Gaspard Territories

The town of Gaspard is a small place, though any place would appear small in comparison to the hustle and bustle of Ishgard. Covered in snow, the sunlight causes it to sparkle like diamonds from on high. The mists do not reach here, preferring to stay back by the treelines that embrace the settlement.

Gaspard is broken into three places: the hightown, the lowtown, and the castle. The hightown rests up above the cliffs that look down over the river that the lowtown straddles. Up above the buildings below sit Gaspard's famously rumored greenhouses and the airship dock that can house up to one large airship, or two smaller ones. During the worst of the snow, the greenhouses can become engulfed, looking like they're encased in ice until they're broken free.

What connects the hightown to the lowtown is an elevator that stretches from clifftop to the bottom of the cliff face. As the elevator takes one down, they can smell the rise of smoke from chimneys below, hear the sounds of people. Lowtown is where most of the settlement thrives, where small shops are mixed with homes and the dirt streets are better cared for. It spans for about a mile and a half, wrapping around the pit that stretches so wide a full grown dragon would look small.

The pit is flanked by several tents, some baring the symbol of archons, while others are the same colorful gold that travelers will see on their ventures here. The colors of a well known merchant company. People of all races dart in and out of the tents, pulling their cloaks close to shield from the cold.

On the far side of Gaspard, next to the frozen river, is the castle. It is an imposing figure, being made of stone and covered in frost and ice that blows in across the waters from the mountains. It looks all but abandoned, with windows boarded up and sheets hanging from parapets like ghosts. The shadow it casts cut across a quarter of lowtown at dawn, but towards midday the shadows have inched towards the river.

The town of Gaspard is at your fingertips, whether you come in from the mists, by airship, or step off the wagons that carted you here. A remote settlement out in the Coerthan wastes, a small bastion of life in a never ending winter.

The Forest

Covered in thick, dense Fog, the forests of Gaspard have grown relatively unchecked for generations. There used to be a few smaller hamlets in the forests, though they have been lost to time, leaving them little more than husks of what they used to be.

The Lake

A thick lake that wraps around the side of Gaspard. It has been frozen for half a decade now, making it solid to walk on. It is often used as less hazardous travel than walking through the mists of Gaspard, as the lake and its river cross paths with a popular bridge that leads towards Ishgard. Used for both livelihood and recreation both, it now seems to be mostly resigned to the former after the Airship Landing was built.

The Church

The church that rests in the middle of town has been built, destroyed, and built again over the many years of its existence. The outside is stone, covered in frost and the remnants of moss from warmer days. The inside is much the same, aside from the tall crimson leaved tree whose roots crawl across the floor and branches stick up through the roof and into the outside.

Heavy wooden doors lead into the church, where the tree takes the center. Surrounding it are smaller tables, a few pews, turned from the front of the church and its repaired glass windows to be focused inward. Those windows once held visages and retellings of Halone and her saints. Now the glass has little meaning at all, simply a smattering of colors and framing some idle trinkets on their sills.

The church is a place of comfort, and leaves crunch gently underfoot as one wanders deeper inside.

The Elevator

The Airship Landing

The Greenhouses

The interiors of the greenhouses are a welcome relief from the whites and grays of the outdoors, though it is a smidge too cramped for comfort. Inside of them are rows of planters, each raised off the ground by slats of rosewood. Inside the planters is a mixture of peat, moss, dirt, loam, and fireshards.

The door frame and main supports of the greenhouse seem to be made of cobalt and another metal blend. It is slightly cold to the touch where its opposite side meets the chilled winds of Coerthas. The door's edges are lined with what appears to be some kind of rubber, holding the seal tight to prevent any air from leaking in-- or out. As for what connects the glass to the supports, it seems that the glass is actually slotted inside of it, panel by panel, and there is a clear substance that holds the two pieces together. The materials for these greenhouses are expensive, wildly so, far more than a simple township like Gaspard could seemingly afford.

Manor Gaspard

The Pit