Post by minty on Mar 28, 2016 4:16:45 GMT
Setting Brief
The city of Hayesfall consists of wood buildings and is a bit industrial with some victorian steamworks. It is part of the processing plant for mythril a common element in rune and artifact construction. Wedged between the Green Ocean Forest and Death Shroud woods, Hayesfall sits on the western bank of the Silver Stone, a major river, allowing it to receive goods along its shores and have a large bustling market. Ships fill the harbor, their whistles and bells loudly singing their arrival into port. It also has a strong industry in metalworks and artwork like pottery. The government is local, a simple city council with 3-4 heads, deliberating on issues and events. It’s alleyways are full of pipes, meters, and valves with the occasional minor pipe leaks, often making alleyways hard to see in.
A Stroll through Hayesfall
Let us take a quick stroll through this town of Hayesfall, a long since booming frontier town on the verge of becoming an industrial force in Equestria.
Town Square
Every road in town eventually leads to the town square, and transversely, the town square goes to every part of town. So, for any visit in the city, it is the most appropriate location to start from. It is the place of many crucial town landmarks that give the town its lively character.
The Empty Bottle
The local tavern, The Empty Bottle, is the lifeblood of the city of Hayesfall, and is nearly as old as the town itself. Currently owned by Lazy Morning, The Empty Bottle is the place where adventurers, workers, and craftsmen relax, share tales, or seek assistance with problems. As you enter the tavern, its smell of warm honey and old wood fills your nose, an alluring smell that makes the tavern feel like a second home to every creature that enters its doors. On the first floor of The Empty Bottle is the tavern. Surrounding the outer perimeter of the bar are numerous sets of photos, from black and white to color, of prominent and other traveling ponies. Most prominently, a large, faded sepia picture of Princess Celestia sitting at a table of the tavern itself is among them. Below them are booths with large cushions and well polished wood tables. At each booth, shaded hanging lanterns provide each set of patrons their own personal light.
The bar itself is a long counter facing the entrance to the Empty Bottle with pillows and stools for any variety of creatures. One of the seats is almost always occupied by, or understood as unofficially reserved for, “Crunch”, a local accountant who loves to pass the time with a few beers. Behind the bar is a large plethora of bottles containing anything from vintage drinks to some of the modern drinks, also varying from cheap to expensive. The cabinet lanterns brighten the bar and the seats before it. Set into the wall to the left of the bar is a small counter which is adjacent to a door that leads into a dark back. Keys hang from a small rack far behind the counter, below it a set of empty cupboards with labels pertaining to a room above. They are mailslots to the above rooms, easily accommodating numerous ponies. A blond maned and grey coated pony sleeps on its counter with signs surrounding her, mostly reading “do not disturb”.
Near the door is a large board filled with regularly filled and frequently changed job postings and help wanted ads. The stairs go up for at least two floors, showing the tavern has an amazing amount of space for the weary. The rooms are simple but well furnished, with a nice bed, simple nightstand and a table. A dresser and some shelves adorn the other wall in most rooms. The rooms are to the front or rear of the building, providing a view of either the port town itself or the deep forest to it back.
The Honeypot
Next door is the local brothel, which seems to be quite popular with the locals. It’s much smaller than the Empty Bottle. The smell of thick perfume and cosmetics completely fills the air, making it slightly nauseating. The owner, Honey Withers, runs this questionable business which has been around since before the pub came into existence. It has many separate rooms for private entertainment. The first floor is filled with white covered furniture and tables, as well as large laying couches. A staircase brings you up to the second floor.
Central Park
Outlined by four major streets of the town, the central park is place where ponies go to relax when they finally had enough to drink. At its center lies a mythril statue of the legendary town founder, Strong Charger, his forelegs reared up in the air in a air with a brilliantly charming smile, and his cutie mark of a plow racing along the ground embossed in gold. At night, torches are lit to light his shimmering body through the darkness, making it a popular spot for artistic ponies to seek inspiration as the trees are alight with a shimmering halo of light. Along both sides of the state are small reflecting pools with small flowering lily pads. The park’s dirt paths are lined with arrangements of flowers on their banks as they wind through mounds of well trimmed grass. As these paths meander through central park, they lead back to the main roads, ultimately leading us to our next destination.
