Population: 4,800
Overview: Brelish town, House Vadalis stronghold; known for livestock and a legendary giant bear
Key NPCs: Kyara d’Vadalis (female human viceroy), Danton Redmane (male dwarf businessman), Kestrel d’Vadalis (male human sheriff), Tolan Gray (male shifter magistrate and priest)
Affectionately known as “Tribex Town,” Shavalant lies at the center of a vast array of ranches in the business of raising plains tribex, riding tribex, and a wide range of other livestock; the Vadalis enclave known as the Farm breeds war beasts, including Breland’s famed dire bears. While Shavalant has a smaller population than Ardev or the great cities of the east, it is a wide town; ranchers 20 miles away from the town center still consider themselves to be part of Shavalant. The Farm is House Vadalis’s largest enclave in Breland, and almost everyone in the town works for the house in some capacity. This doesn’t prevent the people of Shavalant from being proudly Brelish; most believe their work strengthens both the house and their nation, and they see House Vadalis as a positive in the world.
Shavalant lies just north of Whitehorn Wood, and ranches run along the edge of the vast forest. The town flies a white flag that bears an image of a rampant bear with curling horns. This is Whitehorn, who the locals will tell you is a patron of both Shavalant and Breland. According to the stories, Whitehorn is a massive horned bear—“larger than the largest dragon”—who dwells deep in the Whitehorn Woods. When settlers first came to the region, they cut back the woods and angered Whitehorn, who emerged and crushed their farmsteads. Eventually, Hala d’Vadalis—who the locals generally call “Hala Whitehorn’’—established a clear set of edicts about how to deal with the Whitehorn Woods, limiting harvesting and hunting. According to the legends, since then, Whitehorn has dwelled in harmony with the townsfolk, and people even swear that if the town is truly threatened, Whitehorn will emerge from the woods and defend it.
While it’s a charming story, this is Breland, not the Eldeen Reaches; Shavalant is an industrial town. There’s a powerful Lamannian manifest zone in the Whitehorn Woods, and House Vadalis is harnessing the power of that zone to enhance the production of livestock. Beasts born in the ranches adjacent to the zone are especially strong and fertile. Attempts to cut back the woods or overharvesting of its resources trigger catastrophic effects—including attacks by swarms of birds, dire beasts, and possibly, a megafauna bear. Beyond this, any structures built beyond the “forest line” rapidly rot or corrode. The people of Shavalant have learned exactly where the line is and they push right up to the edge. They do harvest lumber and hunt on the edge of the Whitehorn, taking Advantage of how quickly things regrow; it’s simply that Hala’s edicts set clear boundaries on just what can be harvested from the woods and when. People may love their Whitehorn flag, but there’s no druidic reverence here: This is a practical arrangement based on scientific principles.
While Shavalant is a decent sized town, most of its business is related to livestock. If you’re looking to visit the largest slaughterhouse in Breland, head to Shavalant. But aside from the rodeos—and the inns and taverns that support them—there’s not a lot to do in Shavalant that doesn’t involve buying, selling, breeding, or slaughtering beasts.
When it comes to food and lodging, Shavalant has a few options. The Gold Dragon Inn offers exactly the same services you’ll find at the Gold Dragon Inn in Ardev or Graywall; it’s reliable and certainly comfortable, but unremarkable. The Bull’s Blood is a tavern catering to slaughterhouse workers and can be a rough place. The Milk Bar is a joint venture of a Ghallanda and Vadalis heir, offering the milk of a vast assortment of beasts and even a few monstrosities. If you can afford better—or at least more local—than the Gold Dragon Inn, the Brand is the oldest inn in Shavalant and is especially celebrated for its steaks and savory pies.
There are dozens of ranches around Shavalant. The Triple Horn and the Arrowhead ranches breed riding tribex, while the Lazy Dragon and Gray Bull ranches breed plains tribex for meat, leather, and as beasts of burden. These are just a few that focus on tribex; if you live in Breland and own a tribex, the odds are good you can trace its lineage back to Shavalant. A more exotic ranch is the Royal Bear, which shifted focus (and name) during the Last War to focus on breeding and training dire bears. A similarly exotic ranch is the Bright Beak, which specializes in breeding hippogriffs.
