Covenant Rules Fortifications

Fortifications

Most covenants are fortified sites, but the degree of fortification varies. Some covenants do not have the resources to build the sort of fortress they would like. Other covenants do not feel threatened by mundane armies, and so choose not to hem themselves into cold, cramped fortresses. Many covenants fortified long ago, and have chosen not to upgrade their defenses as new ideas and techniques in castle construction have developed. The way a covenant fortifies communicates, to observers, how the magi intend to act.

Free Choices

Several of the Free Choices in this section require the Castle Hook. This is because they lack the power to withstand determined military assault, yet pose sufficient threat to local noblemen that they cannot ignore the structure.

• Island: The covenant is surrounded on all sides by water, although it is shallow enough to be forded in places. The covenant may be connected to land either by a wooden bridge or by a stone causeway, although paranoid magi might disdain either structure. The covenant’s buildings are not useful as defensive works. Settling an island does not alarm nearby noblemen, although they might start demanding taxes from what they see as a village. This is not a castle.
• Manor House: This style of home often used by a particularly rich farmer, or minor landholder. It is comprised of a large, stone building, often two stories tall, and minor outbuildings, which are wooden an indefensible. A manor house is surrounded by a secure space, called a bailey, defended by a shallow ditch and a thin stone wall about six feet high, without a walkway along its top. Some poorer nobles have wooden manor houses, or wooden bailey walls, but Hermetic magi rarely build in wood. A manor house defends its inhabitants from predators and brigands, but cannot hold against a group of professional soldiers or magical assault. It lacks the space to act as a defensible staging area for knights. Possession of a manor house does not alarm nearby nobility, and a manor house is not a castle
• Ringwork (requires Castle): This is the most primitive sort of castle, and is easily raised by Hermetic magic. It begins with the excavation of a vast ditch, in some cases twenty feet deep and wide. The soil from this excavation is piled and packed down to create a rampart as much as fifteen feet high. A thin, stone wall, perhaps six feet high, without a walkway, is placed upon the rampart. Wooden buildings, including a short tower of little defensive value, lie within the ring. Some ringworks partition the defended space into two wards. The inner ward houses the ruler of the ringwork and his attendants, the outer their servants and supporters. Hermetic magi find this division useful, as it reduces their contact with covenfolk unused to The Gift. Ringworks were highly effective castles until the crossbow became popular. A ringwork lacks the elevation necessary to assist defenders. They are less useful in the 13th century, but many ringworks are still being constructed in Mythic Europe because they are cheap to construct and maintain. A ringwork cannot resist a determined military assault for long. It can act as a staging area for a force of knights, though, so aggressive development will alarm all noblemen within ten miles.
• Small Tower: The covenant surrounds a small tower, four stories high, with one or two rooms per story. For small covenants, the tower is appended to a fortified courtyard, into which stock are driven in troubled times. Larger covenants surround the tower with outbuildings, which are wooden and lack defensive value. A stone wall, six feet high and without a walkway, surrounds these buildings. Towers allow their inhabitants to see approaching forces from a greater distance, and increase the field of fire of magi and crossbowmen, but are much less comfortable to live in than manor houses. The magi probably have a hall in the courtyard and use the tower as a storehouse, retreating to it only in times of immediate threat. Towers used only as retreats and observation posts, called pele towers, are even less comfortable than tower houses. A tower cannot hold off a determined force of soldiers. A traditional method of killing the inhabitants of a tower is to stack wood about it, then set the wood on fire, smoking the defenders to death. A tower cannot act as a staging area for large military groups, and alarms minor landholders only, so it does not count as a castle.

Major Fortifications Boons

The following Boons provide detailed alternatives to the standard fortification described by the Castle Hook.

