Trinity Castle

Castle Trinity's history goes back a long way.

Founded as castle atop a hill as an Outpost to secure the confluence of two mighty rivers, it soon drew many merchants dealing with wood and valuable minerals. Through trade the city around the outpost grew and the ruling family grew richer and richer. This caused them the enhance their fortification so nobody could ever steal their wealth.
At one point in its history Lord Welsam Jarry, the current ruler, died and a fight for his legacy started amongst his children. Their father, not able to decided which of his three children was the fittest to rule his castle, split his inheritance into equal parts so they could rule together.
But, misjudging his offspring, each one of them thought they are the true heir of Castle Trinity and sought to outrival the others. This lead to them each ruling about their part of the castle and building their own complexes, trying to outdo the others in beauty, fortification and usability. Soon inside the castle there were three autonomous castles and three rivaling family branches fighting a cold war of jealousy and malevolance. Before long the common people mockingly referred to it as Castle Trinity and after some time everybody else adopted this name.
But still the castle and the city around it prospered. And this prosperity soon drew the attention of neighbouring empires. The large walls held off many armies but one especially hostile ruler decided to lay a siege on Castle Trinity. In fact he wanted the city so bad he build his own castle on another hill next to the city. The years went by and the counter-castle grew larger and larger because the besieger now controlled the trade but never managed to conquer Castle Trinity.
The inhabitants, common or noble, suffered badly under these conditions. But the patriarch of one of the familiy's branches saw an opportunity. The enemy not able to conquer the castle and him not able to boot out his relatives, he sought a deal with the enemy ruler. Promising to open the gates for his army so he finally could conquer the city, he demanded to be spared and installed as the sole ruler under the enemy's command. The enemy, pleased to finally be able to end the siege, seized the opportunity and agreed. So one night the army outside the walls got ready to storm the castle as soon as the gates opened. The traitor kept his promise and soon the castle and the city was flooded by soldiers. The noble family was captured and thrown into jail and the traitor was brought before the enemy ruler.
Thinking he was about to be set free and rule over the castle he entered the throne room smiling. But the enemy ruler made sure he would smile never again, for he loved the treachery but hated the traitor. And thus he and his branch of the family went extinct.
But the enemy leader still on for revenge for making him besiege the castle for so long planned an humiliate the Jarry family even more, let the other two branches decide the line of succession themselves. He offered them the chance to win the castle in a fight or be executed like their relatives. Both families chose to fight and soon only a handful members of the youngest branch survived the fighting.
The enemy ruler kept his promise and made them the new and only lords of Castle Trinity. But again to humiliate them he ordered them to not only bow to him, but also to maintain the counter-castle he build. Naming it Jarry's Shame he had them fortify it, so the shame will always be in clear sight. Another order was for them to always have at least one member in Jarry's Shame.
The family never fought amongst each other again.

Type

Citadel