BogFastSetting <- for additional settings

Concept

Bogfast outpost

Bogfast is an old outpost. It serves as both a frontier station and a peat processing plant. Although peat is still extracted from the surrounding bogs, the outpost has been in the grip of strange happenings connected with the nearby Barkbane lands.

Six workers were employed at Bogfast: one overseer, a smithee and four underlings. The overseer watched over the peat gathering. Peat was gathered by four workers, and was transported from the nearby bogs by foot. It was transported out of Bogfast by way of artificially dug shallow creeks connected with the outpost, filled by a spring near the top of the Bogfast hill and flowing down and westward along the slope of the hill, towards the river on which the peat makes its way towards the nearby city. The peat was put on small but sturdy wooden rafts and then dragged in by rope into the peat processing plant. At the plant the peat is collected and distributed back to the nearby city by horse and carriage. Most of the buildings in Bogfast are poorly managed. The simple huts of the workers are only partly held together by whatever means local material provides. The overseer's home is larger and is built from more sturdy material such as stone.

Bogfast is surrounded by a wooden palisade provided when it was first built. Since the outpost is considered of minor importance to the nearby city now it has been maintained less and less throughout the recent years, causing most of the wood used in the original construction to rot.

Bogfast has two small watch-towers. Both unmanned during the day, though at night two of the underlings were charged with look-out duties.

Concept art by Kiraki, showing the Bogfast palisade

Surroundings

The Forest.

A constant fog lies like a blanket over the ground. Strangely in some parts it is sucked into holes in steady dirt. The forest is seen as a place that should be avoided by the outpost. The forest is close enough for the villagers to hear strange howling and screams at night. The job of peat gathering is seen as a dangerous one, though the workers grudgingly keep collecting. Bog bodies are often found by the peat collectors. When found, the bodies are stripped of valuables found and are collected and burned within the outpost. Recently bodies are found with bite marks, missing limbs or other gruesome characteristics.

References from the movie Sauna

More environment references
Environment photos

Sources used
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron
http://www.peatmoss.com/pm-harvest.php
http://www.joopveenstra.nl/veenstra4/vervening.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_outpost

Extra reference for artists
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/De_Schoolmeester_turf_kruiwagen.jpg
http://www.corbisimages.com/images/67/91D04C92-7CA7-43D5-B2BF-A68ABC240CDA/GL001086.jpg

Dutch "Peat Pulling"
http://www.joopveenstra.nl/veenstra4/images/foto%27s/veentrekken.jpg
http://www.joopveenstra.nl/veenstra4/images/foto%27s/mengbak.jpg

Maps

	(1) Village hill Granite (chaos granitique) Pines (pins boulanger) (2) Bog border (West) Square-shapes holes formed by shovelling peat (used for combustion) Planks over water, built on wood stilts (3) Bog Peat bog, early formation stage see [link] (4) Bog border (East) Vegetation gradually changing from reeds and shrubs to taller trees (5) Mountains Pine forest (6) River banks 1m/1m50 high Pebbles on steep slope (basalte, andésite) Willows & such (7) Riverbed Quartz sand (grey) (8) Alluvial plains Orchards see [link]
	Side view of the Bogfast area.
	Break down of a raised bog. See this page for more information.
OUTDATED MAP	1.Wooden Palisade. 2.Bog iron processing. 3.Toolsheds. 4.Housing. 5.Housing. 6.Peat processing. 7.Towers. 8.Supply route for peat with docks to stand on. 9.Overseer. 10.Burning ground for bodies. 11. Blast furnace.

OUTDATED MAP. However, note the torches lit and Will-o-the-wisps above the bodies of water

Settings/Story

Points to consider

No NPCs: the village is empty - find a reason why
No dialogue: how can clues be given by the environment (think how Valve does it in Portal or L4D/2)
We can't let people go through the forest(s) (surrounding Bogfast & the bog): a possible technical solution is to make the forest into a navigational gordian knot (=curse?) and/or to make players afraid of it (=monster?)

Proposed ideas

(See discussion page for more)

Workers are criminals working through their punishment
Wendigo in the forest, cannibalism (attracted by, then causing)

Plants

Concept notes

Take inspiration from the existing flora by Googling it and/or checking the images found in the References section.