The most important location in Shavalant is the Farm, the casual name for a Vadalis enclave that includes a sprawling central keep and a few acres of pastures, stables, and training facilities. The Farm includes an administrative wing where Viceroy Kyara contemplates long-term strategies and evaluates reports from the many ranches Vadalis manages or licenses. Another wing is devoted to evaluating and working with new or exotic beasts and monstrosities; if Vadalis decides to try domesticating cockatrices, they’d start by bringing some to the Farm. The stables at the Farm are devoted to beasts that can’t yet be handed off to a ranch. During the war, a few generations of dire bears were bred at the Farm before the work was transferred to the Royal Bear ranch. At the moment, they could be working on a better breed of tribex, a bloodhound with a sharper sense of smell, or songbirds that can mimic the voices of famous entertainers. The most secure branch of the Farm is the War Offices, where heirs work to evaluate and hone the martial abilities of their beasts. This includes developing more efficient means of training existing war beasts—war tribex, war horses, war hounds—as well as working to magebreed traits that could make such animals more effective on the battlefield. As suggested earlier, there are certainly rumors that the War Office has a division—and perhaps, a secret subterranean facility—devoted to beasts that can be used as tools of assassination.
Thanks to the importance of House Vadalis’s operations, Shavalant has a suite of dragonmarked services. The small Kundarak bank and Sivis message station (Stone 124) share a building. Orien has a station that runs a steady stream of caravans, including coaches designed to transport large beasts and preserving coaches that use a form of Gentle Repose to transport meat. The local Jorasco clinic is called Helping Hands. House Deneith has an office that focuses on providing security for ranchers in need, and Tharashk maintains an outpost that’s mainly a waystation for private inquisitives and bounty hunters. Finally, in addition to the Farm and its many ranches, House Vadalis runs a facility formally called The College of Balinor’s Gift but is more generally just called Farm School; this offers training in mundane and magical techniques of animal husbandry and veterinary medicine.
Shavalant has a small temple devoted to the Sovereign Host, and most especially to Balinor—the Sovereign who grants dominion over the animal kingdom. Services are conducted by Tolan Gray, a shifter who asserts that House Vadalis is blessed by Balinor. In return, Vadalis strongly supports the church… and it is likely no coincidence that Tolan Gray also serves as the magistrate of Shavalant.
Almost everyone who lives in Shavalant works with livestock in some capacity—whether as ranch hands, wranglers, butchers, or tanners. Looking to the major ranches, those that lie next to Whitehorn Wood—which see the most benefit from the manifest zone—are largely direct extensions of House Vadalis, effectively branches of the Farm. The majority of the ranches are licensed by House Vadalis, sworn to uphold Vadalis standards and paying a licensing fee to the house, but otherwise independent. Some of these are run by Vadalis heirs, but there are others that have no blood ties to the house. Shavalant has the standard mix of species found in Breland, although there are fewer gnomes than one usually sees in the eastern cities.
Danton Redmane. In a town where almost everyone works for House Vadalis, Danton Redmane found an alternative. Vadalis raises animals; the man known as the Slaughterhouse King kills them. Through shrewd dealing—and, some say, blackmail and extortion—this dwarf has consolidated his control over the slaughterhouses and meat packing industry of Shavalant. Danton is also a member of the Aurum, and it’s his generous donations that maintain the small Aurum Hall in Shavalant. He may or may not be engaged in criminal dealings, but there’s no question that Danton Redmane is determined to increase his wealth and power and has no qualms about getting his hands bloody.
Kyara d’Vadalis. Kyara is the viceroy of Vadalis’s operations in western Breland. Following the customs of her family, she disdains the use of titles; despite being one of the most powerful people in the house, she prefers “Kyara” to “Lady Viceroy.” Her manner may be casual, but she is in charge of Vadalis operations throughout the region. From the trading of horses to breeding better bears to deciding whether the house can domesticate cockatrices—it all falls to Kyara. Most accounts say that she earned her post due to her competence, confidence, and her ability to handle trading partners or difficult underlings with the same ease with which she calms a stubborn tribex. She has no qualms about working with adventurers, and is always interested in unusual beasts or monstrosities.
Sheriff Kestrel d’Vadalis. It’s unusual to find an heir of a dragonmarked house enforcing Brelish law, but there’s no one the people of Shavalant trust more than Kestrel. An excellent rider who competes in the Brightblade festivities, Sheriff Kestrel is a competent wandslinger and a bearer of the Mark of Handling—a useful trait in a town where problems often involve tribex rustling or rounding up stray beasts. Kestrel has a reputation for honesty and integrity, and the townsfolk believe he will put his loyalty to the town ahead of his house if he has to choose one or the other.
Tolan Gray. The mayor of Shavalant is a wildhunt shifter, and a member of a small shifter community within Shavalant. His extended family runs Black Rose Kennels and breeds fine hounds, but Tolan was drawn to the church. He serves as the priest of the local church of the Sovereign Host. He believes that he is especially close to Balinor, and he believes that Balinor favors both Shavalant and House Vadalis. He is a jovial man and an enthusiastic hunter, and regularly tours the ranches to bless the beasts in Balinor’s name. Thanks to his popularity with the people and Vadalis, he also serves as magistrate of the town. However, if you have your ear to the ground, you’ve likely heard that his assistant—Hesta d’Vadalis—handles most of the actual administrative duties, with an eye to what most benefits her family.