Valley Stewards

The council began as a compact among communities recovering from catastrophic rain and slope failure. Early Stewards gained trust by organizing shared labor rather than claiming ownership of the water. Their authority grew as terraces expanded and the same channels came to serve several settlements. A watershed moment came roughly 60 years ago, when an upper basin diverted meltwater to save its own grain and sent a destructive surge through lower terraces. The council intervened, opened emergency channels, and imposed a binding release schedule. The resulting rule saved much of the harvest, but also established that the Stewards could override local water claims during an officially declared danger. Over time, the council added timber quotas, seasonal levies, and route inspections to its responsibilities. Its emergency grain stores have carried settlements through lean years, while levy disputes and uneven enforcement have earned lasting resentment. Today the Stewards are neither simply village servants nor a distant government. Their authority rests on the visible usefulness of their work, and every flood season tests whether people still believe that the shared rules protect them.

Faction · Lawful Neutral

Valley Stewards

Among settled communities, the Valley Stewards are valued when water runs clear, a bridge survives a storm, or emergency grain arrives on time.

Type: Regional civic authority…
Size: 280 members
Reach: High across settled valleys
Base: First Rain Market

Overview

How it began

The Valley Stewards trace their beginning to a season remembered in local accounts as the Three-Day Rain. A succession of storms tore open terrace walls, sent mud through farmsteads, and left the lower paths choked with fallen timber. In the aftermath, village elders, water-keepers, and stoneworkers began meeting at First Rain Market to coordinate repairs and assign shared labor. Their first agreements were practical rather than grand: clear the channels together, keep the steepest slopes rooted, and store a portion of each harvest for the next flood. The name Valley Stewards is a plain English rendering of an older title for those entrusted with shared water. The original word has been lost from common speech, but it survives in an old seal whose inscription no one can confidently read.

How to know them

MottoThe terrace holds the soil; the steward holds the valley. Drain the basin foolishly, and the slope takes us all.

EmblemA stepped hillside crossed by three thin blue lines, with a small stone gate at its center. The steps represent terraces, the lines represent controlled water, and the gate stands for the duty to release or hold the flow at the right moment.

Colours

Moss green, Rain-washed slate, Pale clay

Signs

A stepped hillside crossed by three blue water lines
A small stone gate carved on official notices
Green cords worn by Sluice-Wardens during field inspections

DressMembers wear practical rain capes in moss green or slate, with a pale clay-colored cord marking their branch. Sluice-Wardens carry measuring rods and waterproof map cases; Levy-Collectors wear a visible badge and keep their records in oilskin; the Canopy Watch favor short cloaks, sturdy boots, and tools suitable for marking trees. Rank is shown by knots in the cord rather than ornamental metal.

Standing

AlignmentLawful Neutral, with a strong tendency toward Lawful Good when disaster threatens ordinary households.

AgeAbout 170 years as a valley-wide council, though several of its water and boundary customs are older.

WealthModerate. The Stewards control public stores, records, and infrastructure rather than private riches. Their strongest resources are labor, local trust, and the ability to coordinate supplies.

What they say they want

Keep irrigation networks and drainage channels functioning.

Protect terraced fields, settlements, and paths from preventable erosion and landslides.

Set sustainable timber limits and require root-binding replanting.

Collect fair seasonal levies and maintain emergency food stores.

Resolve disputes between farm families, timber workers, and visiting buyers.

What they are doing now

Inspect and clear the high-altitude drainage channels before the next season of heavy rain.

Audit timber assessments at remote camps and determine whether local complaints about Syndicate trade rates are justified.

Repair the irrigation sluice serving the terraces near First Rain Market before standing water ruins the crop.

Prepare emergency grain stores and evacuation routes for hamlets below unstable slopes.

Find out who has been mapping the main reservoir above Survey Seven Ford.

Where it leads

A valley network able to feed its people and withstand extreme weather without surrendering local self-rule. The Stewards hope to make shared infrastructure reliable enough that cooperation becomes more valuable than any single hamlet's short-term advantage.

How others see them

Among settled communities, the Valley Stewards are valued when water runs clear, a bridge survives a storm, or emergency grain arrives on time. They are also known for ledgers, inspections, and rules that can feel remote to people living far from First Rain Market. Farmers often trust an experienced Sluice-Warden more than a senior council member; timber crews tend to assume an inspection means a fine is coming.

