Castle Black - Update Thread

[CashBanks]

Dark Greetings.
To cap off the Wall Server Build I'll be looking to apply the pro forma updates to Castle Black that we've made to the other castles.

CB was one of our earliest completed castles, so aside from adding the new blocks/cycler options, there's also the chance a piece of canon or two were missed.

Ric's previously spotted the Wall tunnel could use a few more features like extra gates and murder holes.

If anyone else had thoughts on areas to improve, would be great if they were noted here.

I've barely begun to take a proper look myself, but my initial thoughts would be:
- Adding more walls/ruins/small outlying structures outside the current castle footprint.
- Expanding the lichyard, make it less of a square box, more sprawling and adding the ancient tombs mentioned ADoD.

 

[AerioOndos]

I'd spread the lichyard SE a bit more with the oldest part being lots of barrows and maybe a few stone ships. These could then blend into the natural hills to give the effect of the lichyard's oldest tombs being lost into the natural landscape

 

[CashBanks]

buh-buh-buh bump.

To hold up my end of the server build bargain I've started exploring update ideas for Castle Black at /warp cbupdate

As with the other Wall castle updates, I'm not going to go down the road of a full redo, aim is to just address any canon concerns and update with new resource pack blocks. Fine for it to be turfed if a full redo is commissioned down the road.

I've dug up the original canon doc NickShaib assembled ~2013 to cover the new canon from ADWD.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HdT20_g_qHESjqSxWf0EvofNmbjrvL7jU7L6ZlNnmR0/edit

From what I can tell, Fire & Blood and AWOIAF didn't add much by way of new canon descriptions beyond what we already knew. So Nick's plans still sound overall fine.

General notes
- The salt and pepper stone mix needs to be improved, with a smooth consistent gradient.

- Small stone brick to be swapped to small dark grey brick
- Old style bark fence windows swapped out, possibly stacked diagonal covers or wooden frames.
- Brick arrow slits swapped out for windows.
- Add some more greenery, snowy spruce shrubbery, snowy thatch
- Tidy up the mix of spruce and jungle planks, integrate dark/grey/white planks and remove the overused log blocks

- Some more low lying storage/animal sheds around the sides to spread out the castle's footprint. Could also add some walled yards, more ruins.

- The level of snow cover on the roofs is a bit all over the place. e.g.

Ideally anything below ~45 degrees should be covered in snow layers and then steeper angles decreasing in cover from there. I do like the white/grey/dark northern mix at Shadowtower, see below - it's just a shame we don't have a snowy rooftile equivalent.


Will post specific notes on the canon areas next.

 

[CashBanks]

Canon Locations
The Lance Tower
The tallest tower in Castle Black, it is stated to be a third the size of the Wall. A long and thin tower, it is said to be crumbling, in a state of semi-disrepair. Jon states to Tyrion that most of the towers are abandoned and Nick wanted to have this as a semi-abandoned tower.


- Overall it looks fine.
- Could add some wider stone foundations.
- The roof needs some snow cover

King's Tower
The second tallest tower in Castle Black, it stands 100 feet tall with merlons atop it, overlooking the gate and the wooden stair leading up the Wall. The entry door is made of oak studded with iron.

- Also looks ok, needs some snow on roof and wider foundations

Lord Commander’s Tower:
Also known as the “Lord Commander’s Keep, this is where the Lord Commander’s quarters are kept, as well as those of his personal steward’s. It's top levels were burnt down during Jon Snow’s fight against a wight attempting to kill the Lord Commander.

- Looking good but the fire damage could be improved with new blocks. The fire happened pretty recently in terms of our server timeline so the damage should look fresh.

Silent Tower/Rookery:
There is no information given on the Silent Tower. Nick incorporated the Rookery into this tower with the Maesters' Quarters beneath.

- This tower looks a little weird. The roof design is bordering on Old Kayce era building style in shape and there's snow on the steep part but not on the flat part. I'd want to swap the roof out for a better design.
- Nick mentioned he wanted the top levels to be wood for better insulation for the ravens. I can kind of get behind this but I'm leaning towards cutting the plaster/timber and swapping in for planks.

