Entry 48 - Javerdus

Journal of Galthir the Cartographer

Entry 48 - Javerdus

(Annotated map based on image provided by Mainframe, developers of Pax Dei)

Released to roam again! The Llydaw Lending Library is built, stocked, and more importantly for my purposes, lit. Those stupid metal candle-holders, both the sticks and the wall-mounts, were the figurative death of me. So much iron ore, for so many wrought iron ignots, for many fewer wrought iron sheets, for even fewer candle-holders. Oh, and the tallow. Musn't forget the tallow. Long, tedious, Sisyphean efforts. But worth it in the end, I suppose. I still think it would have been better built in the fields by the Petra Maes, but it isn't badly placed. Eh, Grimyr will want to rebuild it at some point. He's already making noises about the factory at Riverwatch, complaining about smoke in his eyes while working.

Regardless, I'm free to roam again, and now I can correct an irritant. Specifically, my atrocious handling of Langres. Frankly, my explorations of the Inis Gallia wildlands and the transit during the grand tour have made large inroads into the naming, so I'm hoping this will be over with quickly. I'd like to give Headmistress Ceridwen a gift for the occassion of her handfasting to Aezrel. And a pair of surveys of their naming in honor of the new couple seems like an appropriate gift.

So first, a quick collection from the previous surveys. And starting from the Shrine, and working my clockwise from the north.

I had forgotten that the Langres Road north had a portion of its course twisted nearly vertical across the width. Fortunately, while in a steep section, there is no drop off to contend with, but an unusual sight. It's while I'm traversing this small piece, that I meet Untred and Spintimos. The latter continued on his journey, but Untred and I had a brief conversation. Like so many Scions, he focuses entirely on finding the shortest path (which may not be the fastest or most navigable). I'm guilty of doing the same, often enough. The problem with this approach is that you either have to lead (or follow) your fellows everywhere, or rely on them having exactly the same local knowledge, and using the same terms, as you yourself.

I've witnessed (and suffered through) enough conversations of alike to know the folly of that approach. In fact, it was just such an occurence that caused me to start my surveys, so that we could all have common points of reference. And while the land has changed since I started my journeys, and Scions have appeared and faded away, the goal and inspiration remains.

After our brief conversation, I continue on my way. To meet a trail I don't recall. The beginnings are marked on my earlier annotations from the circuit tour, but I don't recall seeing the other end along the Afon Gallia Road. Which is why I've come back. Anyway, I'm going to call that the Plunging Trail. It follows a path similar to a bouncing, falling, rock. It emerges on the Afon Gallia Road a little ways north of the Gallian Rift Stone. And from the rift-side, the trail end looks like nothing more than another bare patch. Easy to miss if you are focused on the road itself. Back into Langres.

Then, I divert north from the Langres Road onto a cart track that leads to the North Forest Stone, then turns east long the northern shores of the North Langres Lake. It's peaceful. Langres has some nice homesteads, manors, and mansions. It's populated, but not terribly so, and certainly less than its neighbors Javerdus and Trecassis.

And I was right, I've already accounter for large swathes of Langres in my previous explorations, so completing this survey wen much faster that the Wildlands. I doubt that will be true of Morvan, my next target though.

REFERENCE 22: Langres

Langres is the southern valley of the eastern pair of home valleys in Inis Gallia. It is bordered on the northern side by Javerdus, on the eastern side by the Eastern Borderlands, mostly the Great Eastern Pale, on the south by the Long River Valley, and on the west by the Afon Gallia River Valley. It also borders the Central Valley Bluff.

Holy Stones ==============

Lake Langres Stone (Petra Pwll Langres): A holy stone on the Langres Road by the southwestern end of Lake Langres.

Langres Hollow Stone: A holy stone on a cobbled road branching from Langres Road, north of Lake Langre in the hills.

Langres Stone: The home stone of Langres Valley.

Langres North Forest Stone (Petra Coedwig Gogledd Langres): The holy stone in the northwestern forest of Langres.

Langres Pale Moor Stone (Petra Rhostir Gwll Javerdus): The holy stone in the eastern pale moors of Langres. It is silent.

Langres Wild Pines Stone {Petra Pinwydd Gwyllt): A holy stone on the Wild Pines Track. Actually situated in the Cold Hawthorn Moors. A silent stone.

Langres Central Evergreens Stone (Petra Bytholwyrdd Canolog): The evergreen forest directly south of the Langres Shrine, home to numerous Inquisitor-occupied ruins.

