What do you need to keep your life going on Skye?

Due to procrastination, and the realisation I hadn’t done any technical drawing or prop-making in a little while, I’m working on a couple of maps. I’m trying to work out where precisely on the Isle our camp is, and I’ve got it down to one or two possibilities.

It occured to me that our food had to come from somewhere, so I’ve been chatting to a few people and sorting out the most secure chain of supplies that I can, given the terrain. But food wouldn’t be our only issue, so: what pet projects of yours require certain supplies to keep them going? Do you know where those supplies are coming from? Are they locally based, come from outside Skye, or outside Britain entirely?

(For example, these maps brought to you by some intense bartering with a collector of manuscripts I know)

This has nothing to do with my character , but I love this stuff, so here’s my two cents.

I’m assuming the large majority of opium (Legal and otherwise) comes from the East India Company. They would probably also supply the majority of raw materials (metal, wood) as well as ‘new’ cloth since they have the means to produce and carry them on a large scale. This going off exports of the historical East India Company as well as information on mining in the areas that according to cannon the E.I.T.C have under their control. As well as tea, obviously.

Chemicals are harder. I can imagine Her Madge isn’t too keen on having lots of chemical factories about, so I’m assuming they’ll be made offshore, in Scotland. Saltpeter can be made from urine and some other stuff so I’m guessing we can make that on Skye if needs be. Things like glass (large scale and smaller, like test tubes) can be either taken from outside Skye, or if they’re fiddly, made on site.

I’ve been wondering where medical supplies come from. Certain medicinal plants can be found growing wild (the gypsies seem to be knowledgeable about this sort of thing), but other items wouldn’t be as accessible- Hopefully there are still stores of various medicines/equipment around somewhere.

Hmm. Much,much earlier than we are, but this quote is interesting:

At the tables where a stranger is received, neither plenty nor delicacy is wanting. A tract of land so thinly inhabited, must have much wild-fowl; and I scarcely remember to have seen a dinner without them. The moor-game is every where to be had. That the sea abounds with fish, needs not be told, for it supplies a great part of Europe. The Isle of Sky has stags and roebucks, but no hares. They sell very numerous droves of oxen yearly to England, and therefore cannot be supposed to want beef at home. Sheep and goats are in great numbers, and they have the common domestic fowls."
—Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

A few notes on the geography

Remember to note the position of the Talisker Whiskey Distillery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talisker_distillery
This is where you’ll find Jack, Lily, (& possibly Ivy) quite frequently!

The army camp and the work camp are both not quite the same place as the refugee camp

Where is the nearest fishing village? Or village of any type?

The Forest folk claim to come from a forest. There’s not likely to be too many forests on even the Inner Hebrides, so where is it ?
Or is this forest something mystical? :slight_smile:

There’s a Cult of Surt place of worship within a few hours walk of the refugee camp. Jack knows, cos he pissed on it while trying to rescue some guy.

Thanks for the notes, Frank. I’d forgotten about a few of these. To keep everyone posted:

  • The Talisker is on the map already (there’s also a blender on the east coast of the Isle somewhere that makes their own, and a nebulous distillery somewhere in the camp).
  • The army camp and the work camp locations are still up in the air - can anyone place them on a map of Brookfields? Do they move, or are they outside of the gamespace boundaries?
  • The nearest village is Carbost (where the distillery is). It’s likely to be the place where all the merchants came from. Alternatively, there’s also Sligachan, about ten miles to the northeast of us, but even in the 1800s, it was pretty much just a hotel.
  • In the interests of trying to map the gamespace to the Isle of Skye, the refugee camp is also surrounded by forest of about the same density as at Brookfields. It’s not New Zealand native bush, obviously, but bare scrubby marshland stuff. A lot of the previous tracks have been overgrown from lack of use.
  • Place of Surt worship has been added to Zek’s notes.

The Army Camp where us NPC Army types come from could be considered “the other side of the main camp” theres no real boundry, it’s just a little removed from the main community. Doesn’t matter which direction from the camp, you couldn’t consider it a place in brookfields, but if anyone wanted “to go to the army camp” they could do so within 10-15 minutes

The work camp is similar, in the forest, between the camp and the ocean, off on a tangent, ie: if you walked towards the beach in the direction of the work camp, you’d have to detour to the work camp before you hit the beach.