• Curtain Walls and Mural Towers(requires Castle): A curtain wall is a crenellated wall around a bailey. The wall is around thirty feet high and between eight and twenty feet thick. It has an exterior of dressed stones and is filled with a rubble core. Mural towers protect a curtain wall. Most mural towers built before 1200 are square in cross-section. Round and semicircular towers are the preferred types for contemporary building. Most towers are enclosed buildings, but some, particularly semicircular towers, have no masonry on the inside face, so that if they are captured, they do not provide the enemy with cover. Others are closed until they reach the level of the parapet, and are then open. There are many covenants where the towers are badly sited, and many more where each tower is so filled with personal material that it impedes defense. Some castles have towers as far from the obvious avenue of attack as possible. This is because the towers were built before crossbows become popular weapons of siegecraft: they are intended as residences, and so have been placed away from harm. The Bell Tower built at Dover Castle in 1189 exemplifies an opposite extreme, the archery tower. It is an octagonal, three story tower. Each story has six positions for crossbowmen, with the other sides used for a stairwell and a latrine. During peace, the tower is used for storage and to barrack its crossbowmen. A tower like this could not be used as a sanctum, unless the magus was willing to have his laboratory removed swiftly as enemies approached. Magi understand that their desire to claim a tower on the curtain wall can seriously impair the castle’s effectiveness. Many covenants compromise between the residential and military possibilities of the tower by designating the lowest floor as a foxhole and filling it only with materials easily removed or destroyed, and using the roof as a sentry post and sniper’s nest. A covenant designed with this Boon has as many mural towers as suits the troupe. Framlingham has thirteen towers, including two for its gate, while other castles built at the same time are rectangular baileys with a fat tower at each corner and two at the gate. There are two disadvantages to having a dozen towers: they are expensive to build, maintain, and garrison, and they declare to all of your neighbors that you expect to rule the county someday. Every extra tower makes a castle more difficult to ignore. This Boon includes either the Shell Keep or Tower Keep Minor Boon, or one of the four alternatives described in the insert “Keep Alternatives for Castles with Curtain Walls” on the previous page. It also includes the option of a barbican and moat, described in the insert “Barbicans and Moats,” also on the previous page.
• Magical Fortress: An alternative to mundane castle-building is the construction of a fortress by magic. The magical fortresses that are possible with the assistance of Hermetic magic are near limitless, and this catch-all Boon is designed to give players a blank slate upon which to describe their fancy. Mystical fortresses are often built on sites with the Unnatural Law Boon. There are many examples of mystical fortresses in Hermetic and mundane folklore. One castle spins on its axis to make assault impossible. Automatons of brass defend another castle. A third is carved from the living body of an enormous tree, while it is said that in distant Africa, a small castle has been built on the back of the world’s greatest elephant. Hermetic scholars have speculated upon covenants deep under the sea, or floating on clouds. A surprising number of Hermetic magi will lend their assistance to the construction of mystical fortresses. Many wish to see how it will work. Some magi see mobile fortresses as a way of waging war or engaging in trade. Others, who advocate a retreat from contact with mundanes, are interested in colonizing inhospitable environments. A Magical Fortress requires the Castle Hook if a powerful noble is likely to become aware of, and concerned by, the site.
• Superior Engineering: This Boon is used for castles that are not magical but appear to be, because they exceed all mundane expectation of what is possible or affordable. Players, for example, may wish their covenant to have concentric layers of defensive walls. This style of castle does not exist in 1220, although its forebears, like the walls of Constantinople and Krak de Chevaliers, certainly do, and a creative maga might extend the concepts they express in the defense of her own home. These sites appear all but unnatural to surrounding noblemen, and evoke fear, distrust, and envy. They assure the viewer that the lords of the castle expect war with forces of such power that only a king could rally them. They also express the capacity to pour out wealth as if it were of no consequence. Just as no nobleman may ignore a nearby castle, no king may ignore a concentric castle in private hands. To build such a place, without permission, is a declaration of independence that assails the legitimacy of the monarch.

