this post, i will referr to the city as \"Sierra Station\" and the genereal forest that it is in as \"Sylvania\". the names can be changed later of course.
Landscape\"Sierra Station\" Is located in a stragegic mountian pass, on the shores of a small, but deep lake. the lake is in a glacial basin, and is kept full and clear by mountian runoff. the water is icy cold year round.
(a similar place on earth is Lake Tahoe)
This area of the mountians contains a large forrested wilderness, comprised mostly of tall evergreens, and shorter hardwoods with the fir trees more along the line of the mountians (say southwest to northeast) and the forest thinnig out and becoming more hardwood and a drier, warmer climate as you travel away from the mountians toward the foothils in the southeast. in the southeast, about a days walk from Sierra Station, the foothills support nut orchards and vinyards before giving way to more grassy fields of wheat and barley.
The forest itself supports a wide variaty of woodland creatures and plant life,. the lake has few native species, but stocks have been recently introduced by Nolthrir travelers and tradesfolk.
ArchitectureThe buildings are almost excluseavely single-family log cabins or larger log \"lodges\" there are also many large canvas tents and other temperary buildings (many of these are used year-round). in good weather the rangers, trappers, prospectors, etc. all seem to dissapear into the woods, but when it gets cold and wet the tavern becomes full.
here and there you will see some signs of the culture of the owner of the house. for example, a log house built in the odd style of the owner\'s hometown, or a stone building built by a dwarf.
The oldest buildings are in a kind of a compound, surrounded by a wooden picket (aka stockade) with a gate and watch towers in the corners. there is one large central well in the courtyard and a few smaller wells near the larger group homes (lodges) The compount or \"old station\" is well built and quite defensable. there is a constable\'s office with a holding cell that serves most of the administrative functions, a post office, and a one-room schoolhouse.
Outside of the picket, there is a large boathouse on the lake, several small docks, and a small boatwright/fishing shop.
populationThe outpost was founded by primarily Ylian and some Dermorian rangers. Becouse of this, just about everyone was welcome to stay as they passed though the main part of town. (the Ranger\'s Guild is \"out there\" somewhere and few non-rangers venture out to the glade.)
Like any outland waypoint and trading post, people of all races pass through
on a regular basis and some stay around for reasons of their own, be they profit, pleasure, or starting over, or whatever. The rangers don\'t put up with any overt bigotry so anyone that can\'t get along, gets lost.
HistorySierra Station is a relatively new settlement, established origionally by guides and rangers as a camp along the road as a good place to wait out bad weather in the pass. Eventually, rangers built a more permanent station here because it is out of the way but yet offered abundant natural resources and good lines of communication and trade.
EconomyUnder the protection of the rangers, traders began a brisk business supplying adventurers and travelers and a traders rondevouz or bazaar became a tradition, first twice a year, then once at the 4 major holidays, and soon it was every 6 weeks. Rare and exotic goods can always be found here, although the price is a premium and there isn\'t a huge inventory.
Of course the expected trappers, leatherworks, Animal trainers, etc. have cabins here, and there are also facillities for armor and weapon repair. one of the best weaponsmiths in world retired to a cabin on the far side of the lake and he can usually be persuaded to make a custom piece. however, no where in the world are better bows made, due to the variaty of materials avaliable and many of the best bowyers and fletchers that are teaching over at the ranger\'s guild.
The surrounding mountians are rich in rare, but hard to extract ores. prospectors often come to the station to trade their ores for supplies. rumors persist that an ancient, secret, dwarven mine somewhere in the area, but no one has seen it. (at least no one has seen it and lived to tell the tale)
up in the mountians about a days hike from the Station is a hot-springs/bath-house/health-club/house-of-ill-repute run by the Diaboli. They seem to be doing quite well up there, despite a massive mutual-ownership (stock) fraud scandle a few years back.
links :
here are a couple of pictures of Lake Tahoe:
http://tahoe.usgs.gov/
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