Kings Field

King's Field is an enormous farm, 1500 acres in size, five miles south-southwest of Balic. Built centuries ago, it contains the most fertile area in the peninsula whichs provides food for the city. Once the property of Andropinis, it has now been divided equally by the three merchants Houses of Balic - Wavir, Rees, and Tomblador.

The Fields are partially surrounded by a wall twenty feet high and almost ten feet thick. The wall was built in the later years of Andropinis' reign to protect the crops from the occassional giant rampages from the east. However, due to a particularly vicious giant attack, compounded by the reduction in slaves due to the death of Kalak (and the subsequent sacrifice of 1,000 extra slaves by the sorcerer king of Balic), the wall was never completed.

Currently, the issue of rebuilting of the wall is in debates in the city council. However, it has been in council for over three years, so the possibility that it will be repaired in the near future is slim. Wavir is pushing to have the wall reconstructed to provide protection and reduce crop theft, and Tomblador is with them. Rees has thusfar vetoed the idea, for they believe that the lost profits by theft are far less than the cost of rebuilding the wall.

The Field is protected by 99 guards, 33 from each House. The shifts are divided into twelve hours, with more guards being assigned to night duty, as this is when any thieves is most likely to make their attempt. Most guards are assigned to the area around the breached sections of the walls, with a handful at the gates. Ladders have been erected at each area of the wall for the guards to reach the top, and those stationed on top of the walls during the day shift are frequently rotated to prevent heat exhaustion.

The proper entrance is on the northeast section. It consists of a wide archway, though no gates are present (they were to be added later.) To the west of the entrance is the old barracks. This is now used for an office building and a sleeping area for visiting merchants, as the guards are now housed in buildings owned by the respective merchant houses.

The granary is a misnomer, for it is not one building, but several, used to store the harvested crops before transport into Balic. Two large warehouses, each over five hundred feet in length and three hundred in width, dominate the granary section. The warehouses are divided into area for each House, as well as other merchant companies to store their goods. Outside the warehouses is a sorting area, with dozens of bins to pile the different variety of crops that are raised, as well as a half dozen scales to property weigh distibute the food. Beside the warehouses is the stable, which holds both the mounts and the wagons to carry the crops to the city.

The Fields themselves are quite massive, and hundreds of workers tend to the crop each day from sun up to noon, at which time they take four hours off for the hottest part of the day, and then work again until sundown. The irrigation system is quite extensive, supplied by six wells. The water supply is, for the most part, consistant, though wells have been know to dry out, until the next Tyr storm can pass by and refill the underground basins.

To halt the fierce winds from the storms, wooden and stone partitions have been erected at regular intervals as windbreaks. They double as shaded area for workers and guards to escape the sun.

Grains are the most numerous crop in King's Field. The wheats are a short, hearty variety, the stalks of which are white. A type of corn named dawo is also grown. It reaches a height of four feet, and each stalk typcially hase from 3-5 ears. Other patches include two types of underground vegetables - pedar, a long, curving purple plant with a sweet taste, and cembic, which has a large root system covered by small white bulbs of a tangy taste.

Access to King's Field is restricted to those of the merchant Houses or those who wish to purchase crops for transport across the tablelands. Others are turned away by the guards, and anyone found inside will be arrested and held in a large holding cell by the granary.

The current administrator is Scheson (hm N Exp6/Rog1), a representative for House Tomblador. The administor job is given for one year. The administator is nominated by a House, and if the other two Houses agree, the nominee is assigned. There has yet to be a nomination declined, and the House have an unwritten agreement to assign only honest employees.