Minor Fortifications Boons

• Artillery: The covenant has siege weapons, like catapults and ballistae, mounted on elevated points. These dissuade besiegers, and, in some cases, protect against attacks from the sea. When the covenant expects little trouble, many of their siege engines are disassembled and held in the covenant’s basements, out of the weather.
• Bedrock: The covenant has bedrock foundations, rather than the more usual rubble. This protects it from undermining, the most effective method of breaching a castle’s walls. Bedrock castles cannot usually have wells. This limits their supply of water. It also prevents them from having underground storage areas, lacking magical or laborious mundane mining.
• Edifices: An edifice is any major building erected to inspire awe. Covenants rarely need edifices: they could function equally well with many small buildings, made of cheaper and less ornamented materials. Many covenants, however, have at least one, to mark their wealth and power, to beautify their covenant, to arouse the envy of their peers, and to mark their covenant’s priorities. Edifices do not require the Castle Hook unless several of them, grouped together, form a structure as threatening as a castle. Some edifices are used primarily by magi. The Hermetic Fair in the Alps is held in a vast, twelve-sided hall with walls of polished quartz. Impossible ivory trees, festooned with silk banners, support its roof. The Garden of Ossuaries at Valnastium is beautiful parkland dotted with elaborate marble tombs that are inscribed with, or recite, the deeds of early Jerbiton magi. Great Works — described in the Chapter 7: Library — may be purchased either as Edifices with this Boon or as books with Build Points. Other edifices have an economic basis. One covenant keeps a woolshed of such exterior beauty that it is sometimes mistaken for a monastery, while one Mercer House has naval yards of such widely reported excellence that none dare raid its shipping. There is another covenant whose aqueduct and irrigation system are a marvel, such that certain Verditius magi weep at the sight of them. Some edifices are designed for use by covenfolk. Val Negra has a tremendous bath-house, built by Flambeau, where the covenfolk gather, bathe, gossip, eat, are shaved, and have blood let. It also has a stadium, presumed of Roman origin, in which military sports were practiced, although its enchantments have now gone dangerously awry. Most edifices, in older covenants, mimic Roman style. These buildings have barrel or groin vaulted roofs, which are hemispherical. The enormous pressure placed upon the upright supports by such roofs causes the walls of most structures to buckle outwards, so piles of buttressing stone must be erected to support them. The walls are very thick, so the windows are small and relatively few. An alternative style has emerged in the last half-century in France. In it, the frame of the building is exposed, and such wall as can be done away with is. The key difference of these buildings is that the French have discovered that a pair of pointed arches that intersect at right angles form an extremely strong structure. These arched pairs can be placed on very tall supports. This technique creates buildings which look lighter and airier, but which are more difficult, and far more expensive, to construct. Windows are larger, and spires are far more common in these buildings. Many Hermetic edifices, particularly those refurbished during the last hundred years, show some combination of these two styles. This can confuse travelers, since the French style is predominantly ecclesiastical and the traditional style more mundane.
• Important Buildings: The covenant has an additional large and important building not mentioned in another Boon. This Boon may be taken multiple times, indicating a new structure each time.
• Shell Keep (requires Castle): The shell keep is a modification of the motte and bailey castle. A motte is an artificial mound of earth, between ten and one hundred feet tall, on which a wooden tower is built. This tower overlooks and defends a courtyard that is surrounded by a ditch, embankment, and wooden palisade. This courtyard is called the bailey. Some noblemen still build motte and bailey castles in 1220, although Hermetic magi rarely do. Most motte and bailey castles have been strengthened since their creation with stonework. A problem for a nobleman planning improvements is that the motte dominates the bailey, and so cannot be ignored, but is not strong enough to hold a stone tower keep of the style found in more modern castles. The solution to this problem is the shell keep. A shell keep is a stone wall, usually two stories high, that replaces the wooden palisade atop the motte. The wall is thin compared to other fortifications, being between eight and fifteen feet, and has a crenellated walkway. Some structures like this are so large that it is not clear if they are a shell keep or a small inner bailey: Restormel in Cornwall, for example, is 40 yards across. Buildings are constructed, using the stone wall as one external wall. These are usually wooden, or thin stone, and lack defensive use, but are far more spacious, airy, and comfortable to live in than those of a conventional keep. The center of the ring of buildings is usually a courtyard. The wooden palisade around the bailey is also replaced, by a thick stone wall about thirty feet high. This has a crenellated walk. Entry to the castle lies through the lowest story of a square tower, two stories high.
• Tower Keep (requires Castle): Most tower keeps were built during the 12th century and are, generally, four stories high and either square or rectangular. Entry is via an external stairway to the second floor. The keep is usually topped with crenellated battlements. Newer keeps may be polygonal or, most recently, round in plan. As an example of size, the two largest keeps of each type in Britain are Pembroke and Colchester. Pembroke is 80 feet high, 53 feet in diameter, and has walls 16 feet thick at the base. Colchester’s keep is 151 feet long, 111 feet wide, and over three stories high. Covenants that have works on this scale, which are relatively simple with Hermetic magic, will awe the local nobility. The tower keep is surrounded by a courtyard, which contains wooden or stone buildings of no tactical value. The courtyard’s wall is made of thick stone, and is about thirty feet high. It is topped with a crenellated walk. A small tower, two stories high, defends the gate.
• Vast and Labyrinthine: The covenant is extremely large and has been constructed in a rambling, disorganized way. No living person has seen every room in the structure. Large sections of the covenant are used infrequently, perhaps once every few years. Whole subcultures have developed among the covenant’s staff.
• Writ of Crenellation: Someone with the authority to do so has given the covenant, or one of its servants, the right to fortify their home. The Quaesitores, who are concerned about the propriety of dealing with major nobles, may want to know how it was procured.

