The King Thomas Bay Plantation, our family's personal Sugar plantation, and one of our holiday retreats in the Western Colonies. This Plantation is almost 500 years old, and was built by an ancestor of mine, Michael IV. I used to love coming here as a child, and I still do, I love the beautiful old Manor house, and listening to the sea lapping the shores of the nearby King Thomas Bay. I have happy memories of childhood holidays here.
—Jane Zarkan on the King Thomas Bay Plantation
The King Thomas Bay Plantation was a large Sugar plantation and holiday retreat owned by the Zarkan family, the ruling family of the Zarkan Kingdom and Empire. Built by the shore of King Thomas Bay in the Viceroyalty of Laurenia in RY 519 (481 BBY) by King Michael IV of the Zarkan Kingdom and labourers recruited from the nearby settlement of Port King Thomas, the Plantation was a major producer of refined Sugar in the Zarkan Empire's territories in the Western Colonies. Due to the land being the personal property of the royal family, the plantation, and the surrounding land, was part of the Imperial Demesne, an ancient system of Colonial land holdings held by the Zarkan family as their personal property, which had been set up in the earliest days of the empire, and was a continuation of the Royal Demesne.
Aside from the Plantation's daily operations in Sugar production, the Plantation also served as a holiday retreat for the royal family on excursions through-out the Western Colonies. As such, the Plantation had one of the largest manor houses of any of the Zarkanian plantations in the Western Colonies as well as vast private gardens and a boating house located on the nearby shore of King Thomas Bay, from which the family would often go on boating trips.
Plantation complex and buildings[]
Built in the "Colonial" style of architecture popular in the Zarkan Empire, the manor house was a large three-storey wooden rectangular building painted in white and surrounded by wide verandas on all sides, the verandas spanned all three levels, with three levels serving as the exterior walkways of all three floors. They had multiple uses as external corridors and as a means to enter rooms lining the exterior walls of the manor from the outside, but also as balconies on which to sit and admire the local scenery. In the centre of the building was an Atrium, which contained wooden paths, benches, and had trees and plants growing.
On the ground floor were the Vestibule and Entrance Hall, in which was the Grand Staircase, which was the main way of ascending and descending the floors, though smaller stairways existed, these were typically used by servants.
To either side of the Entrance Hall were basic Dining halls which could be transformed into other types of rooms for events such as large parties. Heading to the rear of the Entrance Hall past the Grand Staircase were two doors which led to the Kitchens, the Larder, the Pantry, the Scullery, and Servant's quarters.
The first floor contained the Grand Dining room, as well as the Ballroom, and Parlour rooms. As well as access to the Atrium through spiral staircases which connected to the second floor.
The second, and top, floor contained the bedrooms, including the Solar, as well as the Lounge. The Library room and a large Drawing room. Typically, only those of high importance or close to the royal family would be permitted to join them upstairs for refreshment and entertainment in their personal top-floor Drawing room.
About a five minute's walk to the east of the Plantation house lay King Thomas Bay, one of the first bays visited during the colonisation and settlement of the region by Zarkanians ca. 880s BBY. On the bay was the Plantation's boating house, a large wooden and metal housing containing three separate jetties, besides which could be found a yacht and several motor boats. The Zarkan family often used the yacht on boating trips, and used the motor boats on short-range trips along the coast of Laurenia.
Next to the Plantation house sat the far smaller, yet still comfortably-sized, Overseer's House, an Overseer served as the "General Manager" of a Zarkanian Plantation, Overseers were exclusively Zarkanian or Aerman in origin, as the position demanded, the Colonial authorities not trusting Natives or non-Aermen to serve as Overseers. An Overseer was responsible for the hiring and sacking of staff, as well as ensuring the daily operations of the Plantation ran smoothly and production quotas were met.
Whilst early Overseers were often cruel in their treatment of their employees - something which directly contributed to the Great Plantation Riots of the 610s BBY - Overseers at the time of the building of the King Thomas Bay Plantation where typically far more mellow in the treatment of those employed by the Plantation.
To the north of the Plantation house lay the main complex and heart of the Plantation, the Sugar fields and the Sugar refinery. The sugar cane needed to create the sugar was grown in four huge fields, whilst sugar ready for refinement was carted off to the refinery. After refinement the refined sugar was loaded into large sacks and taken to the Plantation's personal railway station, or taken to Port King Thomas by cart, during the Plantation's earliest days, ready for shipment across the Empire and the continent of Aerland, and from Aerland, the world.
Near the refinery were gathered the Labourers' Houses, these small wooden houses were used by Labourers who lived too far away from the Plantation to make the journey to and from the Plantation each day, the Plantation hired native labourers from across Laurenia, those who came from the furthest reaches of the colony were therefore unable to return home at the end of day and thus lived on-site.
Whilst the Labourers' Houses were nowhere near the size of the manor house or the Overseer's House, they were still decently sized and rather comfortable when compared to the houses inhabited by native labourers employed by other plantations, and were a symbol of the wealth of the Zarkan family, and of their concern for the well-being of their Labourers.
Near to the houses was the Plantation Hospital, a large two-story building used to house Labourers wounded in accidents or suffering from diseases. Underneath the Hospital, in the stone cellar, was the Morgue, which was used to contain the bodies of deceased Labourers as they awaited burial.
To the North-East of the complex, if the north-eastern corner of the Plantation, were the Plantation's farm, vegetable gardens and Fishery, the Plantation's slaughterhouse and tannery could also be found a short distance from the farm. The farm held pens where livestock was raised and kept for meat, milk and leather, the farm also contained coops where chickens provided eggs.
A short distance from the farm were two large vegetable gardens, which were where the vegetables were grown for the entire complex's usage. To the east of the farm was the Fishery, which was very close to the northern shore King Thomas Bay, and was where fish were bred and raised for food. Whilst the Plantation did import foodstuffs the farm and vegetable garden ensured that the Plantation could be self-sufficient.
The Plantation was so large it was in fact serviced by its own shop, and had its own personal railway station and line from 337 BBY. The Labourers had their own on-site tavern in which to spend their evenings, which was used by the Zarkan family and the Zarkan Empire as proof of the generosity exhibited by the Empire towards her native subjects. Stories of a tavern built especially for the enjoyment of the native Labourers astounded the natives employed on other Plantations, who often questioned why they didn't have their own one. The Natives were also allowed to build their own church on the Plantation's grounds, surrounding which was a graveyard in which Labourers who died on the property from accidents or old age were buried.
To the south of the manor were the private gardens, these gardens were lined with exotic plants from across the Empire, large trees, ornate hedge rows interspersed with ornaments and archways made of gleaming white Marble. In the centre of the gardens lay a large open-air swimming pool, which was serviced by a poolside bar and grill. A short walk from the south-west corner of the gardens, on the Plantation's south-western extremity, was the Zarkan family's personal church and graveyard, the usage of both were reserved for both themselves and their fellow Aermen, such as Overseers and Aermen guests.