Maerstar

Maerstar was a town in the Vast, situated at the point where Helve's Trail from High Haspur ended at the North Road between Procampur and Sevenecho. It lay near the Earthfast Mountains and south of the Brynwood.

History
During the Time of Troubles, 1358 DR, many merchants of Procampur and Tsurlagol fled to take refuge in their country houses in Maerstar. However, refugees from Tantras, Calaunt, and even Mulmaster also came through Maerstar, and looting mobs of them harassed the wealthy merchants. Some were slain by the mobs.

When a well in the neighboring hamlet of Sevenecho was poisoned on Eleint 1 in the Year of the Gauntlet, 1369 DR, Maerstar was unwilling to send aid, fearing that they too would be attacked by those responsible.

Economy
The town made its living in quarrying and breeding horses. The town was a center for breeding horses, and had a number of well-used paddocks. In particular, the people of Maerstar bred a large, black, sleek-coated horse that was highly sought after all around the Inner Sea.

Description
Despite the popularity of Maerstar's horses, it was not a town of great wealth, but its people earned their prosperity with hard work. In contrast, Maerstar was also home to a number of country houses belonging to merchants of Procampur and Tsurlagol.

Local Legends
To protect their treasures, the merchants harassed during the Troubles buried them in the paddocks, but not all survived to retrieve them afterwards. According to a local rumor in the years afterwards, at least two of these treasures still lay buried around Maerstar by 1370 DR: a collection of moonstones and pearls belonging to the Procampan merchant Uligker Oloskar, and a hoard of coins and trade-bars that belonged to Shondarl Stonegiant, a locksmith and supplier of trained dancers.

One more local legend was that of the Moonlit Tower, which sat—occasionally—on a crag northwest of the town.