Valttë

You might not believe me now, but let me tell you, when you walk into a tretalleri city, you'll know it. It's not just the architecture, either. You and I, we've been around the block a few times, but you have never been to Di'Termalttë. To look at their frontier settlements you'd think that they don't have any concept of fancy, but the truth is, I've seen the way that they build on their homeland. It's beautiful. Sure, the architecture still serves a practical purpose literally all of the time, but it's beautiful and elegant in the way that something simply decorated is.
Anyway, I digress. The point is that you'll know it's a tretalleri city not because of the structure of their buildings, or the design of their streets, but because of the way that they arrange their residential areas. It's strange, and while you might not see any pattern in the chaos at first, if you look long enough you'll figure it out. Their houses are arranged eight to a block, arranged around a courtyard. Nowhere else does that. Nowhere.

Valttë (pl. vâlttë), best translated into "eight-home" in the common tongue, refers to both groups of tretalleri homes as well as their arrangements. While single living spaces for tretâllë are not unheard of, especially near the outskirts of their cities, most residences in the tretalleri homeland of Di'Termalttë are, in a sense, communal.

Purpose / Function

Vâlttë, as the name suggests, are composed of eight family homes connected by a common courtyard between them. The courtyard is accessible to and from all of the surrounding houses, with limited access from the street. Vâlttë are typically occupied by members of the same House, but this is not always the case, particularly with smaller Houses that do not have enough members and families to justify the use of one whole valttë.
Vâlttë serve many purposes. At the center of every courtyard is a lignetallë that memorializes the ancestors, family friends, and significant others of the individuals who live around it. As such, it is believed that vâlttë actually provide nine homes instead of eight, with the ninth, the tree, providing a home for the memories of those who have passed on from the world of the living.
The primary day-to-day purpose of the vâlttë is to serve as a place where children can play in relative safety, as a guardian will be able to oversee all activities taking place in the courtyard from any of the four houses directly bordering it. Restricted access to the street not only makes it easier to spot criminals who might be attempting to enter, but also means that children will not be able to wander away without notice. Secondary to this, vâlttë courtyards serve as a venue for family members to conduct the customary Dawnspar.
Last but not least, vâlttë provide an easy means to conceal large numbers of troops in the event of enemy incursion into tretalleri cities, and should enemy troops make their way into the courtyard, lines of sight from the surrounding houses make it easy to create a death trap on the ground, as every household keeps crossbows and ammunition on hand for just such an occasion.

Type

House