The Seat
The Seat is the great keep of the Kings of Westerland. It stands on the peak of High Hill, the mound about which much of Summarch, the capital city of Westerland, was built.
Description
The Seat rests atop High Hill, a promontory with sheer cliffs on two of its sides. A curtain wall rings High Hill’s peak as a shield for the keep, though parts of it are in disrepair and have been patched with wood. A ditch has been dug in front of the wall also, with its only crossing point being a stone bridge that connects to the wall’s sole gate.
Within that wall there are multiple thatch buildings and other constructions of practical purpose, including a stable, larders and storerooms, a smithy, and a sparring field.
The keep itself is comprised of two buildings:
- The Main Hall, which houses the living arrangements of the King, his family, and his servants; his throne room, where he holds court; and many other smaller rooms and cellars.
- The Point, a defensive tower attached to the Main Hall by a high-up bridge; it has been converted into a prison for mages.
History
After Daemar I removed his court to Summarch, he began the Seat’s construction, though it wasn’t completed till the middle years of the reign of Daeka, his daughter, c. 850 A.B.
The Seat was the home of Selwin the Last in the 14th century A.B.
In the summer of 1374 A.B., two Allhammers, Frösted Flækes and Guantanamo Michael, were dispatched to the Seat in order to question Lord Selwin regarding his potential involvement in the murder of Grandmaster Hagar. The pair entered the Main Hall, wherein Frösted took possession of Keenest, a prized heirloom of the House of Regimen. Selwin then came upon them and, unaware of their identities and interpreting the act as theft, ordered their arrest. During the confrontation Guantanamo hurled a fireball into the ceiling in an attempt to intimidate the guards, but the display failed to scatter them. Taking this as further provocation, Selwin had the Allhammers imprisoned in the Point. Though Selwin afterward claimed the Allhammers had assaulted him and his retainers, the arrests further inflamed public unrest already festering within Summarch.
Within the Point, Frösted and Guantanamo were separated from each other. The Hord was made to share a cell with another prisoner named Renaud while Guantanamo (given his leechcraft) was isolated in the highest cell and drained of most of his blood. Eventually, a bird alighted on the floor beside Guantanamo. Swiftly and desperately he seized it, crushing its neck and tearing it open for the blood within. Using the gore for fuel, Guantanamo was able to open his cell door, find Frösted, and escape. As a consequence, Renaud was also sprung free, although he disappeared shortly after.
Later that same year, in the autumn, a rebellion led by Rennick, the new Grandmaster of the Allhammers, broke out in the streets of Summarch against Lord Selwin, who was forced behind the walls of the Seat. The keep was then put to siege.
Through a combination of alchemical explosives and traditional siege engines, the Seat’s main gate was knocked down, the bridge was seized, and a final battle was fought. After the battle, which ended in Rennick’s victory, Selwin was executed in his Main Hall and his titles were usurped by the Allhammer, who then claimed the Seat for his own.