Town Hall
The front facade is decorated by large stone columns that stretch to the rooftop. The formidable walk up to its front door is a reminder of where the town’s power resides. Its front entrance is decorated in beautiful dark marble and white stone, including its counters. Rooms cut off in many directions. A wide staircase leads to the balcony of an upper level with more rooms and offices. Columns decorate the inside as well. Lanterns line the walls and a large lantern filled chandelier occupies the ceiling, bringing gratuitous amounts of light to the inside even at night. A statue of Strong Charger, smaller than that of the park, sits in the center of the room on a pedestal. The building is always very busy and crowded, with office and bureaucrat ponies rushing to make meetings and file paperwork. In this honored place the local policies are set, wrongs righted, and those who seek to disrupt the harmony imprisoned. The jail exists under the building and the first floor houses the courthouse, where resides the office of Trusty Steed, the local Police chief.
The Marketplace
North of the Town Square, the marketplace is the center of commerce and source of food for the majority of the citizens of Hayesfall. During the day, the clamor of the ponies in the marketplace can be heard as one approaches it. As one enters its streets one can hear the shrewd bargains and the clink of bits as goods are sold and dreams are made by aspiring entrepreneurs. Here sits the Culinary Guild, a large cake shaped building decorated with torch candles. Managed by Sugar Hooves, the Culinary Guild oversees the success of its many members who make their livelihood both within the Marketplace and the nearby farms. The Marketplace’s roads are filled with vending carts with fresh produce from local farms and gardens, trinkets from down stream, and small food stalls. Many larger buildings house businesses selling goods from downstream. Numerous restaurants break up foreign goods stores, filling the streets with the smell of cooked food, and for almost every class of pony and creature there seems to be a place to eat. As one meanders through this center of commerce, they find themselves entering a center of commerce of a different nature.
Crafter’s Corner
Crafter’s Corner is a much sleepier place in comparison to the market place, but the creative minds that inhabit these streets prefer it that way. Here, skilled craftsponies work on the freshly dug up mythril to design into tools and inventions. The streets are peppered with show windows displaying wonderful toys, oddities, beautiful dresses, and well built furniture made from the Green Ocean Forest. Here resides the strong but plainly built building of the Trade guild, headed by Moonlight Treasure, which oversees the wellbeing of these workers of the mind, horn, and hoof, and assists with export of their goods downstream through deals with the many trading companies on the wharf. We leave this district restraining ourselves not to become lost in its winding streets of enchanting stores, and find ourselves in the the realm of the mind.
Artisans’ Way
The sleepy western quarters bordering the Green Ocean Forest are locally known as Artisan’s Way. Many book stores line the street and one gets the sense of its knowledge seeping out to seek an able mind as you walk down them. Its wooden buildings with tall steam billowing stacks are almost always sparsely populated until the elementary schools of the city let out their rambunctious school students. This area is the center of the arts in Hayesfall, featuring theaters, amphitheaters, and listening houses. Many scribes and teachers live in this quarter, nearby their libraries, colleges, and trade schools. Two guilds call this region home: The Scribes’ Guild and the Artisans’ Guild. The Scribes Guild, headed by Silver Pen, is housed within the town’s public library itself, and is responsible for the education coordination of the trade guild, higher education, helping promote authors, and assisting the many book retailers in the region. Located at the Hayesfall Performance hall is the Artisans’ Guild, headed by Cobalt Waltz, which takes care of promoting of the town’s performers, painters, musicians, and composers.
Industrial District
The thick smell of smoke fills the air, as the numerous furnaces smelt the metals from the Mythril Fount Mountains mining towns upstream. This district is peppered by large steam pipes, fueling the lumber mills, forges, textile mills, and assembly factories, and stretches through the majority of the southern region of town. Many of the hopeful workers seeking out their own fortune in the booming city call this place home in large apartment complexes, living near their employment. One key location to Hayesfall’s success is located here: the Weather Factory. Lead by Rain Chaser of Weather Control, the Weather Factory assures that there is never a shortage of sunlight or rain for the local farmers. So successful is the town’s Weather factory that it has never since known a drought since its creation. It is the home of the Harmonious Labor Union, lead by a pony only known by Glavyni, which oversees the conditions and wages of its members in the factories, on construction sites, and on the docks. The Harmonious Labor Union is known to be a stern negotiator with the many business owners whose entrepreneurial aspirations depend on their cooperation.
