#Fort Conchúr

[thewatchau]

Enchantments and Wards

Most of the lore in the upcoming series will be edited compilations of dozens of posts from the last two years. While there are some minor new details sprinkled throughout, I’ve attempted to post significant new information in a “Watch AU Fun Fact” post so you don’t have to read all of these HUGE posts to find them.

Other Posts in this Series:

How Magic Works in The Watch AU • Souls: Magic’s Origin, or Vice Versa? • Becoming a Mage: Ranks and Unlocking Magic • Becoming a Mage: Magical Focuses • Magic in Nature •  Fae Folk and the Fae Realm •   Magical Fields of Study • Enchantments and Wards • Magical Records • Scrying Magic and Enchantments • Shapeshifting Enchantments •  Healing Magic and Enchantments   • Animal Communication Magic • Translation Magic • Alchemy • 

In This Post:

The Definition of Enchantments and what distinguishes them from other forms of magic.

The factors behind the Wear and Tear of enchantments, including time, complexity, distance from the caster, magical interference, and death of the caster. 

Common Enchantments, feat. Wards, Familiar “Summoning” Enchantments, Shapeshifting, Size Expansion, Clothing Alterations, Healing Enchantments, Accessibility Enchantments, and Scrying Enchantments.

A fun (and NEW) bit of Trivia playing off how easy it might be to mix up enchantment and non-enchantment variations of certain disciplines. 

Definition

An “enchantment” is considered to be a spell that uses the magic of the caster to temporarily imbue an item with energy that gives it an unnatural effect upon itself, others, or its surroundings.

Due to the laws of magic, which state that unique forms of magic cannot, will not, and should not be mixed together, you can only have one enchantment on an item at any given time. 

Wards are considered to be enchantments, but not all enchantments are wards.

Wear and Tear

All enchantments will wear off over time as the magic returns to the soul of the caster, bringing the energy fueling the effect with it. Since the magic will be slowly returning back to the soul of the caster, the enchantment will fade over time and need to be re-cast on a consistent basis.

Note that, if you use your magic to perform an action, then the results of the action will still be there when your magic returns to you. For example, if you enchanted knitting needles to knit scarves for you, the needles would start to stop knitting once your magic began to return to your soul, but you'd still have the scarves they did make before stopping. 

How often an enchantment needs to be replaced depends on how far the magic would need to travel to return to their soul of origin. Energy has to travel over space, the same as anything else, and magic will begin to return to their soul earlier if they sense it is further away, just as you might leave home earlier if you have to travel further than usual to get to work. Therefore, the farther away the caster is from the enchantment, the faster the enchantment will wear off.   

As a result, it’s good practice to have your local source of enchantments and wards travel with you or live nearby. Locations with magical defenses will have mages on staff specifically for their regular upkeep. 

In addition, enchantments (including wards) will react to magical collisions. This will cause some minor concussive damage to the enchanted person or object, and will cause some of the enchantment to shear off as it attempts to avoid the other magic. This magic will immediately return to their soul of origin, requiring enchantments under constant magical stress to be re-cast with more frequency.

Death of the Caster

Normally, magic wearing off looks/feels like watching food coloring slowly sink to the bottom of a glass of water. It's gradual, and some bits seem to hang on a bit longer than others, but eventually it all trails away together. However, if the mage who cast the enchantment dies, the enchantment will wear off INSTANTLY.

As we know from instances of soul preservation, when a soul is no longer connected to a physical body, any magic cast by that soul has no "container" to return to, and simply dissipates as ambient magical energy, just like the soul would do if it wasn't trapped in a mummified corpse. Therefore, it stands to reason that any magical energy which had been cast by the mage before death would immediately dissipate after death.

Imagine a fishing pole. A fishing pole is made of two things: the line and the rod. When working properly, you can use the rod to cast out some of the line and then reel it back in. However, if the pole catastrophically breaks while some of the line has been cast, a) you won't be able to reel that line back in and b) the line might continue to unreel itself and float away. 

Magic wearing off due to the death of the caster looks/feels like watching a video of someone being spritzed with a hose but in reverse. One minute, there's water, the next it's just GONE, like whatever ties that were holding it to the form of the enchantment had suddenly released them and they are OUT. Like pollen on a dark shirt, getting hit by a high pressure air blower or something. I feel like there's a better metaphor here to compare this too, but I can't seem to think of one. 

All of this has fantastic angst potential if you think about it: Imagine if you travel with the mage who casts your wards so that they don't wear off as much, and they just cast one that morning that probably won't wear off for a week at least, and then suddenly in the middle of a battle, the ward goes down and your heart drops because you know and it's already too late.

Common Enchantments

The following is a list of the specific enchantments that have been discussed in the context of this world. While countless other enchantments exist, these are a few of the most common. 

Wards

Wards are arguably the most common form of enchantment, to the point where there is a whole separate field of magical study within the Mages' Guild to study them separate from enchantments. Wards are enchantments specifically intended to counter the effects of someone else’s magic. This includes spells that protect or hide the target from magical forces, but NOT spells that protect or hide the target from physical forces.

Familiar “Summoning” Enchantments

Items can be enchanted to send a specific message to a familiar when activated. The most common items used for this are jewelry, but it could technically be anything. They are normally enchanted by mages with a focus that allows them to communicate with animals, though mages with other focuses can often do something similar. 

Usually, these items are enchanted with a message that “summons” the familiar. While this doesn’t actually cause the animal to appear out of thin air, they will make a beeline towards you the second they hear the magical call. Kinda like whistling for your horse in video games, but without any range limitations. Alternatively, they could be enchanted to say whatever you want, from “I love you” to “Help” or anything you can think of. 

Unfortunately, it's impossible to use this enchantment to communicate with a being with a soul, due to the individual magic within a soul repelling the magical message from the enchantment. 

Shapeshifting 

Shapeshifting Magic is such a complex type of enchantment that it will require its own dedicated post. 

Size Expansion 

One of the most useful enchantments that’s in high demand is a “bigger-on-the-inside” enchantment. Technically, this is a type of Shapeshifting Enchantment, but its usage is so common, it should be mentioned separately. 

As the description implies, this enchantment gives the target more internal space without changing the original size or weight of the container. Unsurprisingly, this enchantment is insanely useful, especially to messengers.

However, like any enchantment, it has its limits. Most notably, the greater the effect that the enchantment has, the faster it will wear off. This means that increasing the size of building interiors or creating room-sized spaces within small objects is extremely ill-advised. Anything within the space when the enchantment wears off will react… well, about how you’d expect. Best case scenario, your belongings are strewn everywhere and the container looks like a popped balloon. Worst case scenario… well, let’s just hope no one was inside. 

For this reason, spaces made to contain living things (carts, buildings, cages, etc.) are rarely enchanted to be more than 25% larger than their original size. At most, a small amount of space is added to make the occupants more comfortable. Owners of such spaces are advised to never overfill the space with cargo or furniture. That way, if the enchantment wears off unexpectedly, the occupants will only find themselves somewhat uncomfortably squished. This is also less likely to happen, as less dramatic size changes will take far longer to wear off. 

Clothing Alterations 

Despite the wide availability of plant-based dyes in Duil fashion norms, many people choose to add colors or decorations to their attire with magic. Enchantments aren’t very practical for your everyday clothing, since the effect would eventually wear off, especially if you take the article of clothing somewhere further away from the mage who cast the enchantment. However, for special events like weddings, hiring a mage to enchant colors and decorations onto your clothing is often more affordable than getting a tailor,  especially if you probably won’t wear the outfit a second time.

Usually, these enchantments are done on the day of the event, which the mage will attend in order to ensure that the enchantments don’t fade too quickly. For simple jobs, some mages will consider the meal they receive at the event as payment enough, while others might ask for additional compensation for the time and effort it took up to cast the enchantment and remain nearby. Even so, it’ll still be far cheaper than buying a fancy outfit you only wear once or twice. 

Healing Enchantments 

Not to be confused with Healing Magic, Healing Enchantments are used to help the body recover on its own from disease or other long-term sources of damage. Due to the complexity of the topic and the connection between these enchantments and their non-enchantment counterparts, both Healing Magic and Healing Enchantments will be covered together in their own dedicated post. 

Accessibility Enchantments 

As one might imagine, there are countless ways to use enchantments to create accessibility options for all sorts of handicaps. 

For example, there’s a specific accessibility enchantment that helps people who have trouble climbing the many, many stairs of Duilintinn's architecture that essentially acts as an escalator. However, instead of moving the stairs, the enchantment lifts and moves the person. It’s the same feeling of standing still yet moving, just with slightly different mechanics. This enchantment has to be regularly re-cast, but it’s still more efficient than trying to enchant all of the stairs; you’d be lucky if an enchantment of that magnitude lasted more than a few hours. Much like how modern buildings are required to have some form of wheelchair access, most public buildings in Duilintinn, including guild hubs and outposts and garrisons of The Watch, employ at least one mage who can cast this enchantment as needed.

Scrying Enchantments

Like Healing Enchantments, scrying can take the form of pure magic or an enchantment. While the former sees a mage simply scrying for information from within the confines of their own mind, the latter has a mage enchant an object with scrying ability, allowing the information to be witnessed by others. However, in all other aspects, these two variations are identical, and thus will be discussed in a separate post. 

