Bright Mountains castle loosely based on Clifden Castle in Ireland

 Welcome to Bright Mountains, Clifton castle...

Bright Mountains saga world : Clifton Castle

Finished as seen from front and above, without village or docks

well, this is very (and I mean very) loosely based on Clifden Castle in Ireland.  

 If you tilt your head from just the right angle you might see some resemblance between the Escher-like drawing I made below and the original manor house seen from behind, as seen on Pinterest when I was cruising around looking at things and well laid out in this Travel page that I did not find until later.

But it was really just inspiration, in the elements of square and round towers, and multiple connected causeways that made me want to sketch it.. then later that day, begin to build it.  My husband and daughter came up to bring me out with them to see the Grand Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, and my husband looked at the drawing and said 'oh, no .. she's drawing castles again'... as in I was soon to be lost to hours of building...

 

the image below is nearly the same angle as the drawing would be

 

in progress : at the beginning

in progress - a little further on

the interior seen through the back

looking down into the cistern in the enclosed courtyard

put in some chimneys over the smith and kitchens and so forth.. because well, that is something I've proliferated through my building style and even if it wasn't in the picture if I could work it in, I will.

from above at night

The original Clifden had a terrible history of loss and failure and then disagreement and division.  The Wikipedia article lays out how it was built not too long before the Irish potato famine, and then the tenants of the surround land and the family all fell to ruin.  I guess the point would be for Minecraft to plant more than potatoes in the surrounding landscape.  The modern day ruins still contain lots of sheep, which works with this Minecraft world as there are sheep wandering everywhere.  I had to pull one sheep out of the basement level before I could put in the stairs and doors!  

 

The castle still needs a village and support gardens before I can live in it in Survival Mode.  I'd also like a really nice dock with boats aimed towards trading with the original castle to the North.  I will be looking at some other images for info on what kind of docks, houses and so forth would have been in similar items and then run with whatever seems like it will fit the landscape.

Also, I see I would have had a much easier time discerning all the elements and angles if I had seen this Travel page first - lots and lots of pictures of the original ruined building from lots of angles.  Next time?   Still, I like it and it is a good addition to Bright Mountains.  This 'Clifton' castle (as it is named in the map) is located fairly south and a little east of the original Bright Mountain castle, which I had pulled entirely out of my head and don't have a name for yet.

Since I didn't really know where anything was in the original castle, and well... mine wasn't quite like it anyway, I tucked three family chambers into different places, then added some servant and guard rooms wherever they seemed they could fit.  As the first castle was a great exercise in making the 3D structure come together, this one was good in trying to fit a plan but then make the plan do something 'realistic' inside.  That was a slightly different challenge. 

  a few interior shots.. will update later with village and etc.. and link

the courtyard cistern

A lady's chambers

an eating and cooking area

a king-sized bedchamber

 

Creative mode, Bright Mountains saga world

Druisi village

Druisi village.. southeast of the Fish Clan, southwest of Vaya village.  There is some shared blood here with the Kriganzy people, as you might notice by some common elements between their houses.. although they are also different in some key ways.  I've been working on the village for a few days (in between my real-world work!).  I feel I need to do a bit more before they can enter into the Rob Riggins story, but that will really flesh out an idea of why there are such internal conflicts in the Kriganzy nation.. which is already a 'conglomerate' of different peoples.  But still - why are they so upset at Vaya?  Maybe the Druisi know why. 

I should be writing the Presentation mountain village story.. but after finding this area and having this idea for a housing style, I decided it's cold outside I'll run with this for a minute.  Plus the person who is helping me write the Drox tribe is still busy... and I don't really want to go on without her.

 

a larger style house with one more set of wooden pillars in the corners

 

a smaller style house (roof off above) (roof and porch on below)

We even had visitors after this one!

the inside of the two largest houses in the village

 

I decided to go an entirely different way for the school meetinghouse than previous, which had been rows of desk and teacher desk like Western Education has.  I imagined a more open four-corners format for specific studies like weaving and smithwork and a platform meeting area in the middle for debates, talks and plays.

The outside of the school building (above) and the inside (below)

Game tech: The villagers from the nearby houses have actually been coming into these houses briefly and looking around - nobody has slept in the beds, yet... but it might happen.  I'm watching to see if they are increasing in population or if I need to actually build one of these houses right up next to theirs before it counts as one village to them.

 

The Fish Clan village in Kriganzy and North City Expedition preparations

 

Five family homes and a central storage building like a silo, but with chests 

The Kriganzy Fish Clan village by the river.. home of the parents of Dagan, Giselle and Bevy Weller, and also Marhel and Joan Arwen.  It is evolving a little as I go.   There is a natural cave with bats spawning in it, and mushrooms - that is really an interesting find.. that is why there is a cave right in the middle of the village that has not been sealed up.   The village will be important to Rob Riggins' Scout story, as well - see his horse there in the pen with the saddle?  It was in the main village of Kriganzy in the last post... which is not very far away from here at all.

