May 2018 – gibraltar

Navarre: Industrial District

Originally, my plan for the industrial district was just two structures: a foundry for ore processing and the mine entrance itself.

The foundry has a forge, loose storage as well as chests, and a small furnace array for smelting.

Despite my original plan, the district already had two side projects that form a natural boundary between the agricultural district and the industrial district: a nether portal watchtower and a fishing shack.

And even with those, I felt there was something missing. So, I repurposed a stonecutter’s workshop from a previous world and built it across the road from the foundry.

I also added some natural decoration, with a grass path to the docks, and a small pond near the mine entrance.

Finally, my mineshaft has a simple design for now, though I do plan to improve it over time. I love building nice mineshafts.

Navarre: Nether Portal

Once I started on the industrial district, I realized I needed a place for my nether portal to move to, at least until I can build a proper portal room in the university district, later on.

Fortunately, there was some natural space between the agricultural district and the industrial district that needed to be filled to make the city feel natural.

Because I see the portal as something “otherworldly” in nature, it made sense to have it associated with the mystic/religious buildings in the university district.

I’ve started fleshing out what I want those to look like in my creative world, and decided to take some of the building idea to create a small “holy site” for the nether portal. I like to think of it as a roadside chapel, but it also doubles as a watchtower.

So, the nether portal chapel/tower is owned by the church, and for now it’s the only site of worship.

There is a simple piscina for washing of travelers, and an attractive glazed terracotta floor.

Above it is a lookout. While Navarre is not a fortified city, it does have lookouts so that wanderers can be seen and helped and to keep watch at night.

Navarre: Fishing Shack

This was a little bonus build I worked on while populating the farm and surrounding agricultural district. It’s quite simple. Just a shack housing two fishermen and a simple automatic fish farm. It sits on the edge of the lake, with a dock jutting into the water where fishing can be done, and with a few small boats nearby. The dock has a small covered section where you can fish while it’s raining or shaded from the heat of the sun. There is also a small yard where fishing poles and tackle are kept.

One challenge I gave myself was to use the acacia log blocks without letting any of the orange acacia wood show anywhere. The acacia bark is an awesome gray wood with a nice texture that really feels like weathered wood that would be used near water. But the orange doesn’t really fit with the style of my village. The roof is a little simpler than my other roofs – the same pattern but without any brick blocks, except the chimney, to give it a humbler feel. The foundation is stone brick with some mossy and cracked stone brick thrown in to give it that damp feel of stone near water.