Norton Castle

Norton Castle (/ˈnɔrtən/ [Translation Unavailable]) is a subtropical Large City located in Castleburn Dutchy, Duytea Kingdom, within the Sylvan.

The name Norton Castle is derived from the Sylvin language, as Norton Castle was founded by Ceri Lard, who was culturaly Sylvin.

Climate

Norton Castle has a yearly average temperature of 16°C (60°F), with its average temperature during the summer being a warm 29°C (84°F) and its average temperature during the winter being a cold 3°C (37°F). Norton Castle receives an average of 190 cm/y (74 in/y) of precipitation, most of which comes in the form of rain during the fall. Norton Castle covers an area of nearly 256 km² (102 mi²), and an average elevation of 2744 m (9002 ft) above sea level.

Overview

Norton Castle was founded durring the early 16th century in winter of the year 1503, by Ceri Lard. The establishment of Norton Castle was only bairly constructed. The sheer number of problems with its founding were enough to make several of the backers funding Norton Castle's construction back out of the project. Ceri Lard pushed on reguardles, and Norton Castle was finished, but starts off as a terible place to live.

Norton Castle was built using the conventions of Sylvin durring the early 16th century. Naturaly, all settlmentss have their own look to them, and Norton 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.

Norton Castle is is constructed arround a semi-circular broad flagstone mainstreet, with smaller strait roads linking the circiles to eachother at varrious points. The city has a fortified albit thin brick wall. The wall has most of the feeatures of a typical castle wall, just on a much smaller scale and and budget. Notably brick isn't a particuarly soild choice for resisting siege weapons. Norton Castle's wall wouldn't hinder a proper army, but it is more than sufishent for bandits and other small marauding groups. The monster and outlaw focused fortifications has suffered a visible ammount of structural damage, leaving them effectivly useless. One can't help but wonder why the has not yet effected repairs.

The city shows nothing out of the ordinary, at first glance. Then you start to notice all the small things. Each window has seven iron nails pounded into the sill. Every door has a sprig of holly overhead. Every well is branded with purity seals and runes to ward the contents. Everyone is carrying a small charm for safety or fortune, be it a rabbit’s foot, a horseshoe, or other little totems.

Civic Infrastructure

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

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

Norton 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 Norton Castle. They are also responsible for the maintenance of these features. Notably, the OCG is not responsible for Norton Castle's parks.

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

Norton 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.

Norton 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.

Norton 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.

Norton 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.

Norton 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.

Norton 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.

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

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

Norton 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. Norton Castle's grid is powered by a boiler and turbine based power plant.

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

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

Norton 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.

Norton 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 Norton Castle's natural decorations nor waterways.

Norton 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.

Norton 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.

Norton 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.

Norton 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

Norton Castle's bank was built using a different architectural style from the rest of the town. The style used embraces individualism and experimentation. It emerged as a movement against traditional, classical styles and sought to make buildings dynamic and fun while breaking the rules. The style incorporated elements of previous architectural styles in exaggerated and whimsical ways. Traditional, conservative leanings were void in this era, with most scholars of architecture agreeing it was a time of “anything goes.”.

Due to the actions of local Kami, summer is skipped in Norton Castle.

The Dlurgraven near Norton Castle are known to be more aggressive than normal.

Norton Castle's citizens partake in a curious ritual relating to their local kami. It takes place in autumn and involves creating small tokens to channel Mysticism energies of tier 1 via recitation of poetic epics.

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.

Norton Castle Census Data: Year 2000

22694 of Norton Castle's population work within a Foundational Occupation.

• 1264 work in Agriculture
• 5155 work as Craftsmen
• 1799 work as Merchants
• 3291 work as Service Workers
• 2373 work as General Laborers
• 931 work as Skilled Laborers
• 3392 work as Civil Servants
• 2034 work in Cottage Industries
• 1268 work as Artists
• 1187 work in Produce Industries

34918 of Norton Castle's population do not work in a formal occupation, but do contribute to the local economy. 2400 (4%) are noncontributers.

Points of Interest

Many of Norton Castle’s structures date back to the ancient past and a long-vanished culture. They have unique architectural traits, perhaps being made of some strange substance or with uncanny qualities. The locals find them too useful or too durable to destroy, but the buildings often have unpleasant little surprises in their under-explored corners, and there may be greater structures still buried by long ages beneath Norton Castle’s streets.

POI

History

In time immemorial, reportedly some time during the early 2nd century the Kami spared the town from the rampage of a legendary monster. One of Norton Castle's local festivals commemorates this miracle.

History