Major Fortifications Hooks

• Castle (Major Hook): Castles serve three functions. A castle acts as a refuge from military forces, so it defends territory. A castle acts as a staging ground for armies, so it threatens to assault its neighbors. A castle costs a fortune to create and maintain, and in many places requires the permission of the king to build, so it communicates the status of its owner. A castle, then, is a claim to political power, backed with the threat of force. A brigade of knights, supported by a castle, can travel about twenty miles in a day. This means they have the ability to raid targets up to ten miles away and return to their barracks before nightfall. All people who live within that radius, or have interests there, will rapidly become aware of the existence of the castle. For these reasons, the temporal and spiritual authorities of an area cannot ignore a covenant that builds a castle. Covenants that hold castles must either be so secluded that there are no neighboring nobles to alarm, or must come to terms with the secular and religious powers of an area. The Boons in this section specify whether they are castles. A covenant with a castle must take the Castle Major Hook, unless the covenant has no mundane neighbors within ten miles. Thus, castles built on remote islands entirely controlled by the magi do not require this Hook, nor do castles in regiones. Castles lacking further fortification are ringworks, described by the Free Choice of that name. However, most castles have a strong point of final retreat: a keep, which must be purchased as a Boon. Shell Keeps and Tower Keeps are Minor Boons. Alternately, the Curtain Walls and Mural Towers Major Boon surrounds the castle with a strong defensive wall and additionally allows the troupe to select (at no additional cost) from among the four keep options described in the Keep Alternatives for Castles with Curtain Walls. Castles built with magic often have either the Magical Fortress or Superior Engineering Boon.

Minor Fortifications Hooks

• Crumbling: Many mundane castles are in disrepair. Their function is to defend places in times of strife, and when their owners believe an extended period of peace has arrived, they do not perform necessary maintenance. Some castles are simply badly made.: For example, there are many motte and bailey castles which have had their wooden motte tower replaced with a stone one. As these compact the artificial mound upon which they sit, they develop enormous cracks, and eventually fall to pieces. Crumbling is a useful Hook for saga with Gothic themes.
• Outbuildings: Small hamlets often rise around castles. These house the lesser servants of the castle’s owners, those who provide goods for these servants, and those servants whose work is noxious, like tanners. These hamlets, if too close to the castle, provide cover and resources for besieging forces. Some castles’ lords destroy encroaching buildings, while others eventually throw a wall about them, creating a fortified village. Your covenant has yet to embrace either option.
• Wooden: A large number of medieval castles are made of wood. These are particularly vulnerable to fire, and, since Hermetic laboratories are one of the very few sources of explosions in Mythic Europe, Hermetic magi prefer to avoid or upgrade them. They are, however, cheap and quick to construct, and so may be suitable for Spring covenants, particularly those in forests.