People

6 ranks

First Steward

Haddon Spore-Gazer

Calm, attentive, and difficult to hurry. He lets people finish speaking, then asks who will bear the cost if their proposal fails. His patience can look like hesitation to those demanding an immediate ruling.

First Steward1 member
The elected chair and public voice of the council. Sets priorities, calls emergency sessions, and must justify extraordinary levies before representatives of the settled valleys.
Basin Council11 members
Senior delegates from major settled basins and market routes. Approves seasonal quotas, arbitrates disputes between branches, and can limit the First Steward's emergency authority.
Sluice-Wardens36 members
Field engineers and inspectors who assess terrace walls, clear channels, monitor meltwater, and coordinate repairs across connected watersheds.
Levy-Collectors24 members
Clerks, assessors, and guards stationed at markets and crossings. Record harvests and timber duties, distribute stores, and refer contested assessments to the Basin Council.
Canopy Watch31 members
Forest wardens who mark permitted cuts, inspect replanting, and close unsafe logging areas. They may warn or escort a crew away, but major penalties require a hearing.
Seasonal hands and local delegates180 members
Carpenters, carriers, surveyors, storekeepers, and hamlet representatives brought into service during repairs, inspections, harvest accounting, and flood preparation.

Other key members

Sefra Senior Sluice-Warden and Haddon's most trusted field engineer
Tamas of the Lower Steps Levy-Collector assigned to Survey Seven Ford
Gethra Canopy Watch captain responsible for camp inspections

How they are organised

How it is runA regional council with field offices and delegated authority over shared infrastructure, harvest assessments, and land-use rules

Who comes nextThe Basin Council selects a First Steward from among experienced officers and local delegates. Candidates present a seasonal plan for water, timber, and emergency stores, then answer questions from representatives of the major settled basins. A successor must win a majority of the council and receive public confirmation at First Rain Market. In a declared emergency, the council may appoint an acting steward, but that appointment expires after the danger passes unless confirmed by the regular process.

How they recruitApplicants are usually sponsored by a local household, market representative, or serving officer. They spend a season learning one branch's work, accompany an experienced member on inspections, and present a practical account of how their decisions affect both upstream and downstream communities. Emergency laborers may serve without taking the full oath, but anyone granted authority to assess levies or close land must swear to keep accurate records.

To join

New members must learn the valley's shared-water rules and the emergency signals used during flood and slope failure.
Field officers must complete a supervised season of inspection, repair, or record-keeping.
Members swear to record disputed assessments and water releases accurately, even when the truth embarrasses the council.
The Stewards accept people from any local community, but a person responsible for fraud or deliberate damage to shared infrastructure may be barred.

Operations

What they do

Water management and irrigation maintenance

Terrace and slope preservation

Harvest and timber assessment

Emergency grain storage and distribution

Mediation of land-use disputes

Flood, landslide, and runoff preparedness

How they do it

Inspecting terrace walls, drainage channels, and reservoir structures before and during the rainy season

Posting water-release schedules and emergency closures at market hubs

Collecting harvest and timber levies in kind, with exemptions or delay possible after verified crop loss

Mediating boundary, water, and timber disputes before they become armed conflicts

Using repair crews, local expertise, and shared labor as often as fines or guards

Closing unstable slopes and logging areas when continued use could trigger landslides

Services for hire

Sluice and slope inspectionFree to residents during an emergency; otherwise labor or a modest contribution to the repair stores
Assessment of damaged terraces, drainage channels, and water gates, with a written repair priority when staff are available.
Emergency storesNo charge for households whose losses are verified; other requests require repayment in grain or service
Temporary access to emergency grain stores during crop failure, flood isolation, or a documented shortage.
Basin mediationA small local levy or an agreed share of the recovered goods
Dispute hearings for contested water shares, land boundaries, timber quotas, and harvest assessments.
Hazard-route guidanceUsually covered by local duties; exceptional escorts require council approval
A Sluice-Warden or Canopy Watch guide leads travelers around unstable slopes, closed channels, or active landslide zones.

What they can do

A broad practical knowledge of local water routes, terrace construction, and seasonal slope conditions.

The ability to mobilize repair crews and close unsafe works across much of the settled valley network.

Records of past flood paths and landslides that can help predict where future damage is most likely.

For D&D 5E campaigns, characters on good terms with the Stewards may be granted food, lodging, local guides, or a repair crew as narrative support. These benefits are favors, not supernatural powers.

