The village of Nepris is a small fishing village of about 200 people. The fishermen there harvest several species of fish, seaweed and shellfish that they trade or sell to the local dwarves or traders from the Mithral Route.

Image description: Sturdy houses of wood and stone form the village of Nepris. Picture drawn by Quellion.

Description. The village has sturdy houses of wood and stone mostly built by dunes or large boulders for protection from the sea winds. These houses are usually two or three rooms with flat roofs slanting slightly to the back. All have a covered area at the front of the houses to give some protection from the sun and a place where the family often gathers for an afternoon break. A pole about 3 peds from the side of each house is planted in the ground with a crosspiece attached at the top and roof of the house. Here netting can be found hanging while repairs are made. Each house usually has two knee high railings about 3 peds long separated by about 5 peds. Across these are laid their ducraer for repairs, maintenance and off-season storage. At the east side of the village are two large sturdy wooden structures. They have only one door with a hand span of open space around the bottom. These are used to smoke some fish catches. At the front of the village near the beach are several triangle shaped racks with cross pieces every few finger spans. These are used to dry some fish catches and seaweed.

Location. Nepris is located in the eastern part of the Santharian province of Manthria on the shores of the Adanian Sea. It is in Mossy Rocks Cove below where the dwarven enclave of Kor Mithrid is located.

People. The people are a mixture of many tribes and these tribal characteristics have also been mixed. The reason for this is simply that other fishermen came to ply their trade and stayed and many found marriage partners from other areas. A practice they still maintain. There is no common description that would represent this village exactly but generally the males are around 2 peds with the females a little less. Inhabitants mostly have brown hair and brown eyes. Their skin is a general leathery brown due to the constant exposure to wind, sun and sea. As stated, there can easily be found exceptions to these descriptions.

Image description: The Fishermen of Nepris at their everyday work. Pic drawn by Quellion.

Everyone shares the work when it comes to the daily catches. This means all will pitch in to get the fish prepared for the smokehouse or drying, or lay out the seaweed brought in for drying or they will all shell the sisters if that is the daily catch. But each family will take care of their own boats and netting or all equipment needed or used. People of Nepris are fond of saying "The sea is my life and my life is the sea", and they will not put their lives in the hands of anyone else. The men more often do the fishing because of the heavy physical nature of this, whereas the women usually repair the netting because they are more nimble of hand. Even so, everyone in the village knows how to do the necessary tasks and can do any job that is required.

Clothing. Men and women usually wear the same working clothes. In summer they wear open leather sandals for the feet, which are replaced in winter by heavier leather boots. The pants are a heavy and sturdy type of cloth with the legs ending just below the knees. Hemp roping at the waist usually holds these pants up. Longer legged pants replace these in winter. The shirt is commonly baggy, hanging below the waist and of a light material with short sleeves. These shirts are often tied up just under the breasts or discarded entirely so they do not interfere with their preparations when a fresh catch comes in. These clothes are all a sandy or light brown in color and are oiled to make them resistant to water.

In winter the Neprisians wear a heavy woolen sweater. They are also oiled for water resistance but here the villagers also dye them in bright colors. When there is a wedding or a celebration for whatever reason, the village brings out their special clothes. This is usually a full-skirted dress for the women that reaches to their calves. The skirt is pleated at the hips so it can flow out making a flying circle around the women when they are dancing and twirling. The sleeves are baggy and tied at the wrists making them bell shaped. The men wear pants that are tight at the waist with baggy leggings tied at the ankles giving them also bell shape. They also wear baggy shirts that they partially tuck into the waist of their pants. The sleeves are also baggy and tied at the wrists to give them a bell shape. These clothes are made of a light material, as all weddings are usually in spring and summer when it is warm. These clothes are all dyed in bright colors.

