Most people who live in Darkmoon Vale own their homes or rent them from the Lumber Consortium. Very few multifamily dwellings exist, and all of them stand in the vale’s largest settlement, Olfden. Despite the wealth generated by logging, housing prices in Darkmoon Vale remain relatively low. Most attribute this to a lack of safety in the region. The following descriptions provide a general overview of how people live in Darkmoon Vale, broken down by sociopolitical standing.
Free Farmer: Self-sufficient farms do exist in Darkmoon Vale, and most of them stand north of the River Foam or atop the Elberwick Rise. Those who live on farms tend to produce more food than they can eat, which they then sell for other supplies. Most farms in Darkmoon Vale use hedgerows and natural borders to mark their boundaries, and those far from the region’s major settlements use more defensible barriers, such as walls, around their buildings and fields.
Merchants: Most of the people who live in Olfden either work for the Lumber Consortium or are merchants. Common items useful to adventurers and explorers are available in Olfden, thanks to the multitude of merchants in that town. Merchants tend to own the buildings in which they operate and keep their living quarters above their storefronts. The exception to this rule is Falcon’s Hollow, where the Lumber Consortium owns every building. The few merchants who scrape by in Falcon’s Hollow must pay exorbitant rents.
Skilled Workers: From craftsmen to lumberjacks, skilled workers make up the majority of people in Darkmoon Vale. The largest group of skilled workers, of course, is the lumberjacks. More than 400 loggers live and work in Darkmoon Vale, and most of them belong to the Lumber Consortium. All the other common trades (carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, and the like) exist in Darkmoon Vale. Those who live in Perin’s Bluff and Olfden usually own the buildings in which their businesses and connected homes exist, while those in Falcon’s Hollow are typically employees of the Lumber Consortium and thus sacrifice much of what they would earn to subsidize their so-called “free rent.”
Soldiers: Whether members of the Diamond Regiment or transient mercenaries, hundreds of fighting men and women live in Darkmoon Vale. Those who belong to an organization live for free in barracks, while those who fight for money either rent their homes or have free housing provided to them (usually from the Lumber Consortium). Unlike the skilled workers who work for the consortium, though, the guards are paid very well on top of their free housing.
Wealthy: The lumber baron Thuldrin Kreed is easily the most famous (or rather, infamous) wealthy person in Darkmoon Vale, but he is not the wealthiest. Retired adventurers, cooperative ex-nobles, particularly successful merchants, and the occasional non-logging industry leader from other parts of Andoran all comprise the wealthy elite of Darkmoon Vale. Most of these people live in or near Olfden, although a few maintain their own selfsufficient manors (even castles, in some cases) beyond the walls of the region’s settlements.