Approved Project Application: House Boggs by _Simbaa

_Simbaa

Printmaker
Project Application: House Boggs
by _Simbaa

special thanks to: Alex for providing me with a gradient
Steineke


While I have been testing for Southshield for the past couple of months I have decided ultimately to apply for Boggs, as I had a castle on my plot that I wanted to find a place for. Which turned out to be Boggs. This however does not mean I having given up on my Southshield tests, I will continue working on them as a side project of mine and apply for it once Boggs is finished. The reason behind this was, that I couldnt find a style for Southshield houses that I would be happy with and few other minor issues. This does not however mean that I will in any way try to rush Boggs. I will try to deliver it in a high quality.

Resumé:
Wendwater
Chyttering
Westbrook
Ashwood
(a whole bunch of minis )

Canon:
We do not know much about the House apart from its members being on the Targaryen side at Battle of the Trident, and one of its Members attending Whitewalls Tourney. However what we do know is its location: Crackclaw Point. A peninsula in northern crowlands full of cavernous hills, bogs, pine barrens thick with deciduous trees. Its history is quite simple, the majority of the population is descended from the First Men who successfully defended their lands from the Andals, whom eventually intermarried with them and supposedly converted them to the Faith of the Seven. Until the arrival of Aegon, Cracklaw was largely independent area, with many outside kings trying to impose their dominion over it, All of which were unsuccessful due to the treacherous lands of the point. When not fighting outsiders, infighting was frequent between the houses of Cracklaw Point with peace not outlasting more than a lifetime. After the destruction of Harrenhall however, all the houses choose to pledge themselves to the Targaryens and became their direct vassals - becoming fierce loyalists.

Lands of house Boggs:
For the lands I have decided to stick to mostly what Steineke has planned out with few minor changes, such as relocating the castle, and having less rivers vanishing and reappearing under the mountains. Furthermore I have moved a few hamlets & points of interests around. I do not plan for any larger settlements - especially due to the canon which states that the northern coast of cracklaw has a denser population.
s35VEYg.png


House and Castle Tests:
Firstly all of my Tests can be found at /warp simba ground floor of my test plot. Here is the link to the image album:
As you can see the castle is quite large, however I do not think this will be a problem as the lands of house Boggs are vast and should be big enough to support such stronghold, furthermore given the canon of frequent invasions & infighting at Cracklaw Point I think that a well fortified stronghold will not be out of place. I will however make some parts of the castle in slight disrepair to fit the overall bleak mood of Cracklaw point and given the fact that they were loyalists in the Roberts rebellion, their social status has most-likely decreased. ( look at Darry for example ) Thus it should be reflected in the project aswell.
For the houses I will mostly be going for simple wooden style with thatch rooves. In some places - especially those in the mountain valleys stone will be included in their pallete to some degree. There will be no higher class as the entire region will be very decentralized, rural and feudal. Anything bigger will be considered a special build and will be treated so.

Terraforming:
All of the terraforming will be done by Me. From my previous exploration Steineke did an amazing job at it, so most of it will involve finishing what he started with some updates to the coastline, mountains and such, all of which given my experience I should be more than capable to handle by myself.

Inspiration:
landscape-tree-water-nature-forest-marsh-995582-pxhere.com-1.jpg

67932d1017fc0cf0d23da965dc68fc6d.jpg
994f74e7c67a629f836a83d4b1b0d0c9.jpg


Thats all!
 
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SeapunkPeaches

Cersei's Left Bob
Hey Simbaa,

I really like the app and I'm satisfied with your tests, especially the house style. I think the castle could use more defensive features instead of all the roofed buildings, so definitely think about it. I'm confident you'll do a good job with the terra, so I'm glad you're taking up this project. Therefore, I'll just as gladly approve it :).

Make sure to relocate all of Stein's pretty tests floating around, maybe even to his plot if there is enough space.

Good luck!
 
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_Simbaa

Printmaker
Thanks for the approve, the roofed part of the castle will be on a steep cliff, overlooking a small stream! I will make sure to relocate his tests, now worries!
 
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Luk

Gullible
Staff member
Pronouns
he/him
Hey Hey!

I love your castle test and the houses will fit nicely. Excited for the terrain too :)


you got my approval.
 
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_Simbaa

Printmaker
After long time of c/p the castle at certain locations I have decided to move it about 500ish blocks eastwards from its proposed location to /warp boggalt (paste location is marked with a small target). This is mostly due to the fact that the a larger hill will make it easier to scale the terrain to right size, and given the fact that I do not have to worry about any streams & underground features nearby, I wont be needing to adjust the terrain as drastically as I would need otherwise.
 

AerioOndos

Donkey Lord
Staff member
Pronouns
they/them
Is the placement on the spine of the Cracklaw mountain/hill range that goes down its spine? I'm not too keen on that if that's the case as it would be distinctly visible from the northern side.
Also, Cracklaw was unconquered mostly because of its terrain, rather than its castles and fortifications. The wetlands and bogs and the repetitive nature of the wet environment, combined with the invaders poor knowledge of it, was a greater force multiplier than any stone wall for the defenders.