Steamworks
Located south of the wharf on the Silver Stone River is the large, recently built Steamworks, the first of its kind and the pride of the city of Hayesfall. The main structure of the building seems to be a large ‘T’ with a flat roof. The walls are a mixture of a deep slate color with a large red line painted on its exterior. Out from it cascades hundreds of pipes that give the building a sense of shape. The pipes organize themselves into large bundles before splitting off to the different districts of town. The back of the factory contains its vast number of chimneys which let of a light trail of smoke. Large tanks that stand tall next to the building collect the vast amounts of water from the river brought in my mechanical pumps. The factory is fitted with a number of bells and release valves to empty the steam supplies in case of an emergency. The interior is similar to the exterior, covered by hundreds of pipes, and filled with tanks and boilers that feed into the chimneys above. The space is crowded, not an inch wasted, as pipes just meet pony head level, and some ponies still need to duck to pass under them. Gauges line the pipes, showing a nominal output to the town at a constant 12 psi. Gears turn and cranks are in constant motion to push and compress the hot water vapor out to the homes and small businesses for household appliances and radiators for the winter. The water is brought into several solar heating tubes to preheat the water. At the plant itself, the water is then pressurised through a variety of heating methods, including running on a treadmill, coal, and use of magic, which is considered a tax rebate to participate, or a method for a down on their luck pony to earn some extra bits. Each home is equipped with a emergency steam release valve in case the local pressure is too high. Steam powered appliances have an in and out port, where the steam in is fed in through an insulated pressure release hose, and the pressurized steam is pushed through an insulated outbound hose which is released through the home’s steam release system. The plant starts everyday with a chorus of whistles as the steam pressure quickly rises to push the buildup of moisture from the pipes. In the winter this function is essential to prevent the pipes from freezing and damaging release valves. The townsfolk use the morning pressure check as a synchronized alarm clock.
The Wharf
On the western bank of the Silver Stone River lies the backbone of the city’s success, main port of the city. Many wharf worker live along the river, dealing, unloading, and trading with the ships that travel up and down the river. Many trading companies of Hayesfall have made their millions on the wharf. The docks are constantly shuffling as boats load and unload. The goods then travel inland to the market, where bartering and selling occur at a rapid pace. The Wharf is the most diverse area of the town as traders of all species interact and exchange materials and the thick smell of water and goods permeates the air and easily enters the nose of any pony nearby.
Several trading companies line the docks, and several large ones are of some fame. Spice and Wolf are the largest importer of spices, rare goods, and other unique products from down river. The Grapes Trading Company is the face company for the farmers who export their goods up and down the river. Primary exports include crops from the West bank, such as carrots, zap grapes, regular grapes, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes. Diamonds Portage imports a majority of the raw materials from upstream, including mythril, copper, tin, gems, iron, and zinc. They then hand off most of the imported goods to the main processing plants in the town. Diamonds Portage has been around for multiple generations and is the oldest trading company in the Wharf. Standard Power and Heating, a force to be feared due to aggressive business practices to allow them to have a strong monopoly on the importation and exportation of coal within Hayesfall, sits on the shore made of cold gray stone with large bins to store the coal. Standard Power and Heating trades both up and down the river to all major cities. In and Out Trading deals primarily with artisans and craftworkers to export their goods and trade primarily downstream, and also handles some other goods not taken care of by the other major companies. Lost Paths Travel company is the head of the travel industry, using the river for tourism and long charted expeditions up and down the river to other towns and out to sea and also provide assistance to travelers just passing through.
Ferries travel in nearly every day, multiple times a day. The most prominent is the Lone Gallop, the largest ferry on this side of the Silver Stone River. The ferry features a state-of-the-art paddle mechanism operated purely by steam power.
The postal service office also makes a slight home within this area, as not only mail, but also minor trade and packages are serviced through the dock. Numerous Pegasus ponies and griffons of all sizes deliver to this central hub of a Wharf. Couriers of the air delivering small parcels are a common sight in the air over the town. Mail and smaller, personal deliveries are commonly done by Griffon or Pegasus.
The Wharf is also frequented by fishers who capture the rivers numerous unique species of fish to sell to the more carnivorous and omnivorous creatures throughout the town.
