Hope (village)

From AJS.COM

Hope is a ruin, approximately 20 miles west of Danube, atop the Hope Cliffs which line the Carpenter's Cove.

Current inhabitants

The village of hope as it currently stands is built atop the old ruins, and is home to a small group, decended from bandits who originally settled the area, and raided local towns including Danube.

The Deal

Because of the nature of the Pomarj, any town without strong defenses is quickly overrun. During a bandit raid in which a hostage was taken, many generations ago, Danube was attacked by orcish raiders from an encampment to the south. The town begged for help from the bandits, promising to pay the ransom on their hostage only if they were around to do so, and that meant saving the twon from the raiders.

The bandits complied, chasing off the orcs, and in what has come to be a ceremonial relationship over the generations, Hope continues to defend Danube in exchange for goods and support from the town as well as a "hostage" (an able bodied young man who becomes a member of the village of Hope) every 10 years.

In reality, Hope would be unlikely to be able to stop any sort of raid on Danube given the distance between the two towns, but power in the Pomarj is as much related to consequences as the potential for success. The fact that Hope would exist to retaliate against any attacks on Danube is, in itself, a significant deterrent.