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Civic Works

Industrial and utility installations: mines, mills, foundries, tanneries, quarries, kilns. For workers see Households (Miner Households, Craft Households, etc.) and Traders (Artisan, Journeyman, Apprentice).

Details

Locations

Foundry. Where metal is melted and cast. A foundry has:

  • Furnace hall: the smelting floor. Two or three brick furnaces with bellows, ready coal, tongs and ladles on the walls. Loud, hot, smoke-blackened.
  • Casting floor: where molten metal is poured into molds. Sand beds, pattern boards, ingots cooling on racks.
  • Pattern shop: the woodworkers' room where casting patterns are carved and stored.
  • Fuel yard: the coal or charcoal stockpile. Wagons pull up here to unload.
  • Slag heap: the waste dump, outside the walls.
  • Foreman's cottage: the foreman's residence at the gate. Ledger and cashbox on his desk.
  • Loot: finished ingots on the casting floor (5d100 gp of iron, 500 gp of silver, or 5,000 gp of gold per ingot by the foundry's specialty); coal or charcoal (10 gp per wagonload); tools (spades, tongs, hammers, molds; 50 gp for the working set); the foreman's cashbox with the week's payroll (5d20 gp).

Kiln. Where brick, tile, or pottery is fired. A kiln has:

  • Kiln structure: one or more brick-lined firing chambers, each with a firebox at the base. Loading doors sealed with mud on firing days; smoke stacks up the outside.
  • Molding shed: the shaping floor. Long tables where clay is worked; molds on shelves; the day's raw pieces on drying racks.
  • Drying yard: open ground where shaped pieces sit before firing. Covered against rain by a shed roof.
  • Clay pits: where the raw clay is dug. Near the kiln; a wagon rut runs between.
  • Fuel yard: stacks of split wood or charcoal.
  • Kilnmaster's cottage: the kilnmaster's residence.
  • Loot: finished pieces on the drying yard (2d10 gp per wagonload of bricks or pottery); tools (molds, trowels, wooden paddles; 20 gp for the working set); the kilnmaster's cashbox (2d20 gp).

Mill. A water- or wind-powered mill. Grist mills grind grain into flour; saw mills cut logs into planks and timbers. A mill has:

  • Head race: the channel that carries water from a stream to the mill wheel, or the sails and tower that catch the wind.
  • Mill wheel: the driving wheel. Wooden, geared to the interior shaft. Rebuilt every generation.
  • Log yard: at a saw mill. Where felled logs are stored, sorted by size and species, and staged for the saw. At a streamside if logs float in.
  • Mill house: the working floor. Hopper and grindstones at a grist mill; framed saw and log carriage at a saw mill. Sacks or timber stacked along the walls.
  • Storage: granary at a grist mill, lumber shed at a saw mill. Behind a strong lock; the miller or sawyer holds the key.
  • Miller's cottage: the miller's or sawyer's home, at the mill or adjacent.
  • Wagon yard: where farmers or timber crews unload and reload.
  • Loot: stored grain or lumber (5d100 gp per wagonload); tools (grindstones, saw blades, axes; 50 gp for the working set); the miller's cashbox with the day's fees (2d20 gp); the granary's records.

Mine. Underground extraction of ore, coal, or stone. A mine has:

