Holdgate District
Fortified gate district to the city-state of Schruichterta.
Civilian Life
The character of Holdgate is undeniably martial. That said, civilians do live in the quarter, mostly armorers, mess stewards, suppliers, and blacksmiths. There are also Inns and Taverns serving soldiers and caravan guards. The most famous of these taverns is the Flame-Cleaved Helm.
Defences
Natural Defenses
The District is built into the side of Schrekt Hill, a rocky outcrop that forms the impenetrable rear wall of the Holdgate. A broad area, five hundred feet across is kept cleared beyond the outer defenses, to create plenty of open space for attackers to cross to reach the city.
Outer Defenses
The outermost structure is the Teloegun, an earthen rampart thirty feet high, surmounted by covered stone defensive positions, which are kept wet with lye and water during a siege by imported gnomish machinery. A single break in the Teloegun allows advance from the West.
Inside the Teloegun, there are smaller earthworks and defensive checkpoints at staggered intervals, forcing attackers to run back and forth under defensive fire to reach the New Curtain.
The New Curtain (City Wall)
The New Curtain is a sixty-foot-high stone wall, twenty feet thick. At the top, vast curtain wall, green-gray Wushan granite hoardings hang from the exterior of the wall, protected by the same type of gnomish machinery that protects the Teloegun. Sixty towers house semi-automated ballistae crafted to fire in a 160-degree arc laterally and a 120-degree arc (60 degrees above and below horizontal) vertically. A single, massive, bronze gate heavily inlaid with lapis lazuli serves as the true entrance to the District.
Infrastructure
Defensive Planning
The entirety of the Holdgate is built with an eye toward military utility. In fact, new homes and businesses must be approved by the office of the Holdgate Marshal prior to construction, and maintenance of all structures in the district, both private and public, is subject to inspection and regulation by the Marshal's engineers.
Streets are paved and wide, for easy troop movements, with signal posts connectiong to the Mastery District via tunnels. The streets are built on a slight angle to allow drainage out through small culverts in the curtain wall. Military and support infrastructure is built for function over comfort, though it reflects Spou craftsmanship.
Points of interest
Outer Reaches of the Holdgate District
Within the New Curtain, there are homes and businesses nearest the wall, which are all laid out in rectagular, or nearly rectangular, quads, each with a peaked roof surrounded by a stone battlement for defense. Most of these buildings are two stories. All are build from Wushite granite and bonded with ground obsidian mortar.
The Flame-Cleft Wall
Within inward from this residential-commercial portion of the District, the legendary Flame-Cleft Wall rises, still breached on its left flank (though the rubble was cleared centuries ago). The wall is ceremonially guarded, but not considered a part of the city's defense. During the Siege of Blackwake Flame in 734 LE, this structure played a central role in the defense of the city and was part of the outer defenses of the city. The collapse on the left flank was caused by pre-laid structural fault charges, which were detonated by the defenders on the order of Marshal Eursda Veinbreaker, stalling the dragonborn advance.The breach was left exposed as a memorial scar. Each Day of Flame, Holdguardians walk its base in silent procession before the lighting of the flame basin. A bronze plaque, inscribed in Demeng reads, "Better to break stone than break faith."
The Crucible Grounds
Immediately to the east of the Flame-Cleft Wall, a vast open parade and training ground stretches out. In its precise center, there is a memorial stone called the Kvuur Stone, and mounted above it, on the lintel post leading downward into the Hall of Heroes, a rune-marked bronze hammer shines in honor. This is Vrakturn, the hammer that belonged to Eursda. The Crucible Grounds, as a whole, serve both as a park space and, more practically, as the training grounds for Schruichtertan troops.
Hall of Heroes
This subterranean memorial crypt and hall of honor is carved into the stone directly beneath the Crucible Grounds, accessed by an entrace adjacent to the Kvuur Stone. It serves as the final resting place for Schruichterta's greatest defenders, having been originially dug as a mausoleum for the fifty-odd militia who died when Eursda collapsed the Flame-Cleft Wall. Notably, she is the only Marshal interred here, though over the centuries, a few other soldiers of great valor have been laid to rest in its hallowed halls. For those buried in this sacred space, each tomb bears a plaque enumerating their deeds in life, including the acts of valor that saw them enshrined here.
The walls are inlaid with glowstone veins, illuminating carved murals of historic battles. A central atrium contains a recessed flame basin, which is lit once per year, during the Day of Flame. As noted above, Vrakturn hangs in a locked niche on the entry lintel. It is touched reverently by each new Holdgate recruit during their oath-taking. It is also touched by the standing Marshal on the Day of Flame each year, as they descend to light the flame basin.
Hall of Vigor
This central barracks complex houses the standing guard and the rapid-response units responsible for immediate action in the event of attack. It lies along the northern boundary of the Crucible Grounds. Beneath it, lies the Red Reserve, a secure vault of blood-bound weapons used only in the defense of the city.
Bastion Hall
To the south of the Crucible grounds, Bastion Hall rises. It is the command center of the city guard. It also contains strategic war archives, armories, and training halls. It is the seat of the Marshal of Holdgate, housing their personal apartments and offices, as well as their council chambers and the offices of their senior commanders and quartermasters.
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