Approved Project Application: House Brune of Brownhollow by Auscar

[Auscarbone]

Link

Thanks to NMF for their help!

 

[AerioOndos]

Hi Auscarbone, good to see you around again!

First project app in the Southron realms woo!
I'm very much liking how you plan to continue the style set at Boggs, Dyreden and look forwards to seeing Cracklaw even further towards completion. It'd be amazing if we could have a finished corridor from KL to Wickenden.
Regarding your plans though, I've got some questions and notes.

• I think that your castle could be better placed inland of the road, rather than next to the sea. This'll allow you more freedom to make the castle mount/rocky plug without worrying about coastal erosion. Also it'll seem more like the castle just emerges from the forest, while if it was on the coast it would be much more visible earlier on. I'd place it closer to 8 or north of the current location.
• Considering the sparseness of the population, a simpler roof material than the brown tiles would work better. Dark woods, black stone like Boggs and Dyreden might work better though I know they're further from Poenari's look. Also, do you plan on just having the tower alone, or will there be some other walls/buildings around it?
• I'm not a huge fan of the stone footing on Style B houses. Proper fireplaces with some chimneys are a good idea occasionally too, but sticking more with the all wood look of Boggs might look better on the southern coast. A stoney northern coast and a woody southern coast is a kinda cool difference that sets those regions apart on Cracklaw and gets into the tribalism of the area a bit.
• In regards to smoke holes, you don't need them in every house that has a fire. Thatch is brilliant because its porous enough for the hot smoke to filter out through the roof material. iirc the carbon from the smoke actually helps waterproof the thatch too. So don't go overboard with smoke holes, you don't need them in every single house, though ofc sometimes they look really cool. Again, Boggs is a good example of this. Same goes for simple ovens and furnaces. You don't need to have a chimney in every building with a stone furnace. Neither do you need a chimney on every bread oven. Its also great for making a project look a bit more primitive/underdeveloped and backwatery to not have many chimneys.
• In the no 5 inspiration pics, you've got a double groyne that holds in sand. What are your plans for the flat sandy beach that would be produced by this? Any boat building, repairs etc?
• Karst terrain will be present through the whole project, right? And 8 is the karst window/brown hollow?

Also some things about the terra that'll probably help a little bit is that the "longshore drift", the way sand will be moved along the coast, is probably going eastwards. Slowly along the coast sand will be shifting towards Claw Isle and Dragonstone and that'll only really affect you in that there should be more sand on the eastern side of a bay where it'd get caught and pile up with this slow shift. Remember that a wider beach protects cliffs too, so bigger beach = less ongoing erosion

 

[Auscarbone]

Hi Aeks, thanks so much for all your feedback!

Castle

• I was thinking the same thing re location! Please see the updated map at /warp auscar.
• I experimented around with different roof materials and settled on a black/dark black cobblestone mix (please see plot; note, still needs some refining)
• I was planning 1-2 small wooden outbuildings and maybe a low wall/palisade, but I think a simple, lone tower could work too. I’m very much open to feedback/suggestions here!

Houses

• I’m happy to scrap the stone-footed houses in order to differentiate between the southern and northern parts of Cracklaw. I’ll use some of the alternate wood patterns at /warp boggs1 to both ensure consistency and to make up for any lost variation.
• I’ll be sure to mark plots regarding chimneys/smoke holes to ensure neither are too prevalent. They’ll be a couple of stone chimneys in the village and a few smoke holes in both the village and hamlet. Thanks for this info!

Beach

• The double groyne (note, one side will possibly be natural) will house some fishing infrastructure - a small boat building area would fit right in!

Karst terrain

• Yep, there’ll be karst terrain throughout - just more focused in the east. The most significant cave system (including the karst window) will be at 8.

Thanks for the tips about longshore drift! I would appreciate any help learning the ropes of cliff and beach terraforming

Auscar

 

[Auscarbone]

Bump

I’ve been progressing with some more substantial beech forest tests (almost complete) and coast tests (WIP) - please see plot

 

[AerioOndos]

Hi Auscar, these plans seem sound to me and so you have my approval.
When it comes to the forests though, a denser forest floor would be good. more bushes, ferns, bracken and so on would suit it nicely. The images in your app are a bit bare, even for a pine dominated forest. Also, I'd mix in stands of beech and oak rarely, particularly in older patches of forest. It'll give some nice variation.

 

[Emoticone11]

I like all of your updated plans and tests; you have my approval as well!