As stated in pevious chapters, habitational effects vary from clan to clan dependant upon location. Generally speaking however, construction can be linked to the several distinct regions of terrain in Caledonia, though there are many exceptions to this rule.
The Lowland clans build with a mixture of stone and wood. As they tend to live in villages or close communities, they have the manpower to build with longer and heavier beams than the more scattered clans. They also have access to a plentiful supply of hardwood such as Oak and Ash. This allows them to build with more complex joinery, using the natural curves and right-angles common to such species. As a result their individual dwellings utilise more loft space and have a higher pitch to the roof. Indeed, some homes can even be two storied, but this is not a common design feature except amongst the wealthy. The walls tend to be of stone or wood, depending on availability of materials. Most common is the oak frame and ash clad walled building with sleeping space in the eaves and a small loft for storage. The roof is usually of split ash shingles which lasts many years before needing replacement, though some are constructed with a thatch of reeds if available locally, bundled tightly together and pegged in place with hazel stakes. The hearth is at one end of the building with a chimney made from stone and sealed with clay. This chimney is usually wide and built as part of the supporting structure of the house. Indeed, after times of battle and raids, the single walled chimney may be the only visible clue that a house once stood on that spot.
The Town dwellings are often built along similar lines, except for the fact that they usually share one or two communal walls. Although these buildings are more cheaply and quickly constructed, the terraced nature of such homes allows for a lower level of heating costs and less weather proofing. The town houses can be one or two storied and are usually faced with low quality planking that is covered with a coat of plaster or clay. Individuals often paint these surfaces with a lime based whitewash to further protect and enhance their property. Those dwellings that make up part of the outer walls of the town are built from stone, as are the free standing walls themselves. Larger towns have walkways and crenelated blockwork atop their walls, to allow patrolling guards to move freely along the defensive boundary of the town. Certain public buildings and private residences are built entirely of stone, and can often act as stand-alone forts or castles in times of siege. Large fortresses and Castles are rare in Caledonia, being fairly recent innovations copied from other countries, but those that do exist are often built as the central hub of a city. In general though, an average town may have no more than a fortified gatehouse, a barracks and a couple of large stone buildings inside its walls of stone or logs, the rest of the area being filled with narrow streets of tightly packed wood and plaster housing.
The Hill clans build their homes from stone with log walls. The ground is flagged, and several courses of stone and clay form a low wall that can rise up as far as hip hight. Logs, mostly softwoods such as Larch or the Caledonian Pine are cemented horizontally with clay and straw packing to build the walls higher. Once these are at the correct height, a log, slate or shingled roof is fitted and doors and windows cut out of the log walls. Although some of the smaller dwellings have a central firepit and a smokehole in the roof, the larger buildings may have a stone walled chimney similar to Lowland cottages. These buildings are suprisingly sturdy, even the ones built entirely from logs, and can resist fire and combat almost as long as a stone built house. The Hill clan villages tend to be single storied, but most have a larger structure at the centre. This hall is built in similar fashion to the cottages, but more emphasis is placed upon the defensive capability of its thick walls and sturdy roof. These halls may be two stories high, with firing platforms or a defensive roof wall, cellars for storage or protection, and have either a large central firepit, or two smaller chimneys. Sometimes the village is protected with a single wall of upright logs, six to ten feet high and sharpened along the tops. They do not usually constuct gates though, merely leaving the narrowest allowable space for carts and oxen to pass.
