On the banks of a sleepy river, Oar's Rest is a town that began as little more than a quiet bend in the river, a stop for the riverfolk to rest their oars. When the inn was built, and more and more folk stopped, the growth of the town was inevitable.
Many towns are built on the bones of old forts, or old temples, or simply the ruins of a town older than they. Oar’s Rest, the pleasant and green little town on an island in the river south of Endon, was built on the site of a large and bustling tavern, the Oar’s Rest Inn. Local lore holds that the tavern operated proudly for four hundred odd years in the early days of the kingdom of Endon, and the town built up around it – more and more outbuildings for the Oar’s Rest, until there were more outbuildings than inn, and the inn finally closed down in 814AS. The inn has long since been torn down, but the stories remain, and perhaps the shared mentality of descending proudly from innkeepers is why the people of Oar’s Rest are so quick to laugh and welcoming to travellers.
On Arrival to Oar's Rest
"A long causeway arcs out over the silvery waters of the lake, to the island in the centre. There, between the towers that rise from the banks, and the tall spires of many inns, is a town of flowers and bells. Carts and horses fill the streets, and on every side are stables, inns, barns, and ferrydocks."
Oar’s Rest is spread out on an island in the middle of the Withywindle, south of Endon. Unlike many of the cities of the Kingdom, the citizens built the town slowly and deliberately over several hundred years, and has carefully cultivated a picturesque appearance.
The Town Without Walls
The town has little need for walls – the river surrounds it from all sides, long causeways separate them from the lands around, and there have been no local wars in three hundred years. So Oar’s Rest does not have walls, instead boasting a circlet of towers, with ballistae at the top, to repel water-going banditry.
Boatswain's Hall. With the Oar's Rest Inn now torn down, the Hall is the oldest building in the town. While it is used by the town council for their meetings and justices, the locals view the merchant disputes and tarriff announcements as being more significant.
The Oar's Rest Sanitorium. Oar’s Rest is also the proud sponsor of a public hospital. It is referred to as the Sanitorium, and has many elite amenities: saunas, baths, open and airy wards, and even a complex system of pipes to move water from one place to another. The fee for entry, however, is steep.