Braddock Garrison
All things are transformed by tragedy and forged anew in hope. Even in the depths of a wound, heavy healing is at work.
If the garrison holds, the answer to Lion's Fall and the Empire may yet be born there.
Once an infamous hall of decadent pleasures, escapism, and the idle rich, the Braddock Estate - now simply the Braddock Garrison - stands as a bulwark against the creeping onset of Lion's Fall and the flames that mark it. Rather than turn grim and austere, the pleasures of the palace have turned into inspirations. Border Guards march in vivid, vibrant color to keep the deadly embers and their denizens at bay. Sages who once delved into perverse experiments now do much the same, but for the common good, adding flair and panache to mundane metals and the arts of defense. Even the nobles who once wasted hours crafting ridiculous games and feasts have turned their energies to organizing forces and maintaining morale.
For now, one can find no better comfort from the tragedy of Lion's Fall than the comforts of Braddock Garrison. For now, a rest in pleasure awaits the heroes, hard workers, and the occasional opportunist who ventures into the wound. For now? The horror that is Lion's Fall finds itself faced with the most unexpected of challengers.
For now, and if the fervor of sobriety can hold in the face of bleakness? The Garrison may be a comfort to the entire Dream? But even there, a lonely tower rises, and within it? The hope or greatest terror of the Empire resides. Its heir.
Demographics
Government
The Braddock Wayholding is the domain of Waylady Hadiri Braddock, a stern Galasteri human with an appetite for the finer things. Her orcish wife Vekara is a statuesque former gladiator and often people's first hint to the Waylady's priorities. With Hadiri herself often called to the capital, Vekara manages the Galasteri Border Guard and the mercenaries on pay with a calm, imperious air. She seems to know about every petty party within her walls, and joins a good half of them to maintain their quality.
Beneath the Waylady and her wife, the local military answers directly to the Empress, though the Headmaster of the Foundation of Art often serves as her proxy in the region. Hadiri's court has no organization to speak of, but with many of their holdings left in ashes, they have a vested interest in the success of and in alliances with the surviving holds.
Industry & Trade
Once merely a pleasure palace with a secondary military presence, the palace at Braddock Garrison has been reforged into a military foundry and research station. Sages and smiths work and play with equal passion, taking up wine and sex with equal dedication that they do to their designs each morning. Competitions over poetry and riding horses have turned to production quotas and parades of well-outfitted companies and the krewes of the Winter Guard.
The chaos and blast of Savrias' Fall have exposed ample once-hidden and new resources, so with a mix of new mining interests and the peculiar traits of the Lion's Flame, Braddock Garrison has gone from a massive drain to a source of wealth.
History
Braddock Garrison was once a joke told among wayholders and nobles across the Dream. Here, you'd find chariot races, the best wandering lovers for hire, and even a brazenly shameless massage parlor managed by the wayholders themselves. Sharing ties with orcish, dragonborn, and other competitive nobilities led to an unauthorized arena arising from the Garrison itself, something against military protocol to say the least. That the Braddock family inter-married frequently with warriors that caught their eye, even adopting non-human warriors who'd proven themselves made the joke even less amusing to most.
Then the world ended, or so it seemed to many in the high society of Galastaire. With Savrias' meteoric rise and horrific fall, no one seemed to know what was right anymore or where to turn. Hadiri Braddock, on the other hand, had a nightmare swallow half of her land and threaten what remains and she steeled her resolve. Going from a vocal critic of the Lohrian to their greatest agent in the region, she turned the pleasure palace into a citadel and is now a force to be reckoned with in Galasteri politics - a force kept tightly under the Empress' thumb for the time being, to her great displeasure.
Hosting the Imperial Heir is no new controversy to the Braddocks, but they've never had to keep one sealed in a tower with access granted only to the Empress herself. Many eyes and ears await the heir's release and ascension, but all signs point to the Empress never letting it happen. But why?
