Dour Castle

Dour Castle (/ˈdaʊər/ [Translation Unavailable]) is a temperate Large City located in Lightriver Dutchy, Yehan Kingdom, within the Sylvan.

The name Dour Castle is derived from the Sylvin language, as Dour Castle was founded by Tshêv Rickard, who was culturaly Sylvin.

Climate

Dour Castle has a yearly average temperature of 18°C (64°F), with its average temperature during the summer being a warm 27°C (80°F) and its average temperature during the winter being a cold 9°C (48°F). Dour Castle receives an average of 130 cm/y (51 in/y) of precipitation, most of which comes in the form of rain during the spring. Dour Castle covers an area of nearly 175 km² (70 mi²), and an average elevation of 4406 m (14455 ft) above sea level.

Overview

Dour Castle was founded durring the early 12th century in winter of the year 1123, by Tshêv Rickard. The establishment of Dour Castle suffered from many setbacks, delays, and obsticles, most notably a group of Dour Castle which required millitary assistance exterminate before the community could finish being built.

Dour Castle was built using the conventions of Sylvin durring the early 12th century. Naturaly, all settlmentss have their own look to them, and Dour Castle is no diffrent. The city's buildings feature waddle and daub construction with good timber frames and a stone foundation protected by thatched or shingled rooves. Most buildings with second floors are built in such a way as to overhang into the streets on the upper floors for more space, as building size seems to be the primary indicator of wealth within the community. Most buildings are not decorated with any integral features, but instead use ivy, flowers, and other natural elements in planters of on trellices to breathe life into the structure they grow upon.

Dour Castle is is constructed arround a series of crampt cobblestone mainstreets which form overlapping circles, with smaller strait roads linking the circiles to eachother at varrious points. The city is defended by arcane means. It's hard to spot at first, but there's a tell tell shimmer in the air arround Dour Castle, and you can spot the ocasional warding glyph carved into a rock or tree all arround town. These mystical defences are ancient, unknowable, and unassailable by current means... Assuming everything is in working order. Otherwise, the wards are little more than a deathtrap. Dour Castle's Relic of the World That Was are in an unremarkable state. To some, this is the ideal sate for defences to be in. In need of absoutly nothing, and ready to serve the city as needed.

A look arround Dour Castle reveals an abundance of schools, libraries, and other academic structures. Locals can be overheard having academic discussions, as well as talking about scholarly subjects in general. It’s quite clear the city places a lot of value on education and being a learned individual.

Civic Infrastructure

Dour Castle possesses a Aethary Link for its accademic, government, and financial institutions. Public Aethary access is available through one or more of these intitutions.

Dour Castle has an animal control department which works to enforce local ordinances relating to the control, impoundment, and disposition of animals.

Dour Castle has an Office of Civil Groundskeeping, which works to enforce local ordinances relating to the construction and upkeep up of all plant life, water features, and other natural decorations within Dour Castle. They are also responsible for the maintenance of these features. Notably, the OCG is not responsible for Dour Castle's parks.

Dour Castle has an Office of Civil Vicary, which is responsible for providing a livelyhood for all officialy recognised religious figures within Dour Castle.

Dour Castle has a government-funded child care program, overseen by the local Department of Nursemaids, which is responsible for providing childcare to working-class citizens according to local ordinances.

Dour Castle has a Gravedigger's Guild, which is responsible for collecting the dead and laying them to rest according to all applicable laws and religious customs.

Dour Castle has a Guild of Nurses, which is tasked with caring for the elderly and infirm in accordance with local ordinances, religious values, and customs.

Dour Castle has a Department of Firefighters, which is responsible for organizing fire fighting efforts during a fire and enforcing local ordinances relating to fire safety.

Dour Castle has a Highwayman's Guild, which is tasked with maintaining the roads and highways leading into town as well as keeping them safe for travelers.

Dour Castle has a Hall of Slayers, which is tasked with maintaining the roads and highways leading into town as well as keeping them safe for travelers.

Dour Castle has a monistary of an order of Civil Monks, who provide divine-related services to the general public and maintain Dour Castle's public wards, blessings, and other arcane systems.

