For some reason the Field of Fire has been a WIP placeholder terra splodge for the entire time I've been on the server, so it'd be nice to fix that.
Background
The Field of Fire was the site of a decisive battle during Aegon's Conquest. It saw Aegon and and his sisters smash the combined might of the Reach and the Westerlands with their three dragons, ending the ancient House Gardener, heirs of Highgarden and Kings of the Reach, their defeat providing a major source of swords for the Iron Throne.
Canon Description
King Mern IX Gardener and King Loren I Lannister marshalled over 55,000 men, including the Oakhearts, the Florents, the Rowans, the Peakes, and the Redwynes to march on Aegon's forces, on the plains south of the Blackwater, near the present Goldroad.
Aegon and his sisters took to the air on their dragons, Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar. The dragons began to set the dry field aflame on all sides, especially upwind of the Gardener and Lannister armies.
The battle, the only time in Aegon's Conquest in which all three Targaryen dragons took to the battlefield at the same time, become known afterward as the Field of Fire.
Location
Here is the current plotted location of the Field, given the completed state of the other projects along the Blackwater it seems like the most appropriate place to keep it.
There is the question of whether or not a house would currently occupy the Field. I figure if we need the space to squeeze in another project they can just factor the completed Field into the project's plans. Better to have a completed area that's updated later than leaving a big area of placeholder sand indefinitely.
Inspiration
The Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has some delightful explanations of how vegetation and soil recover from fires.
"After very hot burns: the soil is virtually sterilised. All plant material and seed is destroyed and the fire burns into the top organic matter layer of the soil. Very hot burns occur under hay bales, windrows, on sheep camps, on soils with a thick root mat or where an intense fire emerges from bush areas onto pasture land. Almost all plant material will be dead so the area should be cropped or resown to pasture following the fire."
I think there's a reasonable chance that most of the area would've recovered in the 300 years since the battle. I do wonder if there's scope to leave some telltale traces of where the Targaryen's directly blasted the ground with dragon fire. Maybe it was hot enough to melt the earth and stone, fusing it together like Valyrian Roads?
Tests
I've tried out a few approaches that could be taken.
First I thought, maybe the field is crisscrossed with scorched melted stone.
Then I thought, what if we try something cute and now streaks of fireweed and orange trollius grow along the path of dragon fire. (Dragon magic, change to the soil chemistry all that)
Then I tried a combo of the two with more of the stone covered with gross.
And then here's a regular field
Give me a vibe check on these or if you have some other ideas for interesting features to add.
A local entrepreneur digs up pieces of blackened stone to sell at the gift shop.
Background
The Field of Fire was the site of a decisive battle during Aegon's Conquest. It saw Aegon and and his sisters smash the combined might of the Reach and the Westerlands with their three dragons, ending the ancient House Gardener, heirs of Highgarden and Kings of the Reach, their defeat providing a major source of swords for the Iron Throne.
Canon Description
King Mern IX Gardener and King Loren I Lannister marshalled over 55,000 men, including the Oakhearts, the Florents, the Rowans, the Peakes, and the Redwynes to march on Aegon's forces, on the plains south of the Blackwater, near the present Goldroad.
Aegon and his sisters took to the air on their dragons, Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar. The dragons began to set the dry field aflame on all sides, especially upwind of the Gardener and Lannister armies.
The battle, the only time in Aegon's Conquest in which all three Targaryen dragons took to the battlefield at the same time, become known afterward as the Field of Fire.
Location
Here is the current plotted location of the Field, given the completed state of the other projects along the Blackwater it seems like the most appropriate place to keep it.
There is the question of whether or not a house would currently occupy the Field. I figure if we need the space to squeeze in another project they can just factor the completed Field into the project's plans. Better to have a completed area that's updated later than leaving a big area of placeholder sand indefinitely.
Inspiration
The Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has some delightful explanations of how vegetation and soil recover from fires.
"After very hot burns: the soil is virtually sterilised. All plant material and seed is destroyed and the fire burns into the top organic matter layer of the soil. Very hot burns occur under hay bales, windrows, on sheep camps, on soils with a thick root mat or where an intense fire emerges from bush areas onto pasture land. Almost all plant material will be dead so the area should be cropped or resown to pasture following the fire."
I think there's a reasonable chance that most of the area would've recovered in the 300 years since the battle. I do wonder if there's scope to leave some telltale traces of where the Targaryen's directly blasted the ground with dragon fire. Maybe it was hot enough to melt the earth and stone, fusing it together like Valyrian Roads?
Tests
I've tried out a few approaches that could be taken.
First I thought, maybe the field is crisscrossed with scorched melted stone.
Then I thought, what if we try something cute and now streaks of fireweed and orange trollius grow along the path of dragon fire. (Dragon magic, change to the soil chemistry all that)
Then I tried a combo of the two with more of the stone covered with gross.
And then here's a regular field
Give me a vibe check on these or if you have some other ideas for interesting features to add.
A local entrepreneur digs up pieces of blackened stone to sell at the gift shop.