Cities

Cities of the World: The Castles of Hammer Fall

The cities of the world are not just settlements, but massive fortresses designed by the legendary Dwarf Lord Hammer Fall, one of the great heroes of the ancient wars. These fortresses were built to stand against the relentless monster hordes unleashed by The Broken One, and they serve as the primary urban hubs across the kingdoms. Each city is a monumental stone castle, with an intricate, multi-tiered design meant to protect, sustain, and improve the lives of the people who live within its walls.

Note: The Elven Cities are the only surviving cities not built by Hammer Fall and are instead, their cities that are incorporated into the forest that surround them.

The Design of Hammer Fall's Castles

The cities are constructed vertically, with various levels serving different functions. These towering metropolises extend both high into the sky and deep into the earth. The deeper into the city or higher in the towers you go, the more exclusive or important the areas become. The design was made to create not only a self-sustaining fortress but also a city that offers protection, commerce, and luxury to its inhabitants.

Levels of a Hammer Fall City

1. The Ground Level – Gates, Guards, and Commoners

• Primary Function: Defense, Entry, and Everyday Life
• Description: The ground level houses the gates, guard barracks, and the most accessible areas for commoners and visitors. The walls are massive, heavily fortified with thick stone and metal reinforcements. Guards patrol day and night, keeping an eye on those entering and exiting the city. Behind the gates, markets bustle with activity, as merchants and farmers sell their wares in open-air stalls and stone shops. This level is also where the citizen housing for the working class is located, with stone tenements built into the city walls. These homes are small, practical, and efficient.
• Notable Features:
  • City Gates: Heavily fortified, they can withstand siege weapons and monster attacks. Magical wards reinforce the gates.
  • Guard Barracks: A large complex where soldiers live and train.
  • Market District: Open-air markets, food vendors, and craftsmen’s workshops line the streets.
  • Housing for Commoners: Simple stone homes for the lower classes, built into the walls and lower levels of the towers.

2. The Caverns Below – Underground Farms and Catacombs

• Primary Function: Agriculture, Storage, and Hidden Activities
• Description: Beneath the ground level lie vast caverns where the city grows its food. Due to the self-sufficient nature of these cities, massive fungal farms, hydroponic gardens, and livestock pens fill these caverns. Magical sunlight is provided by enchanted crystals, allowing for year-round farming. Deeper still lie the catacombs, where the dead are laid to rest. These labyrinthine passages are also rumored to serve as routes for smugglers and black market dealings, providing secret access to and from the city.
• Notable Features:
  • Fungal and Crop Farms: Magical lights nurture vast crops and underground pastures.
  • Hydroponic Gardens: A complex system that grows food with minimal water.
  • The Catacombs: A sprawling network of burial chambers and tunnels, often used for illicit trade and smuggling.
  • Smugglers' Routes: Secret passages that provide hidden ways in and out of the city for those who know them.

3. The Mid-Levels – Trade, Nightlife, and Taverns

• Primary Function: Entertainment, Trade, and Social Gathering
• Description: The mid-levels of the city are the heartbeat of its nightlife and entertainment. This district never sleeps, with taverns, gambling dens, brothels, and inns catering to both locals and travelers. Guild halls and shops are scattered across this level, making it the center of commerce and trade. By day, merchants and craftsmen ply their trade here; by night, it transforms into a realm of pleasure and vice. Here, people of all walks of life come to gamble, enjoy music, drink, and more.
• Notable Features:
  • Taverns & Inns: Numerous drinking halls, from common pubs to high-end taverns for wealthier patrons.
  • Gambling Dens: Legal and underground establishments where fortunes are won or lost.
  • Brothels: Lavish or modest, they cater to different clientele, offering everything from companionship to full services.
  • Guild Halls: Places where various craftsmen, merchants, and mercenaries gather to conduct their business and meetings.

