Well, first of all... I'd like to thank everyone for another wave of kind comments :3
Also the tips and ideas I received here or via PMs - thank you!
And now, a very special chapter...
This one might be a bit longer... Please bear with me!
Chapter 6:
FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICIt is, isn't it?
Well, the last few days have been relatively peaceful. Another tranquil dawn on the mountain.
I decided to take this picture because I received a couple of messages asking for a more "general" view of the scale, like "how high I am." At first I sent pics with some hemp but then I realized it was abo-- errmm... Nevermind. Anyway, I can't fit the whole mountain range on a single pic (the game won't render it anyway
) but this is the view I get from the south when climbing the mountain. It's literally on the top of it
I might even think that this is, perhaps, the highest tower ever built on Haven (?! Maybe?)
Anyway...
A lot has happened in just a couple of days. Some amazing stuff, by the way...
But Wulfkin will keep these for himself for now... As for the development of the Retreat, the arguably most important single event was the completion of the
Austral Slopes Road.Originally built for the pilgrim road to Wulfkin's Grave, the Austral Slopes Road is now a 10-minute long (on foot) road that goes south from the top of the mountain all the way down to the foothills, passing nearby important spots (clay deposits and water bodies) and finishing on Austral Slope.
This road is important for 2 reasons:
- I made it so it is entirely supported by carts. So I can now easily go up and down the mountain for wood and other resources like barrels of water or tanning fluid...
This allowed me to stockpile a bit of materials that were otherwise scarce. I managed to finish my cupboards (well... most of them
) and also greatly and effectively expand my leatherworking area:
But also...
- It allows me to easily come from and go to the Austral Slope.
But
what is the Austral Slope?
Well, it's kind of an important project - if not the most important so far - that has been mainly a secret. It started like this:
And after a lot of hunting, eating, digging, filling, paving and building (and sparing worms. I separated *all* the worms (190 of them) for fishing
), it looked like this:
The Austral Slope will be my official, sponsored and allied farm!
I've kept building rules to it - for example, it can't be larger than that, it couldn't be built on flat plains (so I decided to make a stepped, japanese-like farm on the foothills of the mountain) and, well... It had to be literally just outside the mountain terrain.
Oh, there's also two practical rules:
1- It may never hold heartfires/become a settlement of its own. I shall always travel to it and bring its production back to the Retreat.
2- It must not refine or develop any products other than the crops and potentially trees and such. What this means is: I shall not run any industry there (wine, cloth, cooking...) but rather bring the raw materials from it and produce more complex goods at the Retreat.
Well. That was some terraforming and building, but it all went well!
Now... As if these days weren't full already, some really great things have happened today!
There's one thing I'd like to say before getting to it, though... I've been asked (more than once) "why do you play Haven as a peaceful, non-violent character?" Well, there are certainly hundreds of people that play Haven like this, and I'm sure most of them have been asked this at least once. Or even heard the not-so-uncommon lines like "If you want peace go play Farmville"
Well, I have to disagree. Allow me a minute for my opinion on the matter... One thing that attracts people to games is, usually, the sense of being rewarded for your efforts. The sense of achievement. Yes, I could play Farmville to make my little pretty homestead... But everyone lives in peace in Farmville, peace isn't relevant in a game where it is the only state. Now... to live in a dangerous, hostile world - and still be able to find friendly people, peace and kindness - this... This is remarkable. This is exactly what moves peaceful people forward: the renewed hope of seeing that there are kind and nice people living on this harsh, cruel world. This is the fun side of being peaceful: you're in danger, you can be threatened but you are still able to find kindness and be kind yourself... this is amazing. It's like a personal challenge, one that you're happy whenever you achieve something. And this day was filled with achievement!It started with the warming approach and help offering from
Enjoyment. After a couple of messages, we set up a visit and he came by... with a whole cart of stuff!
I can barely describe how great this was! So many useful things, food, animal corpses and new discoveries! It certainly saved me hours of basic work to keep myself alive and allowed me to focus on more important things. I also gave him a sneak-peak preview of Austral Slope and he gave me lots of seeds! Combined with some seeds I had saved since the world started, I was able to immediately start up the farm!
Other than that we talked and I showed him the place until the sun was set. He then left to hunt some bats on the nearby caves, leaving me a very happy hermit!
Thank you a lot! Look forward for more visits! Hopefully I'll be able to offer more in the future
Not long later, an earlier acquaintance from the first days of the world - I'll call him Z - started a conversation. We have been in touch since we met, though he kept moving south since our encounter. He wanted to help, too - and all help is greatly appreciated - so after exchanging some info, I've realized I could easily reach him with a boat. So I went on to have my first boat journey! (I loaded my boat with snow for him
)
The travel was very short and tranquil. Soon enough I was landing on his beach and met him on his cozy, nice place. He's been working a lot, lots of projects and things going on - a garden being built behind him, a village being built to the West... He wasn't sure he would stay there for long but now it seems he's really aiming to setle. This is nice, it's always good to have nice neighbors!
I was surprised with the amount of effort and care he also put on all the stuff he kindly gave me. Two stone chests filled with materials for the farm, some curios, vegetables, etc... Another mighty gift indeed! We spent the rest of the day talking and knowing his place, and before sunset I set forth back to Wulf's Retreat.
There's no arguing there. Friendship is magic
and yeah - there's certainly hope for the Hearthlands