Things to remember when creating a new plant

Acidic soil
Only water source is rainwater (plant needs to have a mechanism to retain it)
Little nutrients, especially in the peat area, soil is not a good food source (carnivorous plants)

List

Plants

Bog

species of Vaccinium
royal fern (Osmunda regalis)
sundews (Drosera)
butterworts (Pinguicula)
Leatherleaf

Salix repens
Salix retusa
Salix herbacea
Salix lapponum
Betula nana

Blueberries
Cranberries
Cloudberries
Huckleberries
Lingonberries

Sphagnum mosses

Poor fen

common sedge (Carex nigra)
carnation sedge (Carex panicea)
star sedge (Carex echinata)
white beak-sedge (Rhynchospora alba)
all kinds of small sedges

jointed rush (Juncus articulatus)
marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris)
bog-bean (Menyanthes trifoliata)
bog pimpernel (Anagallis tenella)
lesser skullcap (Scutellaria minor)
marsh valerian (Valeriana dioica)  IN PROGRESS

Fen

Salix spp.
Alnus spp.
Alder
Willow
Sallow
Small, almost bonsai versions of common trees

Tamarack-hardwood
Grass-pink orchid  DONE
Necklace sedge
Early coral-root
Bunchberry  DONE
Bog bedstraw
Butternut
Marsh spear-grass
Coarse smartweed
Hill's pondweed
Bog willow

Trees

Pines

Scots Pine
Siberian Dwarf Pine
Mountain Pine
Whitebark Pine
Bristlecone pine
Bog pine (Halocarpus bidwillii)

Animals

Specific Fauna:

Bogs are home to few species of animals, yet can boast large animals as well like the red deer. Otters and badgers can also be found in and around bogs in search of the eggs and chicks of ground nesting birds.

The Red Deer:

The Red Deer is one of the largest deer species. Generally, the male (stag or hart) Red Deer is typically 175 to 230 cm long and weighs 160 to 240 kg, the female is 160 to 210 cm long and weighs 120 to 170 kg .The tail adds another 12 to 19 cm and shoulder height is about 105 to 120 cm. Male Red Deer have a distinctive "roar"-like-sound during the rut, which is an adaptation to forested environments. The male deer roars to keep his harem of females together. The females are initially attracted to those males that both roar most often and have the loudest roar call.

Acris crepitans (The Northern Cricket Frog):

The Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans) is a species of small Hylid (tree) frog. The Northern Cricket Frog is one of North America's two smallest vertebrates, ranging from 19 to 38 mm long. Its coloration varies widely, and includes greys, greens and browns, often in irregular blotching patterns. Typically there is dark banding on the legs and a white bar from the eye to the base of the foreleg. The skin has a bumpy texture. Northern cricket frogs are generally active much of the year, except in mid-winter in northern areas when the water is frozen. Their primary diet is small insects, including mosquitos. To escape predators, they are capable of leaping up to 2 meters in a single jump and are excellent swimmers. Cricket frogs prefer the edges of slow moving, permanent bodies of water. Large groups of them can often be found together along the muddy banks of shallow streams, esp. during premigratory clustering.

Black Slug:

The black slug is a species of large land slug. The size of the slug varies from 10 to 15 cm. Maturity is reached at about 2.5 cm. The color of the black slug is generally black, but the colouration is very variable and this slug can even be white. The slug covers itself in a thick foul-tasting mucus which serves as both protection against predators as well as a measure to keep moist. It is somewhat difficult to wash off. The black slug is mainly nocturnal and avoids exposure to sunlight. It is omnivorous, eating carrion, fungi, and vegetation (living and decaying). The slug prefers moist conditions, this moist environment is essential for the terrestrial locomotion of the slug to function.

List

Frogs

   Bull Frog
   Grey Tree Frog (tree toad)
   Green Frog
   Northern Leopard Frog
   Pickerel Frog
   Southern Cricket Frog
   Spring Peeper
   Western Chorus Frog
   Wood Frog

Salamanders and Newts

   Long-Tailed Salamander
   Northern Red Salamander
   Northern Two-Lined Salamander
   Red-Backed Salamander
   Red-Spotted Newt

Insects

   Dragonfly
   Raft Spider
   Pond Skater
   Emperor Moth
   Black Slug
   Great Diving Beetle

Other Animals

   Irish Hare
   Types of lizards
   Otter
   Fox

Birds

Bald eagle (White Pine Bog Forest is a nesting site)  
Hermit thrush
Marsh wren
Sedge wren
Cerulean warbler
Least bittern
Virginia Rail
Canada Warbler
Yellow-bellied sapsucker