Hardin’s Tower:
Hardin’s Tower is an old tower with a severe lean and crumbling battlements, one of which is entirely broken off, the rubble is scattered on the ground.

- The lean could be improved
- The top level has a stone floor with no arches or other support. Would either swap this to wood or otherwise add a central stone support column.
- Pile the collapsed stone at the base better.

Tower of the Guards:
The Tower of the Guards has no information except that it guards the wooden stairs leading up the Wall. Nick designed it to be a rather boring tower, squat and square. Potentially guard posts up the top, some barracks, semi abandoned due to lack of troops, and some storage.

- The top level needs work, removing the bulky logs.
- The sides are fairly plain, some more Norman keep style cosmetic elements could be added to the exteriors.

Mystery Tower
I'm not sure if this tower has a canon label.

- It's a little ornate but looks ok.
- The thin spruce log need to be removed from the roof and some more snow added.

 

[CashBanks]

Other buildings

The Common Hall:
A great timbered wooden keep, crows nest up in the rafters and the posts are meant to be stained black with soot.


- The overall design seems good, but the wooden planks and logs are a bit hectic and could be tidied up.
- Would swap out the dirt floors for either cobble or planks

The Shield Hall
One of the older parts of Castle Black, a long drafty hall made of dark stone, it’s oaken rafters black from the smoke of centuries. As a dining hall, it left much to be desired - it was dark, dirty, drafty and hard to heat in winter, it’s cellars infested with rats, it’s massive wooden rafters worm eaten and festooned with cobwebs.


- Since it's described a "stone" hall I would swap out the wood from the east/west sides for brick.
- I'm not a fan of how you can see the backs of the snow blocks from inside. Would fix that up and plug up most of the gaps in the rafters to make it more snow proof.
- Add dark northern wood for the smoke blackened rafters
- I would also raise the whole building up a block or two to give it a little more profile/stature.
- Could add some banner blocks in to represent the shields which are supposed to adorn the walls.

The Barracks and Armory

- Seems generally fine but the planks and logs need to be toned town.

Forge and Blacksmith
The Forge is sandwiched in between the towers and armory

- The building's a little squished in and lost in the mess of connected walkways and buildings but can probably live with this.
- I think we could expand out the cellars beneath the building for more materials storage.

Barracks/East Stables
East stables are mentioned where the rest of the horses are kept once Jon brings Ghost to the Wall.

- I think we could shift these stables south about ~10 blocks, this would open up the void between it and the Forge and make a nice smithy courtyard, with external access down to the expanded blacksmith cellars.
- The stables design is also potentially a little vanilla, if somebody wanted to out a refreshed design I'd be open to it.

Sept
Castle Black has no Godswood but it does have a single small sept with a drunken septon.


- The roof needs some work and the the interior is a bit hectic with log blocks.

Lichyard
Supposed to be a standard graveyard, but there has to be room for some tombs that Borroq the shapeshifter sleeps in with his pet boar.

- I'm not a fan of the square layout, it should be amorphous and sprawling with more large tombs and barrows nearby.
- needs some shrubbery, potentially some trees.

 

[CashBanks]

Wall Tunnel
The gate guards the tunnel through the Wall, which is long, twisting and narrow. Three iron gates block the inner passage. Each of these gates is locked and has a murder hole above it. The outer door to the tunnel is solid oak, about nine inches thick.

- Our tunnel is missing a bit of canon details. We should add the extra gates through the passage, along with the murder holes above them.
- We should also decide if we want to swap out the portcullis for hinged gates.

Elevator and Switchback Stairs
The great switchback stair climbs its way up from Castle Black to the top of the Wall. It is made of wooden stairs, anchored by huge beams frozen into the Wall itself.
An iron cage attached to a winch is used to ascend and descend the face of the Wall. The cage can hold ten men. Supplies and barrels of gravel can be transported to the top via the cage.

