Abandoned - Shangri La - Story 67

[Abandoned]

Intro


 This is the 67th story in the Smallville Series and tells the tale of 6 families, from the island of Japan far to the west, whose ship was blown off course during a storm and broke apart when hitting the rocks off Banished World's southwest shores. They encountered heat and drought in the southwest and wild animals and unfriendly natives in the west.  Further inland they encounter floods and famine.  They were directed to Smallville where they were given food and supplies and were told to head east, but there they encountered the aftermath of deadly tornados.  They wanted only to settle in a peaceful place away from the problems of this world that they found themselves in.  They headed south into the mountains near Chattachoo story 4 and Mountain Mines story 8, and there they found their Shangri La.  Shangri La was an imaginary land high in the mountains of Tibet depicted in the James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon (later a movie).  Shangri La has since be used to describe any beautiful remote place where life is tranquil and near perfection, a utopia.  These weary travelers found such a place in year 53 SVT.


The map seed #  20082702       Mountain Meadow,  Small,   Mild,   Disasters Off,   Japan (6 Families)


Featured mods for this story are @angainor88 Japanese mods.
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, Override Map, Settlers Deco, A8Japenese Trees, Kid Tree Replacer XLight, New Flora Edit,  A8 Japanese Start

Tweak Mods:     Better Fields, Bigger Wheelbarrows, Dried Mushrooms, Fishing Dock +25%, Hunting (TS), Increased CC, 1:1 Alternative (Voeille), A8 Japanese Clothing Override,  Rocks Respawn, Tiny Smoke

Major or Must Have Mods:    An Empty Square, Fenceless Pasture, Nomads (Kid), Storage Crates, A8 Japanese Deco, A8 Japanese Housing & Storage, A8 Japanese Misc.,  Kid Workplace

Supporting Mods:    Chicken Coop, Grow Onions, Japanese Shrine, Kid Washing Mod, Kid Work Shop, Sample White Chicken, Water and Other Decorations



  Yes, weary traveler, we were lucky to be alive but we found ourselves in a strange land where we did not speak the language or understand what was said to us.  We had no way to let our families know we were alive and no way to return to our homeland across the sea.  We walked on silently, alone with our thoughts of our homeland and our grief. 

[Abandoned]

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

 

Yes, weary traveler, It was a long and sad journey.  We could only walk on with our heads held high so we wouldn't cry.  When we finally saw these mountains that reached to the sky we knew we had found a new home, our Shangri La.

[angainor88]

I always enjoy your stories, and I'm very excited to see my mods in use! And if you have any problems/feedback for them, let me know

[Abandoned]

  I will let you know, so far so good, what a nice selection of buildings to chose from.    I am enjoying Japanese mods very much.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 1


  The mountain meadow we found reminded us of our homeland, there were plants and trees like we had at home. From the highest mountain peak we could see a vast sea to the east, a sea like the one that brought us to this land.  We young people were on our way up the coast to celebrate the betrothal of our dear friends, we had many gifts for them like silk worm eggs and mulberry tree seedlings.  There were 21 of us, 12 adults with 9 young children.  The weather was not good, we should have listened to our parents and not gone that day.  A fierce wind got hold of our boat and after many many days it threw us up on the shores of this land.   

  We salvaged what we could from the wreckage including those gifts plus rice and soybean seeds.  We traveled inland and met people we did not understand but they pointed us in the right direction.  There were many hardships in this land but the people in a town called Smallville were very kind.  They taught us a little of their language and showed us what wild foods were safe to gather and eat.  They gave us a bow and taught us to hunt a deer.  We knew how to fish.  They gave us some clothes, tools, and potatoes and told us we would find good land to the east.  We found thick forest land and then land destroyed by fierce windstorms, but on the southern horizon we saw these mountains.  We walked on, climbing up into these mountains to find this meadow.

  We gathered building supplies and built a storage kura.  We would store our box of silkworm eggs and sleep inside until we were able to build houses.  We must secure our food supply but first we built a Japanese temple next to the kura.  We practice Shinto, the way of the Gods.  We worship the spirit of nature and our ancestors.  We will not forget the old ways or let the children forget where they came from.  The temple would serve as our first school.  My husband, Demarcel, and I had no children yet even though we were the oldest couple.  My name is Annine.

