My Little Fortress : The Tale of Craterstraw

My Little Fortress : The Tale of Craterstraw - Journal of Forest Gloss

By: Pnoy

Journal,

Forest Gloss... Forest Gloss is the name. I am the Expedition leader as of now, responsible for everything that is Craterstraw, under 'the oh so glorious nation, and her divine majesty's, Creamy Girdles'. A sick joke really...

Why would anypony in their right mind, name anything after an oddity of sporty undergarments? I mean really...

...Sigh... I digress...

We settled the area two years ago, and since then, we have made excellent progress in establishing a strong, self-sufficient and prosperous city. We are still far from achieving this however, but we are well on the right track to it.

As the leader, I initially made the decision to go underground, for many reasons. The area is mountainous. but rich in shallow metals and minerals just below the surface. Resource and construction wise, it will save us a lot of both to carve our homes into the earth rather than to construct them from the ground up.

Also, there are rumors of great plunders deep beneath the Equestrian surface, and unlike any settlement before our time, we are willing to be the first ponies to go on such an endeavor.

As I mentioned, resources are a concern, however, the region is heavily forested and wildlife abundant, but that does present us with additional opportunities.

Us ponies are not akin to consuming flesh, but due to the rapid expansion of our population and increasingly larger migrant waves coming in from the Mareland, our food stores and production are struggling to keep up with the quickly growing demand.

Though food is a concern, we have a river in the area and have already constructed a well to provide us with limitless, filtered water. Granted, the river doesn't dry up...

Our farm land is meager and the yield is poor, we can't possibly ascertain self-sufficiency until this is properly addressed and a solution is put into practice. I have also recognized major security concerns with all our farm land being on the surface. However, there is not much I can do about this other than to train and provide additional security forces. In the event of a siege, for now, we will have to fight them directly as to not being trapped and starved, at least until we construct walls to enclose our farms.

Our underground settlement has several main constructions that act as the backbones to our society.

First is the grande meeting hall. Fitted with long rows of tables and enough seats to accommodate all of our residents as well as many additional guests. Also in the back of the meeting hall are all the workshops to prepare and supply hearty meals. Though currently, they are quite stagnant with a lack of food to process, other than the butcher, with small game. Many festivities are held here as well. Anypony is welcome to host a party or celebration, I have to say, not many have had time for such an occasion recently.

We have a "Main Street," so to speak. It is a construction that houses many different workshops. The workshops are public and available to ponies as they need them. It's a busy area, thriving with activity. Ponies hurrying about their business, in and out, usually either carrying materials to their place of work, or transporting a finished good to a storeroom. It is our economic engine, a beautiful symphony of labor and industry.

Other constructions we have finished, include a catacombs, thankfully, which has not seen any notable use, as of yet.

Two barracks and an armory for the security forces.

A throne room, mostly for more customary, formal practices.

Dormitories and mass housing projects, nopony shall sleep on any floor during my rule. Separate living conditions for nobles have been provided with additional privileges and offices. I need them to perform their tasks efficiently after all, their jobs are vital to our stability and ability to account for logistics.

Due to the presence and access to an abundance of coal and metal ores, we have already established our forges. Though we have not yet begun active production, as lack of a skilled blacksmith prevents us from doing so.

Progress is stable and at a good pace as of now, a few of our residents are unhappy due to the sparsity of food and it is starting to effect their productivity.

Future plans include expand our developments above ground and to establish a hospital in the event of a medical emergency.

Thank you journal for taking your time to listen to my tale thus far. This is Forest Gloss, signing off.