 

Outside of the storage building

The Rivertown descendants have storage places as well, called 'annexes' or 'crop trusts'.. but they are usually just a smaller house with a few chests in it.  I wanted something different for the Kriganzy tribe, that sort of followed their house building rules, but was more round.

inside the storage building.. if I'd made the roof one higher there could have been more chests on the upper shelves of the walls.. have to think on this

1 2 3 house

storage building step by step construction

Where we are approaching YEAR 70 : The North City Remnants Expedition : Some thirty humans have been chosen from around the Known World to come together on this huge project/expedition.  (go to end of link post to read the groups)

The Saga is being worked on.  There is one more story in the Presentation Mountains that has to happen, (Rob Kenzie, Nyah Perkins, Amos DeCroix and Minerva Strong, and the Daniels brothers that went missing)... before the Western group starts heading to Ravenna for the Expedition stories to begin.  It has almost approached True Midsummer at Ravenna.  Marika Otrio is working with the group leaders she has selected to try to make supplies and a travel plan.  A lot of the residents of the cities are going to have to provide backup supplies and transport, even if they aren't the ones actually going (logistical stuff).   A base has to be chosen near Hallgren, and the medics and scientific instruments need to be set up.  

Hopefully the Drox tribe (with Ender as their queen) will be able to work out their conflicts, and come to a meeting with Talyn Orak in the East Pirate Shores.  As Jamie North found out with Timeshifter, east of his Isle of Horses by Sunvale... they don't like people much.  They call us 'scavengers'... and have lots of rules of engagement.  Timeshifter doesn't have a lot of those rules apply to him because he shuns his own people AND human people... sort of like Jamie North, which is why the two were able to put aside their own differences and have a friendly conversation or two.
 

Some Kriganzy style houses

Kriganzy is a 'nation to the Southwest' in the McElvaney Enterprises world.. and it has several native style elements that are their own, although the children and grandchildren that have moved throughout the world have been adapting these features into other places.   

The original 'nation' of Kriganzy is a natural Minecraft spawn village in a spruce forest going up a mountain but also near a river plain teeming with fish, horses and sheep.  But, I imagine a bit more, and with the population expanding, they are spreading down closer to the river and their factions and/or clans are starting to break off and have conflicts.

So, in our story, some of the Kriganzy natives have went out into the rest of the Known World.  Their emigration started a bit after Tan Vandreas tried to steal his wife from here - a red-haired girl named Krissainia, when she was already betrothed to a Leader's son...  There were some language-barrier problems at the time... and tempers were raised with issues never really resolved.  From then on, well, things have only gotten more fraught and disputed even inside the clans.  The clans are disagreeing about many things, but especially incidents involving Outsiders.

In our history, Terezea protected Tan and the other Amularia islanders from being killed, and made a sort of uneasy peace, at least for Amularia.  She convinced Tan to marry her, and to leave the rest of Kriganzy alone to stop the tensions his meddling had caused.  Terezea turned into a sort of ambassador between her people and our Rivertown descendants... 

Also, Terezea is one of the few in Kriganzy that possess a special talent of waterbreathing - which is hereditary but not to every child.  She has passed her ability along to her son Tanji.  Only a few other people know about this ability, mostly on Amularia.  It is not known how Marika Otrio seems to know of it, but it is the reason she has appointed him leader of the Western branch of the Expedition to the North City Remnants.   Tanji does not agree with his mother's use of the talent to obtain potentially dangerous artifacts from under the Sea, as he has seen the sickness some of these artifacts can bring.  It is possible her bringing some of these artifacts to the Sorcerors of the Eagle Clan of Kriganzy has caused some of their troubles, as well.

Within the factions of Kriganzy, individuals have been leaving as well, many of them expert horsemen.   Mavic Rigginson moved to South of Rivertown, Hawk Riggins (relation?) moved to Whitmoor, and Terezea's sons Rygo and Rega Vandreas are helping Garan Eastham build and defend Palima Castle.  They have married the daughters of the Fish Clan, located along the river bank, and Dagan Weller and Marhel Arwen have moved into the territories to live near their sisters and help protect the new community.  Palima is located in the the valley beyond Kriganzy and before reaching the plains city of Vaya.  Vaya, (home to Arturo and Carmide Aristo, and their warrior sister Sofia, who married Kevan Thomas) has not quite explained yet what reasons they have to fear invasion, or their full past history with Kriganzy.

