Port Dhal

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green_towns.png Port Dhal
PortDhal.png

View from the waterside

About
Founder getplayerhead.sh?Lothendal&16.png Lothendal
Contributors getplayerhead.sh?bubba_basti&16.png bubba_basti, getplayerhead.sh?bastetfurry&16.png bastetfurry, getplayerhead.sh?chivalrousWeasel&16.png chivalrousWeasel, getplayerhead.sh?Krenath&16.png Krenath, getplayerhead.sh?lacrosse1991&16.png lacrosse1991, getplayerhead.sh?Machines_Are_Us&16.png Machines_Are_Us, getplayerhead.sh?nosefish&16.png nosefish, getplayerhead.sh?SlowRiot&16.png SlowRiot, getplayerhead.sh?The_Jackal_249&16.png The_Jackal_249, getplayerhead.sh?thesprazzzler&16.png thesprazzzler
Category Towns
Underground? No
Fortified? Yes
Public access? Yes
Public build? No
Size north to south 110m
Size west to east 191m
Transport
Road link? Yes
Nexus link? No
Rail link? Yes
Boat link? Yes (Lothendal Route)
Portal? No
Location
Coordinates X=4082
Y=67
Z=745
Dimension Overworld
Map Link
Port Dhal in an early stage.
The town at night months later, with many more buildings.
The waterfront seen at night.
The railway station at night.
View over the waterfront.
Harbour using water shader mod.
The fortress and town as seen from the church tower.
Port Dhal seaside seen from afar.
Map view at an early stage of progress (4 May 11), before construction of the farms and manors.
Map view as of 24 Nov 11
Sunrise behind town.
Port Dhal before being built.

Port Dhal is a little port town at a former edge of civilization. The closest warp is Caverns.

The settlement is especially notable for its extreme attention to detail.

Map

Map of the town.

History

Having been just a little dock on a lonely beach for a while Port Dhal grew fast as soon as it got connected to Lothendal Manor via railway. Simultaneously a great statue was erected to watch over the port entrance.

Map overview of Port Dhal as of 24 Nov 11. The farms are visible in the top right, Tannhäuser Gate is visible lower right, and Martello Tower across the bridge to it guarding the waters to the left. The recently built Northern Quarter is shown with its expansion wall, to the left of the original harbour.

Buildings

Whilst the Pirates Inn clearly is the most important building, the town will have all infrastructure to host its growing population. The mindful visitor will see an increasing number of details such as the sewers and the graveyard.

  • Port authority, containing records and a service counter.

  • The Pirates Inn, with bar and rooms upstairs.

  • Waiting to be served

  • In the kitchen

  • Waiting for the rain to stop

  • Warehouse, with public as well as private chests, ladders to multiple levels, and a working gate lockable from inside.

  • Smoothstone Alley has a variety of houses, some of which are available for occupation.

  • View down Smoothstone Alley.

  • View up Haven Street.

  • Crossroads of Smoothstone Alley and Haven Street.

  • Upstairs interior of one of the player houses on Smoothstone Alley.

  • Courtyard of one of the more up-market buildings.

  • Exterior of the Rising Sun Hotel.

  • Courtyard of the Rising Sun Hotel, constructed mostly of sandstone.

  • A well connecting to the sewer system, and kennels occupied by dogs in the fortress. The fortress has an operating gate.

  • A player-built house by getplayerhead.sh?thesprazzzler&16.png thesprazzzler.

  • Render view of the streets from a fortified wall.

Transport links

  • Rail
The local railway station is connected to a railway system, connecting Lava Town, The Isle of Muu, Lothendal Manor and Port Dhal with an intelligent ticket based guidance system. It is connected to the wider Freedonia Railway System, and can be reached from Spawn, by changing at Lava Town.
Inside the subway station
  • Boat
Port Dhal is a harbour on the Lothendal Boat Route, marked with orange and white buoys. Seasoned seafarers can reach all of central Freedonia, as well as Al Wahat and even Mycelia from here.
Arriving by boat at night
  • Road
The road connects Port Dhal with Lothendal Manor and the Caverns warp on one side, and Hotel Recluse on the other.

Church and cemetery

  • The church as seen from the fortress tower.

  • Interior of the church.

  • Gate to the cemetery.

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  • Varied grave markers in the cemetery.

  • The cemetery features a crypt with several underground tombs.

  • Not all of the departed stay in their graves.

Statue

The Yellow Bouncer statue guards the entrance to the port.

