We have been building a few things on Hideaway Island (hey, had to call it something!
)
Well, you have to have a place to go in and get out of the rain, right?
And it rains here almost every day.
First up was a Stone House. Yes, stone, nice and thick for a break from the heat of mid-day and stable temps through the night. I took the max. Stone house and exploded it to give a Villa-like effect, and to space things out a little bit around the stream;
http://s424.photobucket.com/user/The_Ex ... sort=3&o=9Paid for 2 stories but only 2 rooms are on the upper floor, a couple of bedrooms joined by a little foot-bridge;
http://s424.photobucket.com/user/The_Ex ... sort=3&o=8Its a comfy place, and you can see the ocean through the trees to the north, barely, but it would be very hard to spot this home from the water.
The Stream is slow and shallow, just deep enough to allow a skiff to tie up there. The "waterfall" is only a couple of hip-high tumbles, but a bamboo pipe can bring water to head-height for a shower of sorts. The little round channel is decorative and allows those who swam in the ocean to wash the salt off before going inside to relax. Cooling breezes can circulate through the many windows of this little complex, which was designed with the local environment in mind every step of the way.
It is a peaceful place and has no defensive quality at all.
The next feature is a very, very different kettle of fish.
Its a squat, ugly little Tower that has "Don't fuck with us!" written all over it.
We call it The Tarantula.
http://s424.photobucket.com/user/The_Ex ... sort=3&o=5Just a 3-story, 30' circumference Tower (costing about what the House did) with just one basement level. Built on a rocky ridge, its tall enough that an eagle-eyed watcher can spot incoming ships from about an hour's sailing time farther away than they could just standing on the ridge.
Yes, I insisted on paying for 3 Stories, even if there are only 2 covered and 30-feet in size.
Take a look at the plans and then I will tell you why-
http://s424.photobucket.com/user/The_Ex ... sort=3&o=6Lets go top to bottom here.
The 3rd floor is a platform for a Balistae with a 360-deg. field of fire. It is supported by the central column and flying arches with spines meant to discourage flying monsters from attacking. This is Phaing's 2nd Balistae and she has made this one better adapted to withstand a hot, wet climate, and paid for it with coin and a favor that has yet to be called in.
Downward;
There is a iron spiral staircase giving access to the various floors. It is plated with brass to resist corrosion, but is only wide enough for one person at a time... which could cause problems. The deck below the Balistae is for Fighters and there are a couple of Braziers for cooking or heating up a nasty surprise for any attackers.
The 2nd floor has 2 bedrooms for the owners and favored guests and an open-air arms locker. The thick walls are pierced with 8 arrow slits that can be shuttered.
The 1st floor has bunks for 12 people, a small sitting area and a small amount of storage space. Those 4 "windows" are sealed shut, they are just blocks of that very low-grade diamond (they still don't know what it really is) that is just barely translucent enough to allow some natural light inside on a nice day.
As the exterior plan shows, it would be very hard to batter that door down; there is no place for a ram bigger than what a single man could carry.
The basement is simply storage, a single cell and a water catchment. Rain-water is collected on the roofs and runs down channels chiseled in the walls and covered with flat rocks. There is a Bathtub and a Toilet that can be "flushed" by opening up a little sluice gate and letting the stuff flow through a small tunnel in the rock. Over-flow from the cistern simply goes over the sluice gate and down the toilet, which can happen during rainy weeks.
Yes, this is not a comfy place, it is made for shelter in violent times, that is all.
the
max capacity is 16-20 people, and with that many you have water & food for a few weeks. Phaing had air-attack in mind because its an island, not large armies that are unlikely to ever show up here. Only ships or wings can defeat the Oceans, after all. So, lots of brass-plated spikes, and a big Balistae that can fire slightly downwards as well as up in all directions.
It is also placed so that that weapon and any Longbows here can fire straight down the Dock for this island. Any bad-guys that tries to land here the easy way are going to feel like the pins in a Bowler's Green.
And, this could also make a great Tsunami-shelter. Any wave tall enough to over-top the tower would of course destroy it, but that would be an insanely rare sort of wave.
This island itself with built features drawn in-
http://s424.photobucket.com/user/The_Ex ... sort=3&o=7From the left-
A ship about the size of her Indy is parked in the water right where it was last time.
Then you see the Dock, with the T-shaped end for larger ships to make fast there. Looking inland you can see the black spot marking the location of the Tarantula. Due east of there you should be able to make out where the mini-villa is. Things are drawn to scale, but only approximately ... they had to be big enough for you to see them.
Other islands are still up for grabs, care to join us?