Rampart Unmoving

Rating: •

Aspect: Earth. 

Hearthstone: Cold Iron Bauble

The hearthstones known as Cold Iron Baubles are quite common on the Blessed Isle, the design of the manse to produce such a stone known collectively as Ramparts Unmoving and well known to the manse architects of the Realm.

Such a Rampart Unmoving provides both a useful hearthstone and a fortified camp for use by patrols moving through the Scarlet Empire, taking the shape of a small, squat tower of stone reinforced with iron. Iron ladders within allow access to a basement storage chamber, a main chamber (accessed from an iron door) serving as barracks, and an open roof providing view of the surroundings and position for archers and slingers. A lack of sconces for torches or lanterns, and absence of a fireplace for cooking and heat, mean a Rampart is not a comfortable dwelling place, though it stands firm in face of attack and can house one or two fangs of troops within its walls.

For centuries, while (like all manses on the Blessed Isle) the maintenance of such Ramparts was the responsibility of the Great Houses, the hearthstones were supplied to the (mostly Outcaste) warriors of the Imperial Legions and Immaculate Order, while the manses served as bases for Legion troops, Guardians of the Realm, and agents of the Imperial Magistracy. Since the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress, the hearthstones themselves have rarely been reclaimed by the Great Houses, but the fortified manses are a different matter: some of these are now directly occupied by House-loyal troops, but a tendency to assign Houses to manses far from their traditional heartlands now sees Dynastic leaders considering how they might abandon distant manse-forts without letting them fall into enemy hands.