baghan bronBaghan Bron (Formerly Shannon, Ireland)
Population: 366
Background:
When people first returned to the west of the old island, they followed water, because water still meant life. The River Shannon was no longer a neatly charted channel connecting the Atlantic to Limerick; it had widened into marsh and braided streams, cutting through forests that had grown where roads and fields once were.
The first settlers built with what was abundant: wood from the towering ancient Irish oak trees. But they survived because of what the river hid: deep, cool cellars and stone-lined store rooms—half-collapsed, but dry—perfect for grain and aging spirits.
They called the place Baghan Bron, “Take Care,” named in honor of the pride and effort ingrained with their tradition of distilling. Their ports are lapped with peat-stained water the color of old tea, and the banks are rich with timber and barley grass.
Resources:
Baghan Bron’s primary resource is wood, but its reputation is built on what wood becomes: staves, casks, and the sealed infrastructure of export. The city’s oak is tight-grained and slow-grown, prized for barrels that don’t split in damp air and don’t spoil the flavor of grain spirits.
The river-marsh provides the other half of their economy: barley and rye grown on higher, drier terraces; peat cut from the bogs for smoke and heat; and freshwater routes that make Baghan Bron a natural hub for Atlantic-facing trade.
Culture:
- Baghan Bron is grain-alcohol-focused not because it loves drinking, but because it reveres measure, patience, and preservation. Distilling is treated as both craft and civic duty: a way to store calories, sanitize water, create antiseptics, and produce a trade good that can’t rot in a wet climate. Every major batch begins with a First Pour—a small offering tipped into the River Shannon.
- “Measure is mercy” is the city’s guiding proverb. Cheating a proof, watering a cask, or swapping staves is not just theft, but endangering winter stores and the city’s name.
- Open flame is tightly regulated, but unlike Bres Vine’s near-taboo, Baghan Bron permits fire as a controlled tool: char pits, smokehouses, peat kilns, and stillhouses are licensed and inspected. The worst crime isn’t burning—it’s burning carelessly.
- Deals are traditionally sworn on the riverbank under Dry Tongue Law: if you bring an accusation (shorting a measure, poisoning a batch, counterfeit branding), you must do it sober, in public, with witnesses.