Talk:Industrial Buildings

1.1 Apothecary

Vials filled with herbs and liquids of various colors are stacked and fill sagging shelves along two of the walls. Barrels and bottles of larger specimens of fluids and dried herbs adorn another. Hanging above are tied bunches of various plants and flowers. The air is fragrant with woody, green smells, but a pervasive acrid odor seeps through. A laboratory bench backs up to the fourth wall, burners blazing, pots a'boiling, and distillation tubes dripping. Quill, ink vials, and labels are strewn about, yet so many mysterious vials remain unlabeled.

1.2 Blacksmith

Sweat and fire. As you enter the blacksmith's workplace, all you can sense is sweat and fire. A red glow from several sources tinges everything within sight. Then the pounding begins: the dull thud of hammer on hot metal, the sizzle of hot metal and cold water, and finally the the clack of cold metal. Steam and heat seem to roll from every corner, and soot and ash cover everything in a fine layer.

1.3 Brewery

Massive shiny copper tanks and tubes block the view of much else. Flames are alight under some, blackening the underside. A warm, moist, cloying atmosphere and the odor of baking bread . . . no, mustier--and hops. A table of large glass mugs containing hydrometers and running over with various hues of frothy amber or brown liquid sits off to the side, while one wall is lined with cask after cask of ales and lagers. A leaking cask has left a sticky puddle near the table.

1.4 Distillery

Heat and sour smells pervade the atmosphere, as well as a heady wave of stinging alcohol. The inevitable escape of aromatic spices, plant essence, and mustiness of myriads of distillation chambers dotted around the room is enough to make anyone's eyes water. Flames burn hot under some of the chambers, and a little steam seeps out around distillation tubes. A steady drip of various colored liquors fill glass vials lining stained and wooden shelves, stripped of nearly all their finish.

1.5 Insectary

Bees buzz busily by, going every direction. Baskets of silkworms munching on mulberry leaves are loaded on hundreds of shelves, oblivious to the pots of cocoons boiling away nearby. Terrariums by the dozen house spiders with intricate webs and gossamer sheets. Jars of honey are stacked and labelled near the hives, noting the nectar sources, along with spools of natural silk stacked on pegs at a purchasing counter.

1.6 Jeweler

Dark mahogany panelling lines the room with a beautiful oval mahogany counter displaying superb woodworking craftsmanship. Shelves within the counter are draped loosely in black velvet. Nestled in the folds are hundreds of sparkling treasures: loose gems and findings, rings, necklaces, bracelets, cufflinks, brightly illuminated by multiple candelabras and a single, large crystal chandelier centered overhead. Clearly no expense has been spared in assuring the casual customer that this is a well-respected and quite lucrative business. In the corner, a sturdy safe rests, doubtless home to more beauty and wealth than can be imagined.

1.7 Kitchen

Flour is strewn across the large wooden table in the center of the room. Hooks above it suspend dozens of copper pots and bowls. Mounds of fresh dough rise on the counter next to the well-lit oven, its heat pervading the entire room, and a pot lid rattles merrily on the stove. Lining one wall is an extensive spice rack, loaded with dozens of small glass corked jars. The sink basin is loaded with dishes, and soap bubbles are heaped up and flowing down the sides and leaving puddles on the floor. The humid air is laden with yeasty and salty flavor.

1.8 Laboratory

Acrid smells accost those who enter this curious room. Flasks and tubes bubble over burners, and jars with illegible scrawl line several glass-front cabinets. Cages line one side of the room, crawling with reptiles and rodents, at least the ones lucky? enough to still be alive. Bloody wax blocks are occupied by lifeless, less-lucky specimens, pinned, dissected, or worse. Lain over the chair near the blocks is a spattered and smeared, presumably with blood and offal, smock. In the corner, a coat tree houses a single, spotless white coat.

1.9 Lumbermill

Sawdust is everywhere: on the floor, shelves, even the air is laden with a fine cloud of dust. The resinous scent of freshly hewn wood mercifully covers the stench of the workers of all races and mostly large size. Working sturdy saws, hammers, and chisels, they are turning the innumerable stacks of logs into everything from rough planks to fine canopy beds. A sawdust-covered counter has a price list for the wood products available here and for the use of the equipment. Stacks of lumber line the walls, along with bins of fasteners, nails, nobs, hinges, and gadgets. Just outside, carts and tied mules sit in various stages of loading.

1.10 Office

Pencils, quills, inkwells, and papers adorn several heavy wooden desks. A honeycomb-like shelving unit is filled with scrolls and looseleaf. Ledgers, clips, files . . . yes, it's all here. This, my friend, is clearly an office. Nothing really important happens here. Reinforcing the idea are several posted notices stating obvious or mundane things: "Clean up after yourself," "All scrolls must be rolled before leaving," "Potluck on Tuesday," etc.

1.11 Refinery

Waves of heat emanate from an amber-glowing furnace in the corner. Thick black cauldrons filled with steaming water sit nearby to cool ores as needed. Moulds of various shapes and sizes line the shelves on the wall to the left. Across the room, farthest from the heat, a desk with chisels, magnifying glasses, and bins sits loaded with piles of various rocks, some clear and sparkling and others rough and dirty. Buckets of sand and kegs of oil are littered about the room to aid in refinement of the various rocks and ores processed here.

1.12 Shipyard

This huge, vaulted room is loaded with lumber, buckets of pitch, and almost every manner of tools and hardware. Numerous ship hulls are perched up in various states of completion. A newly arrived ship, still dripping and crusted with barnacles, hints at a tale of disaster at sea. A gaping hole and the splintered wood surrounding it testify to the likely demise of the sailors on board this unlucky vessel. A particularly huge vessel is positioned prominently, displaying some impressive craftsmanship. Adorning its bow is a carving of a scantily clad woman, the features of the face not yet completed.