Tempest's Reach

Tempest's Reach is a small Gilnean town just north of Stormglen Village in eastern Gilneas. Tempest's Reach hosts a number of farm houses and homes, and is nestled into the large cliffs of the eastern part of Gilneas. Its most prominent feature is its Lighthouse, which rests on an island off the coast, connected by a bridge.

It is one of the few areas in Gilneas that one can gaze out into the Lordaeron coast from.

Origins
Tempest's Reach was a moderately untouched town in eastern Gilneas, thriving off of farmland and presumably fishing by way of its coast.

The Worgen Curse
During the Worgen outbreak, contact with Tempest's Reach had been lost. Though little was heard of the town during this time, Stormglen and Tempest's Reach had apparently held a deep contact with one another, as the villagers of Stormglen were welcomed into Tempest's Reach when the curse swept through and Stormglen had made the decision to leave their homes.

The villagers of Tempest's Reach and Stormglen united initially followed under Lord Godfrey and his followers against the newly reunited Gilnean worgen, likely due to their bad experiences with the Worgen already. They aided in the capture of King Genn Greymane, but following the fall of Godfrey and his followers, they stood fast with their fellow Gilneans, afflicted or not.

Military Occupation
Following the evacuation of Gilneas, the remaining military forces of Gilneas and their allies occupied Tempest's Reach as with most of the other towns in Gilneas. It was at Tempest's Reach that the Gilneans showed their true might as they surrounded the Forsaken strike team that had retrieved Godfrey's forces. Hundreds of men and women surrounded the area, and while the team somehow escaped, it was seen that Gilneas was retaken.

Older Census
The following is information of Tempest's Reach recorded by the Gilnean cultural census of year 200 (Kings Calendar).

Social Stigma
Tempest’s Reach has always been comprised of a somewhat separatist group

of people. Founded before Gilneas proper, from immigrants out of Strom,

Tempest’s Reach has managed to maintain quiet anonymity. This has

effected their political beliefs vastly.

The people of the Reach tend not to involve themselves in the affairs of

Gilneas, or any other nation for that matter, as they do not see how it

directly affects them. In fact, it doesn’t. It is likely that, if

Gilneas had been invaded by Strom or Lordaeron Tempest’s Reach would not

have even noticed or been affected.

This isolation has given the people of the Reach an extremely strong

personal identity, bordering on national fanaticism. This can be seen in

almost every aspect of their life. They tend to be distrustful of

strangers, dislike visitors, and above all hate soldiers, even Gilnean

ones, who they view as trying to enforce a foreign law.

Law and Order
Laws in Tempest’s Reach are unlike anywhere else in Azeroth, mainly

because there are none. No formal laws have ever been written down on the

books. This is directly due to their strong national identity, which, to

them, prevents any unlawful behavior from taking place. They do not need

laws because they do not have crime. In the Reach stealing does not

exist, because everything is everyone’s; as long as you aren’t a

stranger.

Due to this, however, punishment in Tempest’s Reach can be extreme to

outsiders. Travelers should be extremely carful not to commit any crimes,

as they do not conform directly to Gilnean law. Beheadings have taken

place over minor theft. This is related to their strong national

identity. If you steal from one person, no matter how small or

insignificant the item, you have stolen from the entire town.

Social Structure
The social structure has evolved over the many years of its existence.

Originally Tempest’s Reach had somewhat of a tribal organization to its

social structure. The leader of the village was also the village’s

religious authority, addressed as Father. His word was considered to be

authority on all levels.

As time went on and the village grew, deeper divides formed, as they

usually do in large communities. For a time the “Temple,” the

Reach’s religious center of worship, was considered the seat of

government. There were Priests, who were considered to be the town’s

Noble cast, and then the Arch Priest. The Arch Priest acted much like a

King. This did not change for many hundreds of years.

What changed the Reach’s balance of power was economics. The land

surrounding the Reach is some of the most fertile in all of Azeroth.

While none can explain the reason, the two farms yield five times the

average food production of any farm in Westfall. When Kingdoms like

Gilneas, Lordaeron and Stormwind were formally founded it became

impossible for the Reach to stay as isolated as they had been. Trade was

an inevitability. Food became their main export and as the new budding

Kingdoms relied heavy on the Reach to feed its people the two families

that owned the farms became two of the most wealthy families across the

continent. With increased wealth comes increased ambition, and over time

the balance of power shifted away from the religious aspects of the

Reach, and more towards agriculture. This was the first establishment of

the formal “Noble” class within the Reach.

As the years wore on this did not change, but more class divisions sprung

up. As the massive farms began to attract more and more workers, there

became a working class. Those who owned very little to no land in the

Reach itself but worked its farms. As the working class became more

established a second class arose. The middle-class was comprised of those

who had lived in the Reach before this new working class moved in. Since

they were the ones who owned buildings and space inside the Reach, they

often worked as tradesmen and shopkeepers.

The final evolution of the social system was the discovery of large

Mithril deposits to the North of the town. This discovery was virtually

useless, due to the fact that the town did not have the equipment to mine

the Mithril out of the mountain. However, this all changed when a

newcomer to the town, coming from Lordaeron, bought the land for a very

low price, due to its assumed uselessness, and shipped in equipment from

Lordaeron. This “new blood” in the Reach upset the balance of power

that had existed for generations, resulting in heated feud between the

ruling noble families.

This feud explains the constantly shifting balance of power within the

Reach and also helps explain the strong isolationist sentiments present.

None of the Noble families would want to see their property or wealth

taxed and so they have worked hard to keep that isolationist mentality

alive and well with the Reach.

Military Forces
Interestingly enough, the Reach is one of the few places to have a

private military force, although they are officially only a

“militia.” One of the few things the Noble families ever agreed upon

was the need to protect their assets from prying governments such as

Lordaeron, Stormwind, and Gilneas.

To further this interest they each donated a generous sum of gold to help

fun what can only be described as a private army. The Reach’s militia is

one of the most well equipped forces in all of Azeroth. The Noble families

privately fund everything and thus the militia acts as both the Reach’s

police and soldiers, protecting the Noble’s interests above all else.

However, directly due to the privately funded nature, corruption plagues

the military police force. One Noble family will offer a slightly larger

sum for increased territorial rights and the right to collect taxes on the

increased area. The other Noble house will up the sum, and this will

continue until both sides resort to criminal activity in order to weaken

the other house. This requires reaction from the police force, which tends

to put the money right back into the hands of the Reach’s citizenry. The

cycle then starts all over.

Faith
Religion is a sensitive topic for the Reach. Not much is known about early

worship, but it is clear that the citizens, under their religious ruler,

did not follow any conception of “The Light.” Evidence suggests that

it was based in Druidic magic, but many reports and local suspicious has

painted a darker side to the old practices of Tempest’s Reach. Some

still consider the place to be the home of a cult that worships ancient

and evil spirits that rest in Silverpine Forest. No evidence exists to

validate these claims, or disprove them.

As time as worn on religion has taken less and less of a roll on the

ruling of Tempest’s Reach, however. While a working Temple to nature is

still maintained inside the town, it is only used for ceremonies such as

marriage and death.