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Royal Scribe

Royal Scribe

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Royal Scribe
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Birthday
February 5, 1968
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San Francisco, California
Real Name
Kevin
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  • Community Atlas 1000th map Competition - with Prizes [August/September]

    I think my contribution to the contest is ready to submit. (If anyone notices any typos or other errors, I will delete and repost.) Here is the FCW, a text file description, and a PDF description. I will also paste the description here below the image.

    Fon'Anar is a small farming village in the matriarchal kingdom of Verinress'Arl, on the continent of Artemisia. It is a kingdom of Aeifa (surface dwelling drow) ruled by a Matriarch, where succession is by fight to the death among her female offspring. Fon'Anar is located at the edge of the Phindardo Forests on the eastern side of the kingdom.

    Fon'Anar is a mostly-self sufficient farming community. It is well known for its fine wines produced at the Granaat Winery. Resellers hire teamsters to travel from other cities and towns in the kingdom to bring back barrels of the wine. Their frequent visits allow Fon'Anar to support an inn, which would otheerwise be unlikely in a village this size. The inn also serves as a tavern and watering hole for the locals. The community is also well-known for their fruit and nut orchards.

    The village is governed by a mayor appointed by the local nobility, aided by a five-member village council elected by the local residents.

    The village was once a military outpost, and a few military structures remain: a small fortress now used by the village watch as the local jail; a few stone towers; and a great down on top of a 40-foot high rocky outcrop named Mon'Anar, but nicknamed "the rock."

    Two creeks run by the village: Gematt Creek, which is about 10-feet wide, and Mouro Creek, which is about five-feet wide. Both creeks feed into Vatrock Pond, which is about 30-feet deep at the deepest part and large enough to support a number of small rowboats. The outflow creek from the pond is also known as Gematt Creek.

    A wooden palisade encircles the town. It is enough to keep most predatory animals at bay, but could not withstand a concerted military attack for long.

    A great tower abandoned by the military perches on top of Mon'Anar. It was purchased generations ago by a wealthy sorceress who had retired from adventuring. Rumors persist that the sorceress was a scion of a former queen who faked her death rather than fight her sisters for the crown. When she died, she passed the deed to the property to a favored apprentice, and so it has continued to pass from sorceress to apprentice over the generations.

    Many villagers live in treehouse homes, connected to one another through elevated bridge walkways. Some villagers (particularly the elderly and the infirm) live in thatch cottages on the ground.

    1. TOWN CLERK - Most government is conducted by the clerk, including recording births, marriages, and deaths, and collecting taxes.

    2. COURTHOUSE - Traveling judges periodically visit to hold both criminal and civil trials.

    3. MAYOR'S OFFICE - The mayor is appointed by the nobility to govern the town in partnership with an elected council. Her offices are located here, as well as living quarters for those who do not have a nicer home in the village.

    4. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - The town has an elected five-member council who meet here to manage the village's mundane decisions like managing the maintenance and repair of the palisades.

    5. VILLAGE WATCH & JAIL - When the military abandoned their outpost at Fon'Anar, the town watch took over the small fortress, turning it into their headquarters as well as the village jail. Some prison cells have been carved out of the Rock, and the town's treasury is stored there as well.

    6. TEMPLE - The temple has a marble hallway that pushes into the cliffs of Mon'Anar. Beneath the Rock, caverns have been carved out for storing church documents and religious artifacts of dubious authenticity. It is rumored that there may be sealed tunnels here that can access vast subterranean cities.

    7. MON'ANAR ("The Rock") - Nicknamed "the Rock," Mon'Anar is a natural geological rocky outcrop rising about 40 feet above the village. The Tower of Sorcery is built above it, and three structures cut into the side of the cliffs: the Temple, the Village Watch's fortress, and Granaat Winery.

    8. TOWER OF SORCERY - Above the rock, a tower purchased generations ago by a wealthy sorceress looms. The entire top of the Rock is her property, though aside from the tower it mostly holds a gatehouse to guard the entrance and a barn for visitors' horses.

    9. GRANAAT WINERY - The wines produced here are legendary, and are sold in many larger towns and cities throughout the realm. The winery has a great barrel-roofed chamber filled with large oak tanks. The wine is later transferred to oak barrels, where it continues to ferment in cool caverns carved into the cliffside.

    10. VATRACH COMMONS - Outside the palisades, on the far side of Vatrach Pond, the villagers have constructed an entertainment area. A great bonfire is lit on many nights when the weather permits, allowing locals to sing and dance around it. To the side, a small stage is set up for traveling troubadors, minstrels, and acting troops to entertain the locals, who watch from stone benches before the stage as well as on the hillside behind. A small building behind the stage houses set decorations, props, and costumes, and serves as a dressing room for performers.

    11. MILL - A very small watermill is available to use the power of creekwater to grind grain.

    12. BLACKSMITH - The smiths primarily creates and repairs horseshoes. They also make farming tools but are not known for making weapons or armor, though they can repair them.

    13. TANNER - Tans hides from primary deer hunted in the woods, making and selling leather clothing and armor.

    14. GLASS BLOWERS - The glass blowers spend a lot of their time making bottles for the winery, even though much of the wine is exported in oak barrels.