Trivia

Many magical disciplines, such as Scrying and Healing, have both enchantment and non-enchantment variations (i.e. Healing Enchantments vs Healing Magic). Depending on the study, the differences between these two fields can be relatively minor (i.e. Scrying) or substancial (i.e. Healing). However, to the ire of those who study these fields, it’s extremely common that the average person will get confused, especially since the term for the non-enchantment variation is usually simply “magic.” This leads to hilarious situations where a mage will angrily correct someone who casually uses the wrong term; for example, a specialist in Healing Enchantments might become irate if someone refers to their abilities as “Healing Magic.” Of course, most people understand that the fault really lies on whoever came up with such a vague name to distinguish the two fields (*cough* oops *cough*), and the entire phenomenon has become something of a cultural inside-joke.  

[theshapeshifter100]

Watching and Waiting

(Day 31 of @thewatchau‘s annual prompts!

It’s been so much fun doing prompts again, and the Watch AU has given me some of my best memories this year)

Pans hung around the room, herbs and vegetables sat on the tables, with a few hunks of meat in the coldest part of the room. There are bags of flour and buckets of water placed strategically across the floor, with some bags hanging from the ceiling to protect against rats.

Cauldrons of stew bubbled to themselves over the massive fire, and next to it, a bread oven glowed.

Fiona leaned back against the table, arms folded.

 ---

Gus looked around, his heavy armour clunking as he marched. The patrol group he was with was rather rag tag, some were in armour, some weren’t. Some had a sword, some had a polearm, some had a bow over their shoulder and a quiver at their waist.

They rarely saw anything on patrol. While there were break outs of jokes and laughter, most of the time was there was a tense energy, unlike the Guard. The Enemy’s forces could appear from nowhere. Unlikely, but possible.

He scanned the area as he marched.

 ---

The candles of the Archives flickered, casting low, dancing shadows across the shelves and walls. Watchers milled about, reading, scribbling notes, watching magical records.

Rena kept his head raised, ears alert as his tail brushed along Mags’s arm.

Mags wasn’t doing anything. Someone had told her they knew where to find this specific piece of information, and disappeared into the Archives.

 ---

The moon hung in the sky, glowing gently as the stars glittered. The ground below seemed to glow in response, giving the Spire’s outer buildings an eerie, almost mythical look.

Ivy leaned her arms against the railing, the wind whipping at her hair this far up. The Spire wasn’t spectacular from a distance, but then you get closer and realise that every stone is exactly the same size, to the centimetre. Even more interesting, they were half a story tall each, which begged the question of how this thing was built.

Behind her stood the spyglass, a beautiful scope on a pedestal that gave it the freedom to spin all the around. It was mostly pointed inwards, towards Duilintinn, but if you really wanted you could spin it to look over the Southern Mountains.

Now, another Watcher was manning it, and Ivy gave a broad visual sweep of what she could see.

 ---

Watching and Waiting

(These are at different times, with no real dates attached honestly. They just are.

I’ll probably get more soppy on the discord, but, yeah. You guys are amazing. Happy 2020)

[crying-overspilledink]

So Rachel Did A Thing

I may more than likley be joining The Watch, one of the craziest fanmade things ive seen in a while

Find it at @thewatchau !!!!!

Name: Renesmee Archer

Birth Year: so if my math is correct it’d be 1595

House: She was born into House Jackie but moved to House Jameson, although a small part of her still lies within her original house.

Current Home: Rene currently resides in a small town (if i’ve read your maps right) southeast of fort conchúr and northwest of Noefrach known as Mallineach (which i will inevetably delve too far into creating at a later date oof)

Job: Rene is a Bard in the sense that she tells stories. She’s a major story teller, she writes stories from the past and tells them over and over again

Backstory: 

Renesmee was born into House Jackie. Her parents were alright to her through her childhood, trying to corral their daughter’s outlandish imagination as well as they could. House Jackie’s common practices lead to the bolstering of Renesmee’s bravery and frankly, her ego. She made her way through her childhood carrying as many books she could write in and delving as far as she could into the history of Duilitinn and King Sean, and frankly, The Enemy. She went through a phase around the age of sixteen where she delved into researching the enemy and it gave her a skewed view from the house. The weird girl obsessed with the enemy.

Yeah. Her time in House Jackie was limited however. As she grew, Renesmee grew closer to her books and music, and away from the bravado and chivalry that governed House Jackie. Thus when she confronted her parents about her feelings, they suggested that she switch to House Jameson. A place where she could grow her craft, as at this point she had taken up the lute at this point. Thus, she made her way to House Jameson, and ended up a lot happier there as she settled in at age eighteen. Now, she lives close to her own home and near her new home, and has taken up work with the Watch as a record keeper. She decided to throw her lot in with the Watch just recently as she’d been hearing stories of the recent suspected rise of the enemy once more, and has now amassed more books to hoard for references to help the Watch as she can

i have legitimately only posted this so that you can tell me if i’ve screwed anything up before i “officially” submit Rene to the Watch. Cheers from Me !

[thewatchau]

Settlements of House Jackie: Athglen

Most of the lore in the upcoming series will be edited compilations of dozens of posts from the last two years. While there are some minor new details sprinkled throughout, I’ve attempted to post significant new information in a “Watch AU Fun Fact” post so you don’t have to read all of these HUGE posts to find them.

Other Posts in this Series:

Minor Settlements of House Jackie: Roskeagh • Orlatum • The Whetstone • Glenbeg • Arcath • Athglen

Posts Related to this Series:

Regional Capital: Mulladún • Watch Locations: Runners’ Haven Outpost, Fort Conchúr Garrison  

Related Series: House Jackie Masterlist

In This Post

Summary

Name Origin

Significance

Summary

Athglen is a medium-sized port city in House Jackie, Duilintinn, located on the southeastern banks of Loch Glas. One of the few critical links between House Marvin and the rest of the kingdom, traveling between this port and the harbor in Monacoil is one of the safest, most widely-used forms of transportation into and out of the Draoidh Valley for Watchers and civilians alike.

Name Origin

Athglen means "valley ford" in the Feadhainn Language.

Significance

Basically, if you want to get into or out of House Marvin via the lake, you take a boat between Monacoil and this town. That’s literally it's only claim to fame. Granted, that’s a pretty significant claim to fame when there’s only two ways to enter House Marvin- or three, if you feel like fording two rivers and going off-roading in the Western Forest. 

As a result of its proximity to Fort Conchúr and its critical location, Athglen gets near-constant traffic from The Watch. Plenty of citizens also pass through, especially messengers, but you can’t take a step in this town without seeing at least a dozen green cloaks.

The only reason this bustling port hasn’t grown into a metropolis rivaling Fionport is because of its proximity to Monacoil. The same people who have to pass through Athglen also have to pass through House Marvin’s capital, so most traders will set up shop in the big city to also benefit from the urban commerce in the city itself. 

In addition, the shops in Fort Conchúr are a popular resupply spot for travelers, both for its convenient location along the road and the added benefit of supporting The Watch. As a result, entrepreneurs who want to profit from the masses passing through Athglen are better off running inns to stay in before the day-long trip across the lake, rather than trying to compete with the shops in Fort Conchúr.

[thewatchau]

Locations of The Watch: Fort Conchúr

Most of the lore in the upcoming series will be edited compilations of dozens of posts from the last two years. While there are some minor new details sprinkled throughout, I’ve attempted to post significant new information in a “Watch AU Fun Fact” post so you don’t have to read all of these HUGE posts to find them.

Other Posts in this Series:

Overview • Domhainn Outlook • Iolla Beacon • Guardian Spire • Gáire Roosts • Rúnach Hold • Agrona Bastion • Pa’Gille Caverns • Runners’ Haven • Fort Stiofán • Fort Conchúr  • 

Other Related Series: Membership in The Watch, The Watch Masterlist

In This Post:

A Summary of Fort Conchúr’s features and location

The History of Fort Conchúr

The Architecture of Fort Conchúr, with sections focusing on the Outer Ramp and each floor of the Central Keep

Summary

Fort Conchúr is a garrison of The Watch located in House Jackie, Duilintinn, close to the border of House Jameson and House Marvin.

Fort Conchúr technically serves the same purpose as Fort Stiofán and its stone walls are full of similar activity: bards, messengers, patrols, intense discussions of the threat at hand, etc.

However, Fort Conchúr’s closer proximity to the Western Forest allows this garrison to be a launching point for any hunts or attacks upon The Enemy hiding beyond its borders. The atmosphere within has evolved to differ from its northern counterpart accordingly. Unlike Fort Stiofán’s environment of hushed concentration, analysis, defense, and anticipation of The Enemy’s movements and actions, Fort Conchúr seeks a way to strike first.

Together, the offensive tactics from Fort Conchúr and defensive tactics from Fort Stiofán function as a cohesive unit. They are in close communication with one another, with messengers and ravens constantly traveling between the two garrisons. While each garrison is solely responsible for supplying and maintaining their four outposts, neither garrison will send orders to one of their outposts without conferring with the other garrison except when time is critical. However, despite all of this contact between them, Fort Conchúr and Fort Stiofán could not feel more different to the Watchers who live there.

