Algamesh's Stand
The Place
Algamesh's Stand is the largest town in Sundered Valley, but still a village compared to the bustling cities of the Kingdom of the Ivory Sea or the Arcane Lands. It lies somewhere close to the heavily forested valley's center, a rather cosmopolitan place frequented largely by humans, dwarves, some gnomes and the rare monstrous demihumans who are more into trading than murdering, it sees a sizeable number of traders from the Arcane Lands state of One-Eye Peak.
Near the center of Algamesh's Stand rises a lone hill with barren top, nothing growns there, except for in two suspiciously footprint-sized patches. Local tales has it that Algamesh defeated a dragon there almost a century ago, and that those footprints are where his feet were planted as the dragon's noxious breath weapon billowed over him, leaving the rest of the hill devastated. Of course he promptly took heroic action and knocked the dragon out of the sky before proceeding to cut it with his famous longsword "Death's Domain."
When Algamesh was still around in his castle on the valley's northern edge, he technically wasn't in charge of Algamesh's Stand, or indeed any of Sundered Valley except for the lands immediately surrounding the keep, but he was still regularly consulted on any matters of import for the valley and treated as an official with important input. He also helped save Algamesh's Stand many times, being instrumental in convincing the Ivorian forces to circumvent the place on their regular crusades.
Noteworthy People
Mayor Thomas Guiscard(Human) is in charge of keeping Algamesh's Stand running from day to day, making sure the taxes are collected, the city guard paid and crime kept at acceptable levels. He's also the one who started the search for Algamesh's heirs when he started worrying that the Ivorians might launch another crusade, and decided that this time around, the Stand would need all the help it could get. He'll feel much safer with someone situated in the old keep overlooking the valley, even if it's a bit of a crumbling ruin these days.
Priestess Klara Maximilienne(Half-elf, priestess of Morcant, Lord of Earthly Peace) takes care of religious affairs in the city, largely her job is to keep the minority of Ivorian citizens from getting too pushy about their faith, especially considering that the place has a few hedge wizards who make a living casting minor spells for money and assisting the city guard. So far things have been kept calm, but it's constant work, especially as the Ivorians would love to see Sundered Valley absorbed into the Kingdom of the Ivory Sea properly.
Envoy Slavica Zhannochka(Dwarven) administrates the city's trade agreements, as well as maintaining good relations with the gnomish and dwarven communities scattered throughout the Barrier Mountains(and the forests of Sundered Valley), she heavily distrusts the Ivorian minority in Algamesh's Stand, as well as the demihumans of One-Eye Peak. She's a proponent of shoving all the Ivorians back home and if trade with One-Eye Peak wasn't so damn profitable, she'd probably be back with her clan, leading a war against them.
