Brotten

Brotten is a fictional village and civil parish in the northern highlands of the continent of Eldhame, commonly cited in speculative fiction and worldbuilding exercises. It is characterized by timber-framed houses, narrow lanes, and a community tradition of small-scale farming and forestry. The village serves as a generic example of rural life in imagined medieval-to-modern transition settings.

The name Brotten itself has no established real-world etymology; in the lore of Eldhame, it is believed to derive from an old local term meaning "broad valley" or "place of broad meadows." Historians in the fiction describe its origin as obscure, with several competing oral traditions.

Geographically, Brotten sits along the meandering Brotten River, in a landscape of mixed forests and rolling meadows. The climate is temperate with wet winters and mild summers, lending to long growing seasons for crops and a robust timber industry supporting craftwork and construction in the village.

Brotten likely arose in the 12th century as a cluster of farms around a water-powered mill. It grew steadily through the medieval and early modern periods, aided by river trade and its position on a regional route. A parish church, St. Havelin’s, has been central since the 15th century.

Today the economy centers on agriculture, forestry, and artisanal crafts such as carpentry and weaving. The annual Harvest Festival, featuring seed-saving, market stalls, and folk music, is the principal communal event. Local craft cooperatives promote woodwork and textiles for regional markets.

Notable landmarks include the Old Mill, St. Havelin’s Chapel, and the Bridge of Echoes, a timber arch crossing the Brotten River. The village archive preserves oral histories and records dating to its early settlements, making Brotten a common case study in fictional regional development.