Fort Conchúr is the garrison that never sleeps. The Watchers within don’t just seek to watch The Enemy and anticipate his plans. Rather, in everything they do, they seek a way to actively fight back. Watching, in their minds, is no good if we cannot react to what we see… and I’m not inclined to disagree with them.

Note: The additional ring around the central keep in the image above is an outdated feature of Fort Conchúr that has since been retconned. 

History 

Fort Conchúr was built during the Feadhainn Era, and still retains the circular architecture and intricate stonework of that age to this day.

When Lord Jackie began his life as a vigilante, he took up residence in Fort Conchúr, which was nothing but a ruin at the time. It would become a sort of HQ for the young hero, later expanding to welcome all members of Sean’s questing party.

After Duilintinn's founding, Fort Conchúr was repaired in a series of government-created civil projects over the course of several years. Most notably, this was when the modern wooden floors were added. The original floors were at least a thousand years old by the time Duilintinn was founded. Despite how long Feadhainn’s architecture had lasted in most other respects, gravity and exposure to the elements left most of the upper floors of these structures in a weakened condition.

After the repairs had been completed, barely a few months passed before The Watch was founded and the structure was chosen for its use. To this day, the original reason why Fort Conchúr and Iolla Beacon (a similarly decrepit Feadhainn structure that was chosen for The Watch) were being repaired is unknown. Perhaps it was nothing more than a public works project to bring the kingdom together, or an attempt to preserve the land’s ancient heritage.

In the three years between the announcement of The Watch and its eventual implementation, thousands of workers were hired to prepare the garrisons and outposts for their new residents. Hundreds of carpenters, woodworkers, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen were hired on behalf of the king to get the job done as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Since the initial plan was to build barracks-style living spaces, the Guard Coalition were also consulted on how to safely, efficiently, and practically house as many Watchers as possible into the limited space they had in each garrison. While the Guard Coalition discouraged the use of barracks-style housing in Fort Stiofán, they agreed that it was ideal for a more action-focused garrison such as Fort Conchúr, where people spend most of their day on the move, return to their rooms exhausted, and pass out instantly.

The same guilds who constructed rudimentary plumbing in other areas of Duilintinn (The Order of Stone and Ocean Men) were recruited to construct the bathhouses and other necessary facilities in all of the outposts and garrisons.

The garrison was put into official use by The Watch in January 1603.

In 1604, three heavily armed, angry-looking fighters entered the garrison in the middle of the night. The Watch hadn't implemented any sort of identification system yet, so they were assumed to be Watchers until they began to attack Watchers in Fort Conchúr's living quarters. Thankfully, many of the Watchers inside were still awake and sprung to action; only five Watchers were severely injured before all three attackers were killed or incapacitated, and all five injured Watchers eventually recovered from their injuries. The two attackers who survived the initial response by the surprised Watchers both resisted medical care and died soon afterward, refusing to explain their actions. While their motivations are still unknown to this day, this event led to the implementation of a membership certificate for all Watchers that proved their identity before they were allowed to enter areas exclusive to The Watch.  

Architecture 

Fort Conchúr is a massive circular fortress, built in the ancient style seen in Monacoil and Iolla Beacon. This architectural style was developed in Feadhainn, using precise stonework and as few corners as possible. The stone walls and echoing halls of Fort Conchúr’s imposing stonework are constantly illuminated with entertainment, color, and life from the creativity, joy, magic, and invention from House Jameson and House Marvin.   

Outer Ramp

Though difficult to tell from my drawing, Fort Conchúr is built into the side of a hill. Fort Conchúr is very focused on the military side of fighting The Enemy, and having a body of water in front and a hill at its back is a pretty tactically defensive position. At the very least, the forces of The Enemy would have to get across TWO rivers and at least one outpost in order to sneak around the back to gain a height advantage. That high ground also happens to be in the lands of the most martially skilled region of the kingdom: House Jackie. Anyone who attempted this would most likely be facing a fight on two sides as fighters from House Jackie in the east come to reinforce the fighters from Fort Conchúr in the west. Plus, fortresses built into the sides of hills are just cool. 

While the central courtyard of the fortress is dug about two stories below ground level, the hill’s slope has been preserved, giving the garrison an interesting layout. As depicted in the image below without the central keep, you can see that there are multiple gates and layers of buildings along the outer wall. Note that, with the exception of the stairs and hillside (of course) none of the surfaces are angled or ramped in any way. Rather than lowering to meet the ground, the hillside is rising to meet the end of the path to the courtyard. 

Stores

On top of this ramp are dozens of shops, which are fairly self-explanatory. Just like Fort Stiofán has a number of workshops built around its main courtyard for repairs, supplies, entertainment, etc, Fort Conchúr has some within its walls as well. The main difference is the sheer amount of shops. Some are run by former Watchers who wanted a more sedentary lifestyle but didn’t want to leave the garrison. Others are locals trying to do their part or make an extra buck. While the workshops at Fort Stiofán are sponsored by The Watch, many stores in Fort Conchúr are not. There are a few that are run by The Watch, offering free services to Watchers who need them to keep the garrison running, but the additional shops that would not be found in Fort Stiofán are independent efforts. 

Living Spaces 

I referenced the structures seen underneath the walkways along the outer walls of Fort Conchúr. You can’t see much of them except for the doors and windows I added to indicate how many stories tall they are.

It’s hypothesized that this area under the ramp was originally designed for stables during the Feadhainn Era. The doorways on the lower floors are far larger than the doors in the rest of the garrison, so the rooms on the first floor were probably used as stalls or washing/grooming bays. The upper floors were likely used for storage for feed and tack, or perhaps living quarters for stable hands. It’s hard to say; nothing except the fortress itself has survived since the rooms were used for their original purpose. 

Today, the spaces are filled with bunks to house the Watchers living in Fort Conchúr. Unlike in Fort Stiofán, privacy wasn’t the main priority when planning living spaces for the Watchers of Fort Conchúr. Instead, it was safety and mobility in case of an attack. Since Fort Conchúr is a military research base, Watchers come and go far more than they do at Fort Stiofán. The latter is a place of work, but in the former, the garrison is simply a staging point for further operations. To this end, living spaces are large, shared rooms that resemble a hostel. Each room holds multiple bunks, a washbasin, and nothing more. There aren’t assigned beds; Watchers just collapse in the nearest bunk at the end of the day. 

Covered walkways with arched openings and large windows line the inner side of the ramp outside these quarters, offering shortcuts to Watchers who, say, don’t need to walk all the way down the ramp and up two flights of stairs to get to their room on the third floor. There are still security checkpoints at the doors to the living quarters, regardless of what floor you enter from, but non-watchers are allowed to wander the walkways or take the stairs down to the ground level instead of the ramp. 

In addition, three awkward-shaped spaces in this section of the garrison, which’s original purposes are unknown, are now used for bathhouses. This is different from the bathhouses of all other outposts and garrisons in The Watch, which were constructed specifically for the organization in the preparatory period from 1599-1603, not placed in pre-existing structures as we see with Fort Conchúr.

Central Keep

The central keep of Fort Conchúr was built primarily as a final stronghold in case of an attack. Round towers are remarkably strong, and the keep’s large size allows it to shelter thousands if necessary. Nowadays, it not only protects people, but the ideas upon which rest the hope of success for The Watch. Councils of soldiers discussing battle strategy, mages experimenting on unfamiliar magic and testing new spells, scouts reporting their findings from the deepest fringes of Enemy territory we dare tread… 

Everything new we learn about and from The Enemy passes through Fort Conchúr. Dark magics, horrible monsters, psychological horrors… the Watchers in the western garrison are not only the first to know when new danger is upon us, but they are the first to begin seeking out countermeasures as well. Fort Stiofán may seek to understand The Enemy, to find an answer that will finish this war once and for all, but in the meantime, Fort Conchúr is the garrison that has to react to his evil every single day. 

The results of their decades of effort are all found, created, perfected, and stored within the central keep of Fort Conchúr. It’s reasonable to assume that, if it falls, The Watch will fall with it.

First Floor: Great Hall 

As I started taking screenshots of the inside of Fort Conchúr in Minecraft, I quickly realized that the limitations of a first-person view (or even a third-person view) would make it impossible to represent the true layout of each floor without taking dozens of pictures or filming a video tour. So instead, I returned to my roots and, surprise surprise, I made a map. 

Or technically I made eight maps. This is the first one. 

Featured on the first floor are:

• 4 main entrances, each with spaces for a guard room

• 2 kitchens, each with 3 fireplaces and 2 large ovens

• 2 messenger rooms 

• 2 large staircases to the upper floors

• and a large open space in the center of the floor

Many of these features are very similar to those found in Fort Stiofán. 

The guard rooms fill the exact same purpose as their counterparts in Fort Stiofán, but likely don’t feature a messenger desk. As you can see, two of the entrances are directly adjacent to the messenger rooms, while two others have a (currently empty) space between themselves and the messenger rooms. 

