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[Lord Occam]

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To increase the trade in his lands, Lord Occam decided to found a new port town in his realm. Near the mouth of the river Sarum, he found the perfect spot to attract new settlers.

To provide security for the settlers and their trading, Lord Occam decreed that a castle should first be built on the small island of Holm in the bay. A hall for gatherings was the first to be built, followed by a small gate tower leading to a small ship bridge connecting the island of Holm with the Hambeck mainland.

Finally a large tower for the lord was constructed. This centerpiece of the castle was built with walls more than three meters thick, enabling the internal staircases to be built hidden from view. The lower floor contains workshops and storage, the middle floor the dining hall and sleeping quarters, while the large hall at the top floor contains the lord's library.



The castle follows the contours of the island of Holm, but despite the restricted area Lady Occam insisted on a small garden being added to the otherwise rather grim fortress.



After the completion of the castle, the Lord moved in with his family and servants. The fertile lands of Hambeck will hopefully attract a large number of settlers. The area of Hambeck lies at the edge of the huge ocean of Baltica, at the mouth of the river Sarum that divides two large forest, providing plenty of constructing material for the settlers.



The town of Hambeck will be able to enjoy the relatively deep waters close to shore, where large ships can get close to shore and unload their valuable cargoes. Hopefully the safe area will also attract clerics, who will construct magnificent churches and monasteries. The hill on the left would be a splendid area for a large cathedral.



Not soon after the castle had been completed, Lord Occam was very pleased to see the first trader moving in, beginning the transformations of the wet lowlands into a magnificient city.

Behind the scenes
The town of Hambeck is based on the Minecraft 1.8.1 map seed of "Shipwreck" and the island of Holm is located at X: 1093, Z: 1271. The town is constructed just between an ocean, swamp and forest biome, which gives the landscape nice variation.

The town is being constructed in Creative mode, and I hope later to convert the map to Survival mode. The idea is then to travel to the town of Hambeck and use it as a base for exploring the countryside and discovering its treasures.

The inspiration for Hambeck are the medieval cities in northern Europe and around the Baltic Sea, in particular Copenhagen, Bergen, Lübeck and Hamburg in the 13th century.

Comments are more than welcome :-)

[TheTinkerer]

That's really nice looking. Fairly small, gives a pleasant feel. Nice work!

[Bayrd]

This is absolutely beautiful. Splendid job! And thank you for the inspiration.

[Lord Occam]

Thanks :-)


The first merchant in Hambeck, Kaufmann Schimdt, is to the joy of Lord Occam doing well and has expanded his presence in the small town with another warehouse for alle the goods coming from the hinterland.


But with citizens comes complaints. The river of Sarum connecting Hambeck with the interior is beginning to clog up, disturbing the traffic of small riverboats. Therefore Lord Occam has commanded several of his troops to work on cleaning debris and dirt from the river, so traffic and income may flow as before.


But the increase in trade also leads to new possibilities for Lord Occam. In order to ensure the correct (and rather high!) taxation of the people bringing goods in and out of Hambeck, a new tax office has been constructed at the mouth of the river Sarum. Hopefully this will bring an end to the wide-spread smuggling on the river.


The challenges for the new settlers of Hambeck are many. The wet lowlands means much work has do be done before construction. The risk of disase in the settlement is also growing.


But this has fortunately not stopped another new merchant, the wealthy Herr Cordtz, from settling in Hambeck. He has constructed a house from a material never seen before in the region, namely bricks made of burnt clay. The combined living quarters and warehouse of the merchant it the largest building yet in Hambeck.

All in all, Lord Occam is satisfied with the growth of the new trading port, even though much work remains to expand the tiny town into a bustling metropolis.

[hercules]

nicenz boiz

[hercules]

dude How do u take screenshOts? Is it like alt R? Nevermind lol soooo Yeh
can u find the serritttt message

[Syzzled]

This looks very awesome, I really like it!

What texture pack did you use?

[Lord Occam]

Thanks :-)

>hercules: Just press F2 and a screenshot will be saved in the .minecraft/screenshots folder.

>Syzzled: The texture pack is Ovo's Rustic Pack 1.2, where I've added a number of textures from Misa's Realistic to use all the new blocks of 1.8. The amazingly beautiful sun and moon also comes from Misa's pack.

