"We need Winter to protect us from the worst of the season. We also need Winter for the much-needed rest and treatment the house of healing provides."
- An unknown voice, reassuring their child of Winter's importance
A stone complex in the heart of the Amar'Kash Jungle, the settlement of Winter is a secure location to deposit the infirm and severely injured. The local house of healing uses the influx of bodies to teach its students, offering a greater rate of healing to that found whilst travelling as well as providing the next generations an education vital to surviving the Great Walk.
Winter's continued operation is made precarious by attacks from the Felicine, who seek to reclaim their once owned settlement. What truly makes these attacks terrifying for the residents of winter isn't their frequency or intensity, as skirmishes between the Felicine and the Vattenine keep means their attacks on Winter occur only every few months and with just a small offensive force, but instead the fact that the Felicine attack with what appears to be a version of tactics not too far off what humans themselves employ.
Winter has a human population, made up of those who can no longer make the long walk, namely the sick or the old. A small number of Winter's citizens are simply those who became too disillusioned with the allure of the walk and provide too great a liability. Young apprentices of the house of healing also make up the population.
Winter is primarily run by its chief minister, Cleanwounds Sarmen Healer, an ex-nomad who settled about a dozen cycles ago. Cleanwounds receives advice from the Council of Winter , a selection of other elders and citizens who've earned a name for themselves in Winter. The chief minister may disregard this council and go their own way, however political mutinies have been known to happen on rare occasions. When a chief minister is found or finds themselves no longer fit to manage Winter, a replacement is chosen among and by the council.
Becoming chief minister isn't the same as being part of the Rule of Five as that power is only relinquished after death, instead it is expected of the current member of the five is expected to make it to a meeting if and when called upon. When a member of the five dies, an election is held by Winter's council to determine who should replace them, a role which is usually taken by the chief minister, however in cases where the chief minister isn't trusted by the majority or isn't believed capable of making the journey to meet up with the rest of the five, someone else is chosen.
The thick stone walls of Winter protect it from all but the worst attacks, and the narrow, uniform streets provide a plethora of chokepoints that held by residents. The reliance of stone in its architecture also allows for a more liberal use of firebombs to provide defence. The diversion of the river is also designed to create a moat around the walls, allowing for greater defence, however local mill owners who live outside of the walls have voiced concerns that it'd make evacuating to within them more difficult.
The main industry of Winter is that of medicine. Families will send their children to the house of healing for several years as apprentices, to let them help heal the injured as well as learn the skills needed to become a healer. The house of healing is a long-term hospital for those who are too much of a liability to be treated on the walk, such as the comatose. Winter's people also gather wood for lumber and kindling, the latter of which is desperately needed in the cold season the nomads pass Winter on.
The house of healing sits within Winter's snow walls, its facilities built to accommodate the original buildings. Outside of Winter's walls, a short distance away by the river, grain mills with waterwheels have been created recently and excavation efforts are being made to divert part of the water around the walls, making gathering water a more comfortable chore.
Wood, freshwater, medical supplies