Bim: Birthplace of Holy Mother
Bim is a lowland crossroads at the lip of the Geldcrass Plains, where the island’s main east-west highway splits and runs north to the port of Fairpont and onwards to Rochpont. Once a quiet market town servicing the local farms, it is now a renowned place of pilgrimage – the birthplace of the current Holy Mother – and a natural waystation on the main trading route to and from Aranthaes.
Setting & First Impressions
Approaching from the east, the highway crests a green rise and reveals Bim’s red-tiled roofs gathered behind low stone walls, with wheat and flax fields fanning out toward the vast, sunlit flats of the Geldcrass Plains. Snow-banded peaks of the Geldfray Mountains anchor the horizon to the north east, while windbreak cypresses and dovecote towers mark the old boundaries of town plots. Traffic is constant: passing merchants heading to Aranthaes or the port of Geldpont, mule strings from the mountains, fish carts down from Fairpont, and green-cloaked pilgrims moving in twos and threes to the central square.
Birthplace of the Holy Mother
The modest cottage where the Holy Mother was born has been preserved as a shrine known as the Mother’s Threshold. It is plain, whitewashed, and carefully undecorated by decree – a reminder that sanctity and wealth can grow from simplicity. The nearby Chapel of First Light holds votive candles from every province in Aranthaes; its bell rings at dawn and sunset, and on the first day of each month a procession encircles the town walls before returning to bless caravans departing on the highway.
Trade & the Crossroads
Bim’s initial importance rested on its geography – as the main highway splits here to the north, heading across the fertile plains for Fairpont. Grain, linen thread, cured river and sea fish, and mountain herbs are the usual trades, but pilgrims have now brought a thriving craft of waxwork, devotional medals, and other items made to be used as offerings to the Mother.
Notable Places
The Mother’s Threshold: the preserved birth-house and focal point for blessings of the sick and travelers.
Chapel of First Light: a squat stone chapel with a high lantern tower; its sacristy keeps a registry of vows made on the road.
Old Watch: a ruined keep on the eastern knoll, now a hostel for mendicants and a lookout when storms roll off the mountains.
Rhythms & Customs
No bells are rung during funerals; instead, the town walks in silence from the chapel to the fields, letting the wind carry the farewell. During planting week, pilgrims help sow a single communal strip of land; its harvest is reserved for the poor and for wayfarers who cannot afford a bed.
For the Storyteller
Bim is a gentle hub with busy edges: offerings at the Threshold may include items of unexpected power or provenance. The ruined Old Watch has tunnels rumored to predate the first road. When the plains turn treacherous with early floods, the town’s goodwill is tested – and so are the oaths made in the glow of the Chapel’s lantern.