Across the River
East of the Silverstone river and south of the Deathshroud Woods lies the rich floodplains that many farmer ponies call home. The largest farm is owned by the Grapes, who also own the Grapes Trading Company. These lazy plains are home to vineyards and fields of grain, as well as home to many small vegetable gardens and chicken coops. Here lies the source of nourishing food of the many ponies of Hayesfall.
Small huts with docks and small fishing boats sparsely sit along the shoreline of the eastern banks of the Silver Stone, and it is a common sight to see a pony sitting on the docks with a fishing pole, lazing in the sun while they wait for a bite.
Elsewhere
While the core focus of our setting is Hayesfall, there are locations outside of the city worthy of mention.
The Green Ocean Forest
To the west of the city of Hayesfall lies the Green Ocean Forest, a pleasant forest that seems to roll on into the mountains that spire up to the sky. The Green Ocean Forest gets its name for its deciduous green treetops that gently sway like waves in the prevailing winds coming down from Charger’s Folly. Some ponies call it home, and others gently plant and cut down trees for lumber from these woods. It is rare to see anything but docile animals within The Green Ocean Forest, allowing it to become a playground for many a young pony.
Charger’s Folly
This great mountain range lies beyond the Green Ocean Forest. It is named for Strong Charger, who vowed to find the biggest Mythril vein within the mountain and left to do so, only to never return to Hayesfall. Its many sharp peaks reach up to the sky, and can be seen from Hayesfall despite the distance. The mountains feature numerous long, thin waterfalls from the glacial melt water far above, which freely flow for most of the year. While It is mostly unexplored by pony kind, many gryphons have come to call its valleys home.
Deathshroud Woods
This forest east of Silverstone and Hayesfall grows from the swamplands that flow into the River of Shadows westward through the wetlands. It is a place ponies avoid, not only from its many rumors about it being haunted or evil, but also from the wood’s overly humid stench of decaying foliage. Perhaps only to reinforce these rumors, the River of Shadows is known to spontaneously stop flowing, or sometimes drains to nothing but a trickle, making it an unsuitable place for the fishermen of Hayesfall to venture. The forest is filled with gnarled trees that hang with large moss clumps that reach down towards the ground, and at many times the eerie woods goes deafeningly quiet as if all the wildlife has become afraid of something or someone. It is no wonder so many of the farmers of Hayesfall watch this place with a weary eye.
The city of Hayesfall consists of wood buildings and is a bit industrial with some victorian steamworks. It is part of the processing plant for mythril a common element in rune and artifact construction. Wedged between the Green Ocean Forest and Death Shroud woods, Hayesfall sits on the western bank of the Silver Stone, a major river, allowing it to receive goods along its shores and have a large bustling market. Ships fill the harbor, their whistles and bells loudly singing their arrival into port. It also has a strong industry in metalworks and artwork like pottery. The government is local, a simple city council with 3-4 heads, deliberating on issues and events. It’s alleyways are full of pipes, meters, and valves with the occasional minor pipe leaks, often making alleyways hard to see in.
A Stroll through Hayesfall
Let us take a quick stroll through this town of Hayesfall, a long since booming frontier town on the verge of becoming an industrial force in Equestria.
Town Square
Every road in town eventually leads to the town square, and transversely, the town square goes to every part of town. So, for any visit in the city, it is the most appropriate location to start from. It is the place of many crucial town landmarks that give the town its lively character.
The Empty Bottle
The local tavern, The Empty Bottle, is the lifeblood of the city of Hayesfall, and is nearly as old as the town itself. Currently owned by Lazy Morning, The Empty Bottle is the place where adventurers, workers, and craftsmen relax, share tales, or seek assistance with problems. As you enter the tavern, its smell of warm honey and old wood fills your nose, an alluring smell that makes the tavern feel like a second home to every creature that enters its doors. On the first floor of The Empty Bottle is the tavern. Surrounding the outer perimeter of the bar are numerous sets of photos, from black and white to color, of prominent and other traveling ponies. Most prominently, a large, faded sepia picture of Princess Celestia sitting at a table of the tavern itself is among them. Below them are booths with large cushions and well polished wood tables. At each booth, shaded hanging lanterns provide each set of patrons their own personal light.
