You could have settlements around areas of extraordinary phenomena: temples around the site of fissures that give off psychoactive fumes, caves where waterfalls pierce through rocks to pool in cenotes, mage schools around areas where the boundaries between the planes grow thin, mountaintop laboratories to catch the lighting, village of vassals to a nearby dragon, small settlements of people trying their luck at removing the sword from the stone, etc.

On a more realistic side, summer/wintering grounds in the path of prey migratory paths, villages of workmen/artisans around great building projects, boom towns/ghost towns, outcast/leper colonies, campsites for academic expeditions, etc.