Dornie

Overview

Dornie itself is a community of twenty-four hundred men, women and children working cooperatively to eke out an existence, and although its roots are that of a humble fishing village, it has grown in the past century and a half to become one of the largest centers of human activity in the United Kingdom. The primary reasons for Dornie's success are the Rowntree and Ross clans — two families who arrived in Dornie shortly after the cities were abandoned and people began immigrating away from civilization. Clan Rowntree's munitions factory provides the settlement with protection and a powerful currency to trade in, while Clan Ross' innovative hydroelectric power plant gives its inhabitants a unique advantage over other, less-developed settlements in the area.

hydrodam.jpg
Water spills off a dam at Clan Ross' hydroplant.

The combined power and material wealth that the two families accumulated have since transformed them into self-styled nobility, community leaders who make decisions for the whole of Dornie, and although everyone might not agree, there are few people willing to speak out against them in the open — for the Rowntrees rule the land as warlords would and the Rosses do not seem inclined to do much about it, but are known instead for their ruthless politicking with neighboring settlements. Together, they have worked to earn Dornie a reputation as an impenetrable northern stronghold run by some of the most effective and influential individuals in the region, which is a good thing for the people the clans lord over; in a land of dragons and maundering bandits, there is no place safer than within Dornie's borders.

Dornie, apart from its munitions factory and hydroelectric power plant, is home to several inns and pubs, a brothel, horse stables, many small farmsteads with herds of goats, sheep and Highland cattle, as well as various businesses that deal locally using either trade or barter with an emphasis on exchange of goods and services rather than an actual currency. Horses, cattle, firearms and ammunition are all highly-valued in the region — the rarer something is, and the more pivotal to survival, the more it is likely to be worth. Merchants based out of Dornie who have employees that travel extensively supply the settlement with items that can only be imported from other parts of the United Kingdom (and in some cases, other parts of the world), including sugar, wine and produce that cannot be grown locally.

Life in Dornie

Although a large portion of the settlement has access to electricity, there are areas not hooked up to the grid powered by the hydroplant, or where electricity isn't always reliable. People who aren't as well-off, such as workers at the ammunitions factory and general labourers, tend to live in these pockets and generally do not have the same quality of life as more affluent members of Dornie's community, which includes its business owners and those who work directly under them. Poverty exists — it isn't unheard of for people to starve, or for the malnourished to die from undiagnosed illnesses.

Those who are better off and have reliable access to electricity, clean water and shelter live in homes made from brick or stone, and typically have hardwood floors, aged glass windows and primitive plumbing in place — the houses themselves aren't new buildings, but rather refurbished buildings whose bones are a hundred years old or more. Furniture tends to be in the style of what was considered antique in the early twenty-first century, and includes heavy farmhouse-style tables made of dense wood, chairs that are either simplistic in design or ornately-carved and upholstered with patterned fabrics depending on their function and the relative wealth of the furniture's owner, wool throw rugs, squat beds dressed in plain linens and furs, and multi-drawered dressers and desks, often with a worn finish. Furniture primarily made from metal or other materials is almost unheard of due to metal being such a commodity.

Most kitchens rely on stoves that are either steel or cast iron and burn wood. There are no refrigerators, but most people make use of drying, smoking, salting, or ice houses to keep perishable food from spoiling. Sheep, goats and kyloe are butchered and consumed throughout the year, along with chickens and wild game that can be hunted locally, including rabbits and deer. Fisherman bring in their nets and sell their catches daily at the market beside merchants who import their food from other settlements or from across the water. Because of Dornie's reputation, it is visited frequently my merchants offering wares from other parts of the world in the process of reestablishing themselves, and it is not uncommon to find foreigners advertising their wares at the market.

Everyone who lives in Dornie contributes to the settlement in some way. Some people were born there, while others migrated from other parts of the United Kingdom (and in some cases other parts of the world), but there is a not insignificant percentage of its residents, most of them 'employed' by the ammunitions factory, who were brought there unwillingly by the Rowntree militia for what is essentially slave labour. Many unlucky caravans traveling too close to Dornie's borders have been raided by the settlement's soldiers. In most cases, there are no survivors and it's the supplies that the soldiers are after — a few times a year, however, travelers are left alive and brought back to the settlement, especially if they possess a certain skill set that is in demand. It's a barbaric practice, but one that's viewed by many as essential to Dornie's survival.

For more information about Dornie's culture, see: +news Culture

Notable Businesses

Name Owner(s) Summary
The Dovetail Edme Hare
The Wandering Albatross Isibéal Owens
Hydroelectric Plant Adler Ross
Ammunutions Factory Marcus Rowntree
Splendid Daguerreotype Miniatures Unknown Splendid Daguerreotype Miniatures is Dornie's only business devoted to the art of daguerreotype photography. It has several of its own cameras on the premises and will, for a hefty fee, build working models with materials purchased through Maddock Owens, but its owners primarily earn their keep in the settlement by offering memorial portraiture, and have wisely partnered with what passes for the local mortuary.