Lime Mortar
The Strega is one of the longest rivers in Udoris and Algrim's most important waterway. Cutting a winding path through the kingdom, it originates at an estimated elevation of only about 300 meters in the Treilleauzo territory of the Aiga mountain range, Southeast of Quilton and discharges 5,645 km further into the Ignis basin south of the Morgan channel.
Even though the river freezes for most of its length for three months each year, the Strega is of great importance to Algrim's inland transport and trade with its neighbour, the kingdom of Quilton just across the border. Its diverse ecosystem also supports numerous towns and communities along its banks by fertilizing and systematically generating arable land and also providing easily accessible seafood for trade and consumption.
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Excerpt from Milburga Leah's Speculum universale - 'The Voltulian Philosophica'.
Excerpt located under- Udoris/Diyias/Geography/Great rivers, lakes, streams and tributaries.
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The Strega River
Redwater Harbor
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*CLINK*
*CLANK*
Standing by the shore area of the river Strega, Levi watched a group of serfs shovelling up the slit that washed ashore from the river into large woven baskets.
On the eastern side of the behemoth river, lies Redwater harbour just a stone's throw away from his current location from where he could clearly see in the distance a few quays, depots, a two-masted brig, two sloops and a handful of boats docked to the piers peacefully oscillating in tandem with the river's current.
The harbour originally belonged to The Heras, but since the fall of Redwater, all its auxiliary assets including the farms and harbour by default fell into Levi's possession.
Of the three brigs repossessed from Gilbert, two were sent out to Gena, Quilton to purchase supplies and resources for the coming winter and in preparation against Duke Hera's arrival so only one was left here docked.
Frankly, the Heras actually owned three more ships, A third rate frigate and two schooners but all three ships were sent down the river to the capital in preparation for the defence of Algrim's major ports.
Aside from the Hera's vessels, Aden also had a small fleet of his own comprised two-second rate frigates, a few third rates, and armful schooners, which were usually docked here at the harbour and to manage greenfields trade with the capital.
Sadly though it wasn't certain if Aden's fleet would eventually return.
Naval warfare was a treacherous affair for all parties involved. A wide variety of incidents can considerably affect the survivability of a ship and its crew. From accidental self-inflicted fires during an intense conflict to catastrophic damage inflicted from enemy barrages or even simply running aground in shallow waters due to low visibility.
Ships despite their immense sizes were still very vulnerable. That said the likelihood of Aden's fleet returning were very slim. His ships were most probably situated at the core of the battle defending the royal fleet, dishing out and receiving as much damage as they possibly could in the shortest amount of time.
The chances of ever seeing those vessels or their invaluable crew ever again were most probably nil.
That aside, Levi wasn't there today for the docked ships since he had already seen them all and even managed to rehire what was left of the crew to serve him nor was he currently concerned about his nominal father's fleet of vessels. No today he was more interested in the river or more specifically what is laying at the bottom of it.
"My lord... Why again do you need so much slit?" Sir Lancelot asked puzzled whilst watching Levi fiddle with a white shard of stone.
The shard, light grey in colour felt crumbly like chalk in Levi's fingers. It broke off easily and left grey smudges on his fingertips if pressed too hard. Unsurprisingly the entire riverbank was littered with these shards mixed in with slit that had washed ashore.
Cognizant of the pressing need to provide accommodations for the refugees from Redwater before winter arrives, Levi had recently begun to experiment with different solutions to solving the problem.
Before the townsfolk of redwater fell victim to Levi's newfound pyromania they lived in wooden homes. Houses constructed from evenly shaped and layered timbers that trap air in were the norms in Algrim were large swathes of forest abound.
Normally building wooden homes would have been the go-to option for any normal Lord during this era, but in an era where precision cutting and measuring tools were almost nonexistent and the heavy requirements in regards to time and resources, both of which Levi lacked in excess, it was clear that path just wouldn't cut it for his schedule.
The entire process would take at least about a week to construct even a single building. From selecting the trees to felling them, then cutting the felled trees into the timber and transporting them to the worksite to be shaped into useful pieces for construction the process was just too cumbersome to consider.
