Jörðgarð Map of the Week #50 - Green Meadows

[Mark Oliva]

greenmeadows.jpg

Our 50th Jörðgarð (TM) Map of the Week comes from our forthcoming publication "The Northwest."

Green Meadows is in the North Kingdom, which is ruled by vampire draugs. It is the ruling seat of vampire draug Duke Břetislav, but there isn't too much else to distinguish it from other medium-sized towns.

Key to the Center of Green Meadows

Lead Creek (Location No. 13) flows through Green Meadows from the ruins of the Æsir settlement of Blýhæður (Lead Heights) and its source in the Evening Hills forest. The creek is dammed west of the mapped area, where it forms a large mill pond that also is used to breed freshwater fish. The millstream is diverted from the pond to serve both Jonáš' Sawmill (Location No. 23) and Bohdana's Grain Mill (Location No. 19). Unnumbered buildings on the map can be considered residential, but they also are available to game masters who may wish to use them to add new locations specific to his or her adventure.

1. Bohumila's Bakery. Master Baker Bohumila, a human female artisan, employs a journeyman baker, a human male artisan; an apprentice, a human male commoner, and two sales persons, human female commoners.

2. Greenlands Garrison. The human warriors who serve under Commander Krýstina, a human female warrior, are the only soldiers in the duchy who are stationed on a permanent basis. All of the duchy's soldiers with families are stationed here. Those serving duty in Mine City, Lignite City, Northwatch Hold and Northwatch are single. They rotate regularly between the three strongholds. Due to these disadvantages, they receive a higher sold than those stationed in Green Meadows. The garrison's soldiers are responsible for patrolling along the Fjörm Valley swamps as far north as the Niklas' Mill ruins and the Mine City-Green Meadows road. They also are the duchy's police force. The few soldiers of the garrison who have no families live in the compound. Those families live in residential housing in town.

3. Klement's Meats. Master Butcher Klement, a human male artisan, is the only butcher authorized by Duke Břetislav in Green Meadows. His relatively large operation is a combination of retail shop, slaughterhouse and fish and meat packing plant. Almost all of the meat and fish that he processes are smoked, cured or packed in brine. Most of his meat is made into sausage. He employs a second master butcher, a human female artisan; three journeyman butchers, human male and female artisans; two apprentices, human male and female commoners; three salespersons, human female commoners, and two laborers, human male commoners.

4. Green Meadows General Wares & Cobblery. Master Cobbler Bohumill, a human male artisan, makes the area's shoes and boots on the second story of the main building. His wife, Jana, a human female merchant, runs the general store on the ground floor. It carries a basic supply of common wares. Bohumill, Jana and their children live on the third story. Bohumill employs a journeyman cobbler, a human female artisan, and an apprentice, a human male commoner. Jana employs a salesperson, a human female commoner.

5. Chandler Slavomir. Master Chandler Slavomir, a human male artisan, makes candles for the greater Green Meadows area. Caravans of the Royal Ministry of Trade also bring his products to more distant markets within the kingdom. His tallow is shipped northward from the rendering house in Lone Dell in the Meadowlands Duchy. Slavomir employs a journeyman chandler, human male artisan; and an apprentice, a human female commoner.

6. Lead Valley Castle. This is the castle complex of the vampire draug warrior Duke Břetislav. His governmental administration, headed by his steward Ilja, a human male merchant, is in the building to the west or left of the duke's small palace. The government employs six clerks, all human male and female merchants, and four laborers, all human male and female commoners. The duke's crypt is in the cellar dungeon level of the palace.

7. Prison Tower. Floor plans and a description of the tower can be found with Map of the Week No. 45. The jailer is Květoslav, a human male commoner and murderer. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the tower after he killed another man in a tavern brawl. His wife, Klára, a human female commoner, agreed to remain with him there when the duke gave him the opportunity to become a trusty jailer. Neither Květoslav nor Klára takes any interest in the tower's prisoners.

8. Garrison Stable.

9. Ministry of Trade Center. This is the Green Meadows branch of the Ministry of Trade's caravan operations. All caravans bringing goods to and taking them from the town operate from this base, which includes an office building, a warehouse and a stable. The manager is the human male merchant Štěpán. He employs two clerks, human male and female merchants, and two laborers, human male and female commoners.
 