I’m still not sure what I’m going to use that empty space for, but my biggest plan is to turn those spaces into a mail-room type area, where the mail coming into or destined to leave the garrison is stored until someone comes along to deal with it. In a way, it’d fill the functional hole left behind by the lack of a messenger desk at the entrances. However, that still might be subject to change. 

The messenger rooms function identically to the messenger tower in Fort Stiofán, but differ slightly in layout. Instead of a single tower, these are actual rooms, with dedicated stairways into the messenger room on the floor above (and below, on upper floors). In addition, Fort Conchúr has two messenger rooms on each floor, rather than Fort Stiofán’s one. Tbh, I haven’t come up with a lore reason for this yet, and I may even end up converting one of the rooms to something completely different if I decide it doesn’t make sense for Conchúr to have both. However, for now, Conchúr has two. 

The open space in the center is still unfinished (in Minecraft, not in canon), but I do have an idea of what it’ll eventually look like. It’s similar to Fort Stiofán’s great hall in that it takes up both the first and second floor and features tables and seating for Watchers to gather and socialize. However, it differs in how it opens up directly into the kitchens through two large archways on either side (you can see the pillar between the arches on the map). 

Finally, the stairs are... well, stairs. They’re closed off from the rest of the garrison for noise-dampening purposes, lest the echoes from the lower floors reach the quieter areas on the floors above. 

Second Floor: Hall Balcony

Fort Conchúr’s second floor functions very similarly to the second floor of Fort Stiofán, but instead of seating areas with windows looking into the great hall, Fort Conchúr has a combination of meeting rooms, messenger rooms, and seating areas along the outer edge of the balcony-esque floor. There’s no wall around the central open area; it’s just a big hole. Although I’ll probably add a railing or something later. 

Although you can’t see it in the diagram, the seating areas get some natural light from the windows along those two sections of the wall. The four rooms also have at least one window. 

Finally, the stairs take their usual form by the time we hit the second floor. Throughout the rest of the keep, each flight of stairs is enclosed by a section of wall that somewhat juts into the circular layout of each floor. Near the center of this wall, a door leads to a small landing, with stairs leading up or down in either direction.

Third Floor: Research Hub

The third floor of Fort Conchúr is the central research hub of the garrison. The main rooms have numbers penciled in, which I’ll be using to identify each room and its purpose.

#1 is the Medical Desk. This is the place where people seeking medical attention are checked in and given a superficial once-over before being admitted to the Medical Ward (#2). Due to all of the research that takes place, strict record-keeping of all medical care is necessary, both to accumulate useful data for the researchers and to protect the patients from any unsanctioned experimentation. Thankfully, the latter is more of a precautionary measure than something born of experience. 

#3 is the alchemy, medicine, and enchantment room. Basically, it’s for researching and producing any goods that impart an effect upon someone through magical or mundane means. It’s located close to the medical ward to provide the latter easy access to any medicines they might need. It’s likely got all sorts of surfaces, tools, and storage spaces for that sort of work, but I haven’t designed/built anything in detail yet. 

#4 is the magical training room. Essentially, it’s a longer room specifically for two people to either a) learn/teach magic as a master and apprentice mage, b) spar magically with each other, or c) test new applications of one's focus (aka new spells). Generally, no one is allowed to use the room alone; even if you’re testing new spells, someone should be there in case something goes wrong. The room itself is heavily warded in case of an accident, but that’s more to protect the rest of the building, rather than the person inside. For everyone’s safety, you have to be at least a journeyman mage (or accompanied by one) to use the space, since novices and apprentices are more likely to lose control of their magic. The door is also enchanted to lock itself automatically when the room is in use, to prevent any disastrous interruptions. 

#5 is the magical research room. While the training room is used to practice and test one’s ability to use their magic, this space is used to learn more about its nature and effects. Of course, the facility’s primary goal is to neutralize The Enemy’s magic by finding a way to free those under his control and uncovering a means of defeating him. However, other useful applications of magic are also researched in this area. 

This floor also features some meeting rooms for researchers who need to have a private meeting or table space for less tactile work (aka paperwork). Thanks to the nature of research, everyone who frequents this floor is painfully familiar with the lab reports they’re required to fill out after each experiment or procedure. There are some Watcher’s whose job (in part) is to a) make sure that paperwork is completed and b) assist anyone who’s struggling/not making an effort to sufficiently document their research. After all, The Watch is a group, and an individual’s research does no one any good if that information remains trapped in their head. 

In addition, a few private bedrooms are located near the medical ward. These rooms either function as operating rooms (to avoid upsetting others in the medical ward) or can be used by the doctors if they need a rest or want to remain on-call after their shift. Although, personally, I might hesitate to take a nap in the same rooms where surgeries take place, the doctors and nurses who perform these procedures might be less squeamish. 

Finally, there are two messenger towers (or one, see the first floor’s post) and two sets of stairs that function exactly like the others in the previous floors.

This floor of Fort Conchúr has a reputation for being notoriously maze-like. There’s a pretty good reason for this reputation; unlike every other floor of Fort Conchúr, the layout of the rooms on the research floor is asymmetrical. On most floors, even if the purposes of the individual rooms are different on either symmetrical side, if you wander over to the wrong one, you can just turn around and head directly to the one that you know is located across the floor. In addition, the hallways on each floor usually form a complete loop or branch off in identical ways. However, the third floor is cursed with a layout that, at first glance, looks like it might be symmetrical, but is anything but. And there’s a good chance that, when you realize your mistake and try to get to the other end of the floor, you’ll find the hall ending abruptly at the door to the medical office instead of continuing in a nice loop around the floor! And since only a handful of the rooms have doors on more than one wall... you’re starting to see why this is a hassle, right? Thank God the magical training room only has one entrance, otherwise people would constantly be trying to cut through it as a shortcut. The medical reception has to put up with enough confused Watchers passing through on a daily basis as is. 

Fourth Floor: Watcher Storage  

Welcome to storage land! Home of boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. 

Okay, that’s only a slight exaggeration.

Watchers at Fort Conchúr are assigned a chest in a shared storage room, unlike the chest-bed storage in Fort Stiofán. At Fort Stiofán, everyone has semi-private quarters with a piece of furniture that doubles as a bed and a storage unit. Since the rooms are lockable, you aren’t given a lock for the chest, and have to bring your own if you have valuables. However, in Fort Conchúr, everyone sleeps in large, hostel-style rooms of bunked beds, while large rooms of chests are used to store personal items. Since these storage rooms are not locked, Fort Conchúr does provide a lock, which Watchers use to secure their belongings in an available chest. However, these chests are not large, and full-time residents of the garrison are encouraged to bring as little with them as possible. Everything you’ll need to do your job will be provided to you at Fort Conchúr.

Unfortunately, after doing the math and realizing just how many chests would be required for every Watcher to have one if every bed in the garrison was filled, I realized that I might need to rethink the concept of “chests”. At the time, I was imagining a typical, rectangular-prism-shaped chest that’s rarely taller than your hip and opens from the top, but I couldn’t fit nearly fifteen hundred of those in a single floor. 

So instead, we’ve got lockers.

I know, I know, it’s stupid sounding, but since they rise all the way to the ceiling, it’s a far more efficient use of the space. When converted to real-world measurements, each box is a cubic meter, which holds most everything except the larger varieties of armor and weapons. Those last two things are kinda important, I know, but I also haven’t figured out where the Watchers of Fort Conchúr are going to store their food yet, so trust me when I say that more storage options will eventually come to this garrison. I’m just not sure where yet. 

In the two box-less spaces near the door to the stairways, there will be some sort of desk where new Watchers can get a lock and key from someone before they find themselves an empty chest. The people manning these desks also function as witnesses to deter any attempts to break into someone else’s box. 

And yes, I’m calling them boxes because I refuse to call them lockers more than once. This is a dignified high fantasy universe and calling the boxes “lockers” makes it sound like the garrison is a high school or something.

As with the other floors, there are two (or one, again, see the post about the first floor) messenger towers and two staircases.

Fifth Floor: Quiet Floor

This is a fun one. The fifth floor is essentially the “quiet floor” of Fort Conchúr, partly to make up for the lack of private quarters, and partly to fulfill the role of the garrison’s “place of worship”. It’s slightly less private in comparison to the equivalent space in Fort Stiofán’s Oratory Tower, but that seems to be a trend when comparing Fort Conchúr to its sister garrison. 

Like Fort Stiofán’s Oratory Tower, there are small alcoves in a few of the walls for shrines, altars, etc. Two are located at either end of each of the thinner rooms on the edge of the floor, while eight are located inside the corners of the center room. 

In addition, the same religious/spiritual items are stored on this floor as are stored in Fort Stiofán’s Oratory Tower, with the exact same policy regarding requesting and restocking these items. 

However, this is where the similarities end. Instead of circular windows facing the eight points of a compass, the two outer rooms have a single wall of windows facing east and west, while the center room is completely windowless. There are also two small sitting areas in the hallways with windows facing southwest and northeast. 

Since there are actually a few separate rooms in Fort Conchúr’s place of worship, the rules about quiet are slightly less stringent. You still have to keep it down, but since not every sound will be echoing across the entire floor, you don’t have to worry quite as much. The general policy is that the hallways must be silent (i.e. you shouldn’t be able to hear anything coming from inside the rooms) and that you should exercise common courtesy within the rooms themselves. Most of the time, the result is the same; quiet religious/spiritual stuff is held inside, noisier stuff is held outside. 

