Bab 44: Entry Thirty-Three
Date: April 21, 300 After Landing, Spring, Long Winter
Location: Sea Dragon Point
To say my new home was a pit would be rather harsh…but it isn't much better.
The little town surrounding the castle is rather charming; the people are amiable and the homes look well-used but perfectly comfortable. The town is a ten minute ride from the castle, sits along the northern coast and has a few small docks for the collection of fishing boats that dot the shore. There is a single larger vessel there as well, could have been a war galley once upon a time, but time has taken the life, sails and structural integrity out of it.
I was right about the Winter being more mild along the coast, but not by much. Daytime temperature has to be around the low to mid 50s, but at night it still drops below freezing. It also snowed on us the whole way here, and only stopped the morning of our arrival. Never seen a full month of solid snow before. When we arrived at the town there were a few empty houses, left over from a time when the population was a little larger, and so set Daecy, myself and the two dozen builders up in them. I've already decided that my first project when the spring thaw comes is going to be roads, but that cannot come soon enough.
About a thousand people in Sea Town (that is the locals short-hand name for their town), but only about half that number actually live here. The rest are people who normally survive in the hills or nearby forests. Human are tough, but not enough to survive years under snow. But aside from that the locals tell me the land is really good and the weather is reliable. I suppose one of the first things I should do is take a census, figure out who lives on what lands, and mark the boundaries. People in this era/place are good at killing, but only maesters seem interested in record keeping.
Anyway, I've got a lot of vacant land, and I'm going to be trying to attract a lot with no seed or tools, while trying to support a standing army that I want to eventually turn into a model for the rest of the North. Once I know what lands are taken, I can start to breaking off square miles of mixed plow land, pasture and woods into separate towns. With some horse-drawn reapers and other gear I have on the drawing board, it should be possible for 120 families to manage that much territory easily. Each town can then select one person from among them to be Mayor. With less hands needed for farming, I can raise local police and military forces from the excess. As well as have a few hands left over for building roads and schools. Those last two are more important than the first.
I'll still keep a good chunk of land around Sea Town and Sea Dragon Point for the capital, and its eventual growth.
At present the area has no Maester, it has literally been neglected for the last few hundred years and only ever thought of when the Ironborn attacked, so the area is ripe for what they would considered "non-typical" education. I'll have to write to Luwin for a list of helpful herbs, and their seeds, but maybe in few years we should have an actual hospital here.
The castle of Sea Dragon Point, on the other hand…..is a mess. No keep, only one standing curtain wall between two very broken towers, an overgrown ward full of weeds and trees, and only the ancient memory of an outer curtain wall. Most of the block is still there, but under centuries of old and new growth or carried away to make the foundations of buildings at Sea Town. Rebuilding this wreak won't be worth it. I'm going to have to build from scratch. Problem is, it will take at least 4 years of work to complete according to my builders. My idea for concrete was supposed to cut that time in half, but I still haven't perfected the mix (I wish I had read a chemistry book at least once before coming here).
God help me…this will take a lot of work and energy.
In other news, Dacey and I had a little scare the other day. For a few days, we thought she was with child. I was both terrified and excited…and as much as I would like to wait until my house (both figurative and literal) is in order, I'm starting to think that there could be much worse things that could happen. Not getting any younger after all…
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone