The village of Yarrowby

Yarroby is in the Bandit Kingdoms along the south shore of the Azure
Sea, some 25 miles inland.  It owes fealty to Lord Genly of Gant, and
maintains its militia mainly to satisfy its obligation to him, as
(up until recently) the village lies in a fairly peaceful area.

The village produces bamboo, which it exports in return for grain;
goats (milk and meat); and an assortment of vegetables.  It consists
of thirty-odd bamboo structures near a stream, surrounded by bamboo
groves and fields. 

The headman of the village, Targe, is in his late thirties, but has
been leader for only two years (since his father dies) and still does
not feel comfortable in the position.  The real power in the family is
Targe's wife Kiera, a 6th level priestess of Adara Earthmother.  She
is 15 years older than he (he is her second husband) and far more
experienced in the ways of the world; unlike him, she has travelled
quite extensively outside the village.

Kiera maintains the temple of Adara (a simple bamboo shrine) with
the help of two acolytes, 1st level priestesses, one of whom will
be her successor.  (There is some dark secret about Kiera's own
daughter Jade Alys which prevents her from being considered for this
post.  The story is tied up with Kiera's years outside the village,
and she won't talk about it.)  The village's women will rally to
her and to the Temple in an emergency; she could easily rouse
eight 1st level fighters to defend the Temple or the village.

The other important group in the village is the Red Dogs, the militia
group which responds to Lord Genly's occasional musters.  Its leader
Itanzio is a 5th level fighter, and his second-in-command
Lorenzo is 4th level; both are veterans of over 30 years of the
Bandit Kingdoms' petty border squabbles.  They are aided by
Telemar, a 3rd level priest of Brandonn Battlelord who left his
military position in the Empire out of disgust for the bureaucratic
corruption he saw there.  His young daughter Lanni is the squad's
"mascot", a 1st level priestess of Skara, Lady of Victory (as was
her mother until she was killed in a pointless Imperial battle).
The Red Dogs can muster six seasoned fighters of 3rd level, eight
grown men of 2nd level with reasonable training, and six or so of
the village youths who are 1st level fighters.  

There is only one mage in Yarrowby, an elderly woman by the name
of Katrine who studied the art of Transformation with her grandfather
when he decided that he would have no sons.  She is 3rd level and
uses her spells almost exclusively for mending and tending,
though she was more adventurous in her youth.  She is well respected
among the villagers, though she's the butt of gentle teasing for
her elderly absentmindedness and conservatism.

Not so harmless is the treatment of Agerigon, a brutish youth with
some ogre blood in him who does the village jobs which decent folk
won't touch, such as handling dead bodies and digging cesspools.  He
lives at the outskirts of the village and is tolerated, but never
liked.  His sister Arigana lives with him, waiting for a good
opportunity to leave Yarrowby forever; she is slowly accumulating
trinkets from the Red Dogs' militia pay, as she is camp-follower to a
good number of them.  Both Agerigon and Arigana (who is quite
attractive despite the Dogreorc blood) are 2nd level thieves.  Someday
Yarrowby is likely to wake to find its collective pockets picked and
its cesspools undug.

Yarrowby does not use money except occasionally in dealing with
outsiders.  A village native who was badly hurt would expect
Kiera to try to help him, and would of course help her defend
the Temple in return if need be.  (Yarrowby, alas, is not very
defensible--bamboo burns too easily.)  An outsider would be
expected to provide a substantial gift in return for healing--
a fine sword, say, or a healthy goat.