The Cushington brigade

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  Dagfinn / Deng Ham

  10/10/24, 8:04 AM

  

   

  Foreword by Alex Huntley

  "The populous town of Cushington is situated to the far west of Hobbleshire, and is most famous for the invention of the "cushion", a craze that has in recent years exploded in popularity amongst the upper classes of the civilised realms. Although found littering the palaces and boudoirs of many a castle and country mansion, it's roots are much more humble. One day, a poor Cushington farmer by the name of Jimmliegh Watermire was on his way to the weekly market to sell his prize flock of Hobbleshire geese. A halfling who likes his drink, he was nigh inebriated by the time he set off, and was finding it increasingly harder to keep control of his flock. In a fit of drunken frustration, he caught all of the geese, stuffed them in a bag and carried them over his shoulder all the way to the market. Halfway there however, and after his previous excursions, he fell over, and landed on the sack of geese, which promptly fell open and the enraged birds escaped. Because of their unfortunate time in the sack, they had lost almost all of their feathers, which were left behind. Amazed at how comfortably he lay in this sack full of feathers, he gave up his farming career, made them for a living, and is now one of the richest Halflings in Western Hobbleshire. The Halflings of Cushington are proud of the invention that brought so much fame and wealth to the town, and carry the "cushions" tied to poles as standards when they march to battle."

   

  Area description of Cushington and surrounding area.

  Cushington is the largest town in the area called Borgund. It lies to the far north east of Hobbelshire. With the Mildaark forest belt between Hobelshire and Njorsvald to the north and the ocean to the west. The forest is said to hold magical or abysmal powers. There have been many attempts to chop it down, but every time the trees grew back up and any sign of interference has been covered Up. One can easily get lost in the woods and many Halflings have lost their lives wandering aimlessly around in the woods. But it's not all grim and scary. The effect of the wood has given Cushington a practically unlimited supply of lumber. All they need to do is to chop down the trees, throw the trees into the river and then float the trees down to the towns. Due to the high altitude the climate is very cold in the winters, but luckily the summers are warm and gentle. As such the Hallings that live here are tough when they have to be, but at the same time know how to enjoy the blessings when they receive them. Life up north has always been harder. Not only is the weather unaccountable, but the lands are less fertile than further south. Up here the surroundings are rolling hills with rocky outcrops. The thin layer of soil, often not more than a few feet, is covered in moss, heather and wild grasses. As this is not normally well suited for agriculture, it is fantastic pasture ground for the local breed of sheep (called saoue). Some areas are more densely populated, notably on both banks of the river Noerve. Here the lands are more fertile and are well suited for growing crops. The Noerve is a wide river that runs calmly from the Mildaark forest belt and down through the lands. Passing through the three sweetwater lakes, that lie like pearls on a string. The first is H’upper lake, then the central Rogh lake and finally the lower Lake Lung. The town of Cushington lies Between The two lower lakes. With the harbour and docklands on the lake lung. Ships from all upper Arcworlde come to dock here taking on board cushions and foodstuffs. The countryside surrounding the lakes is calm and the land is fertile. The lake banks, in particular, are flush with vegetation and wildlife. Amongst them the now famous Cushinton geese. But not all creatures are such a blessing to the halfling community. The infamous boglings that live in the tall reeds and swamp areas of the lake, steal livestock and plunder the fields. There are also the Njoervegriff, that nest all along the river and lake banks. In dire times, the grifflings will flock together, like locusts, and eat off the crops and scare the halflings from the homes. The worst creatures are no boglin or winged rodent. No it’s the fearsome rivertrolls in the riverlands and the terrefying Cocklegriffs in the highlands, whose luckey is a rear sight. Though one can never be sure, so it’s common known that you never wander too far from home.

   

  Life in Cushington

  The halflings that call this land home are known to take life easy and there is nothing they enjoy more than a lazy afternoon. But as there saying goes “a job well done is a break from resting. The same way that resting is a break from working”. As you can see, one cannot exist without the other. And as such the halfling pride themself in doing things properly. To step back from something they've made, look at it and say with pride that “I've made this” is something highly regarded in Cushington. The people find what they are good at and enjoy doing, perfecting the skills and then provide services to the neighbours. Trusting in the community to support them in the other needs they might have. Naturally everybody can't be able to do this with all tasks in life, so the halfling asks others for help. That help is gladly given, often before is even asked for and at no cost to. This community spirit is what drives the town forward. The people often feel that they get more than they receive. And besides there is often a treat after a job is done. There is a currency in use, but that's mainly because the Albionican they do trade with insist on using them. The halflings that manage the coins for the cushion companies have tried to maximise the income, but without really knowing the true value of the coins they charge. As a result there is a rather large treasury in the company's storage. The main use for this coin is trade and other major services, like supplying the “Men at arms” in the brigade, or acquiring skills and services that can`t be found in town.

