Completed Project Application: Duskendale

[Veggie]

I've opened up the next lot of houses. Again, please do stay within the white glass border!

This area is different insofar as it's the solidly 'working class' area. It's not actively disgusting, not actively lavish, these are the people just getting by. They don't live in squalor, but they're certainly not comfortable. The houses should reflect this.

There are a number of WIP's in the sections that we've constructed most the plots in-- this isn't an issue I'm just marking them for my own record.

Thanks to those who have been leaving constructive feedback, either for me or the builder of any given plot.

Be sure to build next to existing plots, where possible.

Allons-y!

Veg

 

[Wazgamer]

Allons-y? DOCTOR?!

 

[Nuggets - Shygirlstan]

What happened to the guildhall and the main square?

 

[Thamus_Knoward]

Just read that bit of canon which has Brienne see a brightly painted double door opposite to the seven sword inn. So I got inspired to make this:

Optionally more saturation:

This is the motif on the door:

The captain's sister was not hard to find. The Seven Swords was the largest inn in town, a four-story structure that towered over its neighbors, and the double doors on the house across the way were painted gorgeously. They showed a castle in an autumn wood, the trees done up in shades of gold and russet. Ivy crawled up the trunks of ancient oaks, and even the acorns had been done with loving care. When Brienne peered more closely, she saw creatures in the foliage: a sly red fox, two sparrows on a branch, and behind those leaves the shadow of a boar.

 

[Veggie]

Gosh, that's lovely.

 

[Enah]

Motif*

 

[Thamus_Knoward]

Felt cute, might delete later

"She thanked the painter and crossed the cobblestones to the inn. Above its door, seven wooden swords swung beneath an iron spike. The whitewash that covered them was cracked and peeling, but Brienne knew their meaning. They stood for the seven sons of Darklyn who had worn the white cloaks of the Kingsguard. No other house in all the realm could claim as many. They were the glory of their House. And now they are a sign above an inn. She pushed into the common room and asked the innkeep for a room and a bath."

I think the iron spike can easily be done with an iron slab / stair

 

[Veggie]

I have opened more plots this evening, directly surrounding the sept.

I've also refreshed the /warp duskendale zone with some of my concerns, and how I propose to fix them. Please do take the time out to read these signs if you plan on building in Duskendale! Don't view this as me moaning about the quality of the build so far-- generally I think it has been really high, but for various reasons such as the style developing and leaving a few older houses looking out of place, or people misinterpreting plotting shapes there are some houses which aren't up to par.

The most important thing is that I've marked what I consider 'exemplar' houses/buildings in the project so far with a pillar of “special” blocks. You should be seeking to emulate these structures-- they each do something unique. I do fear we are sliding into cookie-cutter daub fronted houses, which I don't want at all.

Once these plots are done, there will be a lull in opening any others due to having to go through and quality control a number of houses in already built sections.




In lighter news, I'm now looking for tests for the Seven Swords Inn-- familiarise yourself with the canon and let me see your tests. My only encouragement is that it be in the Dun Palette. Furthermore, canon states the inn is four storeys and towers over the other buildings. As such please ensure these four floors are generous in their height.

I'm also looking for tests for a couple of guild halls. Duskendale was big enough for Lord Darklyn to feel he had a legitimate claim on a charter for autonomy, so I feel these make sense. A few which come to mind that I think would be fitting is a guild of fishermen, grocers, and shipwrights. If you have any further ideas, I am open to suggestions.


A couple of shoutouts to some MVP's-- Ammika and Kulmen have continued to be stalwart rocks for me in being soundboards for my more 'out there' ideas and actually refining them into something good. WRMY and & Wolf are making great progress on the Dun Fort. Thanks to darkavenger for his help at the gatehouse, and being willing to challenge me on things which I'd overlooked. Thanks to Luk for his work on an area of the dock fronts. Thanks to Thamus for his excellent gatehouse ominously looming over the other riverbank. Thanks to Xeson for furnishing some tricky buildings!

Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, I look forward to coming home each day and seeing the progress we are making together-- may it continue!

 

[Veggie]

Time for another update!

Together we've at least started each plot on the south side of the river of Duskendale! I have begun quality controlling some of the long finished plots-- so don't be too annoyed if something changes slightly now I can view an area as a completed whole rather than just individual plots!

I'm looking for tests for the following;

"The Maidenpool Gate" -- The main gate on the north side of the walls, Maidenpool is highlighted alongside Duskendale as a major trade hub before the founding of King's Landing, so that's my logic there. This gate should feel appropriate next to the others, but be unique too! Am willing to consider anything.

"The Darke Manse" -- This fancy manse will sit along the north wall, happy to consider anything. If you'd rather just do a facade test, and test for a single interior room then that's fine with me.

Progress appears to have stalled over the last week, but this is solely down to having to comb through some problem areas and fixing things up. Thanks for your understanding and patience!


