I finished the basement with the hypocaust. This level required extensive plotting to make sure the pipes went to the right places.

First, here it is unlabeled so you can actually see everything, because there are a lot of labels. Note that the pools are supposed to be elevated (hence the drop shadows on them), as this is the lower portion of the pools where water is piped in and drained out.

And here it is labeled. The labels include arrows indicating flow: blue for cold water, red for hot water, and yellow for warm air. The labels and the arrows are on separate layers to allow them to be independently hidden or revealed.

A giant furnace (called a Praefurnium) is used to heat water and air. Here it is covered, and then uncovered.

The hypocaust itself is basically a series of chambers through which hot air can flow, warming the floors for the level above, with vents that can bring warm air up to the upper stories of multistory buildings. These chambers are called Alveus. Within these chambers are stacked tiles made into pillars, called Pilae or Pilae Stacks, used to support the roof of the hypocaust as well as to conduct heat to the floors above. (This screengrab also illustrates the technique I used for the subterranean walls, using the cutout effects that Sue developed for Creepy Crypts, but using the stone and pebble fills she developed for Marine Dungeons.)

The Pilae Stacks have a wall shadow on them, but I guess it would make more sense to use an outer glow instead since they're underground.

When I was about 10 or 11, I first read about hypocausts from Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, the first in her Merlin-focused Arthurian novels. Young Merlin used the abandoned hypocaust on his family's estate as a hideout, inadvertently eavesdropping on adult conversations in the process. I'm delighted to finally be able to design one.

Here's the third floor.

The outer walls here are accessed through the spiral staircases in the gatehouse towers and the corner towers. From there, arched doorways secured with metal doors provide access to the parapets of the outer walls. Stairs on these parapets lead to the top of the towers.

The main villa has two disconnected suites on this floor, nicknamed the Green Apartments and the Blue Apartments because of the color of the tiles. Each is accessed by separate spiral staircases from the second floor. Each has an outer reception room, a private dining/lounge area, an office, and a relatively spacious bedrooms. In previous generations, the Lord and Lady of the manor had separate suites. It is currently occupied by the Dowager Countess of (I forget), who resides in the Caeruleum Residentiae (the blue suite), as it is heated by the hypocaust's flue and the other apartment is not. The other suite is the guest quarters for her son, the current Earl of (I forget) when he visits.

The upper floor is the bathhouse is currently used for storage.

Okay, here's the second floor again with the courtyards with the same parchment mask as the rest of the outside. There's actually just one mask over the entire thing, but I punched a hole in it with the color key cutout effect. I guess I was thinking "inside v. outside" instead of "this floor v. lower floors." The magenta polygon is now on a COURTYARD layer, so it can be turned on or off depending on which approach is preferred.

I'm still toying with the idea of making the legend's text look like it's engraved, but I'm not sure if it shows up well enough?

I tried it out with Marine Dungeon's brass inlay that I love so much. Here it is with both the red marble on the right side and the black marble on the left (with the original colored text as a comparison). It looks good on the dark marble but only if you're zoomed in.

And then I tried it again with a goldleaf fill. As much as I love the brass (plus it's native to Marine Dungeons, so it's not added another annual to the mix), the goldleaf may be a little easier to read because it doesn't have the reflected light effect. This one also only really works with the darkest marble.

Brass Inlay

Goldleaf

Thoughts?

Okay, the second floor is mapped and furnished!

Outside

1. Muri Magni: Inside the second floor of the outer wall in a 10-foot-wide passageway with arrow slits at regular intervals.
2. Portae Turres: The gatehouse towers
3. Turres Anguli: The corner towers
4. Scalae: Exterior staircases open on one side that lead to the second-floor entrances of the corner towers

Villa

5. Portico Roof: The roof of the covered porch

6. Scalae Graecae: Staircase from the first floor

7. Scala Spiralis: Spiral stairs leading to the third floor

8. Cenaculum: The dining room on an upper floor of Roman houses

9. Heating Caliduct: Hot air from the hypocaust in the basement of the balneae flows through this shaft to heat the floors

10. Puteus & Puteal: An interior well with unheated water

11. Lavatrina: Lavatories

12. Cubiculum: Bedroom

Balneae

13. Colonnade Roof: The roof of the colonnade that connects the main villa to the bathhouse

14. Scalae Graecae: Staircase from the first floor and up to the third floor

15. Hypocaust Chimney: Exhaust vent for the vast amounts of smoke generated by the hypocaust in the basement

16. Armorium: Closets

17. Bibliotheca: The library, including a reading area overlooking the tepidarium pool

18. Palaestra: An exercise area and prominade

19. Gymnasium: Exercise equipment