Balos Communal Farm

Origin

The Balos Communal Farm find its origin in the post-feudal period. In a move to push his country towards industrialism, King Julian Balosini transferred all land ownership to his vassals and allowed them to sell them. The vassals in turn, wanting to gain funding to start investing in various industries, sold of their lands.

Wanting to secure the gains from the harvests, villages would set up communal funds to buy these grounds. Over time land owning families would build their houses on the lands and villages would turn into general commercial centres, eventual giving rise to the great market towns.

Purpose / Function

While communal farms saw their origin in the collective ownership of lands. Their popularity grew as it proved beneficial to pool resources and materials as well. Each farm would eventually develop its own community, with its own culture.

Architecture

A Communal Farm is a structure consisting of different farmhouses build around a central court yard.
In Southern Balos farms have multiple levels, with two or three families living in the same house on different floors. Due to the fertility of the soil, the ground was sold at a higher price than in the rest of Balos. As such more families ended up chipping in.
In eastern Balos, farms can be found with defensive walls build around them. This harkens back to the period where the area would see frequent raids by warbands from the east.

Type

Farm

Owning Organization

Balos

by Samuel Ireland

Great market towns such as Stowlan, Groburg and Hamles, all grew from small rural villages. The villages initially struggled as landowning families moved away to their collective owned farms. However, vendors and traders would eventually find their way to these places, due to their often central position between all the farms.

Although some villages grew into market towns, many were lost as well. However their names can be found back in the names of various trade companies.