Locus: Outbuildings - Part IV

The tables from part I and part II of this series were used to create two sample estates, Brenden House and Necheild. Just as in part III each was given four outbuildings with two traits each, but the dice were not as kind to these manors.

Brenden House

The borderlands south of Jorvik are wild and harsh places. There are long stretches of mountain inland and shifting swaths of sick country along the coast, but the stubborn and desperate are still able to survive and sometimes prosper here, at least for a time. Brenden House is an estate in these lands which refuses to acknowledge that it is dying.

Set at the base of a smooth, looming mountain, the main grounds are circled by a palisade cut through by a swift and stony brook that springs from high above. On one bank, a dilapidated mill slumps alongside the water, its wheel raised and dry much of the time. On the other, a large washhouse gently rots back into loam and mulch.

The masters of Brenden House make their meager living exploiting the property’s position. Sustenance farms nearby journey here after harvest to trade with each other and take advantage of the only standing mill for miles, a service which is greedily levied.

A dangerous shortcut between two important Jorvian cities passes near the house, which extorts the rare traveler for safe shelter within the palisade. Most often guests are shown to a pair of low-slung and musty rooms above the mountain-shadowed barn. On the odd chance both those chambers are full, there is always the cabin.

The cabin hasn't seen demand in many years and has fallen to a pitiable state. It does not lie within the palisade, but rather among the rotted ruins of several building of now-unknown purpose, and the remnants of another fortification that once spread much wider from the main house. The price is, of course, the same as the barn, but visitors are welcome to camp in the surrounding woods if they wish.

• 10 - Barn
  • 67 - Quarters
  • 26 - Dark
• 41 - Mill
  • 83 - Seasonal
  • 21 - Crude
• 90 - Wash House
  • 99 - Wooden
  • 03 - Abandoned
• 19 - Cabin
  • 40 - Distant
  • 02 - Abandoned

Necheild

Jorvik’s cities rapidly give over to rolling farmland fringed by woods and mountains. Most grow reliable crops of corn, rye, beans, potatoes, and apples, but a few risk the whim of the trade markets to raise cattle.

The estate of Necheild is currently staggering towards such a goal. It has changed hands repeatedly in recent generations, each owner wagering hope against its lush green pastures and falling short for some reason or another. Less-educated countrymen call the place cursed, but the most recent buyers know better.

A visitor finds the grounds of Necheild in startling disrepair. Many of the buildings have been partially disassembled, timbers stacked beside them haphazardly. A large shed on wheels with a four-team harness holds several cut beams, but has sunken into the road and become overgrown with vines and moss.

The target of this halting effort seems to be an expansion of the main barn. Other nearby buildings have been incorporated into structure, including a shack whose multiple skyhearth basins were purged with the intent of serving as livestock stalls, but still stand empty. The concept of a dairy can be sketched from the wooden skeleton rising not far away. A handful of cows wander at will in and out of the complex, swollen and lowing.

Against the graying manor house a still has been hastily constructed and smokes gently at all hours. The small family which currently owns Necheild has fallen far into the bottle. Their bursts of activity are followed by long bouts of boasting and dreaming - their herd dwindles to creditors. With proper attention, the cool fields of the Necheild estate could quickly become a lucrative dairy.

• 75 - Still
  • 19 - Crude
  • 23 - Damp
• 95 - Wood Shed
  • 61 - Overgrown
  • 58 - Moveable
• 40 - Milk House
  • 97 - Wooden
  • 49 - Incomplete
• 12 - Barn
  • 71 - Repurposed from 47: Power shed
  • 86 - Sod