MATERIA

A city designed more with humans and smaller paleons in mind, Borrisdon is the coldest and northernmost community in Materia. The city serves as the port for many mountain communities in the northern continent. These are often isolated in the winter time by heavy snowfalls which leave the city iced over several times each year. In the winter, goods only arrive by ship as the passes to the south become impossible to traverse. Buildings are built with thick walls and sometimes covered in thatch, moss and dirt to insulate them and maintain heat from central fireplaces.

Aside from trade, logging and some agriculture, little takes place here, giving the city the nickname “Borington”

Borrisdon is approximately 200km from Rye’s Pass, 750km from Bonniebreak through winding mountain roads, The entire North-South Road trip to Elizabethtown is just shy of 4,800km, which is a 140-day walking hike for the average human.

Borrisdon Port

Gathering Hall

Temple of Ruuk

Moons Temple

Sawmills

Timber Sheds

Colliers Camps

Overlook Hotel

The main exports of Borrisdon are lumber and alcohol. During the warm months, trees are harvested and replanted in the surrounding hills and mountains. Smaller limbs are cut, dried, and split for firewood over the winter months while the trunks and larger limbs are stored in large sheds, where over the winter months workers saw and mill them into planks, beams, and sheet wood to export across Materia.

Cool weather and root crops are common plants, as are some grains which grow well after the soil warms and thaws but remains wet for some time. Because of this, it is common for distilled alcohols of various types to be exported as well, though a fair amount is also consumed by the residents attempting to stay warm while snowed in.

Coal is a major import, but to lessen the need forest colliers also are paid well to gather the scraps from lumber operations and bake it in to charcoal, which can be pressed and used in place of coal for heating and cooking during the winter. Excess charcoal after the thaw is often exported to other communities where it is used by blacksmiths.

Structures here are built thick and sturdy. It is not uncommon for stone or log walls to be layered half a meter thick or more to insulate the building in the winter months. Most buildings have large fireplaces of stone or brick.

Most buildings have few, if any, windows, and many roofing materials are used ranging from metal and wood to thatch and even earthen domes. With the exception of the latter, most of these sport a conical or steeply pitched design in order to minimize damage from the weight of snow settling on top.

The industrial buildings and wealthier communities are supplied with radiator heat in the winter, pressurized hot steam or water (depending on the service) pumped from one of several city boilers through buried steel or copper piping, passing under floors and through one or two radiators before being returned to the boiler through another pipe. The water service also comes with a tap for making use of the hot water for cooking or drinking, although a filter is recommended.

As bleak and dangerous as the weather, the city is built at the lowest point of land, surrounded by cliffs and rocky drops to the sea on both sides. Inland, the terrain is increasingly hilly and densely wooded the closer one gets to the foothills of the towering mountains.