Farmland District

[Year count: 100]

Let's take a quick tour of the Farmland District!

Don't let the district's name fool you to think this is a green and natural area! Lately the industries has been eating in from the upper Gal district, and that is only natural because the mines are located back there in the mountain, very close to this fertile soil.

Farmland is split in the upper and lower part. Let's assume the upper farms are greater and cleaner, being cut off from the pollutive industry. Still, the farmers of the lower part see themselves as pretty successful gardeners, growing healthy plants, making good money from nature. They have no clue about the terrible event that awaits only 10 years ahead... ta-dam... :doh:

There are 3 major factories here, Stevo Industries (named after Maurice Pettonta's son who died on seas as a young adult), Garton Technologies and Iron Winding, Inc.  There are some more factories closer to Gal District. Most production is based on minerals brought out from the mines, giving work to a large group of Galucca's residents. The honorable Maurice Pettonta did of course make most money of them all, organizing and controlling most of the production, now replaced by son-in-law, Jim Garton (not so honorable ;) ). Also Maurice's brother, Count Jonathan Pettonta, controlled one of the factories, namely Iron Winding, Inc. Pure minerals are also transported down Mine Road, through the lower farmland, to reach waiting ships at the harbour.

The 4 households of lower farmland in a couple days...

Pettonta Castle, status

[year count: 100]

I realize we need to check on the honorable Pettonta family every now and then to keep up with their lives. They are also a natural spot for general community news.

Latest news: Count Jonathan Pettonta is dead!

I wasn't expecting his death this soon, but he was elderly (more about him here) - and yes, people lived shorter lives back then...

First some general updates on Galucca, 100ya! Galucca has become a thriving community. Most families have moved to bigger houses just outside Old Town. This gives more central builds for growing businesses, as well as new residents can hire a room or two. Businesses do benefit more from the harbour. These days Old Town is even expanded with the surrounding 7 lots (not quite ready buildwise, but soon ), including Town Hall. These new lots will not really be referred to as Old Town in the future, though. You can also pretend that the harbour has been extended to meet the increased activity.

The old Mine Road has been important for transports between Old Town to the Mines. The distance from Town Hall to Pettonta Castle has now been renamed Pettonta Drive.

It's already been 30 years since Baron Gustavian Pettonta inherited the main parts of Galucca. Some land has been sold in order to make alliances and to expand. His sister, Lady Dora, was married to (or handed over to) Hendric von Salamand, it was the way Count Jonathan could returned a favor of the past. I felt sorry for Lady Dora, because she hates the outdoors, and now they run the largest farm of the entire Farmland District.

So how about Baron Gustavian and his evil Baroness, Maria? They had 1 son Junato and 2 daughters Ronda and Helena. Junato and Ronda are both teenagers, while Helena is about to start school. Their live-in painter, Emanuel Litter, is now quite old, and Baroness Maria got very upset when the family portrait painted in the library looked like a freak show act. They gave him another chance, and Baron Gustavian insisted on keeping the painting, mostly to save the old man from total humiliation. Maria has heard about photography, and suggested they no longer need a live-in painter.

Gustavian and Maria is a strange couple, both working for perfectionism, but by different goals and methods. They quarrel quite often and avoid being in the same room when the youngest kids are around.

Besides being a workaholic, Gustavian also has military ambitions and already built a fortress on Ucca island, under the command of Admiral Turmington. Countess Maria is not at all popular among the residents, she made few friends and it is said that she steals from the poor industrial workers. Go figure...

Maria has rearranged the Blue Room, the meetings now take place in the western tower, while the chess tournaments take place right outside. Head of the castle (Count or Baron) leads these meetings (however, Gustavian is a bit clumsy with words, is that why Maria seems to speak most of the time?). Maximum 4 family members can join. Although there is one empty chair, Ronda is not accepted because she is female not yet grown up. (Yes, of course there are more rules, don't you think I like rules, or what? :P )

Today a young woman wanted to see head of the house. They have no butler, so Baroness Maria greeted young Patricia Sculler. She applied for the Cook job! I imagine Patricia had often seen the castle up on the hill, wondering how life could be up there. She is one of 5 kids raised in a Sculptor's house in Crafters Hood of Gal District. She claimed she knows a little cooking, but truth is she only have a couple skill points in fishing... Due to the poor relation between Maria and Gustavian, Maria hesitates hiring a young woman, but seeing Patricia's terrible looks, Maria accepted the application immediately. There is no chance Gustavian will ever flirt with such an ugly face...
Patricia will sleep in the eastern tower, but plans to sneak down into the library at night to read up. Hopefully she will have time to learn some cooking before the next big party is coming up.

But Patricia is up for a surprise! Now that Count Jonathan died (he is already buried), the ritual for instating the next Count (and Countess) is up in a couple days! Gustavian has already been head of the castle for a while, but the formal ceremony is still very important, followed by a formal reception with many hungry guests here at Pettonta Castle!

