Lake-Town

[Vladim]

 

Rivalled in the North only by the city of Dale, Esgaroth is a unique sight. In a region where most populated settlements are no larger than a group of farmsteads surrounded by hedges, Lake-town is an island made of timber rising from the waters of the Long Lake, and crowded with roofs, streets and towers.
Esgaroth was originally settled as a trading port when “the North was rich and prosperous”. It achieved its independence when the Lord of Dale allowed its citizens to appoint a Master, chosen from the old and wise. For centuries, Lake-town has endured thanks to its position, set strategically between the Woodland Realm, the
Kingdom under the Mountain, and the city of Dale.
Today Esgaroth is a thriving port, measuring almost thrice the size of the town that Smaug destroyed. Beyond the falls to the south of the Long Lake, the Celduin River runs for many leagues, until it reaches the great inland Sea of Rhûn, past the land of Dorwinion. From there and beyond, travellers arrive in Lake-town aboard trading ships and rafts, bringing wares and goods for sale at the markets of the city. The map of Esgaroth shows the home of the river-faring Men of the Lake as it appears in the year 2949, when its population has grown to over one thousand people. The following sections give information about the town’s different districts, and the buildings contained in them.

[Vladim]

GATEHOUSE AND BRIDGE DEFENSES: The great bridge that connects Esgaroth to the shores of the Long Lake ends in a tall Gatehouse (5). It serves the purpose of guarding the access to the city, should enemies succeed in taking the defenders unawares so that they are unable to throw down and destroy the bridge. The gatehouse lets archers attack assailants from a protected vantage point, and murder-holes allow other defenders to rain down rocks on attackers trying to smash the gates.
The palisade to the left and right of the Gatehouse allows more archers to target foes on the bridge, catching them in a deadly crossfire. Should the enemy penetrate the Gatehouse, they would find themselves in a killing zone, bordered by the Tollhouse (15) and an encircling palisade. From the top of the palisade, rows of archers would rain arrows down on the attackers.
The large Tollhouse (15) is defended by stout wooden gates. Here, those who enter the city are inspected and merchants must pay a tax to town officials for the right to enter and sell their wares in the town markets. The Guard barracks (8) and the Bowmen’s Guild-hall (1) stand conveniently close to the palisade defending the Gatehouse, to the left and right of the bridge defences, respectively. A suspended bridge connects the courtyard behind the Guard barracks to a detached building, serving as the town gaol. Here are led those who break the laws upheld by the town council.

MERCHANTS’ DISTRICT: The widest gap opening in the middle of Lake-town is the Market-pool (10), and the nearby open area is the city’s main Market square (11). This is certainly the largest and busiest district of the town, where a large share of the town population lives and merchants from distant lands come to meet those of Esgaroth, Dale, Erebor and the Woodland Realm, and where farmers from the nearby lands come to sell their goods.
Boats and barges from the south unload here their cargoes of wine, olive oil, spices and salt, pottery, dyes and other more exotic goods, and fill the town warehouses. Then, they are loaded once again with grain and wool, the handiwork of Dwarven smiths, and with the wares sold by the vendors who manage the stalls of drapers, leather dressers and skinners, shoemakers, saddlers, and other craftsmen.
The trading of livestock is dealt with inside the fencedoff area close to the Market-pool; here, farmers sell their cattle, sheep and poultry to the butchers of Esgaroth, who will prepare the meat for sale along Butchers’ Quay, together with fish and wild fowl. Farmers who don’t have animals to trade are allowed to sell cheese, eggs, roots and herbs along Bridge Street as pedlars. Everything that can be sold or bought in Lake-town is on offer in this district, with the exception of timber, gold and precious stones - these materials are sold and bought exclusively within the so-called ‘Elven quarter’. The finest alehouses and inns are to be found along Bridge Street, the street that connects the city gates to the Market square. Here, wandering musicians find shelter under its overhanging gables to entertain the passers-by.
The Merchants’ Guild-hall (12) is one of the largest buildings in Lake-town, and functions as the communal meeting hall and hospital for all the members of the guild of Merchants. An association created for the mutual aid of its members, the guild holds considerable power, as the Master of the city is often chosen from its affiliates. The hall is used by the merchants of the guild to conduct their affairs, as a meeting place for private businesses, and to give assistance to those members that cannot exercise their trade due to old age or sickness. In agreement with the city council, the night-watch starts its progress through the city streets from the Merchants’ Guild-hall, as most of the town granaries and warehouses are located in the vicinity. Warning trumpets are always ready to sound from the top of its tower in the case of fire or other impending danger.

ARTISANS’ DISTRICT: North of the Market-pool, the streets of Lake-town become narrow and twisted. Here, small, two-storied houses lean one against the other, creating a maze of darkened alleys. These are the workshops and living quarters of the many artisans and craftsmen in Esgaroth, a thousand-faceted expression of the burgeoning prosperity of the town.
Many-coloured and fanciful signs hang from the workshop fronts, in the attempt to give some order to the general chaos and identify precisely the trade of each craftsman. But the confusion is only an initial distraction, as the local artisans have divided the quarter neatly, dedicating even the smallest alley to a different trade.
Drapers, leather dressers and skinners, tailors, saddlers and shoemakers give their names to the narrow lanes in the interior of the district. Closer to the Market square is Millers Row, where most of the bread bakers have their shops, but the Street of Bowyers and Fletchers is probably the most prominent, with its window shutters painted in black and white checkers.
On the Day of the Black Arrow (1st of November), a procession of artisans carrying aloft the symbols of their trade and led by the Master of the town starts here and opens the festivities known as Dragontide.
With so many of the workshops in the Artisans district requiring the use of furnaces, ovens or kilns, it should come as no surprise to find here the main barracks of the Town Watch (17). Its tall tower lets the watchmen enjoy a good view of the town, and also guards over the nearby merchant warehouses.

