Flea Bottom Planning and General Style Discussion

[RavishMeRed]

Hello Everyone!
Putting together a list of canon areas and notable locations for the Flea Bottom Area. This said area is only subjected to the East side of Rhaenys's Hill between the Street of Flour and the great road from Iron Gate to Dragonsquare (This would not include Pigsrun Alley and the Livestock Market). This is what I have at the moment. I'm not sure if my list is truly complete as the ASOIAF wiki page for Flea Bottom is slim as is.

• Road starting from Street of Silk runs through Flea Bottom and up Aegon's High Hill
• Gin Alley, also featuring Karl Tanner's House
• Sept of the Stranger

Asking if I am missing anything. Any old and new canon about the area would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, RavishMeRed

 

[Alec_Sander]

I think a very important aspect of flea bottom "reeking of poverty" needs to be the street floors and pathways which should be covered in mud, dirt blocks and thatch, to show that the streets literally flow with shit. I also think the plotting needs to be super chaotic as well to add to the slum vibe and maze likeness.

 

[RavishMeRed]

Hello everyone!

Submitting a test for the hill section of the Flea Bottom area. Flea Bottom is situated on the eastern side of Rhaeny's Hill (because of our KL orientation it is actually the south side) and features an average of 20 block height difference from the Main Way to the retaining wall on the opposite side increasing in height the closer to the Street of Sisters one goes.

This proposes a unique challenge in plotting because of terrain, but I have created a test featuring ways to improve and avoid any weird dips and drops in street levels that could otherwise be avoided. See here.

Step 1.
Assess the terra and pinpoint the best sections to feature long linear roads that creep up the slope. Connect the linear/parallel paths using the contour of the terra to your advantage. Alter the pathways to create twisting and winding sections only where necessary and trying to avoid any 45 degree roads.

Step 2.
Next is plotting, plots will and should follow the roads curve and shape. This means creating different degree houses. Flea Bottom is densely populated. There is no reason for spaces between houses and street that could otherwise be used for buildings. By avoiding 45 degree roads, it allows for easier building. 45 degree building can be used but very sparsely.

Step 3.
Finally, building. Houses in the hilled section should be relatively the same height to allow a visible roof incline as the houses progress up the hill. Houses should have overhangs facing inwards towards the street to make it feel closed off and claustrophobic.

Screenshots can be seen below. This test is for plotting in the dense Flea Bottom area and not strictly pallets and style. As always, /warp Ravish to see test in game.

https://imgur.com/a/dmz9rNP

This concludes the test for the hilled section. Looking forward to continuing.

Thanks, RavishMeRed.

 

[RavishMeRed]

Bumping this for Mod feedback. This is an open discussion thread to share ideas. Feedback does not have to be strictly negative, only looking for thoughts and feelings of the test that would allow a progression forward.

 

[AerioOndos]

It looks good to me, your plans look good to me and quite rational. I am a fan of your tests and can't wait to see how this turns out

 

[Emoticone11]

Finally got a chance to look at this in a bit more detail. Overall it seems like you managed plotting on the hill pretty well; feels a lot less messy than current flea bottom (in a good way). Here's some thoughts/feedback:

- I'd probably make the houses lower on the hill a bit taller than they are currently, so that if you're standing at the top of the hill and looking back horizontally, your gaze falls below the rooflines rather than at the same level. It should feel like you're descending into the densest and most stifling part of flea bottom as you walk down the hills. On the other hand, walking uphill, you should feel it "open up" a bit and actually have some glimpses of clear sky (you don't want to make the houses towards the top of the hill too tall, or it'll detract from the street of flour above). Currently it feels like the houses are a bit too same-sey between the top and bottom.

- You don't always need to follow the "natural" contour of the hill like this; the natural hillside probably would have been fairly excavated over the ages for various reasons. So there's a lot of opportunity for adding cellar/undercity connections, interesting level changes, etc. Along those lines, you can also have some manmade stairs in some areas just for diversity.

- As a minor stylistic note, I'd probably reduce the amount of vertical wood planks used in flea bottom; the sheen on the texture makes them feel a bit too "polished" for that style.