I'm now done building the lacking small homes in the lower Farmland District, to be posted next! I wish every day had minimum 48 hrs... (if it had, I'd probably just double my projects... )

Gal District, Sunny Field

[Year count = 100]

Can't believe I'm posting all this :). The plan is to show you how all the districts of Galucca were like 100 years ago, before the place develops further, and the catastrophe comes with dramatic changes to many families. Oh, poor souls! If I'll take a tour of the districts again later, say 50ya, there will be too many households to stop by at each and everyone. So it's now or never :D

Anyway; we've now arrived the southern part of Gal District, it's called Sunny Field. There are several lots, but only one household at this time, 100ya. So this should be a rather quick post - hee-hee!

This is practically at the coast, still west of Gal River. The nice beaches are located across the estuary. Please note that just outside those beaches lies the Ucca Island. Gal+Ucca= ... right :)

The name Sunny Field says it all. The area is pretty flat, of course only sunny on sunny days, but like the rest of Gal District the mountain protects the land from the chilly western winds. Down here the shadows sneak in a little later than farther up the river. This seems to become Galucca's nectar district.

Agnes S. & Stepp Malone settled here some time ago. Agnes is a sister of the Sculptor Abraham Sculler at Crafters Hood, while Stepp has no ancestors in Galucca. He is a registered Gardener, growing grapes and more. Agnes produce nectar at the Old Mill Nectary, and also sells some directly to pubs and Salamand Bistro in Old Town.

Agnes and Stepp have 2 daughters and 1 son. The girls [b]Amanda[/b] and [b]Tawanna[/b] are about to move out. When it became clear that they had no intention of running a grapes farm, Agnes and Stepp gave it another try, and had [b]Everet[/b], just before Agnes turned elderly. Stepp will soon be an elder too, but Everet will soon start school, and will definitely grow up while his parents are still around.


So, that's all from Sunny Field, the 3rd quarter of Gal District :D . I've moved on to check on the noble family at Pettonta Castle, and there I found news that should deserve some attention before we move up to the Farmland District, shortly. Stay tuned!

Gal District, Crafters Hood

I gotta keep posting from Gal District, sorry if the updates are a bit massive these days :D.

So, good news is that in this part of Gal District there are currently only 3 households :D . This quarter is located just south of the Old Mill Nectary. No workers live here, instead there are various craftsmen. Let's just pretend there are more households, to cover more professions.

I forgot to add household names to the overview picture; to the left resides the Spangler family, in front the Huggin family, and to the right the Sculler family. The households of Crafters Hood are not as poor as the workers and miners up at Maurice Creek, although they had their challenges. Houses are wooden, while most houses farther up are built with stone. This southern part of Gal District can get pretty warm during the day, because of the tall mountains farther west there is hardly any wind. but the same mountain also provide shadow rather early in the evening, making the location less attractive to the richer families.

Darling Q. & Abraham Sculler are elders by now, and nearly all their 5 kids have grown up, preparing to move out. Their only son, Davan, is about to take over this house. Abraham and Davan are both Sculptors (their working shed can be seen all to the right), while Darling has been gardening for the most. Some grapes, but also other species. She has the most interesting face, although the Sculler genes have made most of her kids less fortunate looking. In fact, I think this is the weirdest looking residents of Galucca, and old Abraham's 3 siblings residing elsewhere have spread the DNA all over the world, it seems.

Just have to show you a pic of Darling from her adult birthday some while ago (love the happy expression on her face), as well as one of her daughters looking a bit... scary.

Elisa Huggin (centered) is a single mom. She moved in her with her elderly mom, who has been dead since long. Elisa never met her dad, and probably her mom met him only once. Repeating history, Elisa got pregnant with a sailor and gave birth to twins, Rhonda and Blaine.

Sister of Elisa's mom was the mom to Darling Q. Sculler (above), Herbert Quist, Gorg Quist (both in Maurice Creek) and one more daughter who moved to Moon District (east). So although this household is a small one, they have numerous relatives.

Although Elisa works as a teacher, she is a weaver by profession. She produce her textiles here at Crafters Hood and sell them to the Tackotts, who run a clothing store in Old Town. Rhonda seems to bring on the weaving tradition, although she will probably need to work elsewhere when her brother Blaine takes over this house. He currently works in a factory (he is still a teen on the picture, but is same age as Rhonda and is about to grow up), not sealed his profession quite yet.

The final household of Crafters Hood is Jana G. & Elmer Spangler. Jana is sister to the 2 Garton brothers at Maurice Creek. Intendedly Elmer was an Inventor, and Jana worked in a factory. Then they bought one horse, and thanks to the neighbourhood pet adoption feature (which I hate) they suddenly got 2 more horses, and later again 2 more. Now they both work here at Spangler Ranch as horsemen, providing Galucca with horses.

Jana and Elmer have 1 daughter Sandy (already moved out) and 1 son, Tommy, who is about to start school.


That's all from Crafters Hood! Hopefully the last post to complete the Gal District will be posted later today :)

Gal District, Old Mill Nectary

[Year count 100] Before checking out Crafters Hood, there's one community lot which actually belongs to Maurice Creek that I forgot to mention, bad me... the Old Mill Nectary.

A strange name for a nectary?

