Completed Hermit Island By Johan (Immersion project)

[JohanKR850]

Hermit island
By Johan​

I got a kick ass idea for an immersion project here.


Inspiration:

Most of your nerds out there has like me probably seen the new Star Wars films or played/read The Witcher. Well did you know that south-west of Ireland an archipelago lays in the stormy sea. It’s called Skellige. A name you will recognise if you are familiar with The Witcher. And on this island Luke Skywalker was filmed hiding out in self isolation. That was the fun facts.

On this dramatic island lies an monastery from the 700s. It was first abandoned in the 1300s. It´s monk cells a fun beehive shaped house. They spent their mornings fishing and their evenings praying, living a super minimalistic life.

My hermits will also live a minimalistic life, there will be a chicken pen, but that’s all for livestock. They will have a few garden patches where they grove food and herbs. They also grow sourleaf. They sometimes sail to the mainland to assist in religious ceremonies. They trade sourleaf and medical assistance for what they need to live.





I will also take inspiration from /warp WHholdfast for terra and vegetation.


Plans:

The island lies here:



Island plans

• Is the settlement 4-5 monk cells 2-3 communal cells.
• Stonecircel.
• Sand beach with a couple of fishing boats.

Green is scattered trees.
Star is highest point on island.
Dotted lines are paths.



Tests:

See at /warp Johan

 

[lemonbear]

Since this is in the North, I'm assuming they'd worship the Old Gods? Maybe there should also be a weirwood tree on the isle?

 

[CashBanks]

Since this is in the North, I'm assuming they'd worship the Old Gods? Maybe there should also be a weirwood tree on the isle?

A massive and gnarled Weirwood would be awesome.

 

[Emoticone11]

I'm not actually sure if the heathlands/moors north of WH are actually the right inspiration to use for the terraforming. I'm not sure if that sort of biome would form on a small, salty island. I would be interested in seeing something more predominantly rocky and mossy though, like in the insp images that you linked.

 

[AerioOndos]

We don't know much about little sects within the worship of Old Gods other than some Wildling things and Durran Godsgrief's links with the divine. So they might not need a weirwood on the island. Also, they might journey to the mainland to visit Weirwoods in the Wolfswood (which should cover Seadragon Point and extend south into Amber lands.)
Also, the beehive-like buildings aren't just on Skellig Michael/St Michael's Rock (skellig means 'rock in the sea') and are called clochans and are particularly prevalent on the south west coast of Ireland. You could find more examples of them in different environments searching under that name if you are looking for more insp.

What could be interesting is using some other terrainsets to give a distinct moss like effect, particularly the type of stone around Hollard lands.
Would it be weird for the island to be green rather than the dull brown of the rest of the north? I've never seen an image of the Skelligs or Faroe Islands (which seem pretty similar) with anything other than green grass and never the dead brown appearance.

 

[CashBanks]

The green moss of Skellige might be more suited for somewhere like the Iron Islands? I'd be fine with the brownish moors grass for consistency with the rest of the North.

 

[JohanKR850]

Since this is in the North, I'm assuming they'd worship the Old Gods? Maybe there should also be a weirwood tree on the isle?

A massive and gnarled Weirwood would be awesome.

Might not have been clear enough but yes these a worshippers of the old gods. I think of them kind of like druids. I made a similar "hermit settlement" at /warp druidhill. And yes there is gonna be a weirwood, but i dont think ill make too big, since the island is very small. But ive thought to make it stand on a cliff where the erosion has carved out around it. And the tree will be totally windswept. That should be cool.

I'm not actually sure if the heathlands/moors north of WH are actually the right inspiration to use for the terraforming. I'm not sure if that sort of biome would form on a small, salty island. I would be interested in seeing something more predominantly rocky and mossy though, like in the insp images that you linked.

Im for sure going for super super rocky lands, thats more what i like. I just thought the vegetation at that warp would fit pretty well. If i take off a bit of the plant variation and make less (or no) places with 2 block high grass. And less flowers.

We don't know much about little sects within the worship of Old Gods other than some Wildling things and Durran Godsgrief's links with the divine. So they might not need a weirwood on the island. Also, they might journey to the mainland to visit Weirwoods in the Wolfswood (which should cover Seadragon Point and extend south into Amber lands.)
Also, the beehive-like buildings aren't just on Skellig Michael/St Michael's Rock (skellig means 'rock in the sea') and are called clochans and are particularly prevalent on the south west coast of Ireland. You could find more examples of them in different environments searching under that name if you are looking for more insp.

What could be interesting is using some other terrainsets to give a distinct moss like effect, particularly the type of stone around Hollard lands.
Would it be weird for the island to be green rather than the dull brown of the rest of the north? I've never seen an image of the Skelligs or Faroe Islands (which seem pretty similar) with anything other than green grass and never the dead brown appearance.