  There were reeds just like back home on the lake that a river flowed into.  We knew fishing would be good there.  We built a Jomon fish weir to catch fish like they did in the old days.  It was important that we get our rice seeds and soybeans planted as soon as possible.  A rice paddy was dug and a farm field was cleared by the small stream.  There were deer spotted to the north and to the south of the fields so there is where we built a hunting tower.  It rained often but the temperature was mild just like it was back home.

[Abandoned]

Mod note:  The Japanese Shrine school in the Ch1-2 picture above is an old mod that can be found here:   

 https://banishedinfo.com/mods/view/654-Japanese-Shrine

[Abandoned]

Chapter 2


  By summer of that first year we began building homes.  Our food and clothing supplies were low but we gathered wild foods and had hopes for a good harvest.  A small house extension was built onto the side of the kura for a newly wed couple who were expecting their first child. He started to cut firewood.  If the climate indeed was like that of our homeland we would soon have cold weather and snow.  We built an Iwate Inn to get the families out of the kura storage barn if only temporarily.  A Yayoi pit house was built for Demarcel and myself by the fish weir.  Demarcel tended the rice paddy while I fished.  Our diet here would consist mainly of raw fish, rice, and soybeans.  The mulberry orchard would take time to grow and produce.  We found some mulberry trees growing wild. There was also bamboo growing wild along the small stream.  With it we could make fishing poles, baskets, floor mats, and other useful household items.  We found seedling of other familiar plants and trees growing in the wild too and we were beginning to feel at home here in Shangri La but our memories often made us sad.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-JbvmuCNcc

[Kristahfer]

Really like the addition of the music.

[Abandoned]

Thanks @Kristahfer I always liked the first song, Sukiaki, and thought of it immediately when I decided to do a Japanese story. I actually still have the old 45 record.  I did not know the English translation until now.  Looking for a video of it is when I found the second song liking the picture and then the song.  I thought the words really fit the beginning of the story and just had to include it.   

[Abandoned]

Chapter 3


  It was late autumn of that first year when the Kyoto farmhouse was built for one of our families.  They had 3 children but there was room for 2 more.  We had our first harvests of rice and soybeans and our first snowfall before that farmhouse was completed.   Shortly after that, the Kitakata house across from the shrine was complete.  The couple had their first child in early autumn as did the couple still living in the small extension built on the side of the kura storage building.  Both couples had baby girls, Demarcel and I had a baby boy at the same time.  We named him Rowlandra.  The remaining 2 couples each had 3 children and just enough room in the 2 Nagaya rowhouses that were built along our main street.  The Iwate Inn was now empty. 

  By the end of that first year our supply of food and firewood was good but we would need tools soon and our supply of clothes was very low.  We had no silk for kimonos or leather for hide coats.  Our hunter had no luck all year.  There were deer spotted across the small stream but they did not return to this side.  A bridge was built to cross the stream and another hunter was added to the tower.  We made another bow from the bamboo growing along the stream. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 4

  Early spring of year 2 was cold and rainy but we could better see some of the trees and shrubs like we had back home.  Besides the bamboo and mulberry, we could see sakura, flowering plums, Japanese maples, and even a few black pines. It was a beautiful spring here just like back home.

  Our supply of clothing was very low.  Our hunters had a bit of luck and we now had some leather for hide clothes as well as venison that we learned how to cook in Smallville. We built a Nara Tailor shop to make a few hide coats until we were able to make silk for kimonos.   Nearby we built a Gassho silk shed where we took one of the silkworm eggs.  As soon as we had a mulberry harvest we could hatch the egg and feed the silkworm mulberry to produce the needed silk.

