The Merchant of Bernice.

It all started in a humble village by the lake.

Bernice: a setting for Dragonbane RPG.

(As narrated by Daffee Duck.)  

Once upon a time, because that’s how all the best stories begin, a flock of humble Mallards settled their community on the muddy shores of a big lake. They called it Silver Lake because of the way it shimmered in the sunlight at dusk, right before the sun disappeared over the mountains. (*Really it could be anywhere you need it. Generic fantasy setting and all.)

Little did they know there were all kinds of terrors lurking beneath the surface of the water just waiting to strike! One of them could be walking up behind us right now! AAAAAAghhh! Ahem… <cough> We might come back that later. Just setting some tone for now.

Life in the early days.

Being Mallards, the lake itself was a very important feature of everyday life. The townsfolk nested their simple homesteads between the mighty forest and the lake. They built themselves a town hall for gathering, a mill for grinding, a sawmill for boards, a smithy for metal, and a dock for what would soon be many fishing boats. They planted fields of corn, wheat, and beans. There was also a healthy wild rice patch on the east edge of town back in those days.

Sorry guys, I don’t have a map yet. Let’s just say my mapmaking skills might not be up to such a monumentus task just yet. We’ll just have to keep track of this whole lot in our heads for now. We can handle that. No problem.

In the early days, there wasn’t a whole lot of commerce. They built a couple of small granaries to hold their harvests through winter. The town hall was built up with brick and mortar eventually to provide shelter during storms and keep everyone together and safe during the harshest of winter nights. They were a tight-knit bunch back then. Everyduck looking out for each other and whatnot.

One fateful foggy day, a lost emissary emerged from the forest, completely lost.

It was a dim and foggy morning many years ago. The storms the previous cold night left a layer of dense fog and frost all over everything. A strange creature the likes of which had never been seen in Bernice before emerged from the woods near the Pluckington farm. The family trembled in fear as the strange humanoid approached their window and then knocked on their door.

The brave Johann Pluckington finally answered the door. This was not a scary, duck-eating werewolf. He was just a funny looking mallard with pointy ears, no feathers, and deformed feet. The stranger introduced himself as Lucien the Hunter. Apparently he was lost in the fog.

Johann brought Lucien to the town hall for the entire village to meet. It turned out there were all kinds of people living around Silver Lake (the name stuck.) Dwarves in the mountains to the far north. Elves and Wolfkin all over the woods to the east and northeast. Lastly, there were a bunch of humans to the southwest. Everyone warned the citizens of Bernice to avoid those dastardly humans.

Up until this point, the quiet people of the town looked out for one another, traded a little, but gave freely to keep the village up and thriving. There wasn’t any need for currency. They kept to themselves and took care of the land. The fields, the lake, and the woods provided everything any sensible Mallard could ever possibly want. Oh, brother was it all about to change.

Enter the traders.

Lucien went back into the woods as soon as that pesky fog lifted. A short while later, a large lake boat came over the horizon and docked next to the unassuming fishing rafts and canoes. It contained some short folk known as Halflings, as well as a few cat people and Lucien.

Lucien greeted all of the village who had come to witness the spectacle. He said these Halfling fellows were very interested to meet the Mallards. They offered up a bunch of trinkets, household goods, tools, gadgets and gewgaws. That’s when they discovered no one in the village of Bernice had any idea what the heck money was. They managed to make a few trades, but it didn’t go well.

Now, here’s where things get a little blurry because my great, great, great, great grandpa might have forgetting to write some things down. Grandma couldn’t remember much, and no one seems to agree what exactly happened next. All we know is Lucien and his diminutive friend came back a couple of seasons later, and things went all to pieces afterward.

Skipping ahead a little bit.

The docks were expanded quite a bit. Silver was discovered in a nearby field which quickly became the Pluckington mine. Actually, it was pretty much all theirs but by then no one could argue. The landscape of the village changed a lot in a short amount of time.

Pluckington declared himself mayor and eventually assumed himself some high falutin Lordship nonsense. By then the family had over half the village working as serfs for him. Fishing had all but dried up and most of the boats on the docks were owned by merchant families who went trading a lot. The wild rice was still there, though. I’m not sure why that was so important to grandma, but she did make some good pudding. Gotta love grandma’s pudding. Seriously, it was really good.

Ahem, moving right along. Soon another family began to rise to prominence amongst the Bernicians. It was the Quackulets. They had made a lot of money trading with the little fellers from the elf side of the lake. Meanwhile the Pluckingtons sent one of their boats to trade with those darn, dirty humans that everyone said to avoid.

Did we mention the Sheriff and the militia and all that jazz?

With the introduction of currency, mostly silver, into the economy of Bernice, we got criminals. That’s right. The once safe street of Bernice was threatened by a lowdown cutpurse robber who went about cutting purses when it was least suspected. The villagers quickly elected the most rootin tootin law duck they could. And then he was quickly paid off by the Pluckingtons to become their Sheriff.   

There was also this thing were all the ducks in town had to sign or put an X on a contract saying they wouldn’t leave town and work for Pluckington. Most of the saps signed it so they could keep their land and most of them kept working. But hey, at least the Sheriff was around to enforce that business.

Then, one fateful night a ferocious fire breathing dragon descended upon the village! No one was to be spared! No heroes rose up to take this thing on! It was bedlam in the streets and the villagers rushed to put out fires everywhere. The very next morning the fire brigade and the militia were formed.

All the surviving residents of the village came to Lord Pluckington and asked him for refuge. Thus began the construction of a small keep and a few walls around it. Later the entire village was walled up all the way to the lake to prevent other wild beasts and interlopers from just wandering through the town.

That’s where we’re going to leave it for now.

It’s been real. It’s been fun. It’s been real fun. That’s all (for now) folks!

Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.