Puncheontown

Puncheontown is a modular settlement located nebulously near the center of the western arm of the Grand Triskele Lake.

Demographics

The permanent population of Puncheontown floats at around 100 people. The 'native' population of Puncheontown is overwhelmingly male. The few female long-term residents are almost exclusively owners of tavern or deluxe bunkhouse barrelhomes; bawdy sailor stereotypes notwithstanding, these women are treated with the utmost gentlemanly courtesy by the Lyre's crew.

Government

Puncheontown is not an officially recognized settlement and does not appear on any official map, though almost all visitors owe their fealty on some level or another to the Crown. The only real 'government' of the place comes in the form of the owners of Puncheontown's infrastructure: its many barrelhomes and the modular canal blocks that make up its 'streets' (see Infrastructure). These colorful folk are the crew of the Lyre, a large clockwork-powered cog which towed the first permanent barrelhomes and stacks of canal sections. The crew of the Lyre were themselves once enterprising traders in the employ of the Winder's Guild, but decided to settle into the business of hospitality and restock at sea. The Lyre itself, which hasn't moved form its own berth at Puncheontown for years, serves as the town hall, with the acting captain also serving as acting 'mayor.'

Defences

Puncheontown is unlikely to be targeted for attack, but should such a day come to pass, the guests and crew would defend themselves by scattering with their own barrelhomes, leaving the canal segments abandoned. Puncheontown is, in principle, a diplomatically-neutral free port - the real allegiance of the Lyre's crew is to coin and captain, all other flags be damned.
At the same time, this intentional neutrality comes at the cost of vigilance: no violent business of any sort, save for the occasional good-natured fisticufs at the tavern barrelhomes, is tolerated at Puncheontown. The First Mate of the Lyre, in his role as Chief of Security for Puncheontown, will drive all parties to an intra-faction fight out of town specifically to prevent the town from being associated with any faction through percieved favoritism. Crews which regularly flout this restriction will find themselves denied berthing or services at Puncheontown.

Industry & Trade

Aside from intra-ship trade, Puncheontown makes some of its income from providing clean water and fresh fish caught in the town's environs to visiting cogs. Due to his long experience, the Lyre's Bosun and his men are experienced shipwrights; repair, refit, and even construction services are available for the right payment.

Infrastructure

Puncheontown's name derives from the fact that all its structures are barrelhomes. Barrelhomes are, in short, floating wooden barrels the size of launches which are turned on their sides, fitted with doors and windows on the flat endcaps, and furnished for comfortable living at sea. While barrelhomes are most often used to expand the effective passenger capacity of powered cogs, in Puncheontown, they are moored together with a series of modular canal segments which, in turn, can be arranged as the crew of the Lyre desire to create 'city streets.' Some permanent barrelhomes (or series of barrelhomes) are converted into places like barber shops, taverns, inns, and general stores for the use of visitors. Transient barrelhomes are brought in and taken away by various ships as they come by, with guest berthing availiable for a nominal fee to the Lyre's purser.
The canal segments of Puncheontown are square barge segments roughly thirty feet on a side. Five foot square removeable slats make up the surface of each segment, and, because most of the buoyant material is concentrated at the corners, the center segments can be removed to create rowboat-passable canals bounded by boardwalks. Under the water, the segments' shape is maintained by a set of wooden crossbars. A cargo net strung between these crossbars both supports a ballast (to reduce rocking or tipping) and helps to prevent dropped items from sinking to the bottom of the lake. By lashing these barge segments together, plazas, streets, canals, and docks can be created. When not in use, barge segments are stacked and the stacks bound together to form segment 'warehouses.'
A visiting ship can gift a new barge segment or barrelhome to Puncheontown in lieu of ten days' berthing fees. Old town components are sold at a bargain price for whatever purposes the buyer might require.

Tourism

Puncheontown is typically visited by cog crews looking to relax at a 'ready leave' status and possibly exchange goods with other visiting crews. For the young seaward men of the Western Triskele, a visit to Puncheontown is a rite of passage - a sign that one is joining the free-wheeling community of mariners on the Grand Triskele Lake.

Architecture

The Lyre's Bosun oversees the civil engineering - as far as it can be called that - at Puncheontown. Occasionally, permanent barrelhomes and canal segments will be rearranged to provide more efficient layouts. The whole town can weigh anchors, floating to another location at the nudging of the Lyre and visiting ships whose crews would like a discount on town services, but this is done fairly rarely.

Population

Varies

Related Ethnicities

• Triskelen

Inhabitant Demonym

Visitors

Location under

Grand Triskele Lake

Ruling/Owning Rank

Captain

A Dubious Reputation

To the extent that non-sailors even know of the existence of Puncheontown, they generally don't know what to make of it. It is generally assumed that, as a mariner-exclusive hub of booze, commerce, and entertainment, Puncheontown is likely a debauched place that sailors mostly don't talk about out of either shame or a desire to keep face in polite company. In nearby Gulderry, rumors about a secret brotherhood of mariners headquartered in Puncheontown regularly make the rounds; the fact that the men of the cogs don't generally talk about what happens at the place merely provides the 'evidence' some people need to confirm the rumor in their heads.