First of all. There is gonna be a weirwood.
Funny you should mention Faroe islands. I thought to make the west side of the island like the cliffs there, they are were dramatic. And sprinkle it with sea bird colonies. But it would be very weird if one small rock island was "green as summer grass" and the rest of the north looked like a Arizonan backyard.

 

[CashBanks]

Works for me, fine to approve and let you get started and we'll work out a sensible ground cover mix/biome with Emote and Lem when the time comes.

 

[Emoticone11]

I think Cash is right that the moss in the insp images would be out of place there, and would fit better on the II. Perhaps just tone down the healthland biome a bit, and perhaps try to have some green moss here and there to show the dampness.

 

[lemonbear]

Might be cool to have a small rocky area where seabirds roost on the island.

 

[Enah]

These beehives are good insp for the Quiet Isle's eventual redo...

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

Do more immersion projects Johan please, these are all lovely

 

[AerioOndos]

These beehives are good insp for the Quiet Isle's eventual redo...

The beehives are an Irish drystone construction and require a lot of flat, shingle-like bits of rock. River pebbles wouldn't do.
However, cornish iron age roundhouses, which had walls covered in a layer of earth and then had pebbles inset into the sides would work far better

 

[JohanKR850]

There was some talk of vegetation and biomes here with some people having ideas of how it should look. Now would be a good time, if we should work something out.

 

[JohanKR850]

This is a clip from the classic beacons of Rohan scene from Lord Of The Rings. I am lighting this scene up for two reasons. First, i noticed a small beehive house at the left, where the watchmen live!

Also this is a symbolic way of calling for aid.

Works for me, fine to approve and let you get started and we'll work out a sensible ground cover mix/biome with Emote and Lem when the time comes.

Im ready for this now. Im not in a hurry, but there was a lot of talk here on the thread regarding the vegetation and biomes, so input or ideas at this point would not hurt. Also there was talk of a moss block, in that texture thread. That might be very useful here, so maybe i should hold back a bit until/if that comes? But that could be a very very long time maybe.



Unfortunately the "Where was Gondor scene" with the Rohan king is too long for a gif, so i left that out

 

[JohanKR850]

It's finished now. To which ever mod goes about the approval i have two things i was in doubt of. First of the amount of bird nests and bird poo on the cliffs? There can be a lot in real life.

Spoiler: Bird poo

But it can look a little too messy with too much. I thought that collecting bird eggs could be a source of food, as it was for the islanders of St Kilda.
The second thing is if i should remove one of the huts, to make space for an additional veggie patch?

 

[JohanKR850]

Bump Cash

 

[IMajic]

It's finished now. To which ever mod goes about the approval i have two things i was in doubt of. First of the amount of bird nests and bird poo on the cliffs? There can be a lot in real life. But it can look a little too messy with too much. I thought that collecting bird eggs could be a source of food, as it was for the islanders of St Kilda.

______________
excrement of seabirds and bats Are a good source of manure.

'Bird Poo' is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium: key nutrients essential for plant growth.

So in fact the island dwellers would use much of the resource themselves in their farming practises. The excrement would be allowed to dry out collected and sprinkled back onto the soil.

hope this helps
thx maj

 

[CashBanks]

Hey Johan, sorry for just looking at this now
Definitely feel free to try out adding some more bird poo, "guano" as it was often called is indeed a great fertiliser, and these offshore rocky islands were sometimes sought after for it. You can try larger patches of the MotM pebbles, i've even some builds use muddy snow blocks for it.

Now that I see all of it together I am wondering if the bog block is the best one to go with to reflect the mossy stone. When it's on a slope you see quite a bit of the muddy sides which darkens the mix, and shows more mud than stone in some places.

Swapping the bog with cushion moss may be an alternative


Another pet peeve of mine is pebble layers on top of stone blocks on slopes, where you can see the sides of the terrrain set stone.


You can minimise this by replacing all stone blocks on a slope under pebble layers with their corresponding full pebble block
//replace [2029:3]&<[2250]&~[2250,2212][2][6] 2246:3 (swaps in full dry pebble blocks under dry pebble layers)
//replace [2029:3]&<[2212]&~[2250,2212][2][6] 2208:3 (same but wet pebbles)



Happy to explore some more options next time I see you in game.

 

[JohanKR850]

I did the thing with the pebbles.

I added more bird poo. And i even spruced things up with signs of them collecting it.
I couldn't find a good place to keep the poo so i just put it in a cave on the north side of the island.



I see what you mean about the bog block, but on the other hand there aren't really a good alternative.
I tried the moss block but it looks insanely bright, im not sure it really works. The contrasts are off the charts.
If the moss blocks was a few shades darker it would be perfect. But currently it's hard call to make.