Visby

**Visby** (or **Böi** in Gutnish) lies on the Baltic island of Gotland. The name means "sacrificial place" in English. This feudal area of Sweden belongs to the Kalmar Union. The town is also a member of the Hanseatic League, and is currently the most important trading post for Baltic goods. Visby's most important trading partner cities are Stockholm, Riga, Lübeck and Gdansk.

The "Merchants' Guild" of Visby is suffering from constant attacks from the "Vitalian Brotherhood". The "Thieves' Guild" is also giving the  patricians and their businesses a hard time.

"Visby" is a moderate-sized map with three city districts and three villages.

## Geography

The Visby "socken" (= town plus surrounding landscape) is a quite flat area, enclosed by rather steep slopes of limestone cliffs. It forms a natural harbour with the actual city in its center.

The core of the city consists of the Old Town (south) and the Hansa Quarter (north), side by each without seperation, protected by a ringwall and a moat. The ringwall even extends on a dyke into the sea, leaving only a passage open for the ships.

More or less defenceless outside, are the three villages and the New Town, grouped around the core city in a rough circle.

## City Districts

### Old Town

The Old Town (blue) is the southern of the two city districts enclosed by the ringwall. It is dominated by the castle "Govenor's Palace", which is built on a rock formation out into the Baltic Sea. A well and a market place are placed near its entrance.

The city hall is located slightly north of it, near the shore. Directly across the street, on the beach is the execution site. This way, the prisoners can relish the magnificent view over the Baltic Sea, before getting hanged on the gallows.

The church "The Holy Ghost" near the southern gate looks quite important. Behind it, hidden in the corner between the sea and the ringwall, a grove and a cemetery wait to be discovered. The rest of the Old Town is rather uninhabited and offers a lot of empty space for new workshops to be built.

### Hansa Quarter

The Hansa Quarter (orange), the settlement of the Hanseatic League, is the northern part of the city core inside the ringwall. It is much denser built up, than the Old Town, and holds more of the important buildings:

First of all, there is the cathedral "The Supreme Glory of God" to be mentioned, with a well and a fountain in front of it. Second, what made Visby so important, is the sea port. Also, the military center of the city, the arsenal is located here.

Besides of the cathedral, the Hansa Quarter houses two more churches, the "Good Hope" and "The Good Shepherd". In front of the latter, a visitor can find the market place of this district. Mirroring the Old Town, there is a cemetery, hidden away in the triangle between the sea and the ringwall.

### New Town

The New Town (yellow) looks like the inhabitants ran out of space inside the city wall, and had to extend the city further to the south. Although, as the game starts, there's enough empty space left inside of the ringwall.

This city district - even unprotected - houses the only school of the map (west, near St. Boniface) and two more churches, St. Stephen and St. Boniface, which are located east and west near the core city's moat. The Visby map is really littered by churches. There are historic reasons for this, which can be found on Wikipedia.

Directly across the bridge leading to the Old Town, the market place invites its customers. A well nearby can be used to quench their thirst. A cemetery near the school, and a brushwood next to St. Stephen offer excellent opportunities to gather goods needed by some workshops.

## Villages

### Lomalunda

The village of Lomalunda (=holy grove, uncertain) (cyan) is directly north of the city, just outside the ringwall. A gate and a bridge over the moat ensure easy access to the Hansa Quarter of Visby.

Except for its church "St. Helena", the nearby market place, and a well, the village has no important buildings. There are a number of rural facilities, like the lumberyard, a cemetery, a brushwood, and a grove.

### Östrabyn

The village of Östrabyn (=village in the east) (pink) is located to the east, just outside of the ringwall. Like Lomalunda, a bridge over the moat and a gate ensure easy access to city of Visby, but this time to the Old Town.

Its center is formed by the church "St. George", the market place, and a nearby well. In addition, Östrabyn has also a cemetery, a lumberyard, and a brushwood.

### Pilhagen

Pillhagen (green) is hidden away south of the New Town at the end of a valley. Therefore, it is not as easy accessible, as the other two villages.

As usual, it has a church "St. Sebastian", a market place, and a nearby well. Besides the cemetery, Pilhagen has its own mine, an ideal spot, to open a brickery.

## Other Places

### Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea surrounds the whole island of Gotland, which is positioned strategically ideal, roughly in the center of it. So, it was interresting for the Hanseatic League to have a trading post sitting there, like the spider in its net.

The gap in the ringwall on the dyke could be easily blocked by a warship, thus locking down any trade, and any hostile attempt to occupy the city from the waterside. The sea offers access to all four long distance trade routes via the port (see below).

### Surrounding Region

As small, as it looks, the Surrounding Region (grey) of Visby offers quite a lot: Three mines and a quarry near the cliffs, two lumberyards, three groves, a brushwood, and three fishing spots. It's enough for several workshops, to gather their raw materials.

## Trade Routes

Naturally, all trade on an island, has to use the port. The reconstruction of the historic port shows a much larger facility, than that of the game. Maybe, it was that small in 1400, and got enlarged later.

Nowadays, the new port is located south of the historic one. The old dyke, with the ringwall built into the sea, is gone.

The port offers four trade routes:

* North: to Riga (= at the Rīdzene creek)
* North-west: to Stockholm (= stokker holmber = stock on a small island)
* West: to Lübeck (= Liubice = the lovely one)
* South-west: to Gdansk (= danish, uncertain)

## Additional information

* Find out more about Visby on Wikipedia.

Visby was last edited for version 1.0.4.

Visby was last edited for version 1.0.4.