TL;DR: The fifth floor is Fort Conchúr’s equivalent to the top of Fort Stiofán’s Oratory Tower, and more or less functions the same with a few minor differences due to its position and layout.

Sixth Floor: Library

Okay, I’ve been really looking forward to talking about this floor, because it’s already featured in a lot of my writings, sketches, and novelization plans, not to mention it’s a key part of Kat Emerald’s (@livingemerald‘s character) story-

Yep, we’ve finally gotten to Fort Conchúr’s library!

There are two rooms on each side of the floor; a messenger room and an office for the librarians. Since so many documents and messages travel up to the library for archival and storage, there’s a small closet in the messenger room in case there are too many for the messengers on staff to drop off at once. Rather than leaving them on the table, any overflow is sorted into shelves in this closet in order to keep these messages organized and semi-private. Oftentimes, the librarians will ask the messengers to leave documents in this closet until they come to pick them up and deal with them, since the offices don’t have very much storage space. 

Since Fort Stiofán is responsible for archiving and creating official distribution copies of Watch literature and research, Fort Conchúr’s library has less staff than in its sister garrison. As a direct result, its offices are smaller than the back rooms of Fort Stiofán’s archives, where Librarians focus on the daily upkeep and management of the library itself. The offices are accessible through a door behind the front desks, right outside the doors to the stairs where Watchers enter and exit the floor. 

The differing roles between Fort Conchúr and Fort Stiofán are also the reason why Fort Conchúr’s library only has a single floor in comparison to Stiofán’s two and why the two garrisons have different names for their libraries/archives. A library is a collection of reading materials for the purpose of public use. An archive is an extensive collection of materials for the sake of storage. Therefore, Fort Conchúr has a single library, rather than the combined library/archive we colloquially call Fort Stiofán’s archives. 

Since the library is open at all hours, there’s a small private bedroom in each office. It’s something of an unspoken rule that one of those rooms belongs to the well-loved, but slightly enigmatic Librarian Katerina Emerald, who rarely leaves the library floor. The fact that she hid a wolf in that room before the pair had him certified as a familiar was an open secret among library staff, and to this day, no one questions Kat’s unofficial claim to the bedroom. 

The library area itself is made of two types of sections; the center stacks and the outer seating areas. While the stacks are pretty self-explanatory (typical close-set library shelves), it’s kinda hard to get a sense of the other two areas from the map alone. Luckily, I’ve been working on a sketch of this area on-and-off for months now:

It’s not finished, obviously, and the angle of the curve definitely isn’t accurate, but this gives you an idea of what this area would look like. 

Tables and chairs are in the center of the open area. Rugs made by artistically-inclined Watchers add some color and homeyness to the area. 

Instead of flame-based light sources, glowing spheres of magic hover over the tables and shelves to supplement what little natural light enters through the pair of tiny windows on either side of the floor. 

Along the wall are a mixture of shelves, storage cabinets, drawers, and baskets that hold books, magical records, and various tools and materials for writing and researching (for more about these supplies, see the description of Fort Stiofán’s archives).

Speaking of Fort Stiofán’s archives, this is another difference between Fort Conchúr and its sister garrison. Since Fort Stiofán holds onto all of the original copies of magical records, it keeps its magical records in a separate room on the archive floors. By contrast, Fort Conchúr can keep their copies of these records interspersed with the other contents of its library without worrying about irreplaceable damage. Note that these records are only stored in the two outer sections; the center stacks are exclusively bookshelves. 

For a more engaging description of Fort Conchúr’s library, here is an excerpt from a prompt I wrote last year about Bard Emily Keyes’s first visit there:

“...

With a groan, Keyes lifted her head and stared blearily at nothing in particular, taking in where exactly her flight had led her. Curved walls of perfect, neat stonework, their deep grey hue undaunted by the browns and blacks of leather bound tomes lining every surface... 

A bright bulb of magical light suddenly bobbed into view, too bright to look at as the glare forced her to turn her face back into the table.

...”

Seventh Floor: Meeting Rooms

The seventh floor of Fort Conchúr is solely meeting rooms. Just a whole bunch of meeting rooms, for all of your meeting needs. The rooms along the outer wall have windows, the ones in the middle don’t. There are tables and chairs. The messenger rooms and stairs are the same as on the other floors. That’s... it. 

Yeah, it’s not quite as exciting or interesting as some of the other floors. Then again, the description of the library on the sixth floor was massive, so I hope that makes up for how this one is so short. 

Eighth Floor: Rookery and War Table

Finally, the eighth floor of Fort Conchúr, aka the Rookery! It looks a lot different than Fort Stiofán’s rookery, but essentially serves the same function. 

The messenger room on this floor looks the same as that of the other floors (I forgot to draw the tables though, oops), but with a second room attached for the Raven Master’s quarters.

In the center of the rookery is a unique feature of Fort Conchúr: a huge round war table. Strategists of The Watch will gather around this table to coordinate the scouting and fighting groups that engage with The Enemy’s forces near the Western Forest. Being in the rookery allows them to send, receive, and react to messages from the field as quickly as possible, although it also comes with a few downsides (mostly related to bird poop). 

Large windows along the outer wall allow the ravens to fly in and out of the rookery with ease. In the large open spaces near these windows, tall wooden perches rise up from the floor to the ceiling. A set of alcoves are set in one of the walls on each side of the floor (the straight, slightly wider wall by the stairs marked in red) for nests. 

Speaking of that slightly wider wall, do you see the wall in the middle of the stairs? Beyond that wall, the stairwell's ceiling gives way to the open air, allowing you to climb the last few stairs up to the roof. Without that door, the stairwells would be transformed into mini-waterfalls every time it rains. 

Exterior

Very little in an “encyclopedic” sense has been written about the area immediately beyond Fort Conchúr, which mostly features some rice terraces for agriculture nestled into the steep hillside down into the Draoidh Valley. 

However, I wrote a prompt describing the setting a while back that sets the scene quite well:

“

The first time you travel to Fort Conchúr from the east, sighing in relief to see the endless horizon of House Jackie’s plains break against the trees and mountains of House Marvin in the distance, you wonder if you’ve mistakenly arrived at an outpost, or maybe a large village.

This can’t be the fabled western garrison of The Watch, where mages and warriors strike out, seeking The Enemy’s darkest secrets and deepest weaknesses! A few stone towers- barely a few stories tall- poke over the horizon, and the walls don’t even look high enough to stop a band of brigands!

You wrack your mind for where you made a wrong turn, trying to figure out where you’ve ended up. The only place you can think of is Mulladún, the regional capital of House Jackie on the coast of the Agrona, but even that seemed too large for the structure you’re moving towards right now.

Maybe whoever lives here can help point you in the right direction…

And then you reach the edge of Draoidh Valley, cross the border into House Marvin, and look down.

Below you lies a massive stone garrison, built into the hillside about halfway up the side of the valley. The towers and walls were not small at all, but massive, reaching high enough to peer over the steep slope and survey all of the land around them. From this vantage point, you can see the waters of Loch Glas shimmering like a mirror in the distance. 

The road carefully winds down towards a gate on the garrison’s eastern side. As you travel closer, you notice wide terraces cut into the hillside just beyond the walls. These structures, constructed hundreds, if not thousands of years ago by their ancient predecessors, hosts the crops and pastures necessary to support such a large garrison. 

Like the eponymous structure at the Iolla Beacon outpost, Fort Conchúr’s stone architecture is a remnant of the civilization that tamed this land for centuries when the age of souls first began. Nothing remains of them now but the fragments of their language- preserved through place names and scraps of expressions passed down through the generations- and ruins such as these.

But Fort Conchúr is hardly a ruin. Not anymore. The Watch refurbished it years ago, just as it had Iolla Beacon, replacing the rotting floorboards and shoring up the few cracks that had dared mar the legendary stonework of forgotten masters. Not even Duilintinn’s finest architects have ever come close to matching the skills of their ancestors. 

Now in the shadow of this great fortress, you understand why people say that Fort Conchúr is impenetrable.

”

[thewatchau]

Locations of The Watch: Overview

Most of the lore in the upcoming series will be edited compilations of dozens of posts from the last two years. While there are some minor new details sprinkled throughout, I’ve attempted to post significant new information in a “Watch AU Fun Fact” post so you don’t have to read all of these HUGE posts to find them. 

Other Posts in this Series:

Overview • Domhainn Outlook • Iolla Beacon • Guardian Spire • Gáire Roosts • Rúnach Hold • Agrona Bastion • Pa’Gille Caverns • Runners’ Haven • Fort Stiofán  • Fort Conchúr  •

Other Related Series: Membership in The Watch, The Watch Masterlist

In This Post:

A Summary of Garrisons, Outposts, and Mobile Teams in The Watch

The Jurisdiction and responsibilities of each of these locations

An answer to the question “Where would my Watcher be stationed?”

Trivia about emergency plans and furnishings at these locations. 

Summary

Generally, there are three major settings in which a Watcher would work: a Garrison, an Outpost, or a small Mobile Team. 

