Medieval houses generally made out of timber were often being raided by several dragons that can breathe chemical fire at a distance. They seldom touch the houses with their razor sharp talons nor topple it with powerful tail, they simply flew around in circles and spew fires(napalm) at the houses and trees. What kind of houses can the medieval folks built to stand up against these airborne flamethrowers?
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
6
-
3$\begingroup$ Polite frame challenge: During much of European medieval society, the local lord was responsible for security. If Baron Ratface's bounties, goons, and organized defenses do not eradicate the local dragon threat, folks will emigrate regardless of the fire-resistant housing available. An undefeated dragon is the apex predator of the area, and folks will rightly fear for their tender, yummy children. $\endgroup$– user535733Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 3:56
-
1$\begingroup$ @user535733: the Lord went missing for days, rumour goes he was held prisoner at a castle tower by a Griffin... $\endgroup$– user6760Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 4:09
-
2$\begingroup$ The roof is the problem, not the walls. Thatch is pretty flammable. $\endgroup$– Ryan_LCommented Feb 13, 2020 at 4:56
-
1$\begingroup$ i assume they probably just dig underground cave/house like a bunker $\endgroup$– Li JunCommented Feb 13, 2020 at 9:34
-
$\begingroup$ Has your culture encountered the plague yet? A lot of shifts in construction methods came as a result of that rather ugly chapter. Example: no more thatched roofs, please. $\endgroup$– Darius ArcturusCommented Feb 13, 2020 at 11:49
|
Show 1 more comment
4 Answers
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
5
Dirt
When all else fails, dirt is reasonably cheap and fire resistant. Build the house out of a frame, and then just slather a thick layer of mud all over the top and sides of the house which should provide a reasonable protection against fire. Also serves as a decent insulator too.
answered Feb 13, 2020 at 3:21
-
3$\begingroup$ Agree - if fire breathing dragons are a regular hazard, the first thing people should do is stop using flammable material like timber for construction. Mud and stone are good options, as are using caves or building partially or entirely underground. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 3:37
-
2$\begingroup$ That's actually what most medieval structures were: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wattle_and_daub $\endgroup$– Ryan_LCommented Feb 13, 2020 at 4:48
-
$\begingroup$ wont that cook the person like an oven ? $\endgroup$– Li JunCommented Feb 13, 2020 at 9:32
-
1$\begingroup$ This reminds me of turf/prairie houses where holes are dug and the remaining dirt is used to stack walls. Building an earthen igloo shouldn't be too difficult in an area where dragon attacks are regular. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 10:36
-
1$\begingroup$ @LiJun On the contrary, dirt is a great heat insulator. $\endgroup$– RekesoftCommented Feb 13, 2020 at 11:01
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
1
The frame of the house can be wood, but roofs, with proper reinforcement, can be slate. And the walls can be daub and wattle. The wooden wattles wouldn’t provide protection, but the daub would be fire proof since it is little more than gypsum and plaster, treated with water proofing.
Also, if needed, green hides of slaughtered animal could be nailed to walls and doors to provide additional protection.
-
1$\begingroup$ Slate is however expensive since it often has to be transported long distance. pottery tile roofs are possible however. $\endgroup$– JohnCommented Feb 13, 2020 at 11:01
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
Give the dragons a different target.
Use fake houses - more just shaped piles of kindling that turn into a bonfire when set alight. Even use strawmen as well, to make it look habited. The real houses are all low profile, hidden underground wherever possible, but the decoy houses are used to draw the dragons fire elsewhere, to a safer part of the city.
The dragons come every week, burn down the decoys, but it's easy to just rebuilt afterwards.
Otherwise, what do the dragons actually want? If they never land, then presumably they're not actually raiding. If they just want to snatch meat, then pay them off - leave out fresh butchered meat for the dragons, and presumably leave it in the decoy houses for the dragons to take. Dragons get fed and leave, nobody gets hurt.
If you want to be spiteful, poison that meat.
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
It's best to build your houses from either dirt (as mentioned by other answers) clay, brick and mortar, slate, or stone blocks. Any stone or aggregate based building material would stand up to fire much better than organic materials like wood and thatch. That being said, a bunch of napalm-like fire would still do significant damage, so damage control would be something you'd look into.
Caves/tunnels
This would be my choice if dragon attacks are on the order of the day. In medieval times (and even now), there's hardly a better defence imaginable than a massive slab of mountain or dirt overhead. The only thing that can get damaged is the entrance, and if you have multiple this isn't too much of an issue.
Aqueducts
A bit of an out-there solution, but not infeasible. The romans managed to build massive aqueducts to irrigate their fields and cities. A large aqueduct network throughout the city could help massively with firefighting. Built of stone bricks and doused in water, the aqueducts themselves would stand up to the fire attacks quite well. Any houses that would be hit and burning, one could remove the shutters on that side of the aqueduct and douse the house in water, instantly putting out the fires. This could even be done pre-emptively when a dragon is spotted, so that the wet houses would not take as much damage.