ELVEN QUARTER: The corner to the southwest is entirely occupied by the district known today as the ‘Elven quarter’, as since the refounding
of the town it has been traditionally inhabited by diplomats, emissaries, merchants and traders coming from the Woodland Realm. All timber coming from Mirkwood is bought and sold here, as is most of the production of the Elven woodwrights from Thranduil’s kingdom. A canal separates the area from the nearby Merchants’ quarter, and access to the district can be gained only by crossing one of its three bridges (or by boat). While nominally everyone is allowed to enter the district freely, anyone who attempts to cross or disembark into the Elven quarter is likely to be approached by two or more armed Wood-elves and questioned about the reasons for their visit. In particular, anyone openly carrying weapons will be stopped and asked to leave their weapons in custody, or turn back. This is probably the most noticeable proof of the power that the Elvenking has over the government
of Lake-town.
The Dwarves of the Glittering Gate (6) are the main exception to the all-Elf population of the district. These goldsmiths and gemcutters and their young Barding apprentices are the only individuals in Lake-town allowed by the Master of Esgaroth to deal in the buying and selling of gems and gold, either wrought or unwrought. Their best customers are mostly Elves, generally on behalf of their king, who is notably fond of jewels, but any adventurer looking for the appraisal of a newly-discovered treasure should come here, as should anyone wanting to have a gem cunningly set upon a necklace, or a ring cast out of gold and engraved.

TOWN-HALL’S QUARTER: The area surrounding the Town-hall (16) is considered the best quarter of the city. It is accessible only through a gate manned by guards at all times, and it contains the greater houses and the most comfortable lodgings.
When the arrival of many folks from the surrounding areas made it apparent that the new Lake-town was bound to become much bigger than the one destroyed by the fall of Smaug, the older and wealthier merchant families of Esgaroth chose the best spot to build their own residences, and used the tallest and most robust stilts to have the area stand high above the surface of the lake.
As a consequence, the houses here are warmer and drier, and considered generally more wholesome by their affluent denizens. Today, the majority of the town councillors and other officials live in this area, as do the many ambassadors and emissaries who come to Laketown on errands from their rulers (the Elves of Mirkwood being the notable exception).
The Town-hall (16) dominates the landscape and is the most impressive building of the entire city. Its great hall is the venue for the election of a new Master and where all business discussions which require the presence ofcommunity representatives are held. A chamber at the west end is used for the council to meet in private, and is known as the Justice Room, as the councillors gather here especially for court trials. The chamber at the east end is where the town records are kept.

RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT: This is the part of the town that has seen the fastest growth since its construction. More stilts are placed every year, and more houses are raised to accommodate the increasing number of farmers, herdsmen, woodsmen and hunters who abandon their former occupations to settle in Lake-town and profit from its prosperity.
Originally, only the families of the boatmen, shipbuilders and workers employed in the nearby shipyards district lived here. Their houses were built by decree of the old Master of Esgaroth, and it has been their custom to raise them using materials available to carpenters and shipwrights. This tradition has given the quarter its most peculiar look, with its brightly-painted houses and fronts fitted with ropes and canvas. Today, some of these houses are given to adventurers who have earned the honorific title of Burgess and can thus live in them as tenants.
The largest great house of the district is the Hospital (9), a building erected for the care of the sick, the poor, the old and the infirm of Esgaroth. Several wives serve in this house voluntarily, cleaning, feeding, clothing and housing the sick. The house is high-ceilinged, with tall windows, to let the air circulate freely and dispel any ‘bad air’ that might linger where the sick are resting.

SHIPYARDS DISTRICT: The shipyard district is entirely given over to the building of rafts, boats and everything else that is needed for the main pursuit of Lake-town: commerce. Every day a small forest of ancient oak-trees is split by an army of carpenters to create the long planks needed to shape the hulls of boats. Smiths hammer on the anvil at any hour of the day to produce the thousands of wrought-iron rivets and roves needed to fix those planks to keels. Hundred of oars are carved out of tall spruce trees. Lengths of rope are stretched taut between the buildings to dry under the sun. Sailcloths are cut and sewn artfully by experienced craftsmen and then painted with the colours of the city. Barrel builders work incessantly to provide the countless containers needed every year to ship out local products or bring in fine wines and other exotic commodities.
The majority of the boats built here are skiffs and longships commissioned by private merchants, but a number of larger longships have lately been ordered by the town council. The smallest boats are the ones employed in Laketown for everyday use, round-bottomed skiffs allowing for two, four or eight rear-facing oarsmen. Longships used for the transportation of goods or armed men can be between 50 to 80 feet long. They are fitted with oars along almost the entire length of the boat itself, and can have from ten to twenty rowing benches (the Master of town’s great gilded boat sports 30 rowing benches). Despite their
length, even the largest longships built in Lake-town are designed to be relatively light, as they need to be lifted out of the water and loaded on the wheeled carts used along the Stair of Girion.