[RSwordsman]

You're an inspiration to all of us medieval nerds who like to base our worlds on an intricate storyline. Great building skills too.

[Lord Occam]

Not long after the second wealthy merchant had settled in Hambeck, the trading community where the river Sarum runs into the ocean of Baltica, a ship supply store opened its doors. To be able to supply the increasing amount of boats and small ships frequenting Hambeck, a new shop was set up by Herr Krabbe & sons. A new well was digged right outside the shop near the quayside so fresh water could be provided as well.


The influx of new inhabitants in Hambeck continues. Three private houses were constructed near the inner quay to the right.

The wealthy merchants of Hambeck decided to increase their coorporation and built a large meeting hall. Lord Occam is concerned the power the merchants might eventually grow too big, but fo now he enjoys the grand new building in a completely new style.


The gathering hall even has a basement, the first building in Hambeck to feature this. The old people of Hambeck shake their heads and complain about all the fancy new ideas...


It was a rainy, dark and stormy night when the large cargo ship "Löwenörn" finally approached the town of Hambeck after a long journey from the far side of Baltica ocean.


Lord Occam was most thrilled to see the large trading vessel, bristling with new goods for trade. Never before had such a large ship been seen in Hambeck...


The growth of the town of Hambeck seemed to know no boundaries. Next to the tax office a new merchant, Herr Tillman, had build a two-story townhouse with rooms for all his employees, and would most likely soon be building a large warehouse close by.

Despite the growth of the town, the citizens had begun to whisper about the danger of a settlement this large without a church. Was Lord Occam mocking God, endangering the otherwise thriving community? Something had to be done!

[Firestorm13]

Wow, this is more like an illustrated story than just a gallery. Remember that F1 is your friend, though.

[Thungon217]

Interesting story! Never seen that before.. at least in the screenshots section

Nice builds too!

[XaelDreymer]

Absolutely brilliant! I noticed a few small errors, but it hardly makes a difference-- this is a beautiful piece.

[RSwordsman]

Sure you don't want to put this up as an RP server? I would be so in.

[Lord Occam]

Thanks for the tip about F1, will definately use that in the future.

What's an RP server? Roleplaying server??

[CrimsonPhantom]

I love the storytelling aspect of your posts. Take more pics!

[Lord Occam]

For a while, Lord Occam had been unable to sleep, pondering whether he was mocking God by residing over a growing settlement without any holy place. Finally, one night as he was sleeplessly wandering the battlements of the great tower he decided to construct a place of worship, no matter what the cost. Even if it would ruin him, Hambeck needed a church.


The word was spread and soon stonemasons began to arrive from several of the lands bordering the Baltica ocean. Within weeks, the foundations for a great church had been laid.


But alas, the low wetlands of Hambeck showed to be quite a challenge when the workers were digging out for the crypt beneath the church, which would one day house the tombs of Lord Occam and his family.


The construction moved quickly, aided by generous donations from Lord Occam and the wealthy merchants of the town. At the end of the second summer, the roof was already being constructed and the tower were almost half the size it would finally become.

At the same time, a market square for trading in Hambeck had been established. Close to the church, the marked was marked by stone to show where trading were allowed on market days. Already a few stalls had been set up, but surely more were to come.


As soon as the wooden roof was complete, the church was furnished and dedicated to Saint Nicholas, in the native tongue of the people of Hambeck called Sankt Nikolaj, the patron of sailors, fishermen and merchants.


Lord Occam had spared no expense in the construction of the church, even going as far as providing the high tower with a copper spire that could be seen from miles away.


Inside the tower were the great bell nicknamed Brummbear after the deep and delightful sound it gave off, calling the citizens of Hambeck to service.


Now, every night Lord Occam would ascend the great tower and enjoy the view of Hambeck and the new church of the town.

[Thungon217]

Yeah, RP server = role playing server. You'd have to cough up a lot of money for it though. I think a better idea would be to create a custom adventure map, because you have creativity and writing down. Or just continue to build awesome stuff ^^

[Ballder]

Really nice post! Keep it upP!

[King_Knarfi]

Nice! Hope you can build more