The Servian Plantation
by
I made the map above with Paint-shit Pro, using various other maps as a guide. The Servii keep a grand villa rustica on the same ridge as their plantation village. The two-story villa sits on the shoreline of a deep glacial pond with views of a nearby forest and the surrounding mountains. Using existing designs found on the web, I tried to configure details as my narrative presents.
The Servii live in the Lepontine Alps, very near the Swiss border (close to the Adula peak). I mapped the journey taken in The Month of Honey arc from Genua to their plantation valley – the teal and bright red are established Roman roads, while the crimson marks Skipio’s actual route home. As you can see, he actually lives west of Bellagio and crosses the lake to get there. Comum is farther down near the river.
The family monies fund the civic upkeep of Novum Comum (a provincial colony). Their taxes also fund, since Caesar took control as governor of the province, a military garrison at Bellagio. The Servii do business out of Mediolanum and keep a warehouse in Genua to ensure their products (apples and pears) reach distributors who sell to Roman patricians.
Servian walnuts are a rare and highly sought-after commodity throughout the Republic, thanks to Servii’s marketing prowess. Harvests occur once in a generation, and when they do, they bring a tremendous financial windfall, enough to sustain the village and household until the next harvest.
Above is my first crude map (made while on a tablet, sorry. I wanted a mountain cistern nearby, with an aqueduct running to settlements along the Ticinus River to Mediolanum. These actually existed and were built to maintain public health (provincial Romans were keen that their drinking and bathing water never come from nearby rivers that fed farms and sewers.)