MarkOliva

08/29/2011

1552

The 26th Jörðgarð (TM) Map-of-the-Week release shows a ramshackle smugglers' settlement in the ruins of the Æsir Empire on the site of the former city of North Crossing. The city was somewhat removed from the final battle site near Æsirthrone. As a result, it was severely damaged in the wars but not completely destroyed. The ruins were discovered by the Slavonian adventurer Jarmila and her band, who built ramshackle wooden structures in the ruins and established a trading post there.

Unprincipled Slovanian traders had been making caravan runs up the Fjörm River Valley to the vampire-infested and -ruled Barrow Hills, but that trade had been growing unprofitable due to frequent raids upon the caravans by large hosts of renegade orcs pouring down from the Foggy Mountains in the west. Jarmila thought that she and her band could reap profits by taking control of the ruins of North Crossing and making a toll and services point of it. Her scheme has succeeded … to a certain extent.

Key to the Map of North Crossing:

North Crossing once was a city of formidable stone buildings with clay tile roofs. The shells of some of those structures still stand today, with holes in the roofs exposing the empty interiors to the elements. The few new structures that Jarmila has built are another matter. Fast and cheap was her motto. All of the new and restored structures are made of wood and covered with wooden shingles. A fire easily could destroy the entire settlement. All of the construction is somewhat flimsy. The new buildings are not heated. However, North Crossing is in a semi-tropical zone that rarely experiences frost.

North Crossing produces nothing but questionable trade. Everything that the hamlet consumes is imported from Slovania. The only imported products that are further processed in North Crossing are the barley malt and hops that the innkeeper Šimon (Location No. 3) uses to brew beer. Some travelers stay in the North Crossing Inn that Jarmila owns and Šimon runs, but it's a low quality, expensive house. Most traders who pass through stay in their tents rather than in the inn. Still, the house is small enough that Šimon usually has most rooms full.

1. Public Stall. Jarmila's servants keep their horses here. Those spending a night or more also can give their mounts and draft horses tended stabling for a bronze piece. The stable boy is Eyźen, a human male commoner. Jarmila owns the stall.

2. North Crossing Emporium. Jarmila also owns this building. Her storekeeper is Izabela, a human female merchant-thief. The emporium buys and sells smuggled goods, contraband, etc. There often are some old iron weapons of the Æsir from the ruins of Sólakur on sale, and looted Æsir magical items sometimes also are offered.

3. North Crossing Inn. Jarmila owns the inn. Šimon, a human male merchant-artisan, innkeeper and brewmaster, and his wife, Oldřiška, a human female artisan (cook), run the inn. Their children, son Otakar and baby daughter Renáta, both human commoners, also live in the inn. They are the only children in Norðkross. Šimon also rents storage space in the inn's cellar and the crawl spaces on its upper floor.

4. Šimon's Brewhouse.

5. Jarmila's House.

6. Bunkhouse. The men who serve Jarmila live here.

You can get this map in two versions:

1. The original FM8 map in FMP format, fully editable, from our Jörðgarð web page (20 MB). This version includes a 14-page PDF pamphlet that tells you how to use the layers that are built into the map.

2. As as a JPG flat map, 1360 x 1020 pixels (921 KB), available with the hyperlink below.

Both versions are released for personal and commercial use under the Open Game License Version 1.0a, which you can read on the Jörðgarð web site.

The Jörðgarð web site:

www.vintyri.org/joerdhgardh/joerdhgardh.htm

Next Week: The floor plans of the North Crossing Inn.

Mark Oliva
The Vintyri (TM) Project
www.vintyri.org
info@vintyri.org