@WhereRmyDragons is soldiering on with the Dunfort whilst I've started plotting. If you'd like to lend a hand with plotting, or work together on something specific, let me know in game. Also, please be sure to prod Dragons if he's doing something other than building the Dunfort

 

[Veggie]

Now I have cut back the horrors of the intitial world painter'd forests, I've realised I have more lands to work with!


I feel it'd be appropriate to plot some holdfast mini-projects for the number of named houses which claim descendance from the Darklyn's of old. Whilst I recognise that there is a character that Brienne meets who is a lowly innkeep, I assume that there'd be a head of the house that claims the actual house title, and might hold some small lands somewhere.

Firstly, I'm going to swap out the 'Darke' manse for a manse for the Dargoods. House Darke had Jonquil who was a badass female warrior nicknamed The Scarlet Shadow. I feel they should receive one of the holdfasts in the lands.

The proposed houses are;

Rykker (They're currently the Lords of Duskendale, but I assume they were once a minor house in the local vicinity to be elevated to Lords of this major town, maybe a second son now owns this?) -- A tower house and some serfs, roughly the size of the current Haigh tower house? Codd doing this

Darke -- I planned to have them represented via a manse in the town, but feel they should be attached to one of the holdfasts. I'm doing this with Ammika

Dargood -- They'll get swapped in for the Darke manse in town.

Darkwood -- Again, another named 'house' which could have held some lands in the area. You MUST be a competent enough terraformer to create the forests surrounding Darkwood.

Leek -- There's no warp for this, but a Rufus Leek is left in charge of the Dun Fort in the absence of the lord, it'd be good to get them some rep in the lands too. Ammika has begun progress on Leek

These minor holdfasts I feel would go some way in furthering that notion of Duskendale once being a town bloated on wealth, but has long since had its glory days. Once holdfasts and towerhouses from which valiant knights fought for the patronage of the Darklyn's of old, they're now a little tired and dilapidated.

I'd be interested in allowing those interested to pick appropriate locations for these holdfasts. I am mindful that we have a lot of new builders finishing their probations who are chomping at the bit to get a project under their belts. I'm on a lot and have the time to closely mentor anyone interested. This isn't to say I'm winging it, I have locations in mind such as the 'rocky headland' to the south, as well as the vast swathe of empty land betwen Hollard and Thorne.

I've ran this by @Arkilstorm and he's on board with this in principle, but I would feel comfortable with another mod to approve this-- considering it wasn't in the initital app (the reason being that I didn't think I had much land to work with)

- Veg

 

[Wazgamer]

Sounds really good, make sure to make the surrounding lands nice and immersive. Otherwise I approve.

 

[Veggie]

New plots on the north side of the river!

Things are starting to get fancier now-- not too nice though!

Look around or ask me if you need any guidance.

 

[JEHINC]

Everything is looking great so far.

 

[Veggie]

Thanks Jehinc! Really pleased with the progress thus far!

There are some areas available to test at the Dunfort, be sure to talk to @WhereRmyDragons for guidance.

 

[SeapunkPeaches]

Taking over the approval from Waz

 

[Rakdar]

I am very happy and very excited to see that the Duskendale build has started, and rather wonderfully so. It's a shame I'm two months late into the party, but, hey, that's what my former thread was for. I've checked out the Duskendale build and the linked project (thank you for referring to my research, it's good to know it was useful) and while I would have made some things differently, I understand there are creative differences. Still, I'm really liking it and I congratulate everyone who had or will have a part in this.

I took the liberty to take some notes while exploring, for further suggestions and feedback.

• I love the general atmosphere of Duskendale and I believe you have nailed the ancient and shadowy quality of the city. The only thing I would change is the Sept. It stands out as too ordinary at the moment and feels out of place due to the lightness of the building and its relative simplicity (to my eyes). I think it could use more detail and some more sharpness, if you understand what I mean. Duskendale was the largest Westerosi port on the Narrow Sea, its main sept should be larger and more luxurious. I found this picture while idly browsing the Internet a while ago and really liked it:

• Of course, I understand this is way too large and a bit too grandiose for the style you are going with and the general style of the server, but I do believe it could provide some inspiration if you are willing to take a second look at the sept, as well as more inspiration for city architecture in general. It looks appropriately dark-lyn hehe. That said, I loved the addition of the hospital behind the Sept. It is very unique.

• I definitely agree with the people advocating for a weirwood. The Darklyns were First Men kings and fought the Andals. We have no notice of them being defeated by Andals, they fended them off quite well (e.g. Bar Emmon). I disagree with the notion that the Rykkers would have cut it down. Aside from Rykker sounding very much like a First Men name, it's out of place for the period and against their own interests of legitimizing their rule of Duskendale with the townsfolk. If it were up to me I would have made the godswood larger, but I understand Minecraft size constraints, having struggled with it myself while trying to design the Dun Fort before. Perhaps the godswood could be extended to cover the ground where the pleasure barge is, as the castle already has another postern facing the bay. No need for there to be two.