The typical Highland dwelling is made entirely from stone, this is shaped and laid, with or without mortar, and is usually two to three feet thick. Often the interior is a foot or so lower than outside and the floor is either stone or compacted clay. Windows and doors are narrow and deep, and the roof is commonly a birch mat over timber frame with a layer of turf or sod covering it. These roofs are often strong enough to support grazing and it is not unusual to see the milk goat or sheep happily cropping the fresh grass growing across it. The fireplace is either built into the wall or missing entirely, a smoke hole with a protective wooden cowl in the roof being just as common. Larger dwellings may include log walls or roofs if there is sufficient forestry nearby, and some crofts have a raised wooden floor a few inches higher than the ground which, like the clay floor is kept polished and clean. These crofts are single story buildings, sometimes with small lofts in the eaves, but tend to be longer and wider than their counterparts in the lower regions. True, some can be single roomed and tiny, but most are constructed to contain several sleeping rooms, a kitchen and living area. Occasionally livestock are also kept inside, though more generally, the animals live in barn-like extensions that merely share a common wall. Unlike the village structure of the other clans, the highlanders tend to live in a more isolated fashion. Therefore they build their crofts to include defensive walls and supply barns. These are also built out of stone, though accasionally, a highlander living in or close to a heavily forested area may use logs as his main building material. Halls are usually built of stone for the first ten feet in height and are several feet thick, with steeply angled log roofs that may include sleeping or storage lofts. These halls are only built at main crossing points or as defensive structures. Communities within walking distance then share them for the purposes of socialising, discussions, or in times of war. They are more sturdily built than lowland halls, and usually stand up to most forms of attack.
Carving, both of stone and wood, is often elaborate. The interiors of most celtic dwellings have many fine examples of both. Much of this is done after construction of the supports, walls or furniture, the dark winter nights providing ample opportunity for the inhabitants to stamp their own individuality on their property. Suitable subject matter can include celtic knotwork or other geometric designs, symbolic representation of religious figures, stylised depiction of enemies and creatures, and simple animal and plant images. Woven hangings and stains from natural plant sources would complete the overall effect.
In any remote area in Caledonia, other styles of construction can be found, depending on local materials. Below are examples of the most common ones
The Crannog
Built over water and connected to the shore by a gangplank, these building
provide protection from attack. The circular, timber platform, with its large,
timber roundhouse, is built on oak piles driven deep into the loch bed. The
walls are made of hazel rods, woven together, and the thatched roof is steeply
pitched enough to allow rain to drain off. Inside, the floor is covered with
bracken and ferns, with a flat, stone fireplace in the centre which is usually
kept burning continuously and is the focus of family life.
Brochs
To the north and west, stone is a more available building material than timber
for construction purposes. Here we find the brochs, Usually constructed by
islanders, moorlanders or some highland families, they are the pinnacle of
drystone wall building. Huge towers, so ingeniously engineered to avoid collapse
that some of them are still standing after a dozen generations. They are formed
by two concentric, dry-stone walls, producing a hollow-walled tower. Between
the walls are galleries and stairways which lead to the upper levels. Within
the tower there may be several wooden floors, providing the main living space,
with the ground floor possibly used as a secure store for cattle or sheep
when the broch was under siege. The whole structure is usually topped with
a conical, thatched roof. Brochs are meant to impress and are often used as
houses for clan chiefs or important farmers. In some places, villages have
grown up around the broch and become a centre for trading or droving.
Hillforts.
Some of the most impressive settlements are hillforts They are powerful fortresses
surrounded by earthen ditches with wooden palisades or stone walls, and are
set on hill tops or on coastal promontories.To some Lowland and Hill clans,
they are impressive statements of a chieftain's power. From their hillforts
these chieftains can survey the surrounding farmlands under their sway, lands
that no doubt provide them with food. The people who farm the land are also
warriors when required and look to both fort and chieftain for protection.
They have become centres for trade and metal working, bringing wealth, power
and status to those who control this trade. Other hill forts have been built
at key points across Caledonia by the regions' leaders, and stand empty until
times of war.
Despite the defensive nature of construction in Caledonia, most conflict
is resolved outside the dwelling places. The clansmen and women prefering
to engage their enemy in the open. In areas of high risk, at least one clansman
is always awake and patrolling the steading, and an alarm will bring swift
response. Often a line of heavily armed celts with kilts flying and weapons
flashing in the light will be enough to give any raider second thoughts, and
many flee before the first blow is delivered.