Hanson's Kraal

Hanson’s Kraal stands in a relatively level stretch of country near the main tradeway. At a distance it appears to be a large, prosperous town surrounded by a formidable wooden palisade. Upon entering the Kraal it becomes apparent that the settlement’s best days are behind it, if they even happened in the first place. Hanson’s Kraal looks like it could comfortably house several thousand people but the current permanent population is barely more than 200. The town is full of empty and half complete longhouses and vacant sheep corrals. The founder of the settlement, Hanson Windrunner, was given leave by Baron Helmaur himself to build this trading post. Hanson had bigger plans however and envisioned founding a city that could be a base from which settlers could tame the highlands while acting as a trading hub. The reality crushed Hanson’s dreams when the land proved too dangerous for settlers to maintain herds and farmsteads needed to fuel the town’s growth. 

Hanson refused to acknowledge the facts and kept spending his fortune earned in the southern wars to expand the town and its defenses. Ultimately Hanson died a shell of himself alone in his hall, having sent his family away after years of failure. The town remains a valuable stop along the trade way though it could suffice as a fortified camp a tenth of its size. Recently Hanson’s young daughter has returned to the Kraal, not in an attempt to build it into her father’s dream but simply to use it as a base of operations for her own expeditions into the wilderness. Alisa Windrunner was the first of her family born in the Craglands and unlike her mother and sisters she was hardened by this land, adopting the life of a ranger rather than southern gentry. She technically has a claim to govern the Kraal but has shown so far nothing but apathy for leadership and town living.