The Hearkening Bulwark, Gate of the High Warden

You cannot see into the deepwood; no, not even from atop the wall. If you could, it would be forbidden to look. All you can see is the top of the canopy, like an immense sea of leaves upon which nest a million birds and beneath which, at some points I'm sure miles deep, live all the mysterious creatures of the deepwood and all the unspoken peoples who dwell among them. I walk the wall every day, looking, and sometimes I get caught staring. I wonder about our distant siblings that we will never know, what lives they lead among that deepest nature, what their towns must look like, how they raise their families, how the Green speaks to them. But this is not for us to know, nor to see, perhaps not even to wonder about.
Now that I think about it, I shouldn't stare so. I shouldn't look so much. I have to keep my eyes on Cradsoun, those ever-scheming, those ever-skulking trespassers. I will never know what lives the people of the deepwood live, but I thank the Green for my place atop the wall, that I might protect the sanctity of its favored children, of those untouched, those blessed peoples.

-Excerpted from the journal of a warden of the Green Word's Reply, circa 820 CR

  Once, the deepwood of the Rhyqir Valley was an open maw that swallowed wanderers. A forest as deep as an ocean, its immense canopy a mile high and so dense that all light fell away in favor of green-tinted shadows, those who sought entrance would vanish, consumed by nature. This changed over a thousand years ago. In an event now called the first Rhyqir Valley Incursion, an exploratory force from Cradsoun entered the forest and violated the first tenant of the Laines: never enter the deepwood. Among the greatest consequences of this were the conflicts that became the Thousand Year War, but on a more local scale, the dramatic construction of immense wooden bulwarks surrounding the deepwood forced closed the maw of nature. Around this bulwark are great gates that serve only a ceremonial purpose: they exist specifically to never be opened, to represent the fact that entering the deepwood is both possible and forbidden.
The greatest gate is on the north-facing Hearkening Bulwark, where the Gate of the High Warden dares the armies of the Nor Sator League to attack. The Nor Sator League as accepted this invitation before, breaching the gate three times during the history of the war. But the last breach was more than a century ago, and the current High Warden of the Laines, Imeis Lyel, has brought so many resources to the defense of the Gate that a settlement has sprung up on its outer side. Here live soldiers, rangers, laborers, and their families, with only the Hearkening Bulwark between them and the immense sea of green that is the deepwood.

Defences

Originally constructed as a single wall with a single gate in the year 115 UC, it was expanded over the use, particularly following breaches. The Bulwark now includes a minor outer wall that encloses the guard houses, barracks, and storehouses of the Green Word's Reply, as well as a significant outer wall around the expanding settlement of the Hearkening Bulwark. These walls are lined with parapets and interspersed with guard towers. The gate itself is framed by two primary towers which are connected and represent the headquarters of the Green Word's Reply and the seat of power of the High Warden of the Laines. These defenses are further augmented throughout the lesser woods surrounding the settlement by outlying watch towers and a network of high walkways that cannot be easily accessed from the ground.
Soothsayers of the Laines have enchanted the walls and towers against magical attacks, against fire, and against lightning. They are further enchanted with songs of detection and entrapment, which make them resistant to magical intrusion (for instance, by the renowned sorcerers of Gray Watch) and can ensnare trespassers that lack the blessing of the Green.

History

The Heakening Bulwark was first constructed along with the rest of the bulwarks in 115 UC, fifteen years after the Laines formally escalated the Green Word's Reply to the level of war, marking the beginning of the Aegis War, which would eventually become the Thousand Year War. This first phase of its existence was as a simple, small military outpost that did not expect to need to withstand significant military action. It was meant to serve as a deterrent. However, it worked more as a target.
In 85 UC, the First Breach saw an attack by Cradsoun's Infantry break the gate and capture the guardhouses. They sent an exploratory force into the deepwood, but their goal was mostly to hold the gate and keep the Laines in a prolonged conflict. As was a theme in the first centuries of the war, Cradsoun underestimated how zealously the deepwood would be defended. The entire forward line of the Aegis War withdrew to the Bulwarks, exterminating the invading force and spending the entire next year expanding the whole of the Bulwark network.
The Second Breach, in 482 CR, was another unexpected attack by Cradsoun's infantry, this time augmented by sorcerers from Gray Watch. This was seen as a failure of the Laines' intelligence network, and afterward the headquarters of the Green Word's Reply was relocated to this place. Following this, the permanent infrastructure outside the Hearkening Bulwark began its gradual expansion. There is no single moment at which the line between a ranger encampment and a settlement was crossed; this was a slow process that continued across centuries.
In 988 CR, the Third Breach saw what was by then a settlement of more than 500 trapped between a small number of sorcerers, who had encroached under the cover of magic, and the gate which they refused to open. In this case, the gate was breeched by the Laines' own people, who fled along the inner walls of the Bulwark. After the Hearkening Bulwark was retaken, the survivors that had fled were not able to reenter through the gates, as the Green Word's Reply refused to let any gates be opened for any reason. Instead, the survivors were fished out with ropes and nets, tried for violating the deepwood, and used as a prisoner labor force to repair and expand the settlement around the gate of the Encroaching Bulwark. Their labors laid the foundation for the settlement as it is today, as well as for the watchtowers and the walkways in the woods surrounding it.

Founding Date

115 UC

Population

2500

Owner/Ruler

Imeis Lyil, High Warden of the Laines

Owning Organization

The Laines