The statue can be made to vomit water down upon passing boats, with the flick of a lever located by the outflow of a sewer drain in front of the Inn.

  • The Yellow Bouncer watching the port entrance.

  • Yellow Bouncer vomiting.

  • Seen from below

  • Server-side Render of the Yellow Bouncer in November 2014, after his staff was swapped to a torch

Farm

Right outside the walls, beyond the South gate, the food for the town is produced. There is a farmstead and a barn, a well, extensive fields, and grazing land for cattle.

  • Overview of the main fields

  • The fields are protected by scarecrows

  • Closer view of scarecrows

  • At the well

  • Inside the farmstead

Northern Quarter

Some of Port Dhal's residents have become rich through sea trade and are building mansions in a new qarter of the town. Initial expansion begun by getplayerhead.sh?Lothendal&16.png Lothendal constructing some mansions himself and subsequently inviting getplayerhead.sh?Machines_Are_Us&16.png Machines_Are_Us and getplayerhead.sh?nosefish&16.png nosefish to build there, starting a trend of some of Freedonia's wealthier recluses setting up home in the new district at the North end of the town. In little time, four more manor houses were erected in the newly built villa quarter.

The name is reminiscent of Manchester's Northern Quarter, an area reputed for its bohemian, artistically creative and intellectually stimulating atmosphere. Also referred to as the Villa Quarter or the New Town.

New construction techniques

Construction here is notable for its use of newer materials which were not previously available to the historical builders of Port Dhal - most notably stone brick. New developments in gardening are also visible in the trendy new quarter; planted hedges and vines are seen prominently.

Expansion of the wall

Occupying an area initially outside the safety of the Old City Wall, the new area beings with it a new wall of sturdier stone brick, however maintaining the rough crenellated style of the Old Wall, and expanding the area of the town considerably. However, the wall only bounds the town to the west (seaward-facing) side, serving a primarily decorative purpose. The majority of the new manors are built outside the protection of the wall, indicating that the town has entered a new era of peace and prosperity where medieval defences are no longer considered necessary, and can give way to aesthetic idealisations.

  • View of the Northern Quarter from the west

  • The wide, spacious streets of the Northern Quarter

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  • 2011-11-24 20.39.32.png

  • Flying squid above Nosefish Manor (under construction).

  • Nosefish Manor.

  • Nosefish Manor as seen from Martello Tower. Note working deckchairs and parasol, currently in use for keeping the rain away, as is most appropriate in this Northern climate.

  • The gate of Nosefish Manor

  • getplayerhead.sh?nosefish&16.png nosefish's emergency escape glass, showing the light-hearted attitude the new residents have to the prospect of barbarian invasion.

  • View of Port Dhal's Northern Quarter from the Martello Tower

  • Even the sewers in the New Town are cleaner, bigger and brighter than the old.

  • Tannhäuser Gate and Norther Quarter seen from seaside.

  • Villagers becoming a plague. Can only hope iron doors will keep them out.

North-Western Fortifications

As a result of the expansion of the Northern Quarter, additional builders and architects were commissioned to create a fortress on the island to the North-West of the town, and a watch tower on the smaller island in the bay to the North.

The buildings are named Tannhauser Gate and Martello Tower respectively; there is more information on the Tannhäuser Gate wiki page.

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  • 2011-10-25 08.32.10.png
  • 2011-10-25 09.01.48.png
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Details

Incredible attention to detail appears to be the author's hallmark, and it is demonstrated in many elaborate and carefully designed parts that are easy to overlook at a casual glance. This is a town that can take a great deal of time to explore in full.

Working sewer system

Amongst other details, the town features a fully working sewer system. Every latrine in the town is provided with running water, and working drainage. Any items dropped down the toilets will make their way through the sewers and eventually exit into the harbour. Drain grates are also placed along streets to aid drainage.

  • An outhouse behind one of the smaller houses.

  • Inside the town sewers.

  • One of the street drains.

  • Sewer outflow into the harbour.

  • Sewer outflow of Nosefish Manor.

  • A maintainance room in the New Town sewers, below street level.

Fallen stones

One of the less obvious details - at the rear wall of the town, one of the older trees has broken through the wall and scattered several cobble blocks on the ground.

2011-06-24 08.18.47.png

Harbour

A dog is patiently waiting for the return of it's master. Boxes are piled on the quay, waiting to be picked up. Some boats are towed to the piers.

2011-10-14 11.07.18.png

Media

See also

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