10. Green Clover Inn. The inn's public room is a popular watering hole in Green Meadows. Guests usually are members of trade caravans from the Royal Ministry of Trade. The owner and innkeeper is the widow Anastázie, a human female merchant. She charges 8 bronze pieces a night for her six single rooms and 1 silver piece per person nightly for the one double. Cold meals run between 1 and 4 bronze pieces, warm meals between 4 and 8 bronze pieces. The only beverage is the house brewed lager beer, which sells for 3 copper pieces a pint/half liter tankard. Anastázie's brewmistress is Ada, a human female artisan. The inn employs three waiters and waitresses, two cleaning ladies and a laborer, all human male and female commoners.

11.-12. Town Hall and Granary. Burgomaster Ahasver, a human male merchant, heads the town government. It employs four clerks, all human male and female merchants, and four laborers, all human male and female commoners. Storage crops and grains that are the town's share of the tithes are kept in the granary to feed the folk in times of emergency. The town's jail is in the cellar of the town hall.

13. Lead Creek.

14.-16. Ducal Fruit Packing. This operation is owned by Duke Břetislav. It consists of the office and main packing and canning plant (Location No. 14), a fruit liqueur and schnapps distillery (Location No. 15) and two warehouses (both numbered 16). The fruit packing plant transports fresh fruit to other location and makes dried fruit products and fruit and preserves in glass. The distillery is the only maker of legal spirits in the North Kingdom. Blaźena, a human female merchant, is manager of the entire operation. The main office employs two clerks, human male and female merchants. The fruit packing and warehouse operations employ 12 laborers, all human male and female commoners. Master Distiller Mojmir, a human male artisan, runs the distillery. It employs two journeyman distillers, human male and female artisans; an apprentice, human male commoner, and a laborer, human male commoner.

17. Dušan's Smithy. Master Smith Dušan, a human male artisan, is the blacksmith of Green Meadows and also repairs armor and weapons for the garrisons. He employs two journeyman smiths, human male and female artisans, and an apprentice, human male commoner.

18. Wainwright Judita. Master Wainwright Judita, a human female artisan, builds and repairs wagons, carts, wheelbarrows and the like. She employs two journeyman wainwrights, male and female human artisans; an apprentice, female human commoner, and a laborer, male human commoner.

19. Bohdana's Grain Mill. Master Miller Bohdana, a human female artisan, makes flour, fodder and vegetable oil for the Green Meadows area. She employs a journeyman miller, human male artisan; an apprentice, human female commoner, and a laborer, human male commoner.

20. Market Square. Most of the stands are operated by locals. The market is the only place where one can buy fresh crops and produce, sold by the local farmers who raise them. Anyone wishing to run a stand must acquire a permit from Town Hall (Location No. 11).

21. Mill Fish Tavern. Master Alewife Olga, a human female artisan, owns and operates this popular pub. She employs a bartender, Felix, a human male merchant; two waitresses, both human female commoners, and a laborer, a human male commoner. In her brewhouse behind the tavern, Olga brews a smooth light ale. It sells at 3 copper pieces per pint/half liter tankard. Cold boards with smoked trout from the mill pond and Lead Creek, bread, cheese and dill pickles are available for 3 bronze pieces.

22. Millstream.

23. Jonáš' Sawmill. Master sawyer Jonáš, a human male artisan, makes the lumber used in the Green Meadows area. He employs a journeyman sawyer, human female artisan; an apprentice, human male commoner, and a laborer, human female commoner.

24. Farms.

You can get the map of Green Meadowsin two versions:

1. The Fractal Mapper (TM) 8 map in FMP format, fully editable, from our Jörðgarð web page (39 MB).

2. As a JPG flat map of 1360 x 1020 Pixels (1 MB), available above.

Both versions are released for personal and commercial use under the Open Game License Version 1.0a, which you can read on the Jörðgarð web site.

The Jörðgarð web site:

http://www.vintyri.org/joerdhgardh/joerdhgardh.htm

Next: Map of the Dreadlands.

[Robulous]

Have you added noise to the overall map background? I can't say I like the effect. Also for a map this size there's no real need to label each item with numbers, there's plenty of room to add text labels.

Also from a geographical point of view this doesn't look like a realistic pre-modern village - it's laid out more like a US Mid-Western planned community than a village which has naturally evolved.

[Mark Oliva]

Greetings. Thanks for your input.

Have you added noise to the overall map background? I can't say I like the effect.

Nope. I don't know what kind of noise you're getting. I don't see any.

Also for a map this size there's no real need to label each item with numbers, there's plenty of room to add text labels.

Yes we do. This is intended for a PDF on letter sized paper. People with low quality printers will be unhappy with us if we use text labels. There are other product reasons for the numbers too.

