News:

Welcome to World of Banished!

Main Menu

Abandoned - Middleton in The Shire of Middle Earth- Story 59

Started by Abandoned, August 19, 2020, 08:20:54 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Abandoned

Intro


This is the 59th Story in the Smallville Series and tell the tale of a settlement in The Shire in the northeast section of the World Map.  The settlement is in the foothills of Misty Mountain east of Crystal Canyon and Misty Meadows (stories 36 & 37).   Like Crystal Canyon, The Shire is as old as the hills themselves.  This particular town, however, was settled in year 50 SVT by 5 families of young people from neighboring small family settlements.  They named their town Middleton because it is in The Shire which once was part of Middle Earth.


The map seed is # 199831132   Valley Dry,  Small,  Mild,  disasters Off,  Medium Seeds - 5 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, Lush & Green, New Maps,  Settlers Deco, A8 Japanese Trees,  New Flora Edit, Family Starts. 

Tweak Mods:   Better Fields, Dried Mushrooms, Fishing Dock +25%, Increased CC, 1:1 Alternative, Override Uneducated, Rocks Respawn, Rural Citizens, Tiny Smoke

Major or Must Have Mods:    An Empty Square, Nomads (Kid), Storage Crates,  Kid Forest Deep, Kid Hobbit (new, testing), Kid Old Town, Kid Tiny, Kid Workplace

Supporting Mods:    ChooChoo Deco Tunnel, Deco Sunflower, DS Bridge Crossing, DS Tunnels, Dwarf Signs (story only), EB Natural Irrigation System Deco, EB Sunflower (crop), Firewood Storage (RK), Kid Deco People (new testing),  Kid Deco Plants, Kid Farm Animals (new Deco testing), Kid Farmyard (new Update testing), Kid GrowHuntFish, Kid Market Carts, Kid Market Foods, Kid Mist, Kid Washing Mod, Kid Workshop (new Update testing), Mushroom Crop, Orchard Forester, Strawberries, White Picket Fence (TS)

Edit - note Kid Farm Animals mod is now Kid Deco Farm Animals and had been released 9/6/20 along with Kid Farmyard


Mod Note - @kid1293  Back at the start of story 5  you commented that it sounded like I am inviting readers to sit by the fire like in Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales.  I replied I had no Hobbits in my tale, just elves.  There are Hobbits in this Tale.   :)  Thank you for making it possible.



What do you mean "what am I" ?  I'm a hobbit.  Come sit by the fire, weary traveler, and I'll tell you a tale about Hobbits and The Shire.


CookieBarrel

Will the imagines of people an places speaketh manifest through the ring of smoke?
If so the popcorn is a-pop-in. :)

MarkAnthony

Good morning Abandoned.

Keeping in mind I have been gone for several months there are a few mods I am unfamiliar with: Rural Citizens, Orchard Forester, and Strawberries. By Rural Citizen do you mean the Rural Clothes override Kid made?

And also if you would please, what mod gave you the Valley-Dry map option?

Thank you.  :)
Sometimes it's the very people who no one imagines anything of
        who do the things no one can imagine.

Abandoned

@CookieBarrel  :)  sorry, no My Precious ring in this tale, only the ring of butter at the bottom of popcorn bowl  ;D

@MarkAnthony Rural Citizens is the original clothes made by Jinxie and 1 which Kid included in override package (with permission)  They are the same mod.  Orchard Forester and Strawberries are both old mods from Black Liquid site.  New Maps is by The Chuckles Start and I believe from Banished Info site.  :)

MarkAnthony

Alright thanks Abandoned.
None of those mods are listed at either site in their current state and Black Liquid's site has even seem to have gotten worse as it now throws up a bunch of coding errors at the top. Wasn't important as I said I just didn't recognize them and wanted to read up on them to see what they provided.
               
Sometimes it's the very people who no one imagines anything of
        who do the things no one can imagine.

Abandoned

@MarkAnthony   brads3 posted orchard forester.pkm in Hobbit thread here:  http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=963.msg67402#msg67402   It is 2 hobbit looking building - one plants fruit trees and one harvests the fruit.  :)

MarkAnthony

Sometimes it's the very people who no one imagines anything of
        who do the things no one can imagine.