The bar itself is a long counter facing the entrance to the Empty Bottle with pillows and stools for any variety of creatures. One of the seats is almost always occupied by, or understood as unofficially reserved for, “Crunch”, a local accountant who loves to pass the time with a few beers. Behind the bar is a large plethora of bottles containing anything from vintage drinks to some of the modern drinks, also varying from cheap to expensive. The cabinet lanterns brighten the bar and the seats before it. Set into the wall to the left of the bar is a small counter which is adjacent to a door that leads into a dark back. Keys hang from a small rack far behind the counter, below it a set of empty cupboards with labels pertaining to a room above. They are mailslots to the above rooms, easily accommodating numerous ponies. A blond maned and grey coated pony sleeps on its counter with signs surrounding her, mostly reading “do not disturb”.
Near the door is a large board filled with regularly filled and frequently changed job postings and help wanted ads. The stairs go up for at least two floors, showing the tavern has an amazing amount of space for the weary. The rooms are simple but well furnished, with a nice bed, simple nightstand and a table. A dresser and some shelves adorn the other wall in most rooms. The rooms are to the front or rear of the building, providing a view of either the port town itself or the deep forest to it back.
The Honeypot
Next door is the local brothel, which seems to be quite popular with the locals. It’s much smaller than the Empty Bottle. The smell of thick perfume and cosmetics completely fills the air, making it slightly nauseating. The owner, Honey Withers, runs this questionable business which has been around since before the pub came into existence. It has many separate rooms for private entertainment. The first floor is filled with white covered furniture and tables, as well as large laying couches. A staircase brings you up to the second floor.
Central Park
Outlined by four major streets of the town, the central park is place where ponies go to relax when they finally had enough to drink. At its center lies a mythril statue of the legendary town founder, Strong Charger, his forelegs reared up in the air in a air with a brilliantly charming smile, and his cutie mark of a plow racing along the ground embossed in gold. At night, torches are lit to light his shimmering body through the darkness, making it a popular spot for artistic ponies to seek inspiration as the trees are alight with a shimmering halo of light. Along both sides of the state are small reflecting pools with small flowering lily pads. The park’s dirt paths are lined with arrangements of flowers on their banks as they wind through mounds of well trimmed grass. As these paths meander through central park, they lead back to the main roads, ultimately leading us to our next destination.
Town Hall
The front facade is decorated by large stone columns that stretch to the rooftop. The formidable walk up to its front door is a reminder of where the town’s power resides. Its front entrance is decorated in beautiful dark marble and white stone, including its counters. Rooms cut off in many directions. A wide staircase leads to the balcony of an upper level with more rooms and offices. Columns decorate the inside as well. Lanterns line the walls and a large lantern filled chandelier occupies the ceiling, bringing gratuitous amounts of light to the inside even at night. A statue of Strong Charger, smaller than that of the park, sits in the center of the room on a pedestal. The building is always very busy and crowded, with office and bureaucrat ponies rushing to make meetings and file paperwork. In this honored place the local policies are set, wrongs righted, and those who seek to disrupt the harmony imprisoned. The jail exists under the building and the first floor houses the courthouse, where resides the office of Trusty Steed, the local Police chief.
The Marketplace
North of the Town Square, the marketplace is the center of commerce and source of food for the majority of the citizens of Hayesfall. During the day, the clamor of the ponies in the marketplace can be heard as one approaches it. As one enters its streets one can hear the shrewd bargains and the clink of bits as goods are sold and dreams are made by aspiring entrepreneurs. Here sits the Culinary Guild, a large cake shaped building decorated with torch candles. Managed by Sugar Hooves, the Culinary Guild oversees the success of its many members who make their livelihood both within the Marketplace and the nearby farms. The Marketplace’s roads are filled with vending carts with fresh produce from local farms and gardens, trinkets from down stream, and small food stalls. Many larger buildings house businesses selling goods from downstream. Numerous restaurants break up foreign goods stores, filling the streets with the smell of cooked food, and for almost every class of pony and creature there seems to be a place to eat. As one meanders through this center of commerce, they find themselves entering a center of commerce of a different nature.
Crafter’s Corner
Crafter’s Corner is a much sleepier place in comparison to the market place, but the creative minds that inhabit these streets prefer it that way. Here, skilled craftsponies work on the freshly dug up mythril to design into tools and inventions. The streets are peppered with show windows displaying wonderful toys, oddities, beautiful dresses, and well built furniture made from the Green Ocean Forest. Here resides the strong but plainly built building of the Trade guild, headed by Moonlight Treasure, which oversees the wellbeing of these workers of the mind, horn, and hoof, and assists with export of their goods downstream through deals with the many trading companies on the wharf. We leave this district restraining ourselves not to become lost in its winding streets of enchanting stores, and find ourselves in the the realm of the mind.