  Before the 2 buildings were completed we were surprised by the arrival of 2 families consisting of 4 adults, a young child, and a newborn.  From what little we could understand, they had been lost in these mountains for some time. We later learned they were surveyors for a railway company over the mountains to the northeast.  They were not in good shape and suffered from exposure from being in the mountains over winter.   It would take some time for them to recover their health and strength.  The condition of the mother and newborn prompted us to build a walled Japanese cemetery not far from the Iwate Inn where they were staying.  Someday we would plant a beautiful Japanese garden beyond the large gateway of that secluded resting place.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 5


  It was along back by the cemetery and waterfront that both families would chose to have houses built.  They would be happy with whatever style of house we choose for them.  They needed more time to recover before moving which was a good thing because we needed to build a Tataraba forge for tool making first, our tool supply was very low.  We also built a Gassho Kara storage unit by the silk shed so mulberries would be stored closer to where they were needed.  There still was no harvest from the mulberry orchard.

  We choose a riverside Sawara House for the family of 4 who just had their 3rd child.  The couple still in the Inn also had a newborn.  We choose a Post Town House for them nearby where they would fish from the newly constructed fish weir.  Both families were comfortably settled in before the end of the year and were genuinely appreciative of the care they received after they arrived.  They would tend the cemetery grounds as a thank you.  They were interested in learning our ways and customs.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 6

  Year 3 began with the first student starting school.  We tried as best we could to tell our new residents that when their children were old enough, we would have 2 teachers for the children.  All the children would learn our old ways and their old ways.  We would have a new school too that would teach new ways. 

  Like us the new folks missed the families and friends they left behind.  Unlike us they had a way they could reach them if we built a trading post on the river.  The river boatmen could deliver messages to their families.  We could get seeds and livestock from these river boat merchants.  We built a Edo Trading Post on the lake that the river flowed through.

  In late spring more families arrived, 13 adults and a newborn.  They too had been lost in these mountains and must have come from the same town as the first foreign families, they all seemed to know each other.  There were many hugs and much chatter and laughter.  We made then welcome.

  Another Kydo farmhouse was built for the family of 4, and a rice paddy was dug nearby.  Another  Yayoi pit house was built for a middle aged couple by our first rice paddy.  Another pit house was built on the other side of that rice paddy and a Magariya farm house was built there too.  A Jomon gatherer and a Honghu forester were built in the small forest behind that farm house.  Coming from a mountain area we knew how to make good use of our open spaces and how to conserve resources.  It was snowing in late autumn by the time these building were constructed and we had our first small mulberry harvest.  After the new houses were occupied, there were 3 teens still living at the Iwate Inn, they were 11, 12, and 13 years old.  It would be a few years before any of the children would reach marriageable age and need houses of their own.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 7


  That late autumn of year 3, 5 children were born in Shangri La, Demarcel and I had another son who we named Fred.  One of our foreign friends mentioned the name and we liked it.  We shouldn't really refer to the arrivals as foreigners, this was afterall their homeland, but Shangri La was now ours.

  We thought it was time that we keep written birth records and record other important town information.  We decided to built a Ikeda Kabuki Theatre where there would be room on the 2nd floor not only to store costumes but records as well.  Our mulberry harvest had us hopeful that silk costumes and kabuki performances may be in the near future.

  The theatre was build next to the cemetery where there would one day be a Japanese garden.  The entrance to the theatre faced the small stream and the scenic beauty of nature on the other side.  Upstairs we recorded our town statistics.  In early summer of year 4, Shangri La had a population of 55, 29 adults, 2 students, and 24 young children.  We were all happy and healthy.   Our inventory records showed that our diet and food supply could use improvement.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 8


  We decided to expand our food production to the other side of the small stream.  By summer, land was cleared for another soybean field.  Another bridge was build across the small stream where another crop field would be cleared.  We still only had rice and soybean seeds, no river boatman came to our trading post yet.  As land was cleared we took excess stone and iron to the trading post.  We also had a surplus of firewood, there were always dead branches to collect.

 Mulberry harvesting began and a worker was immediately assigned to the silk shed.  Not only would we have more fruit to eat but we could start silk production.   We would soon have more beautiful soft komonos to wear.  Our foreign families were also looking forward to new clothes but pointed out that they could make linen clothes from the blue flax that was growing wild in the meadow.  A tailor workplace with a covering was built by the Nara Tailor.  The workplace could also make hide coats when more leather became available.