What they have

Irrigation channels, stone-lined drains, and terrace maps maintained across settled basins

Emergency grain stores at market and crossing sites

Rain gauges, surveying tools, and local records of landslides and water flow

Authority to organize repair crews and restrict dangerous work during emergencies

A trusted network of guides, farmers, masons, and river-pilots

Where they are weak

The council cannot repair every channel or wall at once and must choose which settlements receive help first.

Its limited guards are spread across a wide region and are not a standing army.

Inaccurate harvest estimates and corrupt assessments can quickly undermine trust.

The system depends on local knowledge, leaving it vulnerable when key wardens are injured, missing, or bribed.

Emergency authority can be mistaken for a permanent claim of power, especially in remote hamlets.

A major failure of the reservoir or upper drainage network could overwhelm all the Stewards' preparations.

Territory

Headquarters

First Rain Market

KindCivic hall and regional records office

The Steward's Hall stands beside the sheltered market plaza at First Rain Market. Its lower floor is built of dark local stone, with a wide covered porch where people can wait out sudden rain and argue over measures without blocking the produce stalls. Above the public records room, wooden galleries hold irrigation maps, levy ledgers, and rain gauges. The hall's oldest feature is a long stone channel set into the floor, used to demonstrate how water will divide between disputed terraces. During hearings, the sound of trickling water carries through the room while wet wool, clay, and crushed herbs scent the air.

Lands they hold

The settled highland basins and terraced valleys of the Mist-Belt Valleys, generally between 3,000 and 7,000 feet

Market routes and agricultural slopes around First Rain Market

The river crossing and toll point at Survey Seven Ford

Timber camps including Cold Rain Camp

Outposts

Ford levy officeSurvey Seven FordRecord caravan cargo, assess crossing duties, distribute flood notices, and coordinate with river-pilots when the gorge becomes dangerous.
Canopy Watch postCold Rain CampMonitor timber quotas, verify replanting, and warn logging crews when saturated slopes or heavy rain make cutting unsafe.
Steward's HallFirst Rain MarketHouse the Basin Council, public records, water maps, and the regional grain reserve.

Secrets

The big secret · GM only

The last comprehensive inspection of the main reservoir above Survey Seven Ford found a concealed fracture in its retaining structure. Haddon ordered the report kept within the Basin Council until temporary bracing could be installed, fearing that public alarm would cause a rush from the settlements below. The bracing is incomplete, and someone has recently accessed the restricted inspection records. If the fracture becomes public before repairs are ready, the council could lose its authority. If it is hidden much longer, lives may be lost.

What they really want · GM only

Complete the reservoir repairs before the concealed fracture becomes common knowledge.

Build a resilient seed and sapling reserve outside the formal store system, so a failed harvest does not leave every settlement dependent on the council.

Prove whether Syndicate debt records are being used to claim timber rights that local families never agreed to surrender.

Prevent the Basin Council from using temporary flood powers to permanently weaken hamlet control over local water.

Hidden plans · GM only

Steward Haddon Spore-Gazer quietly wants to build a valley-wide reserve of seed grain and root-binding saplings, even if it means withholding part of the levy from the formal emergency stores.

A small bloc of senior Sluice-Wardens is pushing to make the council's emergency water powers permanent. They believe the valleys cannot survive if every hamlet can refuse a coordinated release.

Some Levy-Collectors are investigating whether Syndicate buyers have been using debt records to secure timber rights beyond the terms agreed by local families.

Smaller secrets · GM only

Several Levy-Collectors have privately adjusted assessments to spare households after crop failures, leaving discrepancies in the public ledgers.

A few Canopy Watch wardens quietly allow limited cutting of fast-growing trees in places where families lack other fuel.

An old drainage map in the Steward's Hall includes a channel that no living officer remembers seeing in the field.

Sefra has found fresh tool marks near a sealed inspection hatch but has not told Haddon because she fears the Basin Council will order the hatch opened before the reservoir is stabilized.

What insiders say · GM only

The Stewards are more divided and more pragmatic than their uniform notices suggest. Field members often understand local hardships and quietly adapt rules, while senior officials worry that exceptions will make shared obligations impossible to enforce. Their finest work depends on cooperation, yet their authority sometimes grows most sharply during disasters, when residents have the least freedom to refuse.