Abandoned

Prologue


  No, weary traveler, we are not halflings, we're Hobbits.  Halflings are small young people with a lot to learn.  We're experienced adults.  And no, were not Elves or Dwarves either, though there are similarities.  Like the Elves we have slightly pointed ears and we share their love of nature, but we live off the products of our farm fields rather than the off the wilds of nature and Elven magic.  Like the Dwarves we are not very tall, but we're not as stocky and strong as they are.  We too dig in the earth but the Dwarves dig for ores and precious minerals and gemstones, we dig to create the hobbit holes we live in and store our food in.  We're more humanlike than the others, except we have bigger feet than the Humans and we don't like wearing shoes. 

  We Hobbits are forever grateful to the Elves, Dwarves, and Humans who fought alongside our ancestors in the Battle for Middle Earth.  It all began when hobbit Frodo Baggins inherited a ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins.  Gandalf, the Grey Wizard, recognized it as the lost one belonging to Sauron, the Dark Lord, who would use its power to take over Middle Earth.  Gandalf advised Frodo to take the ring away from the Shire.  Frodo, his 2 cousins, Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took, and his good friend and gardener Sam Gamgee set out to do just that.  After many perils they arrived in the Elven Refuge of Rivendell.  There it was decided that the ring must be destroyed in the Fire of Mount Doom in the Forge of Mordor where it was created. The Fellowship of the Ring was formed to carry out that task.  The Fellowship consisted of it's leader Gandalf the wizard, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin the hobbits, Aragor a ranger from the North, Gimi a dwarf warrior, Legolas a woodland elf, and the human Boromir.  They set off and attempted to cross  Misty Mountain but had to turn back and go through the Dwarven Mines of Moria instead.  Eventually the ring was destroyed, and Middle Earth and The Shire were saved.  We are descendants of those Hobbit heroes.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV6trOl5VkE

Abandoned

Chapter 1


  And here we are now, weary traveler, in the peaceful beauty of The Shire, in the town of Middleton we Hobbits founded in the foothills of Misty Mountain.  There were 15 of us who settled here, 10 adults with 5 children, with some seeds and a few farm animals.  We came from different family farmsteads but knew each other through social gatherings to celebrate the elder's birthdays and other special occasions.  We hobbits love to socialize, and eat.  At the last midsummer festival it was agreed that the weather indeed was getting worse and crops were suffering a lot of damage from heat and high winds. Larger settlements were suffering some food shortages.  Our 5 families decided to set out on our own heading north.  Our families wanted us to go south closer to O'Leary's farm rather than north towards Misty Mountain and the Mines of Moria.  We thought it would be cooler in the foothills and hopefully with fewer windstorms, we went north.  We would be but a few day's walk from our homes.

  We were closer to Misty Mountain than we planned but the foothills had wonderful places for our built-in hobbit holes.  The earth homes were quite spacious with rooms built back into the hills.  They were cooler in summer and warmer in winter.  We built free-standing hobbit holes also, many of which had lower levels reached by ladders or circular stairways.   We were still deciding where to begin building when Tevie came running to tell us he had found a perfect fishing tree over on the river and wanted his house built near there.  He said there were a lot of mushrooms in the forest there.  We immediately went to pick some, everyone knows how much we hobbits like mushrooms. Oh, well, now you know.

  A hobbit hole was built near the fishing tree and Tevie's wife, Libert, set about making it homey.  Once the cows and chickens were fenced in, 2 built-in hobbit holes were built for the 2 families.  They already planted corn and potatoes, plus the berry bushes I dug up from the forest for them.  They would cut their own firewood.  A free-standing hobbit hole was built a bit east of there for the 4th family.  The hunter's hideout built earlier was not far away.  A free-standing home was built for Tavar and me next to the 10'x12' wheat field.  I planted carrots while Tavar built me a potting shed.  My mother always said I was a throwback to my ancestor Sam Gamgee who was a gardener.  My name is Verenata but I'm called Vera and I was a Gamgee before I married a Brandybuck.  Tavar built a cover for my wash lines and a cover for each of the supply wagons.  We were surprised when the temperature dropped and it snowed.  It must be because of Misty Mountain that the weather was not quite as mild as the rest of The Shire. But our pantries and supply carts were almost full.  There was fish and venison, potatoes, carrots, onions, roots, corn, wheat, and wild oats.  Did I tell you how much we hobbits like to eat?

Abandoned

Chapter 2

  Tavar built a small coop and a cover for the chickens and another cover for the cows.  The winter past quickly, we were warm and cozy in our hobbit holes with soups and stews bubbling in our fireplace kettles.  By early spring my carrots were coming up and there were rabbits in the patch.  The Proudfoot carrots are named after a very respected hobbit family.  Patty Proudfoot could walk through a carrot patch without stepping on a single carrot.  Everyone knows it is very bad luck to step on a carrot.   Oh, well, now you know, weary traveler.

