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A focus on the town and fortification
Swartsund Settlement at the shore of the Breach
Iīm working at too many projects as usual...
But hereīs another one, the Settlement of Swartsund at the mouth oft he Swartbrus River at the so called Breach. In the course of many years, the small town formed around the fortress and the natural harbor, and today there are always around 200 souls living there. Swartsund is the main port for the traffic and trade in winter silver from the north and itīs under the flag and administration of the non-royal Betwingar and protected by the customs union and the Betwingar crews.
A focus on the town and fortification
That's a very cool map. Really good map wise.
As it is a WIP I'll give you some critiques without really know where you plan on going, so take them with a grain of salt. I kind of wish you had utilized more anti-aliasing or soft lines etc. to get rid of the pixilation on some of the line edges. Second it bothers me that some things (like the roads or the river) end in the margins, instead of either ending at the border or going all the way to the edges.
One other thing to consider is how they get their food, I'm assuming it's a largely a fish diet, and they could import grains and etcetera if they had a particular sort of wealth generator, but there still might be farms or orchards around. Also quite likely is a logging industry (for which you might also consider a ship building industry depending on it's era and location. In the maritime provinces and Quebec in Canada what they used to do was make big timber ships, stuff the hold full of big timber also, and ship it to England that way, whence they'd generally break down the ship on the other side. But that is more likely when the ports are far apart).
Ah ninja'd. Are you planning on hand drawing it (which looks fantastic so far) or doing it on the computer? Or both?
Oh, thanks Falconius,
any kind of critique is welcome of course. Well, Iīm trying to become familiar to my XP Pen drawing board. The map will be a fotoshop map in the end, but some ideas are born on paper and sometimes even on modelling. I totally agree with you concerning the lines, the really look awful at the moment but Iīm planning to improve that. The finished map (when it will be finished at all) will even have a kind of border, so this is a first step whith many points to improve. But for improving, your ideas are absolutely welcome and Iīm thankful for that. So I will answer your questions about the settlement as well, but in an extra reply, soon
So, returning to your points Falconius:
Swartsund is located 68 degrees north and about 26 west. Itīs very meager, a kind of Tundra and coniferous woodland around. In the summer we have a maximum of six hours of sun and in winter we have no sun at all for months.
Maximum temperature in July is up to 16 Celsius, minimum is about 7 Celsius and in winter (February) we have max. -3 and min. -10 Celsius. Swartsund has about max. 4 months up to 10 Celsius and more. So in fact, those who live in Swartsund, they have a special life there.
For rough orientation see:
Attachment 57540
Swartsund was founded because itīs at the mouth of river Swartbrus, coming from the North. The Swartbrus is a river with volcano-warmed-up water and itīs flowing through the Great Northern Volcano Town of Betwingar and the Great Black Castle. In and around Betwingar, we have the winter-silver mines and about 90% of this most valuable metal was digged out oft he ground there. This makes the Swartbrus Valley an important route fort he precious metal trade for the world.
The Valley is protected by six fortresses (one each 10 to 15 miles) and if you are traveling from Swartsund to Betwingar (or the other direction), you will need six days of walk for this distance. You better plan to reach the next fortress in order to warm up, eat and sleep there and to protect from the worst weather conditions.
Swartsund ist he southernmost point of this journey and there is loceted the „Erste Morgaveste“, the first oft the six fortresses. The „Erste Moraveste“ or the „Swartveste) is manned with 128 men oft he Betwingar Legion and they monitor the estuary, the events in the harbor and the entry and exit of the ships.
In Swartsund the journey starts or ends and so, there are living the fortress crews and those, who work for the foreign trade legations, f.e. at the port or the tavern or as traveling guards fort he way to the North.
Swartsund is strategically very important and itīs the biggest transshipment port for Winter-Silver. The fortress crews and the inhabitants have no time to farm, even though a few can still grow a few things on the barren soil and in the inhospitable weather and do some private livestock. The things of daily life usually have to be imported here but the strangers and the winter silver have made the place rich, so that there is seldom any need for distress here – what doesnīt mean, Swartsund is the chosen town for the rich and the beautiful ��
And a little wooden simulation of the residential area in direkt connection to the Swartveste
It definitely has the feeling of a northern town so I think you nailed it
Yes Falconius, itīs a northern town but at a time which is comparable to our year 900 or 1000 a.c.
In fact the river is ice free for most of the year because of the warm water. But the river is not shippable for the whole length even when there are certain sections with lenghts up to 20 miles which are shippable. I will create a little outtake map of the Swartbrus River later. In fact, some of the legations travel the distances by boat, as far itīs possible, but on the way, there are several rapids, waterfalls, sometimes very shallow sections and other obstacles. Those, who use boats, take the boats with them on the walk and itīs only an option on the way to the south, whether going north by boat itīs nearly impossible and seldom tryed out.
So to sum up, most groups and legations walk by foot and horse, packing animal and winter donkeys. So about 95% of the goods are travelling only depending on the trail, in fact.
Adding this to show these points:
