World of Banished

Sightseeing => Village Blogs => Topic started by: Abandoned on July 31, 2020, 09:11:54 AM

Title: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on July 31, 2020, 09:11:54 AM
Intro


  This is the 58th Story in the Smallville Series and tell the tale of 8 families who abandoned their village in the southwest because of the heat and drought back in year 36 SVT.  They wanted to go north to Smallville where it was cooler.  Their first stop was the Mountain Mission (story 2).  The Mission was not accepting evacuees at that time because of food shortages.  The families were given some supplies and advised to go the Refugee Camp (story 10) that was set up to help flood victims.  Flood!  What flood they wondered.  There was a drought.   The group headed northeast towards Smallville but did not get far before discovering "what flood". 


The map seed is # 244651197   Lake,  Small,  No Snow,  disasters Off,  Easy Start -8 Families


Mods activated for this map and load order are:


Map changing and Starting Mods:  Banished UI Maps, Labor Window, RK Minimized Status, CC Light Rain, Climate No Snow, Override Map, Kid Tree Replacer xLight, Maritimes Riffle, New Flora Edit, Family Starts.

Tweak Mods:   Better Fields, Fishing Dock +25%, Hunting, Increased CC, 1:1 Alternative (Voeille), Rocks Respawn, Tiny Smoke

Major or Must Have Mods:    An Empty Square, Impassable Tile, Nomad Sign Complete, Kid Abandoned Places, Kid Old Town, Settlers Deco, Kid Workplace Village

Supporting Mods:    Campfire, Deco Sunflower, Kid Farmyard (future update WIP),  Kid Fish n Ships (testing new things added during previous test story), Kid Garden Shed II, Kid Market Carts, Kid SomeBoats, Kid Tree Topper, Kids Workshop.



  Yes, weary traveler, our jetty system is quite impressive.  The flood waters never did recede much, but they didn't rise either.  Our lakes are much the same as they were when we arrived.  We get enough rain to sustain the water level except in midsummer.  We did not make it to Smallville but we escaped the heat and the drought which was our goal.  It was a rough trip but we were glad we settled here, let me tell you.
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 01, 2020, 08:21:33 AM
Chapter 1

    We had been farmers in the south until the drought had us near starving.  We did not know at the time that there had been flooding or that Smallville was sending out expeditions to ease food shortages and overcrowding.  One of our families actually had ancestors from the same village as the founders of Smallville.  But we did not get anywhere near Smallville before we came across the first flooded out village.  The trip already was rough enough, there were 35 of us, 16 adults with 19 children and we had 3 carts of supplies.  We met with one obstacle after another.  We found 2 boats that we used to ferry our carts and families across flooded areas and lakes.  We often carried the boats from one lake to another.  But this valley of flooded lakes we saw from the surrounding high hills was more than we could navigate, we were exhausted.  We would have to turn back or stay.  We chose to stay and named our new settlement Portage.

    The area we chose to settle had several severely damaged abandoned buildings, a stockpile with some resources, 2 hedgerows, and on slightly higher ground was a cemetery.  We immediately cleared the area of scattered debris and add it to the stockpile.  Two of the men did some hunting, there was a herd of deer by one of the hedgerow.  We gathered wild foods and branches.  We were eager to start building houses, for weeks we had been sleeping under the supply carts and overturned boats.

  My name is Tessi, and my husband is Wavery.  We were married at the Mission Church.  Wavery was the oldest male of the group and was put in charge.   Our small house by the lake was one of the first 3 built.  We hoped we would not be in danger from flood waters, the other 2 houses were tree toppers.   There was little usable land and few trees, Wavery suggested we start building out on the water.  A jetty and 3 houses were built next.  One of the houses was for my brother, Adon, and his family who I had been living with.  He married a widow who had 2 children.  They named their daughter after me because I had been such a big help to them.  Another house was built along that jetty, a cabin and fishing pier were built farther out on the water.  By summer of that first year we all had homes and a school had been built.  We were short of food and logs but we had homes. 
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 02, 2020, 09:22:27 AM
Chapter 2


  We brought some seed with us that were planted in a small farmyard along with a small apple tree sprout that Wavery dug up from the hedgerow.  I was tending the hedgerow and Waverly was staying close to home, we'd just had a baby girl. Our Tracelin was the first child born in Portage.  Furmando and Londa from the tree topper would tend the farmyard and cut some firewood.  The corn and beans had barely sprouted before a small flock of chickens came out of the forest.  They probably lived on the property before the flood.  We were told at the Mission that an Animal Refuge had been established further north to aid all the farm animal that had been abandoned. 

  My brother told us that the folks living on the jetty had little more than fish and potatoes in their pantries.  We build a market out on the jetty and assigned a worker to stock it with a variety of good and supplies.  By spring of year 2 we built a small town hall next to our house.  Waverly and I would keep the town records.  Portage now had 2 newborns and 2 students.  It took us a while to compile inventory records.  We needed coats, firewood, grain, and herbs.  The laborers took to the woods to gather branches and wild foods and what few herbs they could find.  West of town they discovered another ruined house, a duck pond, and along shore hidden in the reeds was a boat with crab traps.  We could put those to good use.  In fact, one of the 7 new arrivals in town said he and his daughter had experience catching crabs.  We welcomed the 7 adult evacuees to stay here with us.

  The jetty dwelling laborers were impressed with the wildflowers they saw coming up around town now.  Wavery built some pots out of old barrels that were scavenged from the ruins in town.  He filled them with dirt and  I began transplanting some berries, herbs, flax, and flowers into them for the jetty.  The flax would be needed by the tailor in town to make cool linen clothes.  One of the wagons would be used to bring textiles closer to his workplace.  The first rain storm brought a request for a workplace covering.

  A new section of jetty with a house, storage unit, and crab catcher workplace was built where the boat was found.  It must be a good place to catch crabs.  A house was built on the main jetty by the market for a young single male.  His mother and sister helped him settle in, his sister said if he were old enough to have a house of his own he was old enough to do his own cleaning and laundry.  The pots of herbs and flax on the platform next door were doing well.  A treetopper was built for the young man's family near the new jetty.  They would tend another farmyard of corn and beans with some of the chickens from the first farmyard.  They would cut more firewood too.
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 03, 2020, 08:16:58 AM
Chapter 3


  In late winter of year 2 we finally spotted another herd of deer.  We needed venison and  hides.  The jetty garden was provided herbs and flax for linen clothes but our winter temperatures drop to the mid 40Fs and it felt even colder out on those jetties.  We now had duck down and our tailor could make warm coats.   A tool smith was set up next to the tailor and a cover was added.  We were trying to make the best use of what land we had. 

  We needed firewood.  We collected branches from our small forest areas and the hedgerows but they burned more like kindling than firewood.  The 2 farmyards managed to cut enough firewood for their own use and share a bit with neighbors, they had their children and chickens to tend and crops to weed and harvest.  They were not fulltime woodcutters.  We thought it time Portage had one, so one was built as close to the stockpile as possible.  We may need to use a cart to bring logs closer, and to provide more logs, we built a garden shed forester just over the small hill to the east.  A jetty bridge was built across the small creek.

  We had a nice supply of herbs from the jetty plant garden but our overall health was still a little low.  Wavery had another small platform built next to the market and took 4 of the berry pots out to the jetty.  Hopefully more fruit would improve the diet of the jetty dwellers and hopefully, the jetty walkway that was built between the 2 jetties would help the market vendor bring goods from the other storage units.
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 04, 2020, 09:05:54 AM
Chapter 4

  At the beginning of year 4, we had a new concern, there was no surface iron anywhere nearby. Our tool supply was good at the moment but we did not have much iron. We were not miners and we could not spare the laborers to go in search of any.  We had 4 laborers, 2 builders, 1 gatherer, 2 fisherman, 1 forester, 1 blacksmith, 1 tailor, 1 vendor, 3 scavengers, 1 teacher, and 6 workers producing food.  Our oldest student was only 9.  Hopefully, what iron that was scavenged from the abandoned buildings would be enough for our tool making needs.  We were too far from the river and had not seen a river boat trader in the distance.  Even the far point near our new gatherers was too far from the river and too far from town.

  In early summer a family of four came from the north.  Their homestead was flooded out for the 3rd time, they were going to the Mission for help.  We told them that when we were there the Mission was not accepting evacuees because of food and housing shortages.  We did not know if things had improved since then.  We did not know what the situation was at the Refugee Camp either but they were welcome to stay with us.  There oldest child was a 14 year old girl, Portage had 3 girls around that same age, maybe prospects for the daughter would be better at the Camp.

  Our overall health continued to fall - Wavery and I began checking inventory and storage supplies.  Our storage units were near capacity so a few more storage shed were built.  In the process of checking and moving supplies we found some cabbage seeds and old potatoes that we brought with us, it was worth a try to see if any would still sprout.  Another area was cleared for a farmyard, a few berry bushes were transplanted and corn was planted.  Some chickens were moved from the other farmyards, they would do a good job of eating bugs and scratching the surface for weed seeds.  It wasn't long before a duck came from the pond to join them.
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 05, 2020, 08:43:47 AM
Chapter 5


  It wasn't long before more evacuees came to join us.  We notice that the trees our forester planted were doing well but there were few big trees to cut in his area.  There were more trees and a little surface iron on the peninsula north of the jetties.  We had a fair amount of logs on the stockpile so we had time, but we began extending the jetty northward.  We did not get far before a family of 4 and an older male arrived.  Their story was much the same as the last family, more flooding and their barn and supplies all washed away.  They were welcome to stay here in Portage.  They liked the thought of living above the high water line.

  I could not help but notice that the family had a 14 year old son, Zandell. Portage had several young women.  Wavery said let nature take its course, I said nature needed a little shove.  Another house was built on the jetty and sure enough Zandell moved right in.  He immediately stocked his pantry with a nice selection of meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, and grain, and as soon as he turned 15 in late winter, he took one of the single young women as his wife, Portage's first new couple.
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 06, 2020, 09:18:00 AM
Chapter 6

  By the start of year 6 we had plans to extend the jetties to the west.    We would build a trading post as close to the river as we could get without it being complete out of reach of the town.  We had more food then we needed and hoped we could get some of it to people who needed it more.   We knew it would not be long before we would need iron or tools for our ever growing population. 

  We would begin by expanding the existing jetty to the west and we would build a bridge from the point north to the high ground with trees.  We were making some progress when 5 evacuees arrived from the south.  The heat and drought was relentless.  They confirmed the need for food and linen clothes.  They were very happy with their new homes and the cool breeze that blew across the water.  After a day or 2 of settling in, the willingly pitched in with gathering, building, and manual labors.
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 07, 2020, 09:09:17 AM
Chapter 7

  Continuing our jetty building to the west we constructed a fishing pier and a market.  The buildings were barely completed before more evacuees arrived from the south.  Two of the 6 adults were only 8 years old and had missed school.  I checked with our school to see if they might be able to sit in on some classes only to find that our school was filled to capacity.  First priority was to build another school.  We chose a spot near the duck pond hoping it would be more centrally located and easier for children to reach.

  With the school completed our attention again turned to jetty and platform building.  By late winter of year 7 we had a platform built for a trading post and a lighthouse was under construction.

Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 08, 2020, 08:23:33 AM
Chapter 8


  The lighthouse was completed by spring of year 8 and housed inventory records for the trading post next door.  The trader could let us know if we had too much or too little of tradable items.

  Even with the markets and varieties of foods our overall heath was still low.  I thought it was a good idea to built a small grinder to make flour and a bakery to make herb bread as a way of getting folks to eat more herbs.  Seven more evacuees from the south arrived just in time to sample the first fresh baked breads.  A house was built for the family of 4 and a cabin for a single female on the jetty by the lighthouse.  The couple with the toddler crossed the bridge and fell in love with the location and asked for a tree topper to be built there.  It was a very nice spot away from it all and we were all a bit envious especially when the couple built a small sailboat with scrap wood from the builders and scraps of linen fabric from the tailor.  It was that couple who first saw the riverboat approaching.

Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: kid1293 on August 08, 2020, 08:44:33 AM
Those jetties are very handy. I never knew. You can almost build them from one map to another :)
Is the bridge working okay?
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 08, 2020, 08:57:10 AM
Yes, no problem with the bridge or stair connections to platforms or jetties.  Riverboat takes unexpected shortcut through lake but clears jetty bridge and arrives at the trading post.  Nice addition to have jetty trading post, and lighthouse  :)
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: taniu on August 09, 2020, 02:38:04 AM
@Abandoned ;D ;D ;D fantastic story. I do not know how you do it, that your stories surprise me a lot - do you think carefully - do you start a scenario - great surroundings of this story - you know what mods to use for a given story. Congratulations and best regards
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 09, 2020, 07:06:17 AM
 :) :) :) Thank you @taniu First thoughts are always what mods to use to go with new mod I am testing, and a little idea for story.  Then decide where I want story to be.  Hardest part is finding a good map.  The story takes shape as I go along.  It is always nice to hear you are enjoy the story.  :)
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 09, 2020, 09:35:32 AM
Chapter 9


  That early spring of year 9 we had a few mornings that were slightly frosty, the jetties were slippery and we realized how behind we were in installing rope railings.  At least one side of the bridge and the high jetties should have that safety measure installed.  We were making good progress rectifying the situation when the couple across the bridge called to the rope installers that a riverboat was coming.

  Adlinett, the general goods merchant, was taking food to the Rescue Mission.  Food was hard to come by, there were shortages in most places not only because of extremes of heat and cold and droughts and floods, but because many rivers had changed their courses after the big rock and mud slide north of Smallville a few years back.  He would willingly take anything we had to spare especially foods with good keeping quality.  He had nothing we needed at the moment but took our order for leather, wheat, and iron tools.  He would return as soon as he could.  We would have time to move more trade items to the trading post.

  Looking over our statistics we realized that even with our variety of foods our overall health was still a little low.  Trying to pinpoint if a certain area was lacking food types, we discovered that it was only a few citizens whose health was even lower that was bringing the average overall health down.  We did not have a steady supply of wheat or wild oats for herb bread so we decided to build 2 Old Apothecaries.  A waiting line soon formed at the apothecary in town.

Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 10, 2020, 12:11:39 PM
Chapter 10


  While checking on the health of our people we also checked the ages and realized it would still be a few years before more housing was needed for the 11 and 12 year old to set up households and families of their own.  There are many locations on land and on the jetties for them to chose from.  Portage has really grown in the past 10 years.

Our population in summer of year 10 is 88, 50 adults, 21 students, and 17 young children.  We have 24 homes and 2 schools.  We managed to expand our town and jetties halfway across the south end of the valley and have still managed to preserve the wood areas.  We have enough firewood and plenty of food.  There are many homey touches in town and on the jetties.  Everyone in Portage is happy with the peaceful scenic beauty and the quality of life.  You would be happy here too, weary traveler, if you decide to say.


The End
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Goblin Girl on August 10, 2020, 01:28:31 PM
What a lovely, cozy little town! 

Nice story (again!), Abandoned.
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 10, 2020, 02:39:30 PM
Thanks @Goblin Girl  :)  I was a bit worried about this town because there was so little land and trees on this map.  If I am too concerned with survival the appearance and story could suffer.  The jetties and deco sure helped.

A reminder to all:  The link to Kid Fish n Ships download and a jetty-building tutorial can be found here:

http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=3070.0
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: taniu on August 10, 2020, 11:26:34 PM
@Abandoned ;D ;D ;D Thank you for the advice and instructions - how to create such beautiful stories - which mods to consider for the game so that everything fits - I haven't played this way yet, I rather play at ease. Regards
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: kid1293 on August 11, 2020, 03:32:40 AM
@Abandoned - Great work and thank you again :)
It is great fun to watch all those small tiny things come to life in a big picture :) :) :)
Title: Re: Abandoned - Portage - Story 58
Post by: Abandoned on August 11, 2020, 07:49:17 AM
thanks you @taniu  I really enjoy combining a selection of mods for the story, I usually add or remove one or two before deciding which combination to use for the story.  Once I start the map I rarely add another mod.  It is a bit of a challenge.  I am glad you enjoy the stories.

Thanks @kid1293  It really is different testing mod by actually playing a map from start to finish, we see it a bit different and discover what we may have missed or could be added.  Thank you for adding the trading post and lighthouse to the release version, wonderful additions.  :)

I am really looking forward to doing the next story, and the next   ;D  :-X  :)