Tourism
Those who visit Braddock Garrison are usually either running away from something or in pursuit of something lost to Lion's Fall. The former will find whatever aid can be spared, while the latter are quickly put to work on one task or another. New recruits are appreciated, but keen mercenaries are often sent on more deadly, specialized retrieval missions.
Those simply passing through Lion's Fall on the way to somewhere else (brave, if foolish) can still find the old pleasures of the Braddock Palace on hand - gladiatorial matches, chariot races, and grand spectacles of beasts and warriors both are on display. The krewes of the Winter Guard are always trying to show each other up with frequent military (if barely) parades. Those looking for the newest weapons or enchantments could find a worse location to start their search as well.
The Garrison is always on guard for a major attack and looks poorly on those who make trouble. Response to most crimes occur within 1d4 minutes with up to 2d6 guards (from the Basic Rules or Monster Manual), while backup with 1d4 veterans and either a knight or a gladiator as escort. One should expect restitution to come in gold, valuables, or dangerous tasks out in Lion's Fall - committing crimes so close to a deadly wasteland comes with its own risks.
Tasks for the Garrison
| d6 | Task | Foes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recover lost arcane tomes that may provide insight on the Lion's Flame, dealing with abandoned security measures. | Animated armor, weapons, rugs |
| 2 | Escort a sage to safely gather new samples of Lion's Embers into glass jars without getting contaminated. | Ashen vestiges, charred vestiges |
| 3 | Participate in a grand melee, with the last standing person taking the pot. | Priests, berserkers, gladiators |
| 4 | Rescue any survivors from a lost village, or bring back tokens to denote the dead, with gold paid for each item of sentimental value. | Vestigial motes, a horror |
| 5 | Retrieve a cache of smuggled goods from an abandoned rivercraft in Lion's Fall | Thugs, a spy, wererats |
| 6 | Deliver a message to the Capital as quickly as possible - within a week at most. | Bandits, lions, manticores |
Geography
Braddock Garrison has three major areas - the Palace, the Promenade, and the Garrison itself. The Palace lies within sight to the west of the Garrison, with the Promenade falling between them as a growing community of servant's quarters, shops, and a growing number of refugee tenements or shared cottages.
The Braddock Palace
Braddock Palace used to be the center of aristocratic sin and spectacle, and not that much has changed on the surface. Chariot races, gladitorial tours, and dances are still regular attractions, but the guests are now far more likely to be common soldiers and survivors of Lion's Fall than the idle rich. The palace stands as the heart of joy in trying times, and also now hosts the massive foundries that keep the Garrison supplied. There's still ample room for countless bedrooms, bathhouses, and other pleasures, but these are rationed and leased to common folk as rewards for service or by need.
The Promenade
The broad span of open ground and the short span of the Imperial Highway between the palace and the Garrison is dotted with an increasingly dense set of houses, businesses, and refugee holdings. With the Braddocks and neighboring wayholders pouring all of their surviving resources into the Promenade, a city is seeming to rise up overnight to face the challenges of Lion's Fall and support both the pleasures and the hard business of the Garrison itself.
Braddock Garrison
Once a simple military installation along the Imperial Highway, one of dozens spread out across the Empire, Braddock Garrison now hosts the Galasteri Border Guard - elite soldiers usually sent in as the vanguard in new conquests or great perils. That the Border Guard had to relocate to the heart of the Empire speaks volumes to the lingering dangers of Lion's Fall, as well as the fears of instability that follow the emperor's death. Alongside them are various companies of what has been dubbed the Winter Guard, a series of mercenary companies composed of 'krewes' as renowned for their colorful pageantry in the face of dreary horror as in their considerable combat skills.
At the center of the Garrison lies a modified watch tower where the heir-apparent Khadijah is kept. A significant no man's land has been cut around it, arcane defenses have been added, and magic has been used to seal all exits and windows. Only spells can grant entry, and yet a small guard is never far from the tower itself. The Empress seems to be afraid. Why?
Industry and Trade
History
Tourism, Crime, and Tasks
Geography
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