Castle Est

Located on the island of Ilona's Rest, off the cost of Brancion, Castle Est is the oldest Imperial structure on the Peninsula. It is also a ruin.

Purpose / Function

Castle Est was originally built by the Imperial vanguard forces as a military outpost, and later staging ground for their invasion of the mainland. After the conquest, it remained an Imperial fortification and powerbase, and when the Collapse happened it played a key role in the departure of Imperial forces. After the collapse, the castle remained the seat of the Orleyn family before they became rulers of Brancion. After they did ascend to rulership of Brancion, the castle slowly grew unused and eventually abandoned, with it today being a ruin.

History

Around two hundred years before the collapse, Imperial ships arrived at the island they titled 'Ilona's Rest'. The name has stuck to the modern day in general usage, originating with the captain of the small Imperial fleet - Ilona Durant. Ilona and her crew established the fortress that would eventually become Castle Est, built originally out of wood from the vast, seemingly untouched forests. While they sent word home to tell of their discovery, their fortress came under attack from the natives of the island. While they appeared to be men, they were primitive and mad, and with the reinforcements that began to arrive from the Empire's homeland, the Imperial forces scoured the Island, killing the natives wherever they were found. It took forty five years for the Imperial forces to secure their hold on the island, believing they had eradicated all traces of the native madmen, including the construction of a port and the expansion of the fortress Ilona had begun. In this time, Imperial ships had continued to explore and map out the peninsula itself, though never landing. The construction of a true castle began in 155BC, making use of stone quarried upon the island as well as resources shipped from the Empire itself.
About one hundred and fifty years before the collapse, Castle Est was completed. Some twenty years later, presumably after extensive planning and preparation, the vast imperial forces landed on the coastline, locating a suitably advantageous position and beginning construction of a second fortification, which would serve as the beginnings of Brancion. During the conquest of the north, Castle Est and it's port served as a strategically important location for Imperial ships to make repairs and shelter from the weather, either before or after making the journey across the ocean. And when the conquest was complete, it continued to serve as a valuable stopping point for settlers from the Imperial homeland until Brancion was established properly as a mainland port.
Many years later, after the collapse, Castle was home to the Orleyn family, who had arrived with the Imperial forces but had stayed behind when the fleet departed. The Castle and it's port - and the vast forests upon the isle especially - served as the jumping off point for a second power grab, which resulted in the Orleyn family seizing power of Brancion as it's Kings early in the 2nd century AC. The Orleyn family mostly abandoned Castle Est, leaving it manned by a skeleton force and staff, more to keep an eye on and collect taxes from the handful of villages that had sprouted up on the island than for any strategic purpose.
Eventually the villages on the island grew problematic, believing that they had been forgotten by the rulers of Brancion. Refusing to pay taxes, and indeed attacking those taxmen that did roam the villages, scholars wonder if they had come into contact with some remnant of the natives the Imperials thought they had eliminated.
In 168AC, the castle was fully abandoned. The Orleyn's did not have, or were not willing to expend, the necessary resources for its upkeep and the manpower that would be required to return order to the villages on the island, whose taxes were pitiful even in a good year. This was compounded upon by the dangers of sea travel that had emerged since the collapse - seamonsters and storms, to identify the primary issues.
In the hundreds of years since then, Castle Est has fallen into ruin, seen only from the shore near Brancion or from the coastal boats of fishermen.
Little has been heard of the villages that were left behind on the island. Tales have been told of arrows fired from the treeline at those boats that do draw close.

RUINED STRUCTURE
159AC

Alternative Names

Castle Orleyn

Type

Castle

Parent Location

Ilona's Rest

Owning Organization

The Kingdom of Gathion