The Mills
Located at the very top of the Cliffs of Talbourne, the Mills stands a grand looking gatehouse at the end of a bridge across as a narrow channel. Without any real defenses, the gatehouse could be overrun by an invading army in less than half of a turn of a glass. This gatehouse serves only one purpose - to require those same farmers to pause their wagonloads of vegetables and grains long enough for the Lionguard at the flimsy wooden gate to levy a tax.
Behind the gatehouse, past a hundred or two paces lightly wooded pasture, an army of porters await in a small cobblestone square that serves a staging area for transport of produce, chickens, hogs, and other agriculture goods destined for the taverns and markets of Phelandria's lower shelves. A scattering of food vendors hang about the gates as well, hoping to sell the meals - invariably on a stick or wrapped in flat bread - farmers famished after their journey to the city. A pair of inns have even popped up serving those whose journey might be of such a distance that it requires an overnight stay, a circumstance more common in recent years for those in the timber industry, the forests around the Jewel of the Empire already thinned of its great trees.
The Gatehouse at the Mills, Early on Kingsday
That timber, harvested from forests further inland, and grains from fields far nearer, rolls directly to the half-dozen mills that give the shelf its name. Leveraging the power of the Talbourne River, Roika's engineers cut a canal into the clifftop, diverting a narrow but powerful stream of water that turns wheels and then grindstones and saws as it begins its journey to Verdun Bay. Finished grain follows the produce to lower shelves while timbers generally travel all the way down to Dockside to repair or build the mighty ships that call Phelandria home. The Porters Guild, of course, charging a "nominal" fee to transport everything.