Redrock Citadel Settlement in Duurn | World Anvil

Redrock Citadel

Redrock Citadel, like the people that inhabit it, is stoic, brazen, and unshakeable. Part fortress and part city, Redrock Citadel has never been taken by an opposing army. Built atop a peninsula jutting into the Bronze Lake, at its core is the White Tower, a grand castle built by M'Ruk Katoor, the Pelukt warlord. Over time, as the needs of Katoor's army expanded and civilians began to flock to the ready source of work, a city grew up around the castle. During the Dorn-Rovolo War of |564, M'Ruk's grandson, Jelt Katoor, began the construction of the Red Walls, the imposing, fortress-like enclosure of red-hued stone, reinforced by metal alloy. These walls encircle the tip of Redrock Peninsula, protecting the city within.   In addition to significant value in international trade, serving as a port of call for the journey across the Still Waters, Redrock Citadel has the largest concentration of heavy industry and manufacturing on Duurn. The factories of Redrock Citadel produce war machines and household appliances, alike, for half of the world. The Dornish Civil War and the devastation of the Last War damaged the Bronze Isle, but Redrock Citadel has only thrived on the unleashed war-time economy of the last few decades, even though this economic success has not reached the working class. Now, Redrock Citadel is sitting atop a powder keg, waiting for it to erupt.

Demographics

Redrock Citadel, like the rest of Dorn, is split between two primary ethnic groups, alongside a handful of other minority ethnicities. The Farkellian native people, called the Saarim, make up the majority of the population, though their social and economic power is low, while the descendants of the Pelukt mercenaries that created Dorn are far less populous but are, on average, far more well-off. Redrock Citadel has the largest population of minority ethnicities, unlike the rest of Dorn, which tends to be somewhat more homogenized.   That being said, as in most societies, the core contradiction is between the working and owning class. In Dorn, with its extensive manufacturing industry, conflict between these classes is constant and only ramping up, as food shortages and extreme inflation overtake Dorn.

Government

Redrock Citadel is the seat of power of Dorn. From the White Tower, still standing on the east side of the city, the Ivory Congress meets. Before the fall of the Katoor family, the country was a constitutional monarchy, with the Ivory Congress serving as a parliamentary body. M'Ruk Katoor III, the last of the Katoor line, was consolidating power, slowly taking apart the power of the Ivory Congress, under the influence of a Nightmare, before he was overthrown. Now, Dorn is a parliamentary republic, with power divided between the wealthy families, descendants of the original Pelukt mercenaries.

Defences

Redrock Citadel is near-impregnable, its massive walls prevent a direct attack, with heavy guns and a sizeable garrison ensuring its defense. Its greatest weakness is its isolation. There is little space for growing or raising food of any kind, within the city, so all food must be transported, mostly from northern Dorn, as well as outside the Bronze Isle.

Infrastructure

As a result of the limited opportunity for horizontal growth, Redrock Citadel is constantly expanding upwards, building layers atop layers of tenements and shops, until the lower levels of the city are nearly bereft of sunlight, even at midday. There is nowhere else with such a stark and direct divide between the haves and the have-nots, with the wealthy living in large estates along the upper edges of the city, where the sun shines and trees and other vegetation grows, and the poor living in tenements and squats, down in the grime of the dark streets, where nothing but rats would willingly live.

Guilds and Factions

Redrock Citadel has one of the most extensive and tangled underworlds on Duurn. There are dozens of gangs, ranging from small-time groups of thugs that claim ownership over a bar, to outfits of organized criminals that operate like an international guild. Many of these gangs hold alliance with one of the many political factions in the city, from the Grey Cloaks, that operate as the paramilitary wing of the Dorn National Front, to the Headsmen, an illegalist gang which robbed financial institutions and the homes of the wealthy in the name of "the revolution," before they were finally hunted down and massacred in the Black Canal Standoff.   As the Dornish general strike carries on and seems to have a good chance of turning into the Second Dornish Civil War, the major players are: The Utopians, a unified front of communists and anarchists, such as the Blue Tide, a pure anarchist militia and revolutionary group, operating like a guerrilla army or terrorist cell federation, depending on who you ask, and the Dorn National Front, who won the recent general election, by the barest margin, and who are quickly circling the wagon and cracking down on insurrectionary tendencies within the populace.
Type
Large city
Population
6 million
Characters in Location

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