Production/Trade. The village trades for most of their needs with catches they bring from the sea. The fish they bring in is the main staple of their trade but they do trade in several varieties of seaweed and the nacre from sister shells with the dwarves. It is also rumored that the fishermen of Nepris occasionally deal in pearls, but if this is true it may only be with dwarves.

Image description: Village map of Nepris. Map done by Artimidor.

Government. The villagers govern themselves by elders. These are usually the old fishermen who can no longer go out to sea. They are accorded honor for surviving and judged to possess wisdom by experience. When there are any disputes that can not be settled normally, the aggrieved parties present their sides to the elders. The elders then decide the outcome and decisions once made can not be changed. Other than that, the married members of the village decide on village matters. The elders can also call meetings to discuss decisions if they feel there may be unwise consequences.

Myth/Lore. Like fishermen all over Santharia the inhabitants of Nepris honor the Goddess of the Sea, Baveras. They make no special rituals other than a quick prayer for good fishing, a safe return from the sea, or protection. It must also be noted here that the villagers are very superstitious. Although they deny it, they are often looking for things that bring luck. Or, if they think that something once brought them luck they will always use it as a good omen until it is proven to have lost its power. This is not something that actively controls their waking life but Neprisians are still very careful and cautious in this respect and try not to do anything wrong which might have as a a result that they'll lose their luck. By the same idea, if something appears to have brought bad luck they will instantly stop doing something or using an item or change their habits.

History. Various dispersed, but believable sources tell us that the ancient history of Nepris dates back to the 5th or 6th century before Santhros, when the region of Mossy Rocks Cove was settled extensively by Avennorian people. In these times two independent settlements were established. The first was Phris more to the south of Mossy Rocks Cove, close to the Twynor Grasslands. Tough there were several dangerous cliffs and reefs on the coast in this region, people settled there as pearldivers had found many riches in the Adanian Sea and the dwarves of the Mitharim to the north were willing to pay high prices for such items (the Thergerim themselves are a very water-shy race and therefore have to rely on trade in order to attain pearls). However, the pearl riches in the southern Mossy Rocks Cove region turned out not to be as satisfying as initially expected, and in hope for better success some people moved up north, founding a second settlement to the north. The second settlement was close to what is now named the Cliffs of Hyndillan and thus also closer to the Thergerim enclave of Kor Mithrid. It was named Nehlan, but consisted in fact only of a few houses. Pearl findings became more and more rare, and while Phris turned slowly into a slightly growing fishing village, Nehlan became more and more deserted. Even the Mitharim who once extensively traded with the Avennorians became suspicious after the founding of the second settlement, which to them revealed the greedy nature of this human tribe. Soon the initial good relations between humans and dwarves in this region were not further intensified and an alienation ensued.

The co-existence of the settlements of Nehlan and Phris lasted several centuries. The two seperate villages survived the Third Sarvonian War unharmed and even a local hero emerged from this area, the simple fisherman Annils Norgerinth. Norgerinth initially hailed from the southern Fang Julin and decided to settle in Nehlan. He managed to successfully fend off an assault of orcs who tried to reach the Mossy Rocks Cove region through Crazy Woman Pass. Though he died during the fight, his death brought the two seperate villages closer together, and also restored respect of the Mitharim dwarves towards the Avennorians.

In the following decades after the Third Sarvonian War several houses were built connecting the two settlements, though the first official mentioning of the joined settlements as one village bearing the name of "Nepris" didn't happen before 320 a.S. Seemingly the new name derives from a combination of the previous names "Nehlan" and "Phris". Nevertheless the exact date when Nepris was founded as an own village is not known. The villagers themselves maintain only oral histories they pass down but seldom if ever have any dates. Many of these oral histories deal with daily life or village matters and are moralistic and used for teaching. A few deal with major events and a date can be associated with them.

