Clusters and Villages

[MoonHunter]

The first thing you need to remember is that the Kerrenese live together in tightly packed housing arrangements ringed by a barrier.  These living areas are usually walled, the wall ranging somewhere between a tall fence or a real stone wall, 7 meters tall.  The ecology that they have sworn to "live with" is filled with megafauna, as well as some fairly viscious faunascale predators.  People live together for mutual protection and behind the barriers.

Note: Moats will not cut it.  The worst of the predators, Jumpers, are smart enough to swim across or create crossing logs.  

A Cluster is a Kerrenese City or Town.  They will house 1-5 thousand people.  A cluster is normally built up against a cliff side for a warren. Several clusters are built up against or on other defensible terrain features.  

Buildings in Clusters on Kerren will be square in general shape. The walls will be of stone or adobe. Most buildings will be recessed into the cliffside, but others are free standing.

Since space will be at a premium in a walled clusters, most of these buildings will be built right next to each other, with no alleys between them. There will also be a tierred effect. A second set of smaller buildings will be built on top of other buildings, with their being a path or small road on top of the original, lower buildings.

Some of the cluster will be built into the cliffside.  That will lead normally up to the Warren, where the Ryders and their mounts live.  

The look of these will be like the Pueblo Indians of the South West Americas (though some say they have an Incan and early North African looks to these buildings). Both areas used the same materials and the same terrains for their cities.

Almost all Clusters have a Warren, a place where Ryders and their mounts live.  The average warren supports 3 wings, so 12 ryders and dragons, plus mates, young, and other misc family.  All told about 60 people, and 40 some odd dragons.

[MoonHunter]

Adobe: Baked Dirt Bricks with the right waterproofing element can last near forever. Without the right waterproofing element casually last 200-500 years. Some of the adobe bricks on the Great Wall have properties equal to or in some cases better than modern concrete bricks.

Concrete: Simple, easy, and low tech one you have done all the development. Many buildings around prime ward (and second site and third site) are made of concrete.

Stone: You can't beat it for strength and durability. On Kerren, strength is the big consideration. You want to be able to hide in the building from megafauna, jumpers, and other such critters.

Wood: Used for supports and decorative elements. It is not strong enough to defend against most megafauna, so it tends not to be used for anything that a person might need to hide in. Yet many villages are mostly wooden villages.  

Bamboo: This is not terrestial Bamboo, but it is bascially the same plant (Bamboo was on Terra long before the Dinosaurs, so a similar plant should develop on Kerren). It is used in place of wood for support and decorative elements.

Glass: A substance that the locals can casually make. With their knowledge of advanced technologies, they can make glass stronger than we can today with less technology. Windows are always small, and usually tinted or reflective to the outside. Why? Windows are the weakest part of the wall and if the critter sees you it will attack the window to get to you. Tinted or reflective glass prevents the critter for comming at you.

The Primary Digging Tool for larger constructs is Dragons. After all these critters dig caves out of cliff sides, they should be able to handle any dirt or stone. They are also the primary lifting tool.

Gips in harnesses can be a formidable pulling animal. Some wards are experimenting with domesticating other Saurians, with varying degrees of success.

Note: On Firstdown, Sitebee, Sitecee, there is biocrete. Bio-crete is a substance just being developed today. Throw a yeast, some biomass, and some warm water into a mold and a few days later... out pops a wall, a dome, or whatever. If they can keap a yeast starter alive, they can still be using this stuff.  It was used to make some of the original buildings here.  Those clusters have domes and sweeping buildings that can not be duplicated in other locations.

[MoonHunter]

Marker Station:

These round towers are scattered around the wilds of Kerren.  They are five to fifteen meters tall, round in shape, with three to five meters in diameter, they are all round in shape.  They are sturdily constructed, as they have to withstand random saurian attention.  Normally they are only accessible from the roof, but some nearer to villages or clusters have ground side doors (these doors have combination locks that Jumpers can not open).  

They are always built on high ground or someplace that makes them obvious from the air.  They will always have a North marked Arrow on their roof, and a number (identifying the tower)

Inside these towers, there is space to rest and some supplies cached.  

The main purpose of Marker stations is navigations.  They are built along certain warp routes when there is either a great deal of repetative landscape or great distance between destinations. They function as landmarks to help Ryders navigate and jump.

Over the years, their purpose has expanded. They also serve as way stations, where a dragon can rest in relative peace and supplies can be cached.

A few marker stations have created villages around them.  The periodic promise of Ryder traffic allows for isolated villages not to be forgotten.  Ryders provide income to these Marker villages. They receive food, drink, and rest, while  the village receives credit to get things from the Ward.

[MoonHunter]

http://www.strolen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=25954#25954


This post is an example Cluster

[MoonHunter]

http://www.strolen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=35813#35813

This is a new cluster that would be on a map of important places. It is the home of all the really big tournaments.

Dragons flying, food, music, more dragons flying, races, fights, duels, flirtation, back room politicing, more competitions, the occasional heat sickness, time away from the Warren and duty, more final flyinging, packing up and wishing to do it all next year.