Paths ==============

===== Roads

Langres Road: A cobbled road that curves around Lake Langres, and passes the Langres Stone. Starts in the east at the junction with the Langres Pine Moors and Meadows Road.

Langres Highbridge Road: A cobbled road in Langres, and the primary route into Javerdus.

Langres Shrouded Road: A cobbled road that heads west from the Lake Langres Stone, and descends into the Long Shrouded Forest, ending at the Langres Shore Road.

Langres Pine Moors Road: A cobbled road that runs from Langres Road to the Langres Wild Pines Track.

Langres Meadows Road: A cobbled road that starts at the junction of Langres Road and Langres Pine Moors Road, and runs north past the Highbridge Road to meet the Langres Road again at the Plunging Trail.

Langres River Woods Road: A cobbled road that starts on Langres Road, not far from Glen Road, and heads north down into the Afon Gallia Rift.

Glen Road: A short cobbled road that leads to a small glen. It meets with the Langres Road at a sharp bend near the Langres Road's midpoint.

Langres Loop Road: A cobbled road, consisting of the Langres Road and the Langres Meadow Road that encircles Lake Langres and the

===== Tracks

Langres Cathedral Track: A track that leads north from the Gallian Cathedral into Langres. Another rare, broken track, as there is a small, short rise in the tack as you enter Langre proper.

Javerdus-Langres Forest Track: A cart track leading from the Inquisitor occupied moors of Javerdus south into Langres.

Langres Highbridge Track: A cart track that leads into central Javerdus from Langres, continuing the Langres Highbridge Road.

Langres-Javerdus Moors Track: A cart track from the western edge of Langres Pale Moors into Javerdus, connecting to the Central Javerdus Road at its sharp bend.

Langres Wild Pines Track: A track that leads from Langres eastward into the Eerie Pines.

Langres Forest Moors Track: A track that leads through the West Forest to the North Forest Stone, then turns east to run through the moors north of the North Langres Lake. It meets the Javerdus-Langres Forest Track at the holy stone.

Langres Meadow Moors Track: A short cart track that connects the Langres Meadows Road to the Pale Moor Stone.

===== Trails

The Cross-border Moors Trail: A trail that leads from the hawthorn moors of Javerdus into the Pale Moors of Langres, ending at the Langres Pale Moor Stone.

Langres Juniper Wild Hills Trail: A long trail leading out of Langres, descending along the juniper moors in the wildlands to connect to the Long Gallian Road.

Langres Pale Moors Trail: A trail that leads east and south through the Pale Moors, ending near the Langres Wild Pines Track.

The Plunging Trail: A steep trail the heads down and northwest from the end of the Langres Road to connect to the Afon Gallia Road.

===== Bridges

Langres Lakebridge: An elevated bridge that crosses over the North Langres Lake. The first elevated bridge I've seen.

Natural Features ==============

==== Biomes

Langres West Forest: The forest that lies between the North Langres Lake and the western border of Langres.

Langres Pale Moors: An part of the Great Eastern Pale of Inis Gallia that claims the northeastern portion of Langres.

Langres Cold Hawthorn Moors: a stretch of moors between the southen edge of the Langres Pale Moors, and the northern edge of the Langres Southern Pines.

Langres Southern Pines: The evergreen forest along the southeast border of Langres.

Langres Hidden Evergreens: The evergreens on the central bluff just south of the Shrine. Home to several Inquisitor-occupied ruins.

Langres Hawthorn Moors: The hawthorn moors along the northern border of Langres, adjacent to the North Langres Lake.

==== Water Features

Lake Langres {Pwll Langres}: Again, technically a pond, as it has no inflows or outflows, but too large to be anything other than a Lake. The southern of the two "lakes" in Langres.

North Langres Lake {Pwll Langres Gogledd}: Another technical pond too large to be called anything other than a Lake. Located north of the Langres Shrine.

Langres Meadow Pond: A pond located in the fields below North Langres Lake, near the Langres Pale Moors.

Clear Moors Tarn: A pond surrounded by the Pale Moors, but itself in a pocket of hawthorn moor.

Langres Shrine Pond: A pond located nearby the Shrine, to the Shrines' southwest.

Langres Hawthorn Pond: A pond located in the Hawthorn Moors, easily visible from the Forest Moors Track.

==== Hills, Mountains, and other Features of Interest

Langres Pale Ridge: A ridgeline of hills that separates the Pale Moors from the fields surrounding Meadow Pond.

Langres Central Bluff: A bluff looming over Lanke Langres on the north shore.