• I like how you made the Dun Keep massive, larger than the Rosby and Stokeworth keeps. However, I would suggest making the drum towers along the curtain wall larger too. Brienne notices that they are big and can be seen from across the city. That description doesn't match the current execution IMHO, which doesn't look very impressive.

• I very much like that you decided to add a Great Hall after all, and that you even went for a Gothic-ish style. For further immersion, I would suggest replacing the stag's head on the wall with the image of a Seven-Pointed Star. Something akin to this. I gave my reasoning in the other thread.

• When designing the Steward's Tower, consider that it likely was a permanent Hollard apartment, if the Hollards served as hereditary stewards. It could include rooms and space for housing the Hollard household at Duskendale, sort of like a mini-Tower of the Hand.

• At last, but not least, there is something I would like to suggest that I hadn't thought of a few months ago while the former thread was active: an ossuary.

• When designing the Darklyn crypt, I would like you to consider to design it as an ossuary as well. As far as I know, ossuaries aren't depicted anywhere else in the server, so it would be a unique, interesting and immersive feature to this build. My reasoning is that it is 1) creepy (so goes very well with the greater Duskendale imagery) and 2) it fits the Darklyn ideology which we can guess at from the source material. Given the immense number of cadet branches in Duskendale, it is likely that the Darklyn monarchy partially justified itself based on familial and patriarchal rule, as in you are my subjects because I'm the head of our larger family. If Darklyn subjects were their kin too, it stands to reason that they would have a closer relationship with their servants, especially considering that they were an urban monarchy rather than the usual feudal land-based one. This could be translated into their burial arrangements. I'm thinking something akin to the Hall of Heroes of Casterly Rock here: only, instead of only the heroes, all of the Darklyn servants who served and lived at the Dun Fort are buried in the crypt together with the lordly Darklyns, but the latter get actual graves while the former become wall decoration. What do you think?

Finally, over the past few months I've built a Pinterest board with images for Duskendale inspiration, which may be to your interest. Feel free to explore: https://pin.it/zg2iposcoos2qy

Overall, I'm very happy that I've been able to contribute to my favorite build in the server that makes Martin's world come to life. I would love to continue collaborating the best way I can and I look forward to seeing the build completed in the future. Cheers!

 

[Veggie]

I was looking forward to you having a look around Duskendale, and hearing what you thought!

Thanks again for feeding back-- your passion for the houses which have occupied Duskendale and its Dun Fort is incredible.

I'll try and briefly respond to some of the points you make;

The sept -- The logic with the sept is that it's an ancient structure. As such it's incredibly 'simplistic' (as you point out) and somewhat sparse. It hints at the once great wealth of the Darklyns. Romanesque architecture is effective in setting the sept apart from the surrounding structures, and encourages ideas of an aged/ancient structure.
The image you posted walks a line between late gothic and straight up fantasy-- but is a cool image nonetheless.

The furnishings of the Dun Fort will be spartan, and austere. I'm not eager to add ornate seven pointed star designs, but am grateful for the suggestion. I do think the interpretation of the canon depends on the person, and that to my eyes the drum towers are plenty big enough. The smaller ones of the surrounding baileys are at least 13 blocks wide, whereas the corners of the primary keep are even bigger.

I love the idea of the Hollards having permanent apartments, and will be following up on that suggestion.

I do think there is a danger of some of the points raised being based on a foundational "head canon" rather than book canon. The idea of Duskendale as a "shadowy" town-- its Dun Fort being a dark palette, the talk of "shadow" kings, and essentially The Witcher’s Nilfgaard-- all very cool, but ultimately extrapolation from head canon.

V

 

[Rakdar]

Thanks for the quick answer! Happy to help with anything else.

I do think there is a danger of some of the points raised being based on a foundational "head canon" rather than book canon. The idea of Duskendale as a "shadowy" town-- its Dun Fort being a dark palette, the talk of "shadow" kings, and essentially The Witcher’s Nilfgaard-- all very cool, but ultimately extrapolation from head canon.

I do agree that there is danger in headcanon, but there is a significant difference between headcanon by rule of cool and speculative knowledge based on actual canon. After all, I only mention these terms extrapolating from GRRM’s own writings. He is the one who constantly employs that sort of language to describe the region and the people. Darklyn, Duskendale, the conscious choice to name Jonquil Darke the Scarlet Shadow, the black/yellow heraldry evoking day and night. If GRRM is giving us hints, I simply believe we should follow them in the characterization of a house and region, especially if it makes it more unique when compared to others. Fundamentally I think we agree on extrapolation from the source material, we only have different interpretations as to how far to take it.

 

[Enah]

Or, let's not put words in GRRM's mouth

 

[Rakdar]

Or, let's not put words in GRRM's mouth

I’m not, I’m quoting his text.