If somebody wants a similar output for the other Hârnic kingdoms, let me know.

The software actually also creates html-pages with the same core data and much additional output, including NPC stats for any soul living in the village (including family relations). If there is sufficient interest I will put it online. I just need to adjust it from python 2.5 to 3.x – the PDF-generator, alas will not work online with my provider.

Note also that there are several other projects that produce great PDF, HTML or Excel outputs for Hârnmanor. A tribute to the great idea behind this module…

In cases like these, as a player, whenever possible I side step many traps by hiring professionals. I don’t need to know all the details about building a fortified manor if I hire an experienced professional builder that has been building and working on them for decades.

As for making the manor functional, I stand by ‘attempting’ to get a tiny test field planted as soon as possible. Whenever possible, force problems to reveal themselves on YOUR terms, not by surprise and at the last possible moment.

I’d pick the most defensible area of my land; the place I eventually want to build my manorhouse. I’d look for a creek or gully, a cliff or even just a small hill, and clear that of timber. Then I’d build a big barn and I’d build it as quickly as I could, but also as solidly as I could, and then I’d fire-proof it as best I could. Then I’d build a palidase around the barn. With a tower or two on each wall of the palisade, and similar firing points on the upper floor of the barn. At the same time I’m building the palisade, I’d dig a well.

The barn and yard would provide both a place of shelter from inclement weather for people and animals, as well as a defensible point in case of small-scale barbarian attacks. The barn would serve as the focal point of the new settlement, a command centre and a gathering place; it would become the heart of the hamlet.

Once more land is cleared and the people are feeling more secure, they could construct their own dwellings, including the manorhouse; an even more sturdy building, but one that is more costly in terms of resources expended.

Really really really good skills at getting long term military back up, or really really really good skills at getting barbarians that don’t like your Kingdom to leave you alone ‘long term’.

If the Kath kill one peasant a month, that can slowly ruin a manor.

On a positive note, unlike the Pagaelin, the Kath are not noted for being completely devoid of any sense of decency, even if they are noted for doing their best to kill off any efforts by Kaldor to RE-settle the western banks of the Kald.

It is not completely beyond possibility that an ‘understanding’ could be reached with the local Kath tribes. If this is done, settlement suddenly becomes VASTLY easier.

A few observations:

It is nearly certain that the land intended for settlement will substancially more trees than needed, and might even be mostly forested. The clearing of the trees might actually generate a modest profit. In fact, the Lord of the Manor might start things off with a Timber operation for a year or two. Don’t plan on harvest income during this time. Contract with existing Timberwrights. They do this for a living.

If at all possible, DO plant a few crops the first year. Not for any expected sale value, but just to “force” possible problems to reveal themselves before you are really depending on getting a full harvest planted.

Having money to feed the entire manor population for MINIMUM two years, AND have a fund for emergencies AND have money for MINIMUM two years of expected bills. (With luck, you’ll only need one year worth of the money….)

If the Timber operation at least manages to not lose money, and a few tiny fields planted before the Timber operation ends force possible problems to reveal themselves, then when a full planting is planted, assuming weather cooperates, there should be a full harvest to harvest.

Even if it is just a rock free section of beach, have a place for cargo carrying riverboats to load and unload. Also, seriously think about encouraging some of the peasants to take up fishing.

That some of the first timber harvested will go into building the outer walls of a fortified manor is a given. Hire a ‘mason’ experienced in such fortifications. I’d go slightly large on the size of the walled area, so the site of the ‘intended’ manorhouse can be left bare. Build the actual manorhouse LAST (live in something temporary the first year or even two years).

I would say three things; firstly, those being blockaded have to learn of the blockade. A port at Tuleme Island would make such a blockade much more visible than it would otherwise be.

Secondly, up to now, the nature of the Gulf of Eder has “assisted” the embargo by preventing almost every sensible captain from considering sailing to the nearest safe port along the south coast; Aleath. Oh, and sinking the great majority of those foolhardy captains who risked it. 🙂

Thirdly, the markets of western Hârn as quite small, almost non-viably small. The four caravans that converge on Tashal for the Great Summer Fair concentrate the island’s wealth. A port on Tuleme Island will benefit from that immensely. Currently, all that wealth has to travel back over the Genin Trail to Thay, reducing its value. Shipping cargo by talbar (river barge) down the Kald River to Tueleme Island is much more cost effective.

A port in Kaldor is a game changer in a number of ways:

1. It opens up a much larger market than Aleath (although there is an argument that sailing on just a little further to Golotha opens up Rethem and the entire Thard River valley).
2. It’s a much shorter, and thus safer, journey than that to Aleath. Even more so to Golotha.
3. It’s a more viable destination than Thay, removing the need to transport goods via the Genin Trail.

However as you point out, almost all ships will firstly call at Cherafir; its market size of 6 is larger than either Aleath is, or Tuleme Island would be, so there are few logical reasons why a ship wouldn’t stop there. This gives the embargo an opportunity to be enforced. Only those ships with enough reason would not call at Cherafir first, and these might be considered smugglers by Melderyn. Naval action against them might be thus explained away (if it were thought necessary).

The other consideration is that the embargo covers things that should not be known; advanced technology, hidden knowledge, etc. The great majority of cargoes are absolutely fine.

Hârn is a backwater for a reason, and those in charge intend to keep it that way. But a port at Tuleme Island would change the dynamic considerably. That makes for some cool gaming. 🙂

There is one detail in the article I have to strongly disagree with: The nature of the Melderyn Embargo.

Embargo is not the same as a blockade.

Embargos are DEEPLY offensive and insulting to those embargoed. This is pretty much a constant truth for all of human history. But embargos are limited to those taking part. As Kaldor is not going to embargo themselves, the Melderyn blockade would have ZERO effect on them unless a ship made the CHOICE to stop at Melderyn. Nor would Melderyn have ANY cause for action against a ship that decided not stop (unless the ship is registered in Melderyn….)

If Melderyn acts against ships that decide to not stop in Melderyn, then the embargo becomes a blockade. Blockades are a full scale act of war. They can’t be described any other way.

The only way that Melderyn can be blockading Harn is to openly be at war with every other state on Harn.

If they are only doing an embargo, it can be bypassed simply by not stopping at Melderyn. This is also canon. (If anyone disagrees, explain not just Kanday, but also Orbaal and Rethem).

There seems to a common belief that the Melderyn Embargo also includes requiring ships bound for non-Melderyn ports to also stop at Cherafir. In canon, there is NO mention of such a policy.

The Melderyn embargo only comes into play when a ship is heading to a port in Melderyn. The embargo is moderately effective because ‘most’ ships that ply trade to Harn do so through Melderyn. For this reason alone, Melderyn probably prefers a Kaldor without a port, but ‘forcing’ the issue is an open act of War.

Even if it is labelled “heresy”. 🙂

I know that canon says that the combined height of the falls is 50 feet (Tuleme Falls are not just one waterfall, but a series of them), but that 50 feet does not dictate the geography of the Island itself.