A Watch Garrison is one of two major settlements of The Watch in Duilintinn, known as Fort Stiofán and Fort Conchúr. They are the two primary hubs of activity and authority within The Watch.

A Watch Outpost is a small settlement under the control of The Watch in Duilintinn. Comparable to a smaller version of a Watch Garrison, these outposts keep the watch against The Enemy threat in the furthest reaches of Duilintinn, connecting the two major garrisons to the entire kingdom with a network of patrols, messengers, researchers, representatives, etc. There are eight outposts: Domhainn Outlook, Iolla Beacon, Pa'Gille Caverns, Agrona Bastion, Rúnach Hold, Gáire Roosts, Guardian Spire, and Runners' Haven.

Mobile Teams are groups of Watchers that consistently work in the field, usually as scouts, border patrols, research parties, or first responders. Just as each outpost reports to a specific garrison of The Watch, every Mobile Team is managed by a specific outpost. Unlike other individual expeditions launched by The Watch, each Mobile Team always consists of the same group of Watchers who have a significant amount of freedom to deploy themselves as they see fit within their assigned region.

Jurisdiction 

Garrisons

Both garrisons are located in such a way that each Noble House has access to one garrison along their borders. To the north is Fort Stiofán, the garrison that borders House Brody, House Schneeplestein, and the capital city of Cordoire. To the south is Fort Conchúr, which borders House Marvin, House Jackie, and House Jameson. These two garrisons coordinate to run the entire Watch as a cohesive unit. 

Interestingly, this method of coordinating their actions has effectively caused The Watch to divide the kingdom into two halves, between Houses Schneeplestein and Brody and Houses Marvin, Jackie, and Jameson. Thankfully, there is very little perceivable difference between the part of the kingdom protected by Fort Stiofán and that protected by Fort Conchúr thanks to an extremely efficient network of messengers between the two major garrisons and their outposts. In the past, some have wondered if the closer proximity of House Schneeplestein and House Brody to the castle might be a reason why The Watch has gathered more information about the lords of these two houses than any of the other missing lords, but in the last few years, this no longer seems to be the case.

While the management of Mobile Teams is mostly the responsibility of the Outposts, the garrisons are responsible for a few specific teams, such as those that patrol the capital city of Cordoire and the king's castle within. They may also deploy teams of Watchers on single-instance expeditions as part of their preexisting roles, which, while similar, aren’t technically considered to be Mobile Teams. 

Outposts

Each outpost reports to a specific garrison, resulting in two groups of four outposts:

Domhainn Outlook Outpost, Iolla Beacon Outpost, Pa'Gille Caverns Outpost, and Agrona Bastion Outpost all report to Fort Stiofán. 

Rúnach Hold Outpost, Gáire Roosts Outpost, Guardian Spire Outpost, and Runners' Haven Outpost all report to Fort Conchúr. 

However, in the case of Runners' Haven, this is only in regards to logistical authority; this outpost reports information to both Watch Garrisons equally. 

Mobile Teams

In turn, each Outpost of The Watch is responsible for deploying Mobile Teams to specific portions of Duilintinn.

While these teams are at liberty to spend more or less time along a specific section of their route to investigate or stand guard as they see fit, they must remain within their segment of the border. This is because, in order for the outposts to accurately ration and provide the necessary resources to each group, each outpost is carefully equipped to provide for the environments and challenges faced by their own region of the kingdom. Exceptions might be made in emergency situations on a case-by-case basis, but in general, veering too far from your designated area is ill-advised. 

For example, imagine if a scouting party of Watchers from the Northern Mountains attempted to resupply at an outpost closer to the Western Forest. Instead of the warm clothing and blankets needed for the rocky northern heights, the outpost would only be able to provide the thin green garments appropriate for forest scouts.

In addition, Mobile Teams are not always able to contact their superiors about their movements. Since these groups are given tremendous leeway regarding what actions to take based on their discoveries, confining specific teams to a specific area prevents anyone from accidentally leaving sections of the kingdom unwatched and unprotected. This is especially important for border patrols, which are our first line of defense against The Enemy’s raids. 

When reporting back to The Watch, most Mobile Teams will return back to their designated outpost at regular intervals to relay any information they find, knowing that messengers within the outpost will take care of spreading the word to the rest of The Watch. However, in especially dire situations (such as a raid) a single member of a Mobile Team may ride out alone to alert The Watch as quickly as possible. 

Generally, Mobile Teams of Watchers will only stay at an outpost or garrison in order to rest and resupply before returning to the field. While they are still paid during this furlough period, this consistent return to the field is what distinguishes a Mobile Team from a simple one-off expedition. 

“Where would my Watcher be stationed?”

Where a specific Watcher works within The Watch depends on a wide variety of factors, including regional location, role, and housing preferences. 

Location

Regarding location, most Watchers would prefer to work within their chosen Noble House.  After all, Duil citizens are encouraged to pick a Noble House because they feel most comfortable in the culture there, so most Watchers would probably want to stay nearby! However, this is not a universal rule. Some Watchers might request to be in a garrison or outpost further from home if you want to travel or test the waters regarding a potential House Switch. In fact, many young people join The Watch as a way to experience the cultures of several Noble Houses before making their first House Switch!

Role

Additionally, some Watchers may need to work at a specific location in order to pursue their role within The Watch. Each outpost and garrison has its own unique niche, from the research opportunities within the Western Forest for Watchers at the Gáire Roosts Outpost to the intense maritime skills needed at Iolla Beacon. Others may request to move to a new location in order to follow the action as new developments arise in The Watch. Meanwhile, while Mobile Teams of Watchers are limited to a specific region of the kingdom, their very nature means that they are constantly packing up their tents and moving from place to place. 

There are also a significant number of “part time” Watchers, who spend part of the year with The Watch and part of the year at home. Watchers with families can bring their children and/or partners with them to their garrison or outpost at their digression (though this isn’t exactly ideal, as will be described shortly), can volunteer at an outpost close to home, or can decide to only volunteer with The Watch for part of the year. The short-term nature of this role may affect where a Watcher decides to stay; for some, they may wish to live closer to home for ease of commute, while for others, they may feel more comfortable traveling further, knowing that they’ll return back to their Noble House for a significant portion of the year. 

Housing Preferences

Finally, housing preferences will affect where a Watcher decides to work. Mobile Teams of Watchers will live in tents for most of their time working in The Watch, while those who live in a garrison or outpost full-time would stay in the living quarters built for those locations. 

However, unless a Watcher has a job in which they have to stay at their post full-time (of which the only ones that come to mind are Raven Masters and members of Mobile Teams), most Watchers prefer to commute between their preexisting place of residence and their post in The Watch, rather than live at the garrisons or outposts themselves. 

The reasons for this are pretty straightforward. First of all, the living quarters of these places are NOT built with families in mind. Like, at alllllll. They’re either too small or too communal for anything remotely resembling family living. Even without kids, a couple would have trouble making it work in most of the garrisons or outposts unless they were okay with sleeping apart and having basically no privacy to speak of. Best case scenario, you’d get one of the double rooms in Fort Stiofán that has two beds instead of a window, but even then... look, those combined chest-mattress beds are not wide enough for two people to share comfortably, and the wooden partitions between the living quarters in Fort Stiofán are definitely not soundproof. I’ll leave it at that. 

So immediately, the main portion of the population who can feasibly stay in the garrisons or outposts full-time without making some significant lifestyle sacrifices are single folks. And even then, not everyone is willing to live full-time in that sort of environment. Unless you’re really dedicated to the job or like being in the garrison or outpost 24/7 enough to put up with the cramped quarters, most people would definitely prefer to commute. That’s one of the reasons why there are lots of towns in the areas around most of the garrisons and outposts. 

However, all of those empty rooms are definitely still needed. In times of crisis or intense suspense, many Watchers will opt to stay overnight for several days, weeks, or even months until they are sure that the main threat has passed, rather than waste time traveling back and forth. Others will cycle between staying in a garrison/outpost and staying somewhere of their own over the course of the year. It just depends on the person.  

One final note: yes, a large percentage of the Watchers that we have created for this AU are stationed full-time in a garrison or outpost, but you have to remember; The Watch consists of thousands of people. The handful of characters that we have created reflect only a fraction of that total population, so I don’t want you to think it’s unrealistic to make multiple Watchers living in a garrison/outpost based on the statistical sample size or whatever. :)

Trivia

Emergency Plans

In the case of a true emergency, you're never going to be outright fleeing on horseback. It's disorganized, clearly telegraphs where you're going, and only delays the inevitable. If there comes a time where the situation is so dire that the watch has to abandon a garrison or outpost (which would have to be very dire; there are few places in Duilintinn better prepared for a siege or attack and we would lose so much intel and records and supplies to The Enemy) it would be better to sneak the noncombatant Watchers out somehow. Again, a situation that dire... it will be a win or die situation. The combatant watchers are probably going to stand their ground until the last man unless there is some way we could manage a retreat without leaving the noncombatants open to be slaughtered or simply postponing the battle to another day and place.

There is a slight chance that, if an outpost was attacked, the Watchers might be able to flee on horseback and fall back to a garrison successfully. However, there would still be thousands of civilians left in between The Enemy and the garrison, so this is hardly an ideal option. 

