Iko's R1 Grand Finale Tour, Episode 6: The Grand Dukedom of Thornes

[lyric swift]

As great as it would have been to chill in Tavernhearth for a while, I had made it a goal of documenting as many of R1’s major settlements as possible before the wipe, so I set out southeast, guiding my deer between Mirefold and Cinderholt. Eventually, I arrived at a peninsula of our continent that juts out into the ocean from Cinderholt’s southeast corner. It is here, near the calm forest-savannah biome transition, at N948 E983 that you can find the Grand Dukedom of Thornes, capital of the Garden of Thornes.

The overarching design theme of the Dukedom is an integration with and the abundance of nature. The number of trees leaves one feeling as though the settlement is part of the forest, not merely positioned within it. Terraforming has clearly been done, as the whole space is traversable, but the original hills seem to have mostly been preserved, and the city built onto them (rather than leveling them for efficiency, like certain blog post writers may have done to their own settlement).

The Dukedom was founded here at the beginning of Early Access. Somewhat unique among R1 groups, the Dukedom established a network of outposts before the outposts update made it easier to tier up secondary settlements to specific professions. Besides the capital, the Garden of Thornes also consists of: the Barony of Roses, the Earldom of Sharpened Thorns, the Viscounty of the Velvet Rose, the County of Fallen Petals, the Marquisate of Golden Blossoms, and the Noble Claim of the Landless Noble. Each of these is strategically situated to exploit some particular resource, either an ore cave or another biome’s resources.

This network of settlements is led by Versalis, who I actually met in-game some time ago. They gave me a list of numerous founding members: Silasrev, SaucyMeatball, Balance, Batarian, Maes, and Rezaps. And also other titled members: DeFreakshow, SybilGlendevon, GreenFox, GutterGobbler, AxelStyx, TreBot, usernamex41, XxKoolTeenzUwUwX, and Vaalin.

I was given a list of all these members’ titles and contributions. A full list would be a bit much here, but there are two worth calling out. SaucyMeatball is the “Royal Crimson Jester.” We’ll be coming back to him in a bit. I also particularly liked “Master of the Vermillion Frames,” which feels like a very “Thornes” way of articulating a very particular in-game function.

Additionally, the Dukedom noted that the members of Hex and Highwater, Crystarium, and Whiterun have all been instrumental in the settlement’s development.

I was in for another fun surprise on this trip. When I set out from Tavernhearth, I let Versalis know that I was on the way, and when I arrived, Versalis was there to greet me!

I asked Versalis to show me around, and they took me first to the farm atop the settlement’s main hill.

There are also two harbors on the river that Versalis is particularly proud of.

Additionally, we took a jaunt across the river to the Barony of Roses outpost in the savannah biome. Once again, you can see the attention given to integrating everything into the environment.

Before calling it a night, there was one other highlight Versalis wanted to show me.

True to his title as Court Jester, SaucyMeatball told Versalis one day that there was a “gift” for them in the settlement. This turned out to be a giant hole in the spot where Versalis had planned to build something. The commemorative sign seems fitting.