Place and history
Inside Silvastein
Silvastein mediates between moving camps, upland communities and traders approaching from the west.
City or settlement
Silvastein
A settlement beside mountain passes and forest-steppe routes.
Between camp and pass
Silvastein lies where western mountain routes descend into Snattack's forest-steppe. Permanent workshops and storehouses serve communities whose movement follows grazing, weather and assembly seasons. The settlement is therefore busiest when several different calendars bring travellers together.
A translator of customs
Its elders mediate between mobile camps, upland villages and foreign traders. Agreements are witnessed in forms each party recognises, sometimes by stone record, sometimes by recited lineage. This flexibility is a strength, but outsiders often mistake it for weak law.
Pressure from the west
Kalton officials favour fixed roads, fixed taxes and fixed boundaries. Silvastein's people know that such certainty can erase seasonal rights. Any Essan discovery near the passes would intensify the dispute because both empires and camps could claim that protection requires control.