Floran Village

After the peasants of the Dion area had, during an unusually cold winter and due to his harsh tax policies, stood up against Duke Byron Ashton, he did not hesitate to suppress the rebellion by force. First Ashton wanted to employ the Shark Troop, a gang of mercenaries feared all over Aden for their cruelty. This was thwarted by guard Rovelt and three of his comrades, who stole the gold intended as their pay. But then Duke Ashton hired Soul Collector Acheron, a mercenary leader with a truly twisted mind. Somebody had told Acheron that he could attain eternal life if he collected a large number of souls and dedicated them to Shilen, Goddess of Death. Acheron and his men slaughtered countless peasants, until even Duke Ashton got fed up with Acheron's brutality - dead farmers don't till their lord's fields - and finally executed him.

By that time Acheron had already severely decimated the rural population in the Dion area. But some peasants had survived the slaughter and established an autonomous community called Floran Village. There they led free lives, without corvee and taxes, or at least as free as farmers' hard lives can be.

Of course it would have been much better if the surviving rebels had retired to an easily defensible mountain stronghold. But after all they were farmers at heart and were not willing to give up their ancestors' way of life or the fields they had worked for countless generations. So they stayed in Floran Village, in the widely open Plains of Dion, where they were an easy prey for marauding troops roaming the countryside as well as for all sorts of monsters. And having no town guards dispatched by the local lord also means that adventurers of a somewhat unsavoury reputation are drawn to Floran. Therefore the farmers have formed a militia, headed by Captain Alex, a former Scout in the Royal Aden Army, and his adjutant Leirynn.