Personally, I think that a larger structure like your current castle belongs in the point between the Reach, Stormlands and Dorne (Sloane to Nightsong) in contested space between all three kingdoms, rather than the 'wild' part of the crownlands.

If the closer bailey of the castle was removed, (judging by the image) that might suit the area better?
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
To address your concerns Aek:
1. yes it is placed on the hill range that goes down its spine - infact on the highest point according to our dynmap. However, me and luk did some sighseeing tests and you cannot see the castle from the northern coast unless your standing on top of one of the mountains.
2. While it was unconquered by outside force - it was hardly a peaceful area - it was a subject to serious infighting between the houses of Cracklaw point - thus the fortifications, furthermore I wouldnt call it a larger castle - id say its quite average, maybe bit above. Furthermore I think that Boggs lands are large enough to be able to contain its size just fine.
 
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_Simbaa

Printmaker
Update - I have finished plotting my first village! at /warp boggs1, and started working on the cliffy area of Boggs, the castle has been successfully pasted in and awaits block coloring update.
Things brings me to the point of my neighboring project that none has applied for yet - Brownhollow which I would like to annex for various reasons mentioned below.
1. its a very small area, around 600 blocks W-E, 500 N-S (200 is taken up by mountains) and ends on its eastern side with a mountain range pointing towards to southern coast of Crackclaw - thus creating a natural end to southern coast of Boggs.
2. Given its size such project would be able to hardly support more than a hamlet or two, something, that could be increased by blending it in with Boggs area - assuring a smooth transition and giving it bit more breathing room for other aspects, such as industry or a specific resource production
3. Terraforming - as stated above it naturally blends into the Boggs land and finishes/isolates the coastal area of Boggs with a small mountain range, given the close proximity and size of the project having two different people terraform the area could lead to drastic changes in landscaping features - some of which would probably be very noticeable.
4. Unlike my other projects I really feel at home on Crackclaw point, and I will never say no to an opportunity to grab another Lords seat and make sure that the neighboring projects are to my satisfaction - especially those that can hardly be separated by a forest or some other generic terrain barrier . ( I did have some troubles in the past with my neighbors)

Anyway I would like to know as many peoples opinions on this as I can especially those of my approving mods and the rest of the mod team, If required Ill gladly provide a land plan & a castle test!

Cheers,
_Simbaa
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
Update on Boggs:
1. Castle has seen some final plotting changes and is currently in the middle of getting a gradient
2. Hamlets at Boggs1 & Boggs2 are mostly plotted and are being slowly built up
3. Hamlet at Boggs3 is currently in planning phase
4. Boggs4 isnt happening yet
5. Boggsham1 will be started once I figure out how i want the bog to look like
6. I plan on extending the coastal bog/saltmarsh further towards Rook Rest - that should happen soonish
7. /warp boggs is still a mess
8. forest script & ground cover scripts are slowly being put together.

hopefully boggs will be finished in 2022.
-_Simbaa
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
Question: Given that the lore states the presence of deciduous trees on Cracklaw, would it be reasonable to include them - in forests and such, even though Dyrden has none?
I was considering having some mixed forests on the South-western side of Boggs, with a transition to mostly full pine to the north and past /warp Boggs1 to assure smoother transition between the leafy forests of MP/harte and the pine forests of Dyreden and the rest of the peninsula.

The land is full of cavernous hills and bogs and pine barrens,[5] thick with deciduous trees and evergreens like sentinels and soldier pines.[3] Moss covers ancient ruined strongholds throughout the region.
 

AerioOndos

Donkey Lord
Staff member
Pronouns
they/them
Pines can tolerate more acidic soil and are less attractive for their wood than many deciduous trees so it would make sense for the pines to inhabit the slopes.

pines also are a colonising plant and often are a sign of regrowth from deforestation or the spread of forest into grassland.
Most of this I’m pulling from how in Scotland the oldest forest left is pine on ground that’s unprofitable for anything else and the pine forests that established themselves in Scandinavia when the oaks forests were cut down.
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
Update: I have decided to take a break from this project, recently It hasn't been progressing at any meaningful pace. Therefore after consulting with some mods, I've decided to officially "abandon" this project, in order to squeeze a small project in-between Boggs, as I have quite burned out on it. This does not mean I do not plan on finishing Boggs, Ill pick it up as soon as I will be done with other project.

(For those wondering, what my in-between project is gonna be, I am considering applying for Southshield around mid-september, as I have already made numerous tests for it in the past, and its quite a small island)
 

DutchGuard

Shadowbinder
Staff member
Pronouns
he/him
Thanks for making this post Sim. I will mark the project as abandoned which does open up the possibility of redo, but as long as you are present on the server and make your intentions to eventually finish it clear, I doubt anyone would be proposing to do so.

Best of luck testing for your next project. I might suggest something a little smaller than the shield islands, at least to start with, to get your mojo back.
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
As I said, ideally I would have kept both going at the same time and jumped between them, however rules dont allow that. And Southshield should be small enough to keep me busy for a 1-1.5 years. Afterwards Ill finish Boggs as promised. Also it wouldnt be my project if havent abandoned it atleast once.