Artisans’ Way
The sleepy western quarters bordering the Green Ocean Forest are locally known as Artisan’s Way. Many book stores line the street and one gets the sense of its knowledge seeping out to seek an able mind as you walk down them. Its wooden buildings with tall steam billowing stacks are almost always sparsely populated until the elementary schools of the city let out their rambunctious school students. This area is the center of the arts in Hayesfall, featuring theaters, amphitheaters, and listening houses. Many scribes and teachers live in this quarter, nearby their libraries, colleges, and trade schools. Two guilds call this region home: The Scribes’ Guild and the Artisans’ Guild. The Scribes Guild, headed by Silver Pen, is housed within the town’s public library itself, and is responsible for the education coordination of the trade guild, higher education, helping promote authors, and assisting the many book retailers in the region. Located at the Hayesfall Performance hall is the Artisans’ Guild, headed by Cobalt Waltz, which takes care of promoting of the town’s performers, painters, musicians, and composers.
Industrial District
The thick smell of smoke fills the air, as the numerous furnaces smelt the metals from the Mythril Fount Mountains mining towns upstream. This district is peppered by large steam pipes, fueling the lumber mills, forges, textile mills, and assembly factories, and stretches through the majority of the southern region of town. Many of the hopeful workers seeking out their own fortune in the booming city call this place home in large apartment complexes, living near their employment. One key location to Hayesfall’s success is located here: the Weather Factory. Lead by Rain Chaser of Weather Control, the Weather Factory assures that there is never a shortage of sunlight or rain for the local farmers. So successful is the town’s Weather factory that it has never since known a drought since its creation. It is the home of the Harmonious Labor Union, lead by a pony only known by Glavyni, which oversees the conditions and wages of its members in the factories, on construction sites, and on the docks. The Harmonious Labor Union is known to be a stern negotiator with the many business owners whose entrepreneurial aspirations depend on their cooperation.
Steamworks
Located south of the wharf on the Silver Stone River is the large, recently built Steamworks, the first of its kind and the pride of the city of Hayesfall. The main structure of the building seems to be a large ‘T’ with a flat roof. The walls are a mixture of a deep slate color with a large red line painted on its exterior. Out from it cascades hundreds of pipes that give the building a sense of shape. The pipes organize themselves into large bundles before splitting off to the different districts of town. The back of the factory contains its vast number of chimneys which let of a light trail of smoke. Large tanks that stand tall next to the building collect the vast amounts of water from the river brought in my mechanical pumps. The factory is fitted with a number of bells and release valves to empty the steam supplies in case of an emergency. The interior is similar to the exterior, covered by hundreds of pipes, and filled with tanks and boilers that feed into the chimneys above. The space is crowded, not an inch wasted, as pipes just meet pony head level, and some ponies still need to duck to pass under them. Gauges line the pipes, showing a nominal output to the town at a constant 12 psi. Gears turn and cranks are in constant motion to push and compress the hot water vapor out to the homes and small businesses for household appliances and radiators for the winter. The water is brought into several solar heating tubes to preheat the water. At the plant itself, the water is then pressurised through a variety of heating methods, including running on a treadmill, coal, and use of magic, which is considered a tax rebate to participate, or a method for a down on their luck pony to earn some extra bits. Each home is equipped with a emergency steam release valve in case the local pressure is too high. Steam powered appliances have an in and out port, where the steam in is fed in through an insulated pressure release hose, and the pressurized steam is pushed through an insulated outbound hose which is released through the home’s steam release system. The plant starts everyday with a chorus of whistles as the steam pressure quickly rises to push the buildup of moisture from the pipes. In the winter this function is essential to prevent the pipes from freezing and damaging release valves. The townsfolk use the morning pressure check as a synchronized alarm clock.
The Wharf
On the western bank of the Silver Stone River lies the backbone of the city’s success, main port of the city. Many wharf worker live along the river, dealing, unloading, and trading with the ships that travel up and down the river. Many trading companies of Hayesfall have made their millions on the wharf. The docks are constantly shuffling as boats load and unload. The goods then travel inland to the market, where bartering and selling occur at a rapid pace. The Wharf is the most diverse area of the town as traders of all species interact and exchange materials and the thick smell of water and goods permeates the air and easily enters the nose of any pony nearby.