Trouble inside · GM only

The Sluice-Wardens prioritize watershed safety and favor centralized control during emergencies. Levy-Collectors want accurate, predictable assessments but are often blamed for rules they did not write. The Canopy Watch sees timber restrictions as essential, while settlements that need fuel or construction wood consider those rules a burden imposed from the market. Basin Council members disagree over whether the Stewards should remain neutral arbiters or take a stronger stance against exploitative Syndicate trade. Haddon tries to hold these interests together through negotiation, but his willingness to delay enforcement can make the council appear indecisive to its strictest members.

Crimes · GM only

Plot hooks

5 hooks

1
The Dammed Sluice
Levels 3–4, or an equivalent low-level challengeReward: Faction standing, paid work, and access to local shelter and produce
A sluice feeding terraces near First Rain Market has jammed behind a fresh fall of stone. Aggressive subterranean beasts occupy the blocked channel, and water is already backing into the fields. Haddon asks the characters to clear the obstruction while Sefra maps a safe route through the flooded works.
2
The Levy Riots
Levels 4–5, or an equivalent social and combat challengeReward: Faction standing, a negotiated settlement, or leverage over the local timber trade
A remote terrace hamlet refuses its timber levy, arguing that a Syndicate buyer falsified the trade rate and left families in debt. The characters can inspect records, question the buyer, and mediate before Levy-Collectors arrive with guards. A violent resolution could leave the hamlet isolated when the next flood comes.
3
Sluice-Gate Sabotage
Levels 5–6, or an equivalent high-stakes hazard challengeReward: Major faction standing, emergency authority, and evidence about the saboteurs
Someone has rigged the main reservoir dam above Survey Seven Ford with seismic charges. The characters must find and disable them before a surge reaches settlements below. Haddon wants the danger contained; Tamas insists that the public must be warned, even if panic disrupts the evacuation.
4
The Buried Waterline
Personal or local investigation, scalable to the partyReward: A family alliance, local trust, and access to an old valley survey
A family asks a character with local ties to prove that its terrace was wrongly marked for abandonment after a slope inspection. The old map appears to show a buried drainage channel beneath the land. Recovering the original survey could save the farm, but also reveal why the channel was sealed.
5
Bread Above the Gorge
Regional crisis, suitable for a party at any levelReward: Regional gratitude, enduring allies, and influence over future council policy
A storm has cut off several hamlets, and the central grain reserve is too small to supply them all. The characters must choose a route, persuade settlements to share stores, or uncover why a promised shipment never arrived. Every hour spent deciding allows the rain to rise around the paths.

Work they offer

1Clear a blocked irrigation channel before flooded mud ruins the crop.

2Investigate disputed timber assessments and mediate a levy standoff.

3Protect a survey crew repairing a landslide-damaged drainage route.

4Find a missing grain shipment before isolated settlements run short.

5Identify who has accessed restricted reservoir inspection records.

What gets in the way

The council's seasonal levies are calculated on expected yield, which can leave a household owing grain after a storm destroys its crop.

A rule against cutting root-binding trees protects slopes, but can deprive isolated hamlets of fuel and building timber.

Steward orders are difficult to enforce in remote settlements where families maintain their own sluices and regard outside inspectors as a threat to local custom.

The valley's drainage works are interdependent. A repair that saves one terrace can redirect floodwater toward another.

Some officials favor careful negotiation with visiting Syndicate buyers; others suspect that every concession will become a permanent claim on local resources.

Rumours

1True: Haddon has delayed publishing a reservoir inspection report while crews work on emergency bracing.

2True: some wardens quietly permit small timber cuts when strict enforcement would leave a settlement without fuel.

3False: the Stewards secretly sell flood warnings to Syndicate buyers.

4False: every levy collected at Survey Seven Ford goes to the Basin Council rather than to local repair and storage.

5Unconfirmed: the sealed channel on the old drainage map was closed to keep something beneath the terraces from reaching the river.

Valley Stewards

Valley Stewards

Overview

How it began

How to know them

Standing

What they say they want

What they are doing now

Where it leads

How others see them

People

First Steward

Other key members

How they are organised

Relations

Operations

What they do

How they do it

Services for hire

What they can do

What they have

Where they are weak

Territory

Headquarters

Lands they hold

Outposts

Secrets

Plot hooks

Work they offer

What gets in the way

Rumours

Connections

Media

Turn Valley Stewards into a sheet