Default Furnishings

All Watch outposts and garrisons all feature the same dark brown wood in most of their furnishings and renovations. 

In the three years of preparation between the Watch’s founding and official implementation, ten locations had to undergo various amounts of renovation in order to become garrisons and outposts of The Watch. That amount of construction required a lot of resources, and while Duilitinn has quite a few sources of metal and stone, the same cannot be said for wood. 

In an effort to limit the cost of importing the significant amounts of lumber necessary to complete these projects, Duilintinn struck a trade deal with the lumber industry of Lantraeth, allowing Duilintinn to import the wood at a reduced price, on the condition that all of the wood they use for the Watch projects would be bought from that specific nation. This gave the other nation a consistent and significant source of revenue for three years, while Duilintinn benefited from the discount. 

As a result, no matter what garrison or outpost you visit, you’ll see the same type of wood featured amidst the original architecture. For Watchers who transfer between different outposts and/or garrisons, seeing the instantly recognizable color of Lantraeth’s unique dark brown spruce wood makes the new location feel just as much like “home” as their previous post in The Watch. 

Note that, irl, I’m pretty sure there’s no spruce wood that’s naturally a dark brown color. However, this is my world, so I say that there’s a special variety of spruce in northern Tirónar that has a color similar to walnut wood (see below).

[thewatchau]

Spirits in Stone

Bard’s Note: Here’s day 1 of Inktober 2020! This is a short (and unedited) drabble, featuring Bard Emily Keyes during her first return visit to Fort Conchúr after she had initially fled there to have her existential crisis. Takes place sometime between 1611 and 1612, most likely? I’m not sure. 

__***__***__

It suddenly occurred to Keyes that Fort Conchúr was very old. 

Of course, she had always been aware that Fort Conchúr had been built over a millennia ago. What sort of bard would she be if she didn’t know the history of one of The Watch’s primary strongholds?

But it wasn’t until this moment, as she absent-mindedly ran her hands over the rough-hewn stone, that she truly realized what that meant. 

These stones under her fingertips- the rough texture realer than the emotions that seek to overwhelm her, grounding her in reality- had felt equally real to the people of Feadhainn over a thousand years ago. 

The thought was dizzying. How could anything be so unmoored from time itself, that it could keep her in the present with the same uncaring facade that had met countless souls which had long since departed the Mortal Realm? 

Keyes pressed her palm harder into the wall, oblivious (or perhaps simply uncaring) of the uncomfortable texture. Standing in the middle of the staircase, the faint draft from a door or window somewhere below felt like the spirits of millions rushing to greet her. 

It was simultaneously terrifying and euphoric, to be so certain of your own existence. 

As Keyes continued down the steps of the garrison, fingertips still trailing over stone, she decided she liked it.

[thewatchau]

WIP Sneak Peek: Minecraft Garrisons #7

Fort Conchúr Layout update!

Alright, so a lot has changed in this one, so get ready. 

First, as I've been furnishing the inside of Fort Conchúr, I realized that I didn’t have any plans for what I would do with the wider floor around the base of the central keep, so I decided to remove it. 

This worked out well, since I also I wanted to widen the outdoor area around the keep. I’ve been picturing that space being used for various outdoor activities, not just training exercises, but any tasks that could be completed outside instead of within the stuffy keep. After all, the weather in the area is usually pretty nice. 

Finally, removing the wider portion of the tower allowed me to add a feature I had previously imagined, but lacked the space to implement in the model: covered walkways with arched openings and large windows in front of the quarters under the ramp. 

These walkways offer shortcuts to Watchers who really just want to go to their room right now, and don’t need to walk all the way down the ramp and up two flights of stairs to get to their room on the third floor. 

There are still security checkpoints at the doors to the living quarters, regardless of what floor you enter from, but non-watchers are allowed to wander the walkways or take the stairs down to the ground level instead of the ramp. 

(and yes, the third floor walkway is also going to get a roof eventually; I just haven’t built it yet.)

A few other minor changes you might notice: windows, a few more stores, and roofs on the walls and towers! The windows are still tentative, but I’m pleased with them overall. Hopefully I’ll start showing you the place from the inside soon! 

[thewatchau]

Fort Conchúr Internal Layout Diagrams: Floor 2

Note that this is a block-for-block imitation of the model of the garrison I’m currently working on in Minecraft, and thus some angles, dimensions, and other small details may not be perfectly to scale. The circle around the diagram roughly represents the true size of the keep, rather than the rounded-down approximation resulting from the feet-to-blocks conversion.

Please also know that this is still a WIP, and that some details that I will describe and/or may add later are not on these diagrams yet.

Fort Conchúr’s second floor functions very similarly to the second floor of Fort Stiofán, but instead of seating areas with windows looking into the great hall, Fort Conchúr has a combination of meeting rooms, messenger rooms, and seating areas along the outer edge of the balcony-esque floor. There’s no wall around the central open area; it’s just a big hole. Although I’ll probably add a railing or something later. 

Although you can’t see it in the diagram, the seating areas get some natural light from the windows along those two sections of the wall. The four rooms also have at least one window. 

Finally, the stairs take their usual form by the time we hit the second floor. Throughout the rest of the keep, each flight of stairs is enclosed by a section of wall that somewhat juts into the circular layout of each floor. Near the center of this wall, a door leads to a small landing, with stairs leading up or down in either direction. 

For reference, most of the objects currently depicted in these maps are color-coded according to this key:

[thewatchau]

Fort Conchúr Internal Layout Diagrams: Floor 4

Note that this is a block-for-block imitation of the model of the garrison I’m currently working on in Minecraft, and thus some angles, dimensions, and other small details may not be perfectly to scale. The circle around the diagram roughly represents the true size of the keep, rather than the rounded-down approximation resulting from the feet-to-blocks conversion.

Please also know that this is still a WIP, and that some details that I will describe and/or may add later are not on these diagrams yet.

Welcome to storage land! Home of boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. 

Okay, that’s only a slight exaggeration.

If you’ve kept up with Fort Conchúr’s lore regarding what its like to live in this garrison, you might remember that Watcher’s don’t have private quarters, so most the belongings that they don’t keep on their person are stored in locked chests in a storage room in the keep. 

Well, after doing the math and realizing just how many chests would be required for every Watcher to have one if every bed in the garrison was filled, I realized that I might need to rethink the concept of “chests”. At the time, I was imagining a typical, rectangular-prism-shaped chest that’s rarely taller than your hip and opens from the top, but I couldn’t fit nearly fifteen hundred of those in a single floor. 

So instead, we’ve got lockers.

I know, I know, it’s stupid sounding, but since they rise all the way to the ceiling, it’s a far more efficient use of the space. When converted to real-world measurements, each box is a cubic meter, which holds most everything except the larger varieties of armor and weapons. Those last two things are kinda important, I know, but I also haven’t figured out where the Watchers of Fort Conchúr are going to store their food yet, so trust me when I say that more storage options will eventually come to this garrison. I’m just not sure where yet. 

In the two box-less spaces near the door to the stairways, there will be some sort of desk where new Watchers can get a lock and key from someone before they find themselves an empty chest. The people manning these desks also function as witnesses to deter any attempts to break into someone else’s box. 

And yes, I’m calling them boxes because I refuse to call them lockers more than once. This is a dignified high fantasy universe and calling the boxes “lockers” makes it sound like the garrison is a high school or something.

As with the other floors, there are two (or one, again, see the post about the first floor) messenger towers and two staircases. 

For reference, most of the objects currently depicted in these maps are color-coded according to this key:

[thewatchau]

Fort Conchúr Internal Layout Diagrams: Floor 8

Note that this is a block-for-block imitation of the model of the garrison I’m currently working on in Minecraft, and thus some angles, dimensions, and other small details may not be perfectly to scale. The circle around the diagram roughly represents the true size of the keep, rather than the rounded-down approximation resulting from the feet-to-blocks conversion.

Please also know that this is still a WIP, and that some details that I will describe and/or may add later are not on these diagrams yet.

Finally, the eighth floor of Fort Conchúr, aka the Rookery! It looks a lot different than Fort Stiofán’s rookery (wait, have I posted any pictures of Fort Stiofán’s rookery yet?) but essentially serves the same function. 

The messenger room on this floor looks the same as that of the other floors (I forgot to draw the tables though, oops), but with a second room attached for the Raven Master’s quarters. Like the messenger tower of Fort Stiofán, I haven’t actually designed that yet, so for now it’s just an empty room. 

In the center of the rookery is a unique feature of Fort Conchúr: a huge round war table. Strategists of The Watch will gather around this table to coordinate the scouting and fighting groups that engage with The Enemy’s forces near the Western Forest. Being in the rookery allows them to send, receive, and react to messages from the field as quickly as possible, although it also comes with a few downsides (mostly related to bird poop). 

Large windows along the outer wall allow the ravens to fly in and out of the rookery with ease. In the large open spaces near these windows, tall wooden perches rise up from the floor to the ceiling. A set of alcoves are set in one of the walls on each side of the floor (the straight, slightly wider wall by the stairs marked in red) for nests. 