Several trading companies line the docks, and several large ones are of some fame. Spice and Wolf are the largest importer of spices, rare goods, and other unique products from down river. The Grapes Trading Company is the face company for the farmers who export their goods up and down the river. Primary exports include crops from the West bank, such as carrots, zap grapes, regular grapes, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes. Diamonds Portage imports a majority of the raw materials from upstream, including mythril, copper, tin, gems, iron, and zinc. They then hand off most of the imported goods to the main processing plants in the town. Diamonds Portage has been around for multiple generations and is the oldest trading company in the Wharf. Standard Power and Heating, a force to be feared due to aggressive business practices to allow them to have a strong monopoly on the importation and exportation of coal within Hayesfall, sits on the shore made of cold gray stone with large bins to store the coal. Standard Power and Heating trades both up and down the river to all major cities. In and Out Trading deals primarily with artisans and craftworkers to export their goods and trade primarily downstream, and also handles some other goods not taken care of by the other major companies. Lost Paths Travel company is the head of the travel industry, using the river for tourism and long charted expeditions up and down the river to other towns and out to sea and also provide assistance to travelers just passing through.
Ferries travel in nearly every day, multiple times a day. The most prominent is the Lone Gallop, the largest ferry on this side of the Silver Stone River. The ferry features a state-of-the-art paddle mechanism operated purely by steam power.
The postal service office also makes a slight home within this area, as not only mail, but also minor trade and packages are serviced through the dock. Numerous Pegasus ponies and griffons of all sizes deliver to this central hub of a Wharf. Couriers of the air delivering small parcels are a common sight in the air over the town. Mail and smaller, personal deliveries are commonly done by Griffon or Pegasus.
The Wharf is also frequented by fishers who capture the rivers numerous unique species of fish to sell to the more carnivorous and omnivorous creatures throughout the town.
Across the River
East of the Silverstone river and south of the Deathshroud Woods lies the rich floodplains that many farmer ponies call home. The largest farm is owned by the Grapes, who also own the Grapes Trading Company. These lazy plains are home to vineyards and fields of grain, as well as home to many small vegetable gardens and chicken coops. Here lies the source of nourishing food of the many ponies of Hayesfall.
Small huts with docks and small fishing boats sparsely sit along the shoreline of the eastern banks of the Silver Stone, and it is a common sight to see a pony sitting on the docks with a fishing pole, lazing in the sun while they wait for a bite.
Elsewhere
While the core focus of our setting is Hayesfall, there are locations outside of the city worthy of mention.
The Green Ocean Forest
To the west of the city of Hayesfall lies the Green Ocean Forest, a pleasant forest that seems to roll on into the mountains that spire up to the sky. The Green Ocean Forest gets its name for its deciduous green treetops that gently sway like waves in the prevailing winds coming down from Charger’s Folly. Some ponies call it home, and others gently plant and cut down trees for lumber from these woods. It is rare to see anything but docile animals within The Green Ocean Forest, allowing it to become a playground for many a young pony.
Charger’s Folly
This great mountain range lies beyond the Green Ocean Forest. It is named for Strong Charger, who vowed to find the biggest Mythril vein within the mountain and left to do so, only to never return to Hayesfall. Its many sharp peaks reach up to the sky, and can be seen from Hayesfall despite the distance. The mountains feature numerous long, thin waterfalls from the glacial melt water far above, which freely flow for most of the year. While It is mostly unexplored by pony kind, many gryphons have come to call its valleys home.
Deathshroud Woods
This forest east of Silverstone and Hayesfall grows from the swamplands that flow into the River of Shadows westward through the wetlands. It is a place ponies avoid, not only from its many rumors about it being haunted or evil, but also from the wood’s overly humid stench of decaying foliage. Perhaps only to reinforce these rumors, the River of Shadows is known to spontaneously stop flowing, or sometimes drains to nothing but a trickle, making it an unsuitable place for the fishermen of Hayesfall to venture. The forest is filled with gnarled trees that hang with large moss clumps that reach down towards the ground, and at many times the eerie woods goes deafeningly quiet as if all the wildlife has become afraid of something or someone. It is no wonder so many of the farmers of Hayesfall watch this place with a weary eye.