Keep Belatte

Fire filled the sky, my lungs, and my eyes. I was out cold soon after. Next time I awoke, the keep was gone and I was in the Principality of Health.

— Minor Noble attending Belatte's last Ball

Keep Belatte was House Belatte Great Keep located in Uelle Coast, Sorenel. It burned down in a fire in Dorell of 590, which has caused a number of casualties and led directly to the downfall of House Belatte. It was a large structure consisting of six towers surrounding a great hall at their centre.

Purpose / Function

As with all Noble Keeps, Belatte Keep served as the residence of the Belatte Family and the headquarters of their noble house. It also functioned as a the Guild Halls for the Belatte Guilds of Manufacturing and Architecture, with the great halsl in the ground floors of the centre tower being available to all members and vassals of House Belatte to use in their balls and other events. Stage could be raised from several places in the great halls, as it was said that the members of the noble family have ever been fond of drama and diversity. This makes it a common venue to hold medium sized trade fairs and expositions.

Alterations

In the 3rd century Post Ascension, the entirety of the keep was raised into heaven. As house Belatte was still very fond of their original design, keep, and its location, they wished to change as little as possible while still migrating to the ever expanding upper reaches of the recently tiered city. This is said to have marked the true beginning of heaven as a separate living area than the rest of Sorenel, which soon came to be known as the Bryniths. While the division was already occuring, it was the raising of house Belatte that cemented it as a rather hard line rather than a soft one.

Architecture

The keep was built early in the history of Sorenel, making it the oldest keep still in use. While it does not stand precisely as it once did, its aesthetics go more or less unchanged. The keep is now mostly built on a foundation of spellforged concrete carved to match the great stone blocks the old keep was built of. While considered unsafe by many, house Belatte insisted on using wood for pillars, beams, and most other load bearing elements in the keep in respect to their heritage.

Type

Keep