  

  The civil war

  After the Albionican withdrew their protection and headed north to deal with the unrest in Njorsvald. The monsters were no longer held at bay and there was an increasing unrest amongst the farmers and sheep herders. Farmers felt they did more work than they had to both farming and protecting the lands. They still provided food, cushions and textile to the empire without getting anything back. That's an unheard of thing in the Cushington culture and so voices were raised to ban them from the town. But the ones dealing with the empire did not want it. After all, what should they do with all those extra cushions. A select few, the mayor at the time among them, were overseers at the warehouses at the docks. Saw the real value of the huge gold profit and so needed to maintain trade. They knew that the Cushington gold would buy mercenaries, superior equipment and at first they tried to reason with the farmers. But it had already gone too far. The unrest had become violent. Farmers and workers had assaulted albionicans and one fateful night they had massed in the docks and boarded all foreign ships. Every cushion in the ship's hold was cut open and tossed overboard. The ships had to abandon port not to be sunk and destroyed completely. Following that night, know ås the lake lung pillow fight, life in Cushington was changed completely. The factory administrator and merchants working in the once lively harbour were forced to take actions. Knowing that if they shut down their business hundreds of halflings would be out of a job and that would ruin the town. Also they knew that it was past the point of reason and there was no hope to solve this peacefully. They chose to send a ship to contact the albionicans to purchase weapons and equipment and soo be able to administrate a standing force to obtain peace. Became a huge fight and the men at arms equipped themselves as best they could. Fighting better equipment with stubborn willpower. The elected mayor in these times, Dengam Watermire, was overthrown and Roald Mudboot took command. Building on the fury amongst the halflings towards their common enemy. His followers were almost exclusively workers, farmers and others that had manual labour as their main resource. He led the “labour militia” against the superior armed “Albionican loyalists”, who were backed by the rich and prosperous of the town. What would in other places of the world be the upper class. During the tumultuous time that followed, the concept of class was becoming more and more established. The distrust grew to such a degree that one no longer wanted to help someone from a different class, without getting something back. The upper class used money to pay for the help they received and the labor class offered services in return when they needed something. The former mayor, Dengam Watermire was still CEO of the E.C.P.C (establishment of cushions and pillows from Cushington) and had the responsibility to protect his workers, the buildings, stock and maintain a trade relationship with the empire. Naturally prices skyrocket and production was kept well guarded. He was still feeling responsible for the town, despite him no longer acting as mayor. He worked towards peace and gave strict orders not to strike the labour militia unless it was absolutely necessary. He drew his guards tight around his operations and tried to smuggle goods in and out of the town, so that the militia would not find reason to escalate the unrest. After a while things calmed down, after all this unrest was against the halfling nature and as long as the fuel for hate was not strong enough, it eventually died out. It soon became obvious that Mudboot had no skills whatsoever running the town. After just half a year of his reign almost everything was crumbling down and a new unrest rose. This time it was from the inner chaos of the town. Through his connections within the labour community, Dengam managed to get support once more. Obviously because there was no disorder of chaos within his control and the good folk of the town was reminded of what life once was. An election was called for and Dengam Watermire was once more elected as mayor of the town. It didn't take long before order was restored, however the notion of class still existed. Eventually the need for coins in daily use was quickly diminishing, although it's never gone away completely. The bigger favours and more demanding help is sorted with coins, as well as the keeping of track on the trade between unacuainteds.

   

   

  Warploque Day.

  This day is celebrated on what is know as 27th of February in our world. In Cushington it is a great feast of food, drink, festivities and art. Particularly the art of well woven and designed cushions. In the town center lies a great park and marked area. This is transformed into a festival with marked stands and the never ending rows of tables for the thirsty halflings. They also host various games, like archery contest, «hold-your-breath-under-water» contest, guess the amount of feathers in a jar and for the kids it's the «red light» that is the most popular. But for the adults there are two competitions that is ranked the highest. The «Rawhide rodeo», well it's more like a joust really. Where the bravest of halflings mount up on their huge rawhide cattle (similar to a musk ox) and try to knock the others of their mount. The halflings are armed with a «baeljing», a short spear with a 7 feet long chain at the bottom with a small sandbag attached in the end. The bealjing is used as a flail or whip to punch the others with. The halfling that knocks of the most opponents win the round. The other main event of the festival is located in a special stand at the very center. It hold the entries for the cushion design contest. All capable weaver, seamstress or pillow maker bring forth their very best cushion. They are left there in piles over night and on the morning of Warploque day the winner will be crowned. It is no halfling that does the judging, nor a normal mortal at all. It is a magical being sent by the creator himself, Warploque, in the form of a monkey. He is know the the halflings as Warpy.

   

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