WIP - quarry town on a river mouth

[torstan]

TownSketch.jpg

I'm working on a town map for the next map pack. The town is built around a rivermouth, where the river has been carving a valley into the coastline. The town's industry is predominantly due to the quarry, and a winch/pulley system takes the stone to the top of the cliff, where it goes upstream on barges. There's a fortified manor at the river mouth, and a sheltered harbour. Two roads from east and west wind down the cliffs.

What other locations of interest should this town have?

[Larb]

Is the lighthouse magical or mundane? If it's more mundane it'd need a fuel source so they might engaging whaling or the like (does whale oil make a decent fuel source for old lighthouses? I'm not actually sure) so they might have an associated yard for it.

Also if a sizable percentage of the workers are from out of town working seasonally, they might live in a campsite of sorts.

[darkseed2012]

I would suppose. I did a quick search to try to find out what fuels were around in the middle ages. I could only find that animal fat was used. I think they used a wood fire in ancient lighthouses, but I could be wrong.

The lighthouse might be using wood. You need a large fire and it seems that oil would not work for a long standing fire like that.

[Wingshaw]

Who runs the quarry? Even if it is owned by the local bigshot, it will probably have offices for the daily admin, located close to the quarry site. Then if there's a king in a faraway city, he'll probably want a cut of the profits, so there might be another kind of official in that.

Also, just to be clear, is the winch/pulley system human-powered, or driven by some other force (eg ox or charcoal)?

[torstan]

I think the winch system will be water powered at the end of the day. It would be daft to have the waterfall and not use that power to lift the stone.

Good suggestions on the admin/tax collecting side of the quarry. And whaling is an interesting thought. It also suggests that a fishmarket (with some clear space between it and the rest of town) and a proper dry standing boat-yard would be good additions.

[Vellum]

Torstan you need a blacksmith shop to make and repair the stone cutting tools, as well as some housing for the workers / slaves / drones :-)

[Vellum]

Am I understanding this correctly, the actual quarry is lower than the land mass on the east / west / north? And we have a road / trail leading into the area from west and east? Also need some sort of carpenter's for barge / quarry equipment repair. Ok I'll shut up now before I turn this into a full blown walled city

[torstan]

Yep, smithy and carpenter's are on the list. And yes Vellum, the cliffs to the north, east and west all mean that it's lower than the surrounding terrain. It's therefore naturally walled so some extent.

[Korash]

I wonder about the lift location...If the falls are being used for lifting power, wouldn't the lift be closer to the falls?

A question about security. How secure is this area. If it is close to hostiles, I would put some watch towers up on top of those cliffs. Having a barbarian horde appear at the cliff edge with out warning could REALLY ruin your day. Maybe some secret outlets for defenders to reach the top without being noticed by invaders.....and maybe behind them too...

[torstan]

I thought of the water power for the lift after the sketch - so yes, I'll be moving it closer.

Watchtowers on the top's a good idea, especially around the roads. And I like the secret access to the top idea - kind of like a sally port for the town defenders.