Lands End

Lands end is a small village at the furthest west point of a right angle peninsula in Thistleland. What little economy it has is based on tourism.

Somewhat more remote then other Towns and Villages, the people of Lands End are a little isolationist, with no real settlement in the village made by outsiders. The village itself is not built two dimensionally like most, but instead is made from many layers of wooden scaffolding, bridges, moorings, masts, rope bridges and dockland-like architecture attached to houses on layers of stilts. Its cobbled together looks have been described as looking somewhere between stacked wooden dockyards and a shanty town.

The entire village is built around the land based side of a contained hundred foot wide black hole, stopped early in it's growth some time in it's past. Only the locals know of it's origin and containment, and refuse to talk of it. To the west of this black hole is nothing; it is on the very corner of the right angle peninsula and there are no known land masses beyond it. The right angle edges of the peninsula match up perfectly with the edges of Lands End village, with the black hole in it's center.

There is no daytime at Lands End; the black hole 'eats' daylight. Light is provided by various placed gas lanterns, candles, any bioluminescent creatures or people and occasional magic artifact that can provide light.

The center of the community of Lands End is the olden style rickety pub called by the same name. The Lands End pub usually has few patrons at any given time due to it's 24 hour nature and the lack of daytime. It is noted for having subdued lighting, dark wood furnishing, and very good mead. Over half the building is not open to the public with no explanation provided by the pub owners.

The method of containment of the black hole in Lands End is a closely guarded secret of the local population. There have been no obvious methods recorded as to how it is done, though many shanty buildings are off limits to visitors or have rooms that are apparently not used.

The population themselves consider their staying at the town as their duty, and will usually not leave the town if requested. Despite the crude, rough and ready appearance of Lands End population they are known to be excellent mechanics, scientists and crafters of technology and magic. When asked both how they came to be such in a town such a theirs, and why they do not use such abilities more widely, most will answer something non-committal regarding their Duty.

Local wildlife and monsters avoid the village for the most part, presumably due to the nearby of the Black Hole, and those out to cause trouble in Thistleland steer clear due to the understanding that the interruption of the people of Lands End could well mean the end of Thistleland itself. As such the village has few natural problems aside their so called Duty.

Despite the remoteness of Lands End, the lack of daytime and the often gruff nature of it's people the village still receives visitors fairly regularly, and in fact it's only notable economy is based around tourism. People are known to visit Lands End for the experience of seeing it's Black Hole, the lack of daytime, and for enjoying the legendary mead.

The people of Lands End tolerate tourists well, and usually show a gruff and stand off attitude to them as a way of keeping tourists safe and, it is rumored, to enhance the experience for tourists.

While some visitors complain of always being watched when they stay at Lands End, it is often for their own safety; The moorings, rigging and rope bridges lead up to the event horizon itself and are known to be rickety. Many people, visitor and population alike, are known to stand on these horizon-facing moorings and stare into the event horizon, feeling the very gentle breeze of air being pulled towards it inches from their face and often imagining noises and voices from within the total darkness beyond. The difference is while the villages population look away with ease after, visitors find it harder to, and there are many accounts of people willingly letting themselves slip into the event horizon after an hour's stare. The villagers don't like that much, presumably as it has an impact on the tourist trade when they 'feed the beast'.