4. The Upper Levels – Nobility, Aristocrats, and Dragon Holds

• Primary Function: Residence of the Nobility, Key Infrastructure, and Defense
• Description: Higher up in the city’s towers lie the residences of the nobility and aristocrats, as well as the dragon holds. The wealthier you are, the higher you live. These levels are adorned with luxurious estates, manors, and villas. Dragons are housed in special roosts, large enough to hold them comfortably as they grow. The roosts are heavily guarded and considered sacred ground. Here, the air is thinner, and magical wards are stronger, making these levels safe from monster attacks and political upheavals.
• Notable Features:
  • Noble Estates: Palatial homes of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the city.
  • Dragon Holds: Massive, fortified roosts where bonded dragons are kept, often directly linked to the homes of their riders.
  • Essence Conduits: Towers filled with crystals that draw Essence from the atmosphere, powering both magical defenses and various magical devices used by the upper class.
  • High End Shops: Fine jewelers, magical artifact dealers, and elite merchants who cater to the wealthy.
  • Private Guard Barracks: Home to the personal forces of the ruling families.

5. The Apex – The Ruler’s Seat and Central Command

• Primary Function: Seat of Power and City Command
• Description: At the very top of the castle, near the highest towers, is the ruler’s palace. This is where the local ruler, often a duke, king, or chief, commands the city and the surrounding lands. The palace is both a seat of government and a military command center. From here, the city’s strategists, advisors, and high-ranking officials govern all aspects of life. Magical defenses are strongest at this level, and the palace serves as the final line of defense in the event of an invasion or monster siege.
• Notable Features:
  • The Ruler’s Palace: The heart of governance, this sprawling structure houses the ruling family, advisors, and military leaders.
  • Council Chambers: Where meetings of the city’s highest nobles and military commanders take place.
  • Mage Towers: The tallest towers serve as homes and workplaces for the city’s most powerful mages, who maintain the magical wards that protect the city.
  • Dragon Perch: The highest dragon roosts are directly linked to the palace, allowing swift aerial travel for the ruler and freedom to the dragons.
  • Central Command Room: A war room that oversees the city’s defenses and communications with neighboring cities, equipped with magical devices for long-distance communication and monitoring.

The Skybreaker Cannons – Siege Artillery of the Ages

• Primary Function: Long-Range Defense and Siege Destruction

• Description: Each castle city is equipped with enormous Skybreaker Cannons, a signature invention of Dwarf Lord Hammer Fall. These colossal rune-powered siege cannons line the outer walls and the highest towers. Designed to decimate entire armies or lay waste to a besieging force, these cannons are masterpieces of dwarven engineering. Activated by intricately carved Rune Circuits powered by Essence Conduits, they harness raw magical energy to unleash devastating blasts that can vaporize monsters, shatter battlements, or pierce the armor of the most powerful war machines.

  The cannons are slow to charge but immensely powerful, and their roar can be heard for miles when fired. In times of peace, the cannons are kept carefully maintained by a specialized group of dwarven engineers who are the only ones with the knowledge to operate the complex rune systems.

• Notable Features:

  • Skybreaker Cannons: Massive, rune-inscribed artillery that can fire devastating magical projectiles over great distances. Their size and power make them a critical element of the city's defense.
  • Rune Circuits: Complex networks of runes that convert Essence into destructive energy for the cannons.
  • Essence Power Cores: These enchanted crystals store and release the power necessary to fire the cannons, drawing from the city’s Essence Conduits.
  • Thunder Roar Effect: When fired, the cannons create a deafening explosion of magical energy, with a concussive force that shakes the ground and can cause tremors miles away.

Magical Protection and Defenses

• Essence Conduits: Scattered throughout the castle, these towering structures draw essence from the atmosphere and channel it into

powerful wards. These wards are essential to keeping monsters and armies at bay and are also what power the Skybreaker Cannons.

• Warding Stones: Placed at strategic points, these stones create magical barriers that can repel powerful of monsters. These warding stones rely heavily on Rune Magic and are often updated as new discoveries are made.
• Griffin Guard: Each castle city has a small contingent of Griffin Riders and their Griffins, who patrol the skies and defend the city in times of war or monster attacks.