Chocolate Plantations

Overview

The Chocolate plantation of Pisocenia are a sight to behold and one of a kind, because there are no other chocolate plantations on the entire continent.

Originally a family-owned plantation for smaller quantities of beans and self-produced chocolate, it was bought by the Desertwalkers from the family after the third generation of farmers died. They paid the remaining family a fortune (legend goes that it was enough gold for generations to come initially) and still pays them a percentage per sold box/bag.

The Desertwalkers wasted no time. They claimed a huge real estate surrounding the old plantation and expanded it a lot further then needed. After doing so, they started to build a huge protection array around the estate while building a fleet of carriages, homes for workers and their families and infrastructure. Simultaneously they contracted a dwarven master builder to design and built the aqueduct which provides enough water from the underground river in the mountains.

Lead

The plantation is led by a person who is called Dermizió which is basically the title of the assigned supervisor: The One Who Watches.

Tasks at hand are numerous, but most importantly are the numbers of gold & beans, the satisfaction of the workers (if workers are unhappy, they stop working, so happy workers are more profitable) and an unobstructed production line. This also includes maintanance, repairs and restock, festivities and sharing some of the income as a bonus to the workers and the small army surrounding the plantation.

Staff

During the time between harvests there are around thirty workers which take care of the chocolate trees including planting new ones if needed and distribute the enormous amount of water from the aqueduct and the two deep wells to the trees.

Shortly before the harvests are underway, the rest of the workers - around thirty more, so sixty all around - are getting contracted to help with the really large amount of work which is the harvest time.

For every plantations (originally there were three, see section below) there are three subvisors (sub-supervisors) during harvests. Out of harvest season there is only one subvisor for each old plantation respectively plantation section.

Same goes for the guards. There are always enough guards - in and out of harvest season - to ward off every small or large group of thieves, sometimes even a small army. During the harvest season the Dermizió contracts at least fifty percent more mercenaries, just in case. The Chocolate Wars deemed it necessary. The mounted guards are everytime the same and they are strong enough to take on an enemy force at least three or four times their numbers.

Plantation Grounds

The original plantation was only large enough to support the family of six and give them a good income throughout the year. The first buildings were the home of the family, the storage and a workshop for maintanance and preparations of ingredients if needed.

After the Desertwalkers bought the plantations they got rid of the old house and built three main houses in a one-sided-open square, where the open side is pointing to the plantations.

The main building is for organisation and running things smoothly. The upper floor is entirely dedicated to the Dermizió and everything he, she or they need, including assistants. The storeys below (only three) are for counting, be it bags, boxes or gold; managing orders from all around the world, setting routes, fulfilling contracts and everything else which keeps the wheels - literal and metaphorical - running.

The right building is a bit larger because it houses the staff and sometimes even the staffs family. Every apartment has a small kitchen inside a living room and one large bedroom.

To the left the Dermizió, the subvisors and a good chunk of the guards have their rooms. Other guards sleep outside in tents or small camps. Between the buildings sits the first of the two really deep wells, just to have it close at hand. It was the original one, but was enlarged after the land was acquired.

A bit to the west lie the three plantations, all neatly next to each other. For the unknowing it looks like one large field of trees, but there are small differences in age of the trees and the small threads which marks the borders. This is only for planning purposes, so the staff knows where they are headed and the subvisors have their clear instructions.

In the middle of the three plantations lies the second and last well. It is square instead of round, so the staff can have a break during the hot harvests and can fill buckets with water from it.

Behind the chocolate trees runs the aqueduct with its control station, filling the basins with fresh cold water from the mountains if needed.

Protection

The entire plantation is guarded by a huge wall mostly made out of clay, supported by wooden beams. Every twenty meter they raised a watchtower for archers and lookouts, with three entrances disturbing the wall: the maingate and the two sally gates, one to the north and one to the south. In case of an attack the archers have fire basins along the wall and in the towers to light up their arrows.

One hundred mounted guards with bows, curved swords and three javelins stand ready for the case that they are needed, be it in a siege (which happened once), to intercept bandits or to help an ambushed carriage.

During the harvests the number of guards sits at around fifty to eighty people, depending on the budget during this time. While the harvest is in full motion, the number of guards goes up to three- or fourhundred. Some of them are only armed with dagger and sword with linen as protection, some of them wear hardened leather armour and only a few have leather mixed with brass or bronze as their protection.

The first thing the plantation does when facing an enemy that outnumbers them: firing up the large bonfire at the side of the mountain range which will emitt red smoke. Mearis should know that there was something afoot and will send troops. Be it the royal palace or the Desertwalkers themselves.

It was only necessary twice and one was during the Chocolate War...but this is a story for another time.

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