A Description Of Kendermore     History   The oldest kender civilizations were established by Balif. The kender settled the land just east of Silvanesti in 3043 P.C. (pre- Cataclysm). They called their nation and their city Bailfor. Three other small kender cities also sprang up from this time until the Cataclysm but the names were lost in the passage of time, much like the cities. The Cataclysm decimated the land of Bailfor, turning it into a deserted waste. The kender left their homeland to barbaric desert nomads and migrated north. They founded the small forest city of Kendermore on the edge of a human ruin (now called simply "the Ruins" by the kender who explore it). Some kender believe the Ruins are the remains of one of the missing Towers of High Sorcery.   Architecture   Kendermore resembles most human cities, but a short examination can reveal many differences. Kendermore is located on the Goodlund penesulia within a large forest. It's is sometimes called a forest city, but it is much more than that. Kendermore has buildings similar to any human settlement: Taverns, Stores, Inns, and a Town Hall. The most noticeable difference in these buildings is that some of them are incomplete. Some buildings are missing one wall or are missing doors. Other buildings are complete, but they are a mix of different architectural styles, representing the views of the kender who helped create them.   Streets   Getting lost is very easy in this city. Many streets double back on themselves, or dead end in places where the crews got distracted and wandered off. One or two streets travel through kender's houses! A guide is a must in this city. They are easy to aquire, but sometimes hard to follow. The names of streets usually do not match the actual description, i.e. Direct Route Drive is a spiral that ends in a circle. Kender are the best map maker's in Ansalon, but for some reason maps of this city are horribly inaccurate. Asking directions is equally as bad: "Just take straight street. That one over there that curves around the grocer's and double's back around the tailor's. Just take that about half way until it dead ends for the second time right before the sweets shop. Then walk through that shop and out the back door, that will lead you to a little back alley that extends through most of the city..."   The Population   Kendermore is about 90% kender and 10% of the other races. Not many other races choose to live in a city full of kender. It can be very hard to cope with the kender race for extended periods of time. This city is also not the first place most adventures choose to stay for the night. The population ranges between new-borns to twenty year olds, and kender around 40 and up. The age range from 20 to 40 are usually out on wanderlust. After the age of forty most kender tend to loose the lust for travelling and return home for good. These kender will become the new merchants, farmers, politicians, tailors, woodcutters, fisherman, and countless other jobs that need to be performed to run a city. Kender from the mid teens to the early twenties are apprentices. The younger kender between the ages of new-born into the early teens actually go to school... School is a loosely termed word here. The kender community is hard to comprehend sometimes. Kender children do not go to the same building everyday. That would be impossible to achieve, but instead children are taught by the members of the community. They are taught to read and write by other kender that decide that these children need to learn how. The children WANT to learn how because of their innate curiosity. When they find out that they could read all the secrets that the magic users are keeping from them, they learn to read. When they understand that they could taunt a goblin if they only knew how to speak goblin, they learn it. When they realize that they might be able to slip into the Great Library if the only had a proper note, they learn to write. Kender also learn to hide in shadows, and scale walls, and pick pockets. These are just the kind of things, every good kender learns how to do.   Leaders   The people of Kendermore feel that constant change is the best course for their leaders. This city has had more leader's than anyone can remember. Even Astinus himself has lost count of the number of mayors, kings, khans, warlords, councils, judges, and priest lords that have tried to rule over this ever changing city. It has been a rare occurrence when one of these leader's has gone longer than a month, before being replaced, or being ignored. It's a good chance that if someone visits Kendermore more than once that it will be run by a different ruler. On rare occasions kender can be gathered together to create a formidable army. Kender can be quite serious when their homes are threatened.   Security   This is a difficult concept to understand in kender society. Since kender view possession in a different way, it is difficult for outsiders to understand what is considered stealing and what is not. It is safe to assume that any outsider that enters into a kender city has a good possibility of loosing anything she or he brings into the city. Some of the time the possessions will be taken by the town guards themselves. Just because a kender ceases to wander does not make the kender any less curious. A kender is always a kender no matter what the age. If a kender is caught picking something up, any simple excuse will usually excuse the action. If something is found on a kender and it belongs to someone else, it is considered to be very impolite. But it is still not considered to be stealing. In fact "stealing" in a kender city is practically unheard of. So, if a person "looses" something it usually considered their fault.   Trade   The main trade of kendermore is Maps. Many retired kender will trade or sell their maps. One kender's map is not always accurate, but when many are collected together an accurate map can be created. Any map that is passed around the city for a couple of years will be about the most accurate map that you can buy.   Pay Money   Do you need to pay money in Kendermore, when they usually find interesting objects of more value? It really depends what your buying in Kendermore. If your going to pay for a service performed, some kender will take an interesting object over money, but if your going to buy materials, armour, weapons, and things of that nature, most kender will take the money, because they have to deal with outsiders who will not trade "a pretty green rock" for a chain mail shirt. It usually depends on the nature of the business, and the mood of the business man.