In the actual Kriganzy village, just TEEMING with villagers doing some odd sort of gathering up around the central bell as Rob Riggins (Hawk Riggins' son, and scout for Palima) rides a horse through the village in disguise

 

Designing the Kriganzy House

They are fairly small but pack a lot of utility into every little bit of space.  The basic pattern for a 'Kriganzy' style house is four corner pillars, usually logs, that are topped with a stair-step, then log crossbeams for the first layer of the roof.  There is a front door and a back or side door, and each of them have 'patios' in front of them made of stone and/or gravel.  

There is almost always some sort of center column support, and the log crossbeams range in size from 2 log-lengths to 6 or 7, on average.  If there is stone used in the roof, it can only be directly above a column or within the 8 squares around it as if supported by the column.  The windows are glass and most often do not have stone above them, only wood planks.

1 - 2 - 3 house

Polished andesite, granite or diorite is used for the central columns, and the stove is fire-proofed sometimes into the central column, sometimes just with stone of some sort all around it including the walls wherever it ends up.  The floor inside the back and front door is stone for at least that block, and always stone underneath the doorframe.

The houses will have a table and chairs, crafting table, chest, stove furnace and at least two bedrooms but most of the time three with separate walls and doors.  Each bedroom will have enough space hopefully for a chest and some carpets beside each bed.  Often, colored banners with no pattern on them will be hung inside the house for warmth, just not near the furnace.

Banners hung up for warmth

Many of the houses will have an exterior porch with at least one chair and a small diorite or polished andesite framed water source.  Why?  Not sure.. maybe for the garden that will be nearby or animals?  It's there.

Inside of the same house before and after adding the interior bedroom walls.

Although the same general pattern is used for each house in the village, each one will turn out just slightly different due to the size and materials that were on hand during the build.

A sort of hybrid Kriganzy with log beams directly on top of the walls and a square room built off the back.  Not every style rule is followed in these 'way outside the territory' homes, but the main elements are there, mixed with some new, as happens when people move around to new places.

Three of the 'Kriganzy-style' houses that residents have built in different cities throughout the Known World.. following a basic style pattern with whatever native elements were on hand.  top to bottom : Marhel Arwen at Carmide Station south of Whitmoor, Tanji Vandreas at Southerland and Mavic Rigginson at Riggins Ranch, south of Rivertown.

Spotlight in Palima Castle : Atrium and secret tunnels

detail post about some of the elements at Palima Castle 

Palima is built for defense, quick escape / movement around the base and also to house the people who will keep this area safe in an attack.  It is hard to do all these things at once - and the families that live here know the danger they are in being on the Frontier.  This post showcases some of the protective details built into the castle and surrounding area.

 

Palima Castle lies South and West of Whitmoor, and is the defense between Whitmoor, Vaya village and the country of Kriganzy. Read the story of Palima for more on this...

The Atrium, seen from above.  The trapdoor panels in the wall can be brought down to shoot things with a crossbow, or walk out on to the lattice structure and back again

The downwards staircase in the Atrium leads down to barracks room that has tunnels going out to four places in the castle.  One tunnel comes up near the mines beside Garan's house, to the left, another on the other side in the barracks room underneath Rega's house.  A third tunnel comes up straight into the docks area (seen below) in the back of the castle, and a fourth runs long and comes up in Rygo's house at the stables in the back of the complex.  

 Dagan Weller's house with Helena Robinson on the left, Rega Vandreas' house  (with Dagan's youngest sister Bevy) tucked into the back of the castle (with a dormer room that comes up in the hill)

There is a door in the dock area here that goes down into the barracks room and mine entrance under the castle.  Dagan can come down from his house to the left with the villagers that live on the plain and get into the safety of the castle fairly quickly.  Another tunnel is planned (in the future) from this place behind the plain, but what is holding up construction is it will need to be defended as enemies could sneak in unawares otherwise.  Since no one is available full time at the moment to protect such an entrance with a house or guard station, it has been put on the back burner.

There is a natural cave here with entrances into the mines below the castle.  It could be used as an escape route if someone knew the way well, or if it was constructed with a better tunnel.  In the future it is planned to have someone construct a house or a new guard tower here to help protect the plains area a bit more.  The population of Palima has to grow just a bit more, as everyone present has plenty of work to do already!

 

The blacksmith building and the barracks house / stables

Rygo Vandreas and his wife Joan Arwen live in an apartment tucked to the side and above the ride-through stables.  The barracks has an underground tunnel leading back to the castle barracks, and just behind the stables there is a natural cave leading further East that outlets near the river.

Defense of the Southern Towns : Palima Castle

Partner cities:  if you haven't read about Quarterpoint, do so first at this link!