Speaking of that slightly wider wall, do you see the wall in the middle of the stairs? Beyond that wall, the stairwell's ceiling gives way to the open air, allowing you to climb the last few stairs up to the roof. Without that door, the stairwells would be transformed into mini-waterfalls every time it rains. 

This is arguably the most unfinished floor in Fort Conchúr at the moment. However, considering that Fort Stiofán has two completely empty floors, I’ll probably take a break from adding to Conchúr for a bit to work on Fort Stiofán unless inspiration strikes all of a sudden. 

For reference, most of the objects currently depicted in these maps are color-coded according to this key:

[thewatchau]

WIP Sneak Peek: Minecraft Garrisons #3

Ta da!!!! More progress!

Fort Conchúr has walls now! I’m currently working on the stairs (hence the scaffolding) and the internal layout underneath the big outer ramp. 

Meanwhile, Fort Stiofán’s exterior layout is starting to take shape. Like its sister garrison, I’ve started working on the inside of Fort Stiofán as well...

Based on how things are going, I’m willing to bet that I’ll be showing you some models of the living quarters next!

[thewatchau]

Fort Conchúr Internal Layout Diagrams: Floor 3

Note that this is a block-for-block imitation of the model of the garrison I’m currently working on in Minecraft, and thus some angles, dimensions, and other small details may not be perfectly to scale. The circle around the diagram roughly represents the true size of the keep, rather than the rounded-down approximation resulting from the feet-to-blocks conversion.

Please also know that this is still a WIP, and that some details that I will describe and/or may add later are not on these diagrams yet.

The third floor of Fort Conchúr is the central research hub of the garrison. The main rooms have numbers penciled in, which I’ll be using to identify each room and it’s purpose.

#1 is the Medical Desk. This is the place where people seeking medical attention are checked in and given a superficial once-over before being admitted to the Medical Ward (#2). Due to all of the research that takes place, strict record-keeping of all medical care is necessary, both to accumulate useful data for the researchers and to protect the patients from any unsanctioned experimentation. Thankfully, the latter is more of a precautionary measure than something born of experience. 

#3 is the alchemy, medicine, and enchantment room. Basically, it’s for researching and producing any goods that impart an effect upon someone through magical or mundane means. It’s located close to the medical ward to provide the latter easy access to any medicines they might need. It’s likely got all sorts of surfaces, tools, and storage spaces for that sort of work, but I haven’t designed/built anything in detail yet. 

#4 is the magical training room. Essentially, it’s a longer room specifically for two people to either a) learn/teach magic as a master and apprentice mage, b) spar magically with each other, or c) test new applications of ones focus (aka new spells). Generally, no one is allowed to use the room alone; even if you’re testing new spells, someone should be there in case something goes wrong. The room itself is heavily warded in case of an accident, but that’s more to protect the rest of the building, rather than the person inside. For everyone’s safety, you have to be at least a journeyman mage (or accompanied by one) to use the space, since novices and apprentices are more likely to lose control of their magic. The door is also enchanted to lock itself automatically when the room is in use, to prevent any disastrous interruptions. 

#5 is the magical research room. While the training room is used to practice and test one’s ability to use their magic, this space is used to learn more about its nature and effects. Of course, the facility’s primary goal is to neutralize The Enemy’s magic by finding a way to free those under his control and uncovering a means of defeating him. However, other useful applications of magic are also researched in this area. 

This floor also features some meeting rooms for researchers who need to have a private meeting or table space for less tactile work (aka paperwork). Thanks to the nature of research, everyone who frequents this floor is painfully familiar with the lab reports they’re required to fill out after each experiment or procedure. There are some Watcher’s whose job (in part) is to a) make sure that paperwork is completed and b) assist anyone who’s struggling/not making an effort to sufficiently document their research. After all, The Watch is a group, and an individual’s research does no one any good if that information remains trapped in their head. 

In addition, a few private bedrooms are located near the medical ward. These rooms either function as operating rooms (to avoid upsetting others in the medical ward) or can be used by the doctors if they need a rest or want to remain on-call after their shift. Although, personally, I might hesitate to take a nap in the same rooms where surgeries take place, the doctors and nurses who perform these procedures might be less squeamish. 

Finally, there are two messenger towers (or one, see the first floor’s post) and two sets of stairs that function exactly like the others in the previous floors. 

For reference, most of the objects currently depicted in these maps are color-coded according to this key:

[thewatchau]

WIP Sneak Peek: Minecraft Garrisons #5

Fort Stiofán has nothing new (yet) but Fort Conchúr has made a LOT of progress! 

The central keep is now mostly done, although I may change the material for the roof. The stairs are also done, but it’s hard to show those off in a picture or two, so I’ll save that for the video or when I take pictures of the inside. However, nothing else is furnished inside the keep yet, so we’ll save that for another day. 

I’ve also started building the shops that line the outer ramp! I’m not sure how complex I’m going to make those yet. For now, they’ll probably just remain simple boxes unless I come up with any ideas (or get inspired to flesh them out later down the line). 

Next up, I’m gonna start furnishing the inside of Fort Stiofán, and this is where things are gonna get truly new... hehehe ;)

[thewatchau]

Fort Conchúr Internal Layout Diagrams: Floor 6

Note that this is a block-for-block imitation of the model of the garrison I’m currently working on in Minecraft, and thus some angles, dimensions, and other small details may not be perfectly to scale. The circle around the diagram roughly represents the true size of the keep, rather than the rounded-down approximation resulting from the feet-to-blocks conversion.

Please also know that this is still a WIP, and that some details that I will describe and/or may add later are not on these diagrams yet.

Okay, I’ve been really looking forward to talking about this floor, because it’s already featured in a lot of my writings, sketches, and novelization plans, not to mention it’s a key part of Kat Emerald’s (@livingemerald​‘s character) story-

Yep, we’ve finally gotten to Fort Conchúr’s library!

If you reference back to one of the first WIP posts from earlier this month, two of the top images were early concept sketches of this floor of the garrison. The finished version is very similar to those older sketches, just bigger and with a few more rooms and details. 

There are two rooms on each side of the floor; a messenger room and an office for the librarians. Since so many documents and messages travel up to the library for archival and storage, there’s a small closet in the messenger room in case there are too many for the messengers on staff to drop off at once. Rather than leaving them on the table, any overflow is sorted into shelves in this closet in order to keep these messages organized and semi-private. Oftentimes, the librarians will ask the messengers to leave documents in this closet until they come to pick them up and deal with them, since the offices don’t have very much storage space. 

The offices are smaller than the back rooms of Fort Stiofán’s archives, so Fort Conchúr’s library has less staff than in its sister garrison. Librarians focus on the daily upkeep and management of the library itself, but most archival work is sent to Fort Stiofán (I’ll explain that in another post). The offices are accessible through a door behind the front desks, right outside the doors to the stairs where Watchers enter and exit the floor.

Since the library is open at all hours, there’s a small private bedroom in each office. It’s something of an unspoken rule that one of those rooms belongs to the well-loved, but slightly enigmatic Librarian Katerina Emerald, who rarely leaves the library floor. The fact that she hid a wolf in that room before the pair had him certified as a familiar was an open secret among library staff, and to this day, no one questions Kat’s unofficial claim to the bedroom. 

The library area itself is made of two types of sections; the center stacks and the outer seating areas. While the stacks are pretty self-explanatory (typical close-set library shelves), it’s kinda hard to get a sense of the other two areas from the map alone. Luckily, I’ve been working on a sketch of this area on-and-off for months now:

It’s not finished, obviously, and the angle of the curve definitely isn’t accurate, but this gives you an idea of what this area would look like. 

Tables and chairs are in the center of the open area. Rugs made by artistically-inclined Watchers add some color and homeyness to area. 

Instead of flame-based light sources, glowing spheres of magic hover over the tables and shelves to supplement what little natural light enters through the pair of tiny windows on either side of the floor. 

Along the wall are a mixture of shelves, storage cabinets, drawers, and baskets that hold books, magical records, and various tools and materials for writing and researching (for more about these supplies, see this post about Fort Stiofán’s archives).

Speaking of Fort Stiofán’s archives, this is another difference between Fort Conchúr and its sister garrison. While Fort Stiofán keeps its magical records in a separate room on the archive floors, Fort Conchúr keeps their copies interspersed with the other contents of its library. Note that these records are only stored in the two outer sections; the center stacks are exclusively bookshelves. 

For reference, most of the objects currently depicted in these maps are color-coded according to this key:

[thewatchau]

Watch AU Fun Fact #122

The spaces under the outer ramp in Fort Conchúr were originally designed to be stables. 

At least, the lowermost floor was. Since the doorways on the lower floors are far larger than their normal-sized counterparts on the upper floors, the rooms on the first floor were probably originally used as stalls or washing/grooming bays. 

The upper floors were probably used for feed storage, tack, and perhaps even living spaces for the stable hands. It’s hard to say; nothing except the fortress itself remained since the rooms were used for their original purpose. 

Today, the spaces are filled with bunks to house the Watchers living in Fort Conchúr. In addition, three awkward-shaped spaces in this section of the garrison, which’s original purposes are unknown, are now used for bathhouses.