  We had just finished building an apprentice school, tailor, and smith when 7 hobbits and their 3 children arrived from nearby.  Two years in a row their crops were destroyed by heat and high winds.  They would stay with us until the weather improved.  A smaller home was built by the hunter's hideout and a larger one by the wheat field, they were skilled hunters and farmers.  You don't need  formal schooling to be a farmer, hunter, or gatherer, and hobbit children learn those skills from their parents at an early age.  But more often than not, children want to do something else.  Tevie and Libert's 2 oldest children learned how to fish from their father but they didn't want to be fisherman.  Alejandrea wanted to be a tailor and Anastacey wanted to be a smith.  They would learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic in the classroom but, most of the time, they would be apprentices learning from the skilled workers themselves. The children could learn whatever profession they wanted to learn.  I would teach in the classroom and make arrangements for their apprenticeships.

  Despite being the new teacher, I had plenty of time to care for newborn son, Harvel, and for potting and planting in my own yard and in others.  We hobbits love flowers.  Tavar was tending the carrots and building tables, chairs, and benches in his spare time.  Everyone wanted some for their front yards where they could sit and wave to passersby.  By the end of the year the last family and their eldest daughter had homes.  They planted wheat, beans and an apple tree.  Valoris gave them a few chickens and they would cut their own firewood.  Since we all share, all the children  were very excited about the apples and beans.  Hobbit children love fruits and vegetables.  Yes really, and milk too.  Where did you say you were from, weary traveler?

angainor88

I confess I have a hobbit-like love of food and comfort...

Mmm potatoes!

For some ye olde memes:


kid1293

I see you use Settler's roads. Very nice. They give a homey feeling.  :)
Do you think there are too few 'built-in' buildings?
I have them freestanding. Usually, there are not many suitable mountains.

Abandoned

@angainor88  ;D Thanks for posting that video of Sam making rabbit stew without any taters  ;D  Video fits Hobbit story perfectly, you'll see.  Love the video, love po ta toes  ;D

@kid1293 Those Settler roads match wonderfully.  I think just the right amount of build-ins, I tried unsuccessfully to find a mountain map that would allow enough space for fields, pastures, and other buildings.  I tried 2 other map generating mods before finding valley map with hills in good spots for the built-ins.  This map is working very well, it is what I picture the Shire to be.  :)

Abandoned

Thanks @1  The hunting hideout is from Kid Forest Deep mod which has some other very unique forest buildings - info and link to mod can be found here:  http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=1518.0

Abandoned

Chapter 3


  By the beginning of year 3 the new folks were all settled in and a new Tiny town hall was built.  Being the teacher, I would take care of the town records and teach some arithmetic there.  Tavar had a few surprises for me in early spring that would help with my teaching duties.  The first was when he moved my washlines because he need the space for a surprise he was building me to solve the problem of rabbits in the carrot patch.  He built me a garden with little rabbit hobbit holes, an apple tree, and some cabbage plants.  With the leftover scrap wood he built a small birdhouse over by the washlines and a small table for the bee hive he found.  I was delighted with the surprises and happy that I would be able to teach the children about the birds and the bees and, when they asked where babies came from, I could show them baby bunnies in the cabbage patch.  Yes, from the cabbage patch.  Where were you told babies come from when you were their age, weary traveler?

  We were all surprised in spring by the arrival of 13 hobbits with 4 young children and with what they had to tell us.  Their settlement was all but destroyed by a devastating wind storm but they all survived.  The folks at O'Leary's Farm weren't so lucky, only a handful of the young people survived.  The newcomers brought news from our families who were all alive and well and sent them to us.   We made them welcome and began planning where to build more homes.  That afternoon the mournful sound of the bagpipes could be heard coming from one of the hobbit holes.

  Two houses and a root cellar were build near our house.  I could use some help with the gardens and beekeeping.  The families were very happy to have their pantries filled with meat and potatoes and other vegetables.  They'd been living on gathered foods for a while.  We wanted to be able to help other farm settlements in The Shire that were struggling, our storage units were near capacity.  We built a small barn next to the stockpile.  One by one we built homes for the other families.  It began to snow in autumn delaying the work.  The last house was not completed until early spring of year 4.