Old Mill Nectary is located on the border between the two hoods Maurice Creek & Crafters Hood. The old mill, that was built shortly after Galucca was founded 100 earlier. is no longer in use, so when Maurice Pettonta realized that the families who settled farther south in Gal District started to grow grapes, he quickly had a Nectary built.

I'm not very satisfied with the exterior, but I need to think that most builds will probably get modernized over the next 100 years, so I decided to let it rest the way it is. The tallest tower is actually remains from the old Mill, a corn storage silo. I think the build would look better without the old silo, but at the same time I want some history to be preserved. The two big windows in front would typically not be installed at this time, but rather be part of a future modernizing.

On ground floor nectar is sold, the bottles are hard to see on the picture, but they are stored behind those two arches to the left. And it's obvious that Toya Quist, who was offered the job, has not got to it yet...

On 1st floor there are two nectar makers. It would be more natural to place them in the basement, and they will in the future, as this floor will be turned into a shop and gallery, focusing on nectar making, of course.

On 2nd floor visitors can taste nectar, and even enjoy the great view from the little terrace. The view down Gal River IS great, just ignore the ugly green bridge that is not really built quit yet :D. I know I could have saved a copy of the world, to delete the bridge for this picture, but I didn't bother :) .

Now, done with the Old Mill Nectary, I'll jump into the couple households of Crafters Hood... more in about 3 days :)

Gal District, Maurice Creek

[Year count: 100] So, this is the upper part of the district, where the old bridge still connects Gal District to the rest of Galucca (but in just 10 years the catastrophe will strike...).

The entire Gal District was inherited by Count Gustavo's youngest son, Maurice Pettonta, hence the name Maurice('s) Creek (more about this on year count 40). He was the one to organize and develop the ongoing industry, making him head of the many working families. The first industry covered the mining and factories, all located further north.

Now, year count 100, the industry is blooming. Let's visit the 6 households of Maurice Creek!

This family still controls both industry and workers, benefiting from others' hard work. No surprise they got the best house on this side of Gal River, built 60 years earlier.

The elders on the picture above (right) are Maurice (hat) and his wife, Rita. They are both very old. Their only son and intended heir to the industry, died on sea, 10 years ago their daughter Ellen inherited it all. Unfortunately, she can't bring on the Pettonta name. She married to Jim Garton (left), son of workers who settled here at Maurice Creek long ago. He showed great business talent in the past, and Maurice had no choice but preparing Jim to take over. Ellen P. and Jim Garton have one son and one daughter (ugh, just noticed I forgot to adjust the toddler's clothes).

Maurice is Count Jonathan Pettonta's brother, but they hardly speak.

Most of the other families here at Maurice Creek are pretty poor workers.

Tina D. & Henry Garton have 2 daughters. Henry and Jim (previous household) are brothers.
It might seem confusing having two Garton households next door, but as girls never keep their maiden name, this household will lose the Garton name in just one generation.

Both Henry and Tina works in the mine, I think Tina is the only female in there.

Shassy O. & Alan Dickson have only one son, Artuk. Alan grew up in this shed, and his sister Tina we just met. His brother took the name Hill, and you'll meet him in a few. Shassy is daughter of an Old Town onion farmer. Now they are both workers, Alan in the mine, and Shassy in a factory. Shassy dreams of becoming a farmer, but this far she only grow a little for their own consume.

Another tiny stone house, this is not as old as the others. Tina F. & Herbert Quist reside here, and they have just 1 daughter, Melody. Herbert is brother of Gorg Quist who inherited the main family property. When Melody marries, this house will be renamed.

Herbert works in the mine, while Tina works at the Science Soil Facility just across the old bridge, owned by Mr. Hupert Wooming.

Here is the main Quist household, Nelly S. & Gorg Quist, and their 4 kids. They got a decent house for the region. The son (left), Ethane, will get the house, while the 2 oldest daughters already are young adults and ready to move out. Daughter Toya (all to the right) is interested in nectar making, and old Maurice Pettonta just offered her a job at the nectary.

When they moved to Galucca, they intended to run some business, but Old Town was full and it was easier for Gorg to just become a miner, just like his brother Herbert. Nelly serves at Salamand Bistro, old town.

PS: Nelly is said to be quite a flirter, and rumours have it she refuses to tie up her hair (like married women are expected to) in order to make visiting men believe she is single. I'm not sure if all this is true, you can never trust rumours, can you? :)

The last household of Maurice Creek is the Hill household. When David Dickson married Lindy Gnomes, they agreed on taking the Hill name (Lindy has 5 siblings, so the Gnomes name was even less useful than Dickson). They are poor, and the house is small, but with 2 additional sheds. They have 2 daughters and 1 son (and my dice said that's enough for them...).

David works in the mines, and Lindy works in a factory. She is not very well liked by others, and prefers to stay home. On pay day, David can be seen alone drinking a few too many glasses of nectar at the Salamand Bistro in Old Town.

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Well, I guess this is just a tiny-tiny bit interesting to read, and good news is that I'm done :) . At least with Maurice Creek of the Gal District. This is where most workers live, when we'll walk southward to stop by at Crafters Hood and Sunny Field, there will hardly be any miners at all. And fewer households, too...