The Forts
The forts are a wonderful place to hang out with your friends. They are made out of wood and sticks. A lot of them look like teepees, because teepees are easier to make than other structures. Third, Fourth and Fifth graders make the forts. A lot of the forts are up on the hills of VCS.
There are a few different work positions in the forts. The positions are: Guards, Whittlers, Scavengers, Designers and Builders. When people sign up for the forts they can choose their work position. We work on what they are good at.
Some people train for being guards. Guards make sure nobody steals their fort’s wood. A lot of people like the Guard position. When other forts attack or destroy their fort they defend the teepee.
There’s whittlers, too. They carve wood for the fort. Some make wood decorations others carve designs on their fort.
The Scavengers have an important role. They buy stuff from the store or look for logs out in the wilderness. A lot of Scavengers buy from the local store built near their fort. The Scavengers and the Builders are the only ones who have “head” position. If you get to be Head Scavenger you can tell other Scavengers where “jackpots” are or which store to go to. Jackpots are huge bunches of wood that a Scavenger can find in the woods.
The Designer helps with making the structure and architecture of the fort. There is only one designer in each fort and they usually have another job too. Designers and Builders collect logs from the Scavengers and build onto the fort to make sure everyone has shelter. The Head Builder can tell the other Builders where to place the wood or carry the wood.
At the store you can buy a teepee shipment for rocks. There’s a store for every fort out there. Rocks are money in the forts. You can trade rocks for other things.
Now leaves and rocks are very valuable at the forts. Rocks can be used to make furnishings and leaves are good insulation. We forage the woods in hope of finding rocks to make beds, stools, and tables. Most of the time we pick leaves off of trees because they are going to fall off of them anyway.
We put leaves onto our teepees so that when they are dry they can keep the forts warm and snowproof. If you put a lot of leaves on the walls and ceiling your fort is expected to be warm and dry inside. Some people believe that insulation is one of the many steps to building a great fort.
The forts used to be two separate clans with a line to separate their land. But the boundaries were broken and now the clans are one and borrow spare wood from each other.
The forts are a great place to hang out with friends. It also is a great place to use your imagination build, scavenge, design and trade.
I am a Scavenger and a Builder so I find sticks and place them on the fort. I build a small teepee with some friends helping me. The forts are special to me, because I can do whatever I want to them. I can place any wood anywhere I want. The forts are my favorite place to play.
A fort is not simple to make but has few steps: First you line some sticks up onto a tree, add as many as you can (make sure to leave a doorway). Surround the fort walls with leaves or bark (good for warmth and keeping the fort dry). Put in furnishings like stools tables and beds (made out of cinder blocks or bricks.)
Make sure to take care of your fort: don’t leave messes inside, always clean it every other day, and make sure the furniture is not rotting.
Right now I own my own fort and share it with Arianna Baron and Ava Taylor. We live in a house with one big bed, a stool and we own a lot of healing powder (in case you do not know what that is, brick powder can heal cuts scrapes and rashes).