TIME TABLE OF THE VILLAGE OF NEPRIS THE AGE OF THE BLOOD (YEARS 822 B.S. - 50 B.S.) ca. 550 b.S. to 520 b.S. Foundings of first Avennorian Settlements The two settlements Phris and later on Nehran are founded at the coast of Mossy Rocks Cove as the discovery of pearls in this region promises new wealth. Trading with the Mitharim dwarves is already reported back then, but as the pearl resources are soon used up, trade of the Avennorians with the Thergerim become scarce again.    212 b.S. The Battle at Crazy Woman Pass The battle for the defence of Crazy Woman Pass is fought in the Mithral Mountains and is in fact only a minor confrontation between orcish and joined human and dwarven forces. The resistance the orcs encounter at Crazy Woman Pass is very important though as the pass leads over the central Mithral between the prominent double-peak, the Chalbern, on the southern side and the massive Archare to the north, and therefore constitutes an essential connection to the region of Mossy Rocks Cove. At Mossy Rocks Cove you can find several smaller fishing villages as well as entrances to the dwarven domains of Kor Mithrid and Tyr Ethran. As the Tharanian army cannot not provide troups for the defence of this region in time, commoners organize armed resistance themselves under the leadership of the fisherman Annils Norgerinth in cooperation with the Mitharim dwarves. At this battle the orcs are finally repelled from crossing the Mithral and further orcish attacks during the war focus on the west instead, leaving the Mossy Rocks Cove area generally unharmed. Though the couragous Annils Norgerinth loses his life in battle, the villages Nehlan and Phris (the current Nepris) are spared from major destruction. A tomb of stone harbouring Norgerinth's corpse is hewn into the Mithral by the Thergerim. It is located closely to the Pass near Toran's Fall. THE GOLDEN AGE OF KINGS (YEARS 172 A.S. - 547 A.S.) 320 First offical mentioning of the Village of Nepris In a document where the Manthrian Thane Rhano Roubins re-organizes the Santharian province he writes that the "village of Nepris has always played a key-role in the establishing of interracial relations between the Avennorians and the dwarves of the Mithral [...] and therefore should receive a considerable amount of further funds from the Marcoggian treasury to promote trading and cultural exchange with the Thergerim. These dwarves - along with the Tethinrhim elves of the Auturian Woods - deserve our respect and acknowledgement as integral parts of Manthrian society."    321 First Trading Relations with the Mitharim dwarves Thane Roubins designates a sum of money to the small fishing village of Nepris to "promote trading and cultural exchange with the Thergerim (of the Mithral Mountains)", once more citing their "key role in the establishing of interracial relations between the Avennorians and the dwarves of the Mithral".    327 Documented Trading between Nepris and Kor Mithrid First mention of trading with Nepris in Kor Mithrid histories is recorded in 327. Though trade between the Mitharim and the inhabitants of the Mossy Rocks Cove area has existed already since hundreds of years, the initiatve of the Manthrian Thane produces first official contracts and intensifies exchange of goods. THE ERA OF THE SOUTHERN WARS (YEARS 825 A.S. - 1.062 A.S.) 931 Birth of Jamliso One of Nepris' few celebrities is born, the mage Jamliso. Though only moderately successful in Ximax, he is quite famous in this small village. He is known among mages for simplifying the casting of spells without losing their quality or strength.    944 The Year of Blue Smoke The still youthful Jamliso, who later would become a mage at Ximax, causes a blue haze to engulf the village for almost a year. Everything is stained with a bluish tint. After this incident Jamliso soon leaves Nepris heading towards Ximax to study there at the Magical Academy.    1.025 The Storm of Three Nights The coastline is battered by a three-day winter storm so dark and violent it turns day into night. Lives are lost, structures are damaged or destroyed, and recovery is slow and brutal. Local lore tells of a terrible act of vengeance by Baveras and Grothar.

"Theme of Nepris", composed and performed by Vladeptus Format: MP3, Length: 2:34, Original Title: "Hero''s Rest" from the album "What the Dragon Heard", Track #18. Click here to download the song, use right-click and "Save as..." (2.36 MB).