  • Shaft mouth: the entrance to the workings. Timber-framed; a windlass overhead for hauling ore up. Foremen's whistles hang here.
  • Main drift: the primary tunnel from the mouth to the working face. Timber props and cross-beams every few feet. Rails or plank floors for ore carts. Lamps in wall brackets.
  • Working face: where the crew is currently digging. Loose stone, dust, the echo of picks. Miners work by shift.
  • Sorting floor: where hauled ore is picked over by rock-pickers (women and children of the miners' households). Waste goes to the slag heap; ore is bagged for the smelter or ore merchant.
  • Ore sheds: where sorted ore is stored before shipment. The Foreman holds the key.
  • Sump: low point where groundwater collects. A pumping crew or bucket line keeps the water down; if the pumps fail, the lower workings flood.
  • Lower workings: the deepest tunnels: narrow, hot, poorly ventilated. Where the best ore is found and where accidents happen.
  • Old workings: abandoned drifts from earlier operations. Sealed with rubble or a plank door. Often unstable.
  • Tool store: locked side chamber for picks, lamp oil, spare timber, and the mine's ledgers. The Foreman holds the key.
  • Blacksmith's forge: on-site for repairing picks, sharpening tools, and setting drills.
  • Foreman's cabin: the foreman's office and residence. Shift ledger, pay chest, mine map on the wall.
  • Bunkhouse (standalone mine): communal housing for the imported crew. Rows of straw pallets, a shared hearth, common latrine. Locked at night; the Foreman holds the key. In a mining village, miners live in Miner Households instead.
  • Company Store (standalone mine): the mine's supply post. Miners buy food, tools, boots, and small luxuries; wages are sometimes paid partly in credit here.
  • Cook House (standalone mine): long room with a hearth and a shared meal at benches.
  • Mine Bell (standalone mine): small bell at the mine mouth. Rung at shift change and for emergencies. Worth 20 gp pried down.
  • Standalone-installation staff: where the Mine is not attached to a Mining Village, a Foreman (a Rulers Steward variant; see Rulers: Steward), an imported crew of Miners (Commoners) housed in the Bunkhouse, 1-4 Guards, and Support Staff live on site.
  • Hazards: cave-in on a DC 15 Dexterity save when stressed timber gives. Foul air in the lower workings: a DC 12 Constitution save every 10 minutes or gain one level of exhaustion. Flash flood in the sump if the pumps break: a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check to reach higher ground.
  • Loot: raw ore in carts on the drift (2d100 gp value); tools in the Tool Store (100 gp); ore in the sheds (5d100 gp of iron ore, 500 gp of silver ore, or 5,000 gp of gold ore per wagonload, by the mine's specialty); the foreman's pay chest (5d20 gp); at a standalone mine, the Bunkhouse strongbox (2d20 gp pooled wages), the Company Store's goods (5d20 gp) and cashbox (3d10 gp).

Quarry. Open-pit extraction of stone: sandstone, limestone, granite, marble. A quarry has:

  • Quarry face: the working cliff. Wedge marks and drill holes cover the rock. Workers with sledges, wedges, and levers pry blocks free.
  • Loading floor: where cut blocks are lifted onto wagons or sledges. A wooden derrick with rope and pulleys handles the heavy pieces.
  • Stone stack: the yard where blocks wait for shipment. Sorted by size and grade.
  • Cutting shed: where finer work is done: dressing corners, cutting inscriptions, shaping decorative pieces.
  • Foreman's cabin: the foreman's office and residence, at the head of the quarry road.
  • Workers' shanties: quarrymen's housing if the quarry is standalone.
  • Loot: cut blocks in the stack (5d100 gp per wagonload of common stone; 500 gp per block of marble or granite); tools (sledges, wedges, drills, chisels; 50 gp for the working set); the foreman's pay chest (5d20 gp).

Tannery. Hide preparation and leather finishing. Loud, foul-smelling; a tannery sits at the downwind edge of a settlement. A tannery has:

  • Beam house: the receiving floor. Fresh hides come in here for scraping and fleshing.
  • Lime pits: rows of open pits where hides soak in lime to loosen the hair. The stench comes from here.
  • Tan pits: deeper pits with bark liquor. Hides soak for weeks; workers rotate them by hand.
  • Currying shop: where dressed leather is oiled, stretched, and finished. Rolls of finished leather on shelves.
  • Drying shed: covered racks where leather hangs to dry between stages.
  • Tanner's cottage: the tanner's residence, upwind of the pits.
  • Loot: finished leather rolls in the currying shop (5d100 gp market value); raw hides in the beam house (2d10 gp per hide); tools (scrapers, fleshing knives, currying rods; 20 gp for the working set); the tanner's cashbox (2d20 gp).