Dour Castle has an Arcane Academy which provides higher education in the arcane sciences.

Dour Castle possesses a Galvanic Power Grid, which brings galvanic current to most if not all buildings in town, and permits a great many consumer goods to function within the Large City. Dour Castle's grid is powered by a direct leyline tap.

Dour Castle's old civil lighting system was converted to Galvanic Lamps recently, and expanded to provide nighttime illumination to all city streets.

Dour Castle has a first rate hospital which caters to anyone in need of long term medical care.

Dour Castle has a library, which keeps a large collection of books, scrolls, and archives all manner of physical items. The library is open to the public, including the Aether Link.

Dour Castle has a Parks and Recreation Department, which is responsible for the construction, management, and usage rights for all of its parks and parklands. They are not to be confused with the Office of Civil Groundskeeping as they do not hold authority over nor responsibility for Dour Castle's natural decorations nor waterways.

Dour Castle has a Guild of Roadworkers, who are responsible for maintaining the roadways and public paths within town. They also have the duty of enforcing all civil laws relating to the roadways.

Dour Castle has a public schooling program overseen by the Hall of Sages who has the responsibility of ensuring access to affordable high-quality education in all basic classes (Reading, Writing, Mathmatics, General Sciences, General Arcana, and Social Education) is made available to all citizens.

Dour Castle has a public septic system, which allows its citizens to have indoor bathrooms. The septic system is overseen by the League of Sewerkeepers, who posses the legal authority to enforce all laws relating to the septic system, and are also tasked with its maintenance and upkeep.

Dour Castle is home to a University which provides higher education in a variety of fields, and also serves as a research institute for those same fields.

Cultural Notes

Dour Castle's town hall was built using a different architectural style from the rest of the town. The style used is characterized by grandeur of scale, simplicity of geometric forms, dramatic use of columns, and a preference for blank walls. This design ethos extended to re-imagining earlier styles of structure to create them anew, with a similar overall look and feel to one another..

In Dour Castle most nights are accompanied by colorful ribbons of light in the sky.

The Urdefhan near Dour Castle are known to be almost tame, such that they can be put to domestic use.

Dour Castle's citizens partake in a curious ritual relating to their local kami. It takes place in summer and involves sacrificing an animal to channel Transmutation energies of tier 1 via oratory performances.

Economy

The following information was obtained via the Imperial Census Bureau as part of the Eyom Economic Outreach Program. It differs from Standard Imperial censuses in that many of Tom's citizens, regardless of culture, work in more than one occupation or hold more than a single job. The Imperial Census Bureau has ruled that a job is a job, hence, the intigers within the data presented here can count an individual more than once.

Dour Castle Census Data: Year 2000

15492 of Dour Castle's population work within a Foundational Occupation.

• 905 work in Agriculture
• 3502 work as Craftsmen
• 1232 work as Merchants
• 2338 work as Service Workers
• 1573 work as General Laborers
• 636 work as Skilled Laborers
• 2214 work as Civil Servants
• 1359 work in Cottage Industries
• 870 work as Artists
• 863 work in Produce Industries

24176 of Dour Castle's population do not work in a formal occupation, but do contribute to the local economy. 1226 (3%) are noncontributers.

Points of Interest

Dour Castle produces some wonderful cultural artifact or trains famous artists. The product might be some exceptional cloth, or artistic luxury good, or the scholarly fruits of a famous academy. Trained artists might be students of a particular school, or the apprentices of the current masters of a long artistic tradition who dwell here.

Dour Castle is accessed from a nearby river via an intricate series of locks.

POI

History

In time immemorial, reportedly some time during the late 2nd century, Dour Castle was attacked by soldiers from another nation, waging a greater campaign. The details of the conflict are hazy at best due to many conflicting accounts. What is known is Dour Castle lost 287 people, 139 livestock, and 91 buildings. The conflict ended after roughly 94, when members of Dour Castle's militia enacted an operation to assassinate an enemyinfluential figure. The operation was complicated by enemy spies who revealed the militia's plan. The conflict ended with pitched battle between both forces, which ended in victory for Dour Castle's forces. The war is remembered in legend by Dour Castle's bards, historians, and legend keepers.

History