In Year 69 Erik's shirt-tail cousin Garan Eastham from Whitmoor went off to build Palima Castle, even further West.  Garan faces a very similar task as Erik did, in a place smack dab in the middle between Vaya City and the unstable nation of Kriganzy.  For years emgrants from Kriganzy have been coming out to the North and the East from their villages, bringing their families, horsemanship skills and words of warning.  The villagers of Vaya have been more than concerned, as they are simply a day's ride away from the main city of Kriganzy, and all alone otherwise on the plains. 

 Talk Tactics:  This is the place of Defense between the mountainous hills and the wide open plain.  It is the stopping point in the river where anyone would need to ford over boats, and from a high enough vantage point one can see the entire plain to Vaya on one side and the plain before the Kriganzy Forest on the other. 

Garan was assisted by Rega and Rygo Vandreas, half-Kriganzy themselves, in selecting and planning a point of Defense to be held against the country, being torn apart by internal conflicts.  Garan took a page out of Erik's book and gathered a group of Castlemen to live and begin their families at the Defense, provide supplies and protection that no one person can do alone.  

Garan and the Vandreas twins have partnered with one of the Clans of Kriganzy, the Wellers and Arwens, marrying into them and inviting Dagan Weller and Marhel Arwen to come and live.  Dagan and Marhel are first cousins.  Garan married Dagan's elder sister Giselle, and Rega and Rygo have married (respectively) Dagan's younger sister Bevy and Marhel's younger sister, Joan.  This secures the alliance between Palima and the Fish Clan of Kriganzy, of which Dagan's father and Marhel's mother belong.

 

Carmide Aristo went South to Colsey Station, then further south to the village of Pazzi, and brought back his childhood sweetheart Marina.  Once he had returned with her to Whitmoor, he was asked to help guard Palima by his brother Arturo, and warrior sister Sofia.  He made the journey to help Garan know the lay of the land and how best to protect Vaya from attack.  

Palima Castle, after the fortification, but before Garan, Dagan, Marhel and the Vandreas' began to build the fields and houses.  Soon after this, Carmide arrived, and then Heath and Agbi.

The Defense line is strong from this side of Palima.  Rega's house is in the granite extension to the right.

Palima Castle after everyone has a house and the first harvest is ready to come in from the fields

Further developments : 'A fort gathers a city like a rock by the river gathers moss...'

Heath Dee, from Vanter, arrived with his wife Amya.  He had spent a little time in Whitmoor, where he was then tasked with using his Excavation skills to clear the river path from the new castle all the way back to Vaya.  Soon after that Agbi Tesril, a native from the East Pirate Shores east of Cambrey, arrived with his wife Ulari (a weaver), to provide farming support on the plains now protected by the Walls of Palima.  Ulari can help turn the wool of the sheep into blankets, uniforms and banners for the castle.  

Heath Dee and Agbi Tesril have built their houses in the plains to the Southeast, while the other Castlemen tucked their homes up in or around the castle walls.  Another citizen from Vaya, Heath's brother-in-law, Cosimo Veraccio, has built a house, as well.  He is planning to move his family here to help take care of the farms and animals after he helps Heath clear the river.

A castle like this needs not only a large supply of food, but people who can work those fields while the Castlemen keep watch from the walls.  Heath and Cosimo can fish and work on the river, while Agbi is glad to work the fields and bring in stores of food, but also keep a watch on the plains for attacking forces. They all will appreciate the protection the Castle provides for their families, if necessary.

 

Marhel Arwen's house at Carmide Station, outside (above) and inside the tiny house (below).  If he marries and makes a family, he will likely need to expand it, but for now there are three single beds and he can host wayfarers or residents from the other cities to help with projects.

After Palima had been built, Marhel Arwen decided to head further East to Carmide Station and take up the waystation there, while Dagan Weller wooed Joiner Robinson's youngest sister, Helena while she was visiting Whitmoor from Cambrey.  Dagan is a dashing blacksmith and horseman - and everyone was very surprised when Helena gave up her place in the family mead business to build from scratch out in the Frontier.  Dagan built a house on the hill and moved out of the castle, but is still within a stone's throw of the docks, which eventually will have a steady trade between Vaya, Carmide Station and Palima.

 Rob Riggins is going to have his hands full running out to gather map information for the new map wall at Palima

Garan has also started a separate cartography and mining office, to work on the map wall at Palima.  They will need to send out Scouts to the West to see what extent Kriganzy is expanding or fortifying, and also to look for and talk to refugees.  He has asked Rob Riggins, Hawk Riggins' son, just fourteen years old, to come down to the castle and be the first mapping Scout.  Hawk and his family came to Whitmoor when Rob and his sister Ava (now Joiner Robinson's wife) were young, to escape the internal conflict in Kriganzy.  Between Rob, the Vandreas twins and Dagan, there are enough Castlemen to sweep out beyond Palima and return with refugees while Carmide, Garan and Heath guard the walls with crossbows.

NEXT : Read more about the protective details and structures at Palima in this spotlight post