According to rough estimates, Levi predicted that the construction of a new district capable of housing at least seven hundred people was paramount, and with winter just around the corner he clearly wouldn't be able to make that deadline in time.
In fact, he predicted that even if he did succeed in building the homes in time, the amount of timber needed would leave the neighbour Gray Willows forest barren, adversely affecting the ecological balance of this region and the fertility of the soil in the serf's farms.
Unlike the semi-ignorant rulers of this era, Levi was very cautious of how his activities would affect nature because of all the sensitization he had been exposed to in his short twenty odd years on earth.
But with wooden homes out of the question, Levi was left with only two options- Stone and Concrete. Real concrete houses were also completely out of his considerations, he barely remembered how cement was made and was clear how expensive and burdensome it would be to undertake such an ambitious construction project with such little expertise and inexperienced labour.
Stone houses were also struck off the list. The stone used had to be either mined or foraged before being shaped by stone carvers and stacked up on top of one another. Typically stone houses of equivalent size to an average wooden home could cost upwards of at least twenty times more than their wooden counterparts and might take up a few months more to complete.
Given this fact, A decision for building stone homes as a replacement wouldn't have been the wisest of choices...
If he decided to use the conventional means of this era.
During spring when the rains return the Strega river tends to overflow its banks for several weeks at a time, before receding when the rains stop during summer leaving behind little white shards mixed in with silt from the riverbed.
These little finger long shards where actually fragmented pieces of limestone that were washed down from the Aiga mountain range by the numerous small streams that converged into the Strega river.
The chunks of rocks that coincidentally get washed off from the mountains mostly settle at the bottom of the river, but during the rainy season quite a few settle on-the-then-submerged riverbank before they are exposed to the surface when the rains stop and the water level drops.
Judging from the large runoff of limestone Levi was almost certain of the existence of a limestone deposit hidden somewhere nearby in the mountains.
The Aiga mountains, Aiga's spine or simply the impassable mountain range has its name for a reason. Its sheer size and extremely complex terrain make even mapping the terrain very tasking so currently, Levi had no plans sending a search party to locate the said deposits.
Instead, he wisely made the decision to be content with what had washed ashore, thankfully though for now, the riverbank had enough limestone deposited to suit his current demands.
When the serfs had gathered enough of the slit Levi ordered them under Lancelot's doubtful gaze to haul it to the charcoal kilns in Redwater town for processing.
With wood, stone and concrete construction out of the question, Levi turned to the next best thing, Fieldstone.
Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. It is a nuisance for peasant farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point in human history, it began to be used as a material. Strictly speaking, it is collected from the surface of where it occurs naturally.
Unlike conventional stone houses that need shaped stone blocks, fieldstone structures can be built with common, readily available, unprocessed stone.
Usually, stone cast off from mines or just regular stone, the type with irregular edges and corners can be used. The only prerequisite is the need for a binder to hold the structure together and fill in the gaps made by the irregularity of the materials used.
Fieldstone structures had the advantage of being easy to construct because of the inert availability of the materials needed.
With this method, he could work his way around the need to hire stone cravers to carve out each individual piece of stone for the construction which would help save both time and money.
Unlike conventional stone houses that need shaped stone blocks, fieldstone structures can be built with common, readily available, unprocessed stone.
Initially, Levi planned on simply using mud clay mixed it a bit of potash as the binder, but after a few tests, he quickly realized the structure would be very unstable and prone to toppling over so he immediately scrapped the idea.
Realising that the only option left for him was to find a better binder, he turned to cement or more appropriately called- Lime Mortar.
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Fun facts:
Encyclopedias had long existed even since the medieval era... Only they weren't called encyclopedias. They were usually referred to as On nature (De natura, De naturis rerum), Mirror (Speculum maius, Speculum universale) orTreasure (Trésor).
And unlike modern encyclopedia, they weren't available to the general public like they are today, instead due to being all hand-copied, medieval encyclopedias were only available mostly to wealthy patrons or monastic men of learning; they were expensive, and usually written for those extending knowledge rather than those using it.