A question of design...

[Green-Pilgrim]

I like the idea of a joint office for the Steward and the Head Maid. It's probably located on the ground floor of some building within the grounds so that people coming to the Keep to sell their wares (fresh eggs, milk, candles, etc.) can meet with either one or the other.

I also like the idea of the rooms near the guest rooms and master bedroom for the valets. I figure that the keep is possibly an hour's walk (or less - perhaps a half-hours ride?) from the town and surrounded by cleared fields. Close enough that the two are associated with each other but far enough to have separate realities.

As far as garderobes and cesspools - I know that there would have to be an 'out house' of sorts on the ground level for staff and such as well as a garderobe in the keep near the bedrooms.

Gong farming is one of those things that always made me wonder. So we pay people to shovel out the cesspool...and do what with it? We can't really use it for fertilizer (because human poo isn't great for such things). Do you burn it? Bury it?

Some of the oddest thoughts crawl through my head because of map design.

hehe.

Thanks!
-GP

[Midgardsormr]

Gong farming is one of those things that always made me wonder. So we pay people to shovel out the cesspool...and do what with it? We can't really use it for fertilizer (because human poo isn't great for such things). Do you burn it? Bury it?

I would imagine that as long as it was removed far enough away from human habitation, it didn't much matter what was done with it. Human feces will eventually decay into fertile soil, although the potential for disease in the interim is significant. Some societies have used it to grow crops, but most Western cultures find the entire notion disgusting, if not taboo. You mentioned that the surrounding area is still somewhat wild, so probably the gong farmer will cart the waste out into the wilderness and dump it. Hopefully not near a water source.

[Green-Pilgrim]

One could argue that the issue of trash or refuse removal would be of concern for any settlement. I know that in the pre-industrial era it wasn't uncommon to have a Midden; a central trash pile where things were tossed and then routinely burned.

I wonder if you would/could do the same thing with the gong farmer? Haul it out to some big pit somewhere and, with other material, burn it?

Yup - love the discussion questions on here.
-GP