Also from a geographical point of view this doesn't look like a realistic pre-modern village - it's laid out more like a US Mid-Western planned community than a village which has naturally evolved.

Actually, we've made quite a study of medieval villages and have gone to all of them that we use for prototyping. There are all kinds of things out there, not just the stereotypical circles. We also have worked with the Franconian Open Air Museums in Bad Windsheim and Fladungen, both in Northern Bavaria, in putting our settlements together. These are widely recognized and published authoritative sources for such matters. In the case of the Green Meadows map, the parts that I suspect trouble you are based upon parts of Rothenburg ob der Tauber - one of Europe's most famous medieval cities, in the totally medieval part, within the city wall.

Don't misunderstand me. No nasties are intended here. We really like hearing from you folks. But on this point, I don't know what to say except that you're just plain wrong.

[Larb]

Slightly OT but do you have a link to a map of medieval Rothenburg ob der Tauber? I looked it up on google as I'm not familiar with it, I couldn't find a map of how it once looked but I did find lots of pictures and it looks like a really lovely and interesting place (I particularly like the walls).

[Mark Oliva]

I was astonished to discover that you're right. I did searches with German language key words that I hoped might turn up more, but I found exactly one genuine bird's eye medieval map of Rothenburg o.d.T., and it was way too small to be of any use or value whatsoever. There are lots of Rothenburg maps, but they all are modern. I'm surprised, because there are plenty of genuine medieval maps of Rothenburg on public display in the city, and one could and probably still can buy copies of them in the tourist shops. The material that I have from medieval Rothenburg maps is limited to digital photos of small sections of the maps that we use as prototypes. The only "complete and old" map I have of Rothenburg is the famous 17th century copper etched map by Matthäus Merian.

merian_rodt.jpg

Click the map to enlarge it. Unfortunately, it's not a bird's eye map, but it still might be interesting. Merian was a famous cartographer in the 17th century who did many of Europe's more important cities in this manner. He also did some bird's eye maps but not of Rothenburg o.d.T. One of the best is of old Dresden.

[Bogie]

Congrats on the 50th Map post Mark!

Would love to see the map at a higher resolution, about 3 MB size would be nice! I think the "noise" Robulous is referring to is just the graininess of the lower resolution.

Noticed you've been using some of my bridges and other items, great to see them being put to good use!

[Mark Oliva]

Would love to see the map at a higher resolution, about 3 MB size would be nice! I think the "noise" Robulous is referring to is just the graininess of the lower resolution.

That could be. I certainly could post the maps at a larger size, but I've never found an answer to the file size limits here. Therefore, I've been going at a width of 1360 Pixels. If someone can tell me what the max is, I certainly could send larger maps.

Noticed you've been using some of my bridges and other items, great to see them being put to good use!

Sure have. We use a lot of your work. The quality is excellent. When the books are issued, you'll also find yourself listed in the credits up front.

[Bogie]

The file size limit here is 4.77 MB for jpg's and Zip's.

[Robulous]

You're happy with your maps and that's fine, I'm just making some input as a geographer

I agree there are many kinds of village: linear or cross villages are clustered around main highways and intersections, radial villages are centred around a square or village green. My complaint is the way your village streets are laid out in very strict east-west grid pattern, even though your river doesn't flow strictly east-west. Streets in unplanned settlements tend to follow level ground according to contour lines. In a river valley it's unlikely you'd see a rectangular village, with grid-patterned plots. It's more likely they'd follow higher ground along the river, as is shown in the image you posted. A layout like this is a good example. You'll notice the road follows are contour line roughly parallel with the river.

Attachment 42432

[Mark Oliva]

Would love to see the map at a higher resolution, about 3 MB size would be nice!

I too discovered the 4.77 MB limit after posting. Here's a 4.35 MB version of the map. It still doesn't match the FM8 original, however.

greeanmeadows_3000.jpg

You're happy with your maps and that's fine, I'm just making some input as a geographer

Right. That's fine.

In a river valley it's unlikely you'd see a rectangular village, with grid-patterned plots. It's more likely they'd follow higher ground along the river, as is shown in the image you posted.

That's clearly a factor. There are many others in terms of the way villages developed in the old days. I've been to quite a number of villages in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Bohemia, Hungary and even Scotland that other factors that caused them to develop in manners different than you describe. After one has found a certain number of exceptions, it's hard to defend the contention that there's a rule. So ... I agree that your system is a logical one and one that I'm aware of in a number of towns that developed in just about the way you describe it. Did the majority develop that way? Maybe. I don't know. But if so, an impressive minority found good reasons to do things differently.