The Liberty Bureau (Petrichor 365)

Not everyone likes slavery, indeed some are actively opposed to it. It is not a popular position, at least not once taken beyond the realms of philosophical debate.  Too many people believe their status and fortunes depend on keeping others in chains.

One organization devoted to freeing people from bondage is the Liberty Bureau.  It is more a network than a formal organization, its members come and go, taking shelter with the Bureau or helping as they can.  The public face of the Liberty Bureau is devoted to helping enslaved people win their freedom, they help with manumission paperwork, draw up contracts for payments for people, and assist people who have achieved their freedom to find a new path in life.  In places where they can, they advocate for laws abolishing slavery or, at least, giving those enslaved more protections, it is a thankless task.

The Boneyard (Petrichor 365)

Twice a year, more or less, Captain Terrance drives a massive number of herd animals to the outskirts of Port Imperial where they are efficiently and messily slaughtered.

The place where this great slaughter happens has become known as the Boneyard.  It is a rocky area with some scrub plants and hardy flowers.  Scattered among the stones are bone chips and tufts of fur, the area is set between some low hills with a stream running along one side.

When the herd arrives, butchers professional and barely trained descend and a great slaughter begins.  Very little is wasted, the meat is taken away to be smoked, salted or eaten fresh, the hides to be tanned, the bones to be burned or ground into meal and the skulls stacked for later.

The Water Mill (Petrichor 365)

With the farms outside of Port Imperial finally beginning to produce grain and thus, a mill is at least needed.  The Graanmolen Hal of Asterdahl had purchased the land early on and laid the foundations but had not finished the building until just ahead of the first major harvest.

The Water Mill, as the only one it needs no other name, is built using the latest Gemkine waterwheel technology, a mill pond stores water until it is needed.  Everything is new but using the best of perfected Gemkine design so it has proven to be both reliable and efficient.

The Mile Stelae (Petrichor 365)

Before the Empress began the GodsWar and overthrew the gods and the old Empires, there were many great empires, most supported by one or more of the gods.  However, even their names have mostly been lost to history, though occasionally remnants of them can be found.

On the route out of Port Imperial, placed every old Corisan mile (roughly 1.1 Imperial miles), is a stele starting with one marked with the deeds of King Herniv III “the Builder” and with the number sixteen.  As almost no one reads old Corisan only the number is of note to most who pass it by.   The stele stands nearly six feet (1.8m) tall and is of a hard, dark grey stone that shows very little ill-effect from time or weather.

Stormkirk’s Skyship Yard (Petrichor 365)

Most of the ships that arrive at Port Imperial are starships and those are often on their last legs.  But the occasional skyship arrives, most commonly Imperial ones delivering supplies and personnel to Fort Ajzure, but the occasional one from other places.  Skyships arriving at Port Imperial needs a place to land and that is what Stormkirk provides.  (Though the yard is located outside the area of Port Imperial that will be enclosed by the wall, so, arguably, it is not part of the city.)

The yard is primarily a cleared and flattened area with a wooden cradle for damaged skyships.  There is workshop with two spires with colorful pennants to show wind direction and strength.

Yestori Stormkirk is one of the Diamond Gemkine, she is average height with long white hair that falls to her waist.  Her eyes are an unnervingly pure blue.  She wears heavy leather clothes and carries a tool kit at all times.  Yestori is a fully qualified airship engineer and she likes nothing more than talking skyship design and construction though most forms of construction interest her as well.  She is direct and straightforward in most of her dealings (except for her hunt for new skyship-building material).

Yestori‘s dream is to find a new source of wood for skyships here on Petrichor.  But this is a secret, she also carves wood as a hobby and uses that as an excuse to buy wood from venturers and travelers.  She has not found what she is looking for yet but she is not discouraged as there is a lot of Petrichor still to be explored.  Yestori is on good terms with the other Gemkine craftfolk in Port Imperial and they keep an eye out for interesting wood for her.

Notes: Skyships are the fastest common form of travel but are much rarer than starships and much more expensive to build.

Petrichor 365.  Previous entry:  Cadet Stelanya Blueoak, IN Next Entry:  Sargent Zimrud, Imperial Army

Image from Petr Kratochvil on PublicDomainPictures.net and is in the Public Domain.

The Pig and Whistle (Petrichor 365)

Nearby to the fields where the herd animals are driven to slaughter every few months (an area that has earned the charming name of the Boneyard) is a small inn, two stories tall, with a stone base and timbered top.   Its sign is a happy pig dancing on its hind legs and playing the penny whistle.  Out back there is a smoking shed and on the other edge of the yard, an outhouse.  There is an enclosure with a roofed section to corral animals.

The Black Garden (Petrichor 365)

Under a warehouse near the fisherfolk dock is a natural cavern that has been settled by a set of Earthkine from the shadow caverns.  Within this sunless area, these Earthkine have established a garden for fungi, mosses, and albino goats.

The cavern has become known as the Black Garden.  The Sunless Earthkine have been slowly expanding the area underground, finding other caverns and seeding them with fungi, though the ones closer to the sea have been a challenge to find strains of fungi that thrive near salt water.

The Garden of Spikes (Petrichor 365)

Near by the Imperial District is a square marked off by stones, inside are cacti of all sorts, but mostly the ones with really nasty spines at least on the outer edge.

The garden started as just one cactus, which was cut out, the next day there were three.  Those were dug up and the next day, there were eleven.  After that, they decided to just to try contain it and it has spread and stabilized at about twenty-five by twenty-five feet (7.6 x 7.6 meters) and has not advanced beyond that.  The interlocking cacti make seeing what is at the center difficult and, in most cases, impossible.

Sometimes, the cacti will part to allow those who are endangered and seeking shelter a place to hide for a short period.  But never for much longer than it takes the danger to pass, after that they -gently and first and then with increasing vigor- encourage the person to leave.

The cause of the cacti growth, their propensity to protect the endangered, and indeed, how they came to be here is unknown.  Where do you think they came from?  And what is their purpose?

Notes: Figured it was time to add something else weird to the city.

Petrichor 365.  Previous entry:  Hallan the Juggler  Next Entry:  Mazi the Begger

Image was found on WikiMedia Commons and is in the Public Domain.

Welston the Wheelwright (Petrichor 365, A to Z)

Slowly, more and more carts and wagons are arriving in Petrichor as more and more settlers arrive.  Some are abandoned, others are sold, but more and more are being used on the streets of Port Imperial.  More wagons though, lead to more broken wheels, thus the need for a wheelwright.

Welston Wright owns a small shop along the main road, it is quite new and very basic: a covered area with a small forge and anvil, many bits of wood. and a small enclosed area for Welson to live in.

Viscerion the Vintner (Petrichor 365, A to Z)

A strongly-made building of mixed brick and stone is set, almost defiantly, not too far off the main docks.  Above the main door, made of painted iron-bound oak, is a set of oversized grapes and leaves pained purple and green.  Around the back of the building, there is another iron-bound door, unpainted, and a double set of reinforced boors leading down to the cellar.

The shop is built like a fortress because it is the shop, and home, of Valteris Viscerion the Vintner, which is the largest, and oldest, seller of wines in Port Imperial.