This will be the only time you’ll see Rachel sporting some, ahem, shall we say, contemporary underwear beneath her robes, which I think was John’s addition. John’s brother Jason and I had made the manga-style “panty shot” a running gag in Fans, but it doesn’t mesh very well with Arkerran fashion or Guilded Age‘s tone. On the other hand, an upcoming scene will make it clear her legs are pretty free to move under there.

Phil may have given me headaches about the docks, like I said yesterday, but he did script out a highly detailed description based on my overall impressions of Northport. As I said yesterday, Phil was definitely putting a lot more energy into describing the setting than I was at this point, as he would through most if not all of the series.

NORTHPORT: Northport proper is a medium-sized all-purpose port of call, not so small as to be insignificant, but small and densely arranged that a crack team of specialists could cause some serious havoc, and built into Gastonia’s city walls as a major check point to get in and out of the city. A wide, well-worn road trails down from the docking area along the river, about 200-300 yards downstream (the river, itself, runs straight through Gastonia proper), leading to a cliff’s edge that’s about three stories high, a fairly forbidding jump into the water. The edge of the cliff is connected to the docks with not-steep ramps (too steep and no one would be able to get anything up and down).

THE NORTHPORT DOCKS: The docks (It’s really one very large omni-dock with several minor docks jutting out at right angles like branches, enough for 12 ships total, and with some length at the very tip for a 13th ship) of Northport, at the northern edge of the wide Cornucopian River, are home to boats of considerable size and varying design (Two or three merchant ships, one or two fishing barges, a handful of small, oar-driven boats). They are built of steel and Wood Elven lumber (this might be hard to communicate visually, but if you figure out some way to make the wood used look semi-alien, that would be cool).

PHOTO REFERENCE: Like this, but y’know… more. From the P.O.V. of the photo, Gastonia would be behind-right of you, and the path would be forward left.

THE BOATS: They reflect their dual multicultural origins: some human (close to standard British Medieval ship design) and some gnomish (overclocked affairs with ropes criss-crossing their hull and a water wheel on their backside, designed to control steering and increase speed, respectively). We will get a couple more opportunities to see these boats, so do what we can in the space available. The gnomish will be the most important.