Springdale (Realm)/Founding
Summerdale: War, Religion and Fleeing Families
Springdale. A few hundred years ago, Springdale was nothing. This is the story of how Springdale came to be:
In the far east, brutal wars were fought. One city was the focal point of the war. The city was called Summerdale. It had a large port and was close to the border of two other realms. It quickly became a a keypoint and strategic foothold in the warring. It turned into a warzone. The city changed hands so often, that pillaging and robbery was commonplace. The entire city was ransacked over and over. The peasants who were already paying huge amounts of taxes were being beaten over every last penny they had. If one opened his mouth, they would be threatened with hanging.
One such noble, an Estore Miriel was the first one to come to the boil. His hot temper, brutal fists (landing 2 soldiers in the hospital) made him the first to get hanged. He was tried after being caught for starting demonstrations and sabotaging the tax office - attempting to return some of the cities gold to the people who deserved it most - the townspeople. This left his son, Walter, and a wife to fend for themselves.
The local priest (Tristan Loper), was also struggling with his existence. His God didn't seem to provide him with the answers he needed to help solve the problem of the great city of Summerdale, and he was getting frustrated that he had no answers. It was not surprising that he decided to found a new religion. This religion was based upon the belief that you had to work hard to please God, and she would give you the rewards. His sudden change of belief did not please the rulers as they worshipped a male deity. He was quickly hung, along with the few believers he managed to collect; leaving his acolyte, Peter Tolvich the only remaining person who understood the new beliefs. He was spared because the town desperately needed a priest to calm everyone. In secret he kept the teachings of his late master alive - preaching night masses and to the sick on his hospital visits. And so a new religion - Atinism - was started.
Things turned from bad to worse. The nearby farms were now being raided to stop the food supply into the city. One of the farms was owned by Roger Clifton who married Catherine Bateman in secret under the religion of Atinism. They were the first couple to get married in the new religion. However, their farm was raided on the night of their honeymoon, and the house bunt to the ground. They both had no posessions, except for the clothes they wore, and a couple of wedding gifts. Because there were no farms, Catherine Clifton lost her job - the only thing keeping the two still on their feet - as she had nothing to cook with. They turned to the only person they thought would understand their position - Peter Tolvich, the priest who wed them.He welcomed them into his own home, under the new religion and with a little of the priests own gold, they started to work for the religion.
The three of them were good friends of the son of their late friend Estore Miriel. They held out their warm hands to Walter and his mother and took them in under their care. Soon after the death of her husband, Walter's mother passed away through grief - leaving Walter to be brought up by Roger Clifton, his wife, and the priest.
Edmund Crewe the town Tanner, and his fiance, Elizabeth Rose: a nurse were also good friends of the Miriel family. They and their two daughters took great interest in Walter's upbringing. They became close to the priest and soon adopted the ways of Atinism for themselves. Edmund's sister, Mary Dwyer (formerly Crewe), a Weaver, followed shortly thereafter, and her husband Peter Dwyer, one of the two town Bakers included themselves within the quickly growing group of friends and the Atinism religion.
The citie's reknowned artist, Beatrix Figg was put out of business after her studio was ransacked and all her canvases, brushes and paints were taken and used to pollute the rivers. She after became bankrupt, and married Oliver Chorter sooner than she planned. Oliver was the cities Physician who worked hard for his living, earning a good deal of pay. However, because he earnt a lot, he also also had the highest taxes of anyone in the town (which were then subsequently stolen like every other tax around). By now, the teachings of Atinism had spread to others within the small community of friends in Summerdale. The belief that something better was out there if they just made the right choices in life was easily persuading people to believe somebody was watching over them. Beatrix's sister Alice soon joined the religion after seeing how happy it had made the former artist. As a Candlemaker, Alice had a steady business making new candles as most people were now moving about at night, and needed the light to see/work by. With a little persuasion from his brother, her husband Frederick Dwyer, the cities's only Armourer was swayed over to the belief. The religion was quickly growing, and it was hard to keep their enthusiasm away from others in the dark times of the wars. The maid of the Loper house (the former owner) overheard the new priest discussing some finer points of the beliefs with Roger and his wife, while she was tending to young Walter. Helena Worswick liked the idea, and after meeting the young carpenter, William Holmes on his way to his first meeting, she decided to tag along. They later married.
As more people joined, stories of the religion began to spread. The members were keen to express the happiness they felt from believing and from the sermons that Peter gave them each day. Walter had been trying to persuade a young lady: Arabella Savagne, for a while. She was a Clothier from a wealthy family, who owned and outfitters. Her brother Martin took care of the business, while her sister Gloriana had the role of Seamstress. As Walter came to visit Arabella more often, her brother got wary, and decided to listen in on one of their conversations. Stories had started to spread, and he immediately understood what was going on. He did not want any part of this new religion, and attempted to persuade Arabella not to join what he believed to be some "weird happy cult". Little did he know how much Arabella loved Walter Miriel. He couldn't stand to see his sister "tainted" and left the business, putting his sisters in the lurch. Walter came to the rescue however, and looked after the business for the two sisters. Moving in with Arabella and wedding her.
However, this was not the last heard of the brother. It soon became known to the small group of Atinists that Martin's stories now really started to spread, and the Atinites began to fear for their survival. It seemed that Martin had spread some malicious rumours about a small group of people, lead by a local priest were brainwashing people into their way of thinking, even punishing people until they gave in. None of this was true of course, but as Atinism was still "illegal", the believers had to remain silent. The government finally heard about a crazed and broken man wandering around the outskirts of the city and had heard the stories and whispers surrounding some sort of religion. They put out a ransom stating "New Religions are a waste of Gold and resources that should be put into keeping our city safe from thieves. Therefore, anyone found to belong to any other religion than the state religion will be tried and if found guilty will be hung by their necks the next morning".
The believers in Atinism understood that they had to flee. Arabella's sister, Gloriana and her husband, Francis Bolbec, a farmer, while not really followers of Atinism, joined the fleeing group to help support them. Francis owned one of the few farms still left standing despite the pludering and he decided to sell it for a nice bag full of gold coins. This would go towards a boat to escape the city.
Right before the journey, Margaret Clifton, a dyer, joined up after being persuaded by her brother. She dragged with her, the cities finest stonemason Arthur Worswick whom she had been courting for some time.
They managed to persuade the towns Apothecarist, Geoffrey Gallahad, bringing with him his wife, Anne and her parents - the elderly Mr. and Mrs. Donaghue, the towns best Shoemakers. After buying enough supplies for the ever growing group of people, money was getting short. They had just enough money left to hire a small crew of sailors to man the ship and in one day they had gathered everyone willing to leave Summerdale.
14 families, fleeing from their own lands, then started a journey to where no one knew.