    15. COMMUNITY BATHS - Include toilet and bathing facilities for locals and travelers alike, as well as access to recreational facilities. It is the only structure, other than the palisade towers, that spans both outside and within the village walls, and provides one of the only means of passing into or out of the village without passing through the town gates.

    16. WASTE MANAGEMENT - Here, garbage and other waste are fed to captive gelatinous cubes and black puddings in order to maintain sanitation.

    17. CROWNED FOX INN & COMMUNITY STABLES - Though it mostly serves as a local watering hole, the inn does have accommodations for teamsters and other travelers. The sign outside the inn is painted with a fox wearing a golden crown sprawling across a great throne.

    18. MARKET SQUARE - Local farmers and artisans set up booths to sell their produce and goods. The market spans both sides of Gematt Creek.

    19. HALL OF HEALING - Serves as a hospital and clinic for the villagers as well as a hospice for the aged who need assistance.

    20. BUTCHER - The shepherds and goatherds primarily do their own slaughtering, as do villagers who hunt, but many sell excess meat to the butcher.

    21. BAKERY - Also supplies baked treats for the inn and the winery.

    22. WEAVER / DRAPERS - A number of fabric artisans operate out of this shop, making and selling clothing and fabric goods of all sorts.

    23. COOPER - Although the coopers make all sorts of barrels, chests, and other containers, their principle client is the Granaat Winery.

     


    QuentenMonsenLoopysueRicko HascheWyvernMaidhc O CasainMathieu GansWeathermanSweden
  • [WIP] Community Atlas Competition - Artemisia - Verinress Arl - Fon'Anar

    Here's a version with a darker red:

    And here's a version where I tried lighter text on a darker background. (The white ones at the end are the only ones that really work.) For this one, I moved the text to a different sheet so I could turn off the white glow that just made it look bolded in a way that made it harder to read.


    LoopysueAleDMonsen
  • [WIP] Community Atlas Competition - Artemisia - Verinress Arl - Fon'Anar

    Made some good progress, including labeling some of the primary businesses and points of interest. I also widened it a bit to make room for a legend. The text was a little hard to read so I added a semi-transparent back. Let me know if it's still too hard to read, and what you'd recommend to help that (make the back less transparent? darker or lighter shade?)


    LoopysueMonsenQuentenJuanpi
  • [WIP] Community Atlas Competition - Artemisia - Verinress Arl - Fon'Anar

    Here's a bit more. More to come, especially fleshing out the empty spots within the village walls. Plus labeling, of course.


    QuentenLoopysueLoreleiMonsenRicko HascheAleD
  • [WIP] Community Atlas Competition - Artemisia - Verinress Arl - Fon'Anar

    I finally have a bit to show for my contribution to the Community Atlas Competition. More work is needed but it's enough to provide the gist.

    I adopted a little farming village on the edges of Verinress'Arl on Artemisia. The parent map's notes explain that Verinress'Arl is populated by Aeifa (surface dwelling drow), who are ruled by a Matriarch, where succession is by fight to the death among her female offspring. The red box here (northeast of center) shows the village in relation to the rest of the kingdom:

    The village was once the site of a military outpost, but when it was decommissioned generations ago, a village grew up and took over some of the surviving military facilities: a small fortress that became the village jail, and a tower atop a hill that was purchased by sorceress to live out her years of retirement. The tower was passed down to one of her apprentices, and so on through the generations.

    While the villagers are mostly self-sufficient, raising enough of a variety of crops to sustain the village, it's known for its fruit orchards and even more for its vineyards and the wines that are popular throughout the realm.

    Here's the village so far (I also put a copy in my gallery if you want to zoom around):

    Still more to add within the area protected by the palisades, and forests to the north/northeast.

    Here's a closer view of the hillside known locally as "the rock" (though a proper name will be provided on the map):

    In addition to the sorceress' tower on top of "the rock," there are three other buildings the dig into the hillside. On the south/southeast, a decommissioned military fort has been converted into facilities for the village watch, with jail cells built underground in the hillside. On the eastern side, the Temple also digs into the hillside where the crypts and religious records/artifacts are maintained. And on the north side, the winery (which may be a bit oversized, now that I see it) also extends into the hillside, where wine can ferment in giant vats in caverns protected from the heat of the sun.

    The government buildings include the City Clerk's office in the center, with the courthouse to the east, the mayor's office to the northeast, and the town council chambers to the northwest.

    Here's an example of treehouse housing. More smaller complexes like this will be built elsewhere within the palisades.

    Outside of the village walls on the southwest side is a large pond. There are some industries along the creek that exits the pond: a small mill, blacksmith, tanner's, and glassblowers. North of them is a hillside and field that have become an entertainment area. A large bonfire is lit most warm nights, where the villagers make music and dance. There's also a stage where traveling minstrels, troubadours, and traveling acting troupes can perform for the villagers who can sit on stone benches before the stage or on the hillside behind. The big building on the northeast side of the pond is the community baths (elves are stereotypically fastidious, after all).

    Much more to come, but since it's officially August, I wanted to post what I have to date to start getting feedback.

    QuentenAleDLoopysueRicko Hasche