When I was young my Aunt took me on a walk around what had been my great grandfather's farm. We passed through the old barn (it still stands) and meandered in the woods and through some fields for awhile. Eventually (it probably wasn't very long to be honest, this was long ago and I was knee high to a jumping frog), we wandered up onto the banks of a small lake or pond.
It immediately captured my imagination and has remained with me to this day. It seemed a jewel somehow, some hidden treasure in the woods, that no other had found or discovered. There was nothing special about it that I recall, the banks were covered in reeds and some Lilly pads dotted its surface, but mostly it was clean of debris and still. There was no magical water sprite holding Excalibur or distributing swords.
Even so it seemed something out of legend. Here stood a refuge in the wilderness. An anchor upon which one could take hold and find home.
Lakes are always popping up in my Castles & Crusades games. I don't think they play that large of a roll, but they certain surface and become areas to describe, and a refuge for the characters to camp upon...and monsters to creep up to....
They are realms within our own and ripe with possibility...
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