Entry 26: Birkenhang Islands
We are here:
Responses:
First of all, thanks everybody for your continued visits on my CJ and your interest. If I recall correctly, there've been 7 comments on my last CJ entry, but 2 of them fell victim to the recent Simtropolis server wipeout disaster. I don't recall what you wrote, you're of course welcome to post it again. Since I couldn't think of any specific answer to your last comments, I'd like to send a thank you to the 5 people who wrote the surviving comments: @EastChapel, @Tyberius06, @simster007, @Xander2005. And of course to my long-time visitor, @justforfun, I'm glad you liked it too, especially the mire. I got my inspiration of it from visual inspection of some pictures I found on the internet, as, unfortunately, here in westernmost Austria, coherent wetlands are almost extinct.
Disclaimer:
Most of you heard it: The server containing all data from Simtropolis got wiped due to nothing more than a billing error, which resulted in the loss of files, pictures and other content after a certain date. Fortunately, none of my CJ entries themselves were lost, however, some pictures are gone now, as well as at least 2 comments of you on my last CJ entry. I'm doing my best to restore them in the next weeks, as soon as I'm finding time; my job unfortunately takes a lot of time every year in June. If there's something you'd like to see, please feel free to PM me (that way, it's more likely that I'm noticing you wrote something).
Contents:
After exploring the mainland areas of Birkenhang, we now conclude this city tile by exploring the islands surrounding it, namely: Langland, Windau, Grünau, Sonnenau, and Einsiedeln. Let's first recall this picture of the village parts of Birkenhang:
Langland:
Actually, Langland isn't an island, it's actually a peninsula, but I didn't had time to finish it in the last CJ entry. Langland is famous for the Donnertafel (lit. thunder table), one of the many mesas on the peninsula from Sebastianskirch to Birkenhang and one of the many results of volcanic activity there. It is only connected to the mainland via a short sandbank, with the only street connecting it to Birkenhang going over a dam:
As already shown in the Show us what you're working on thread, the combination of AGC rocks and the new Plop & Paint mod made it possible to place some rock formations there, looking similar to a cliffside (although it's still clearly visible that the altitude difference to sea level isn't very big):
Even an area as remote as this has a small village:
And an overview:
Sonnenau:
This island is close to Mariahilf and Eschenfall, and is home to a large monastery complex, with a main building and two side buildings. First, a view of the three buildings, second, a view from the rear, additionally showing the graveyard:
And an overview of the island, complete with some fields (that new Plop & Paint mod greatly helped me with that, especially with the fences) and a public park:
Windau:
Unlike the other islands, this one is uninhabited, but signs - some abandoned buildings on stilts - indicate that this hasn't always been the case. It is unknown who built these houses, presumably this has been an outpost of fishing people that got abandoned:
Other than that, Windau is famous for a big grotto, the remainder of a caldera that collapsed, and the warter started eroding away one of the walls. Two pictures from different angles.
By the way, I took inspiration for this picture from a similar island named Vila Franca do Campo on the Azores (picture courtesy of Alamy):
Grünau:
Unlike Windau and Langland, this island is actually mostly the result of sand being gushed to an underwater sandbank and gathering, forming an island. Singns indicate, however, that the western parts of this island have been there much longer before that. Grünau (lit. green land, in German, the suffix -au, derivated from the Latin word aqua [water] is occasionally used for areas and villages at rivers or on islands) is the largest of all of the islands. It is famous for a small village which is actually part of Birkenhang, its green landscape and its vast areas of coastal grass (I don't actually know what type of plant it is supposed to be, I just took Girafe's feather grass, cattails and some of the ALN plants).
First, let's have a look at the village itself. I wanted to give it a coherent style, especially with the roofs of the buildings.
Next, the harbor, the coast has partly been fortified with rocks to limit erosion of the rather sandy ground:
Further to the east and north, let's have a closer look at the sandy coast, partly overgrown with various plants and shrubs.
Let's continue to the west now, to see some other parts of the coast (this time used as a public beach for bathing), and the small village part on the northwest of this island. There's even a small extra island, the first one I made only with MMP'ing, nothing else:
And an overview:
Einsiedeln:
The German word "Einsiedler" means hermit, one could thus translate this island's name as hermitage or the like. In fact, despite its rather warm climate, it is actually barely inhabited. It became famous when one of the mayors of Birkenhang shipwrecked on it after a voyage to the Seeviertel with his crew, thereby actually discovering this island (maybe re-discovering it, nobody knows for sure how long his island actually has been known to any humans). They managed to survive there until they were rescued. Since then, it has interestingly been custom for most mayors to live there at least during summer. This island also contains a farm from a rich family growing lemon, fig, and peach trees in the warm climate. It is even being reckless enough to try to grow date palm trees; on the southernmost shore, palm trees are growing.
First, a picture of the harbour, the mayor's villa and the beach. According to history (aka urban legends), the people who shipwrecked there built some temporary wooden shacks there; nowadays, this area is interestingly used as a small vacation spot for surfers.
Next, the aforementioned farm, with its outpost on the southern shore. I should mention that I made heavy use of the Plop & Paint mod, especially for the lavender farm and the small community garden:
And three overviews, first from the northern part of this island, second from the southern part, third from the entire island:
And that's it for today's update. Next up - who knows. There are a lot of areas to discover. Unfortunately, my current MMP-ing style for Maxiland takes a lot of time, and only 5 out of 49 city tiles have been completed so far. I'm considering to develop new, less time-consuming, ways of MMP-ing and designing the landscape; I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this. Hope you liked this entry.
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