- A while back we opted to use the tv show version of the elevator. I think the design does it's best to marry up to the long incline of the Wall, it's not perfect but does the job. Some jungle logs could be swapped into the frame for variety.
- The stairs are fine but could use some more snow cover and could be swapped to white/grey/dark northern wood to show snow dusting.

Top of the Wall
The top of the Wall is dug out in a trench-like manner to give protection from the weather. Several outlets and wooden pillboxes allow archers to fire on enemies below. A special pulley system allows archers to hang over the edge of the Wall to fire straight down on enemies attempting to climb it. Other defenses include wooden ramps for dropping stone, ice, and barrels of burning oil on attackers. The top of the wall is studded with catapults, cranes, and trebuchets, but they are immobile. Additionally, some catapults and trebuchets have been dismantled for repair and never reassembled after being frozen in ice. Castle Black has a warming shed at the top.

- We've used the show as our inspiration here again but is overall looking good.
- I'd update for it to match Eastwatch/Shadowtower. Pebbles along the paths, white/grey wood.

 

[inactive]

Rookery

Nick mentioned he wanted the top levels to be wood for better insulation for the ravens. I can kind of get behind this but I'm leaning towards cutting the plaster/timber and swapping in for planks.

Think thick stone walls are better than timber is (ik the thickness of the blocks is the same in Minecraft, but still).

Hardin's Tower

The top level has a stone floor with no arches or other support. Would either swap this to wood or otherwise add a central stone support column.

An actual stone vault would make sense + probs look better.

I think we should probs have a copse of trees as well near CB that's managed for firewood, probs near the lychyard. We should probs clear away some of the other trees on both sides of the wall as well since we know the Watch used to clear away sections of woodland that got too close to the wall, but they only still do this around the three castles left nowadays.

 

[CashBanks]

In snow-kissed silence, Castle Black stands with might,
Its battlements etched against the night.
Guardian of realms, against shadows creep.
Evil retreats, silenced by this icy keep.

Castle Black Update



Canon Issues?
- Tunnel through the wall needs to have three iron gates block the inner passage. Each of these gates is locked and has a murder hole above it. The outer door to the tunnel is solid oak, about nine inches thick.
- The top two levels of the Lord Commander's tower were "gutted by fire" during GoT. I think our current version took this damage too far, with basically the roof and levels below completely destroyed. Given that in the book, Jon notes that the builders aren't too bothered by the actual extent of the damage, this leads me to think the roof itself is till in take, with just the interiors burnt. I've repaired the original design of the roof and Ric's assisted with detailing the fire damage.

- The Shield Hall is said to made of stone, so I've swapped out the wooden planks on the east/west sides. The hall also needs to be large enough to accommodate all the brothers when the Common Hall is burnt down in the wildling attack, so have expanded it out for more tables. Have also added a lot more shields.


Structural improvements
- Have fixed the roof of the Maester's tower

- The Guard's Tower seemed to have been modelled on the tv show castle black, the top level was empty and filled with logs. I've redesigned it to better match Ted Nasmith's illustration.
- I've added more outlying structures to expand the footprint and show some more signs of habitation. A garage/workshop for the Watch's various wagons, some more storage and animal barns, low walls and ruins.

- The lichyard has been expanded out to be more sprawling, give the wildlings more tombs to sleep in.








Cosmetic Improvements
Suggest:
- Adding more signs of wear/tear and ruin to the structures.
- Adding more snow to the rooms exposed to the elements
- Swapping out the exterior wattle/daub for planks.
- Swapping out the dirt/gravel floors for stone/pebbles
- adding snow on top of exposed blocks.
- added some more trees/bushes
- replaced the spruce bark fence windows with angled covers.
- adding some white wood variation to the rooves and Wall stairs.
- adding the white wood where adjacent to snow.
- tidying up the gradient with northern cobble variants.
- added grass/vegetation
- incorporating MotM pebbles as a gradient between snow and northern pebble.

There's still some more interiors that need to be fixed up. Pitching to paste this updated version into the full map for Rookery photos and making the last updates in situ.