more Fenlock Geography

131-135. Large houses.

136. Johnny Arnoult’s press. Although few olives are grown in Fenlock proper (the immediate area’s heavy wet clay soil isn’t friendly to olives, and the regular, if not particularly severe, freeze does occur in winter), there are extensive farms not far to the south and west, and the Arnoult family has made a decent living processing olives using equipment linked to a large undershot waterwheel that uses the steady (but not particularly rapid) flow of the canal to turn a series of grindstones and power hydraulic pistons. Olive oil is primarily used in the production of food and high-end lamp oil, most of the fuel oils in the area are from animal oils, with a minor use of pitch found in pitch springs north of Arden Vale.

137. Goudeau family house (Renny Goudeau). The Goudeaus are involved in mineral trades, and this narrow A-frame house was one of the first structures the family owned in town, before building the much larger Goudeau Estate (138). The house is largely offices for the family, although Renny, the family patriarch, lives in the building. If there is gold, coal, silver, iron ore or the like to be found within 100 miles, the Goudeau clan knows where it is.

138. Goudeau Estate. (Sebastien Goudeau) One of the thane’s best acquisitions early in his career as the city’s leader was convincing Renny Goudeau, a young very successful mineral trader to move from Arden Vale (where his kids were largely prevented from advancing because of social class) to Fenlock. Charging the Goudeaus a very modest 5% tax on their earnings (in addition to the taxes collected by the crown) instead of 25% common in the capital convinced them to move their operations to ‘the frontier,’ and the Goudeaus are still the most successful traders in minerals in the country, owning hundreds of mines throughout the Ardent.

139. Large manor house.

140. Phillipe Goudeau, mapmaker. Trained at his father’s knee, Phillipe had the skills in finding minerals and acquiring rights to mine them that made his family wealthy, but never really had the desire to do it for a living. Instead, he discovered he could make a very lucrative side business out of the creation of large, multicolored maps. His work hangs in the thane’s office and is used by the king’s tax assessors. He also does blueprints and minor engineering work.

141. Home of Jeannine Gobel, designer and occasional seamstress. Another Fenlock success story, Gobel has turned her magnificent use of fabrics and colors into a business, designing the stage costumes (and occasionally street clothes) of Fenlock’s many whores and performers. Her work is in very high demand, and she is best known for designing the most outrageous dresses and court apparel used in the capital. She considers herself retired, but still designs exceptional (if loud) costumes from her attached workshop. The gardens of her property, which run along the street, are famously lush.

142. The Virgin’s Bodice, an inn. Offering three square meals a day delivered to three stories of large rooms and a full array of available services (whores to healers), The Virgin’s Bodice, run by Caressa LaJoie (a cousin of the trader family) is renown throughout the Ardent for its attention to detail and respectability. Most of the guests are religious pilgrims from chivalric (or higher) families, doing a circuit of the temples and showplaces of the realm.

143- 146. Small manor houses.

147. Vallois Lafosse’s manor: Lafosse owns The Rusty Pumphandle, The Goat’s Head and The Captain’s Ugly Sister, as well as being a major investor in a number of other local businesses. His manor house oozes wealth and bad taste.

148-150. Large houses.

151. The Most Noble Order of the Sisters of the Living Water. This cloister is associated with the Temple of Ordith complex on the other side of the city, but this sect of the religion has a mysterious existence even more restricted from outside eyes. The Sisters also take in a few orphans and have a girls’ school.

152-153. Large houses.

154. South Cistern Fed by both rainwater and ground sources, the cistern, which is built of stone and concrete and stands 35 feet, provides lightly pressurized cold water to a number of the more well-off houses in the area,.

155. Drydock (barge repair) Another one of the city’s drydocks used in the service of barges.