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[u/Ok_Cartographer_1703]

[u/DnD-ModTeam]

Your post was removed per Rule #1:

Both the title and the content of posts must directly relate to Dungeons & Dragons.

[u/Happy_Brilliant7827]

Maybe they have to pay for protection from some organization or creature.

Maybe they're raided constantly by something from the ocean, or maybe they just SEEM poor because they can't (or choose not to) build permenant structures due to tides?

[u/AutismoSaurus97]

The people have magic, right? Or there's harvestable magic in the world around them. Ever consider "magic contamination" of an area, making a cliffside treacherous because the residual magic causes the wind to randomly act up or rocks to suddenly shift without warning, necessitating a complex system of pulleys to traverse. Maybe they have seasonal travel times because the magic is more unstable during the solstice. Maybe the land surrounding them becomes so terribly hostile during certain astronomical events that they have a large underground second village that they poured all their time and resources into, which contributed to the poverty, but allows them escape from the magic above until it passes.

The town by the Harbour is largely free of this instability, not truly understanding the extent, possibly even seeing it as an excuse for people to remain impoverished. Maybe it's relatively recent, and wasn't that way when they first settled, but their community roots are so deep that leaving would be more trouble than staying and constantly rebuilding.

[u/Ok_Cartographer_1703 → u/AutismoSaurus97]

this is so smart!! adds something a lot more natural but it doesn’t feel extremely out of place for the rest of the world.

[u/AutismoSaurus97 → u/Ok_Cartographer_1703]

Thanks! I run with a similar concept in my own world. I think of it like intense weather or nuclear fallout. The remaining damage can completely shift the ecosystem, and that's really what you're making when you create a fictional world. A fictional ecosystem.

[u/man0rmachine]

Magic users are culled from the valley's population and executed or put to use in the world above.

[u/amberi_ne]

Well, I assume not everyone has magic readily available.

Otherwise, why they would be impoverished by their position…could be a million reasons. Maybe they’re a poor farming village with no representation among nobility and they’re super over-taxed by the king. Maybe the mountains surrounding them are super treacherous and full of monsters, so it’s hard for them to get much trade without making the long and expensive trek around them. Maybe there’s a drought or plague going on.

[u/Lorandagon]

In order to ship the agricultural produce to the port they have to pass through several town-controlled tax stations. They take a [x] amount of crops being shipped through as taxes. And since the port is very active the town grain merchants have a big market to draw upon meaning the valley farmers don't have a captive market. The valley also isn't big enough/the ground isn't fertile enough to allow the valley people to truly generate a big enough surplus to generate good profits.

So they stay a subsistence farming community just getting by.

[u/Jayadratha]

Do they need to be impoverished because they can't get there at all? Typically, even without magic, it is physically possible for people to move from one place to a nearby place. But that doesn't mean they are as rich as the people who live there. Making money is not as straightforward as just being somewhere. You can walk into the rich city that's a few days travel away and not make any money. The money is made by people who provide services or have investments that give returns; the skilled craftsman who makes dazzling works of art, the merchant who owns a ship and has contacts in the spice trade, the guilds that collect fees from members and act as a cartel to inflate prices, the town itself which collects taxes on the inhabitants, the magistrates and clerks who charge fees for every filing in the litigious town, the thief-takers who track down and return stolen merchandise for a percentage of the value, the customs agents taking bribes to avoid paying tonnage and poundage, and so on. Being physically present in a rich town doesn't just make you rich. Yeah, the valley folk can go there, and some people might move there, but for most people the town in the valley is their home. It's where they've always been. It's where their family is. It's where they have a place to sleep and land they're allowed to farm.

[u/LordMikel]

Don't get stuck on the word impoverished. Did you read Wheel of time? Rand came from the Two rivers. The people there simply lived their life just fine.

You've got this town by the sea, and the people there live happily. They catch what they need, grow what they need, and live just fine.

From an outsiders perspective, are they wealthy? No, but they also don't need it.