Fort Laureum

On the Novayan plains, above the small Plainsfolk village of Borkov, stand the shattered walls of a ruined League fort. The locals call it simply Crowspire for the birds that roost in its towers. Its banners once flew crimson and laurel above the fields, proclaiming the League’s dominion.   During the Imperial Civil War, Novayan riders assaulted the fort. Its garrison refused to yield, and so the horsemen set it ablaze. The flames consumed walls, stores, and men alike. Those legionaries who leapt from the battlements were cut down in the fields below.   Now, carrion feeders roost upon the scorched towers, their cries echoing over the village beneath. Children dare one another to creep through the warped portcullis, while elders mutter of restless spirits who patrol the walls in a land not their own.  

History

Fort Laureum was constructed in the second year of the Imperial League, intended as both a watchtower over the Novayan plains and a seat of Imperial administration. From the security of its stone walls the League officials collected grain levies, tallied taxes, and enforced Imperial Law upon the surrounding villages.   Its crimson-and-laurel banners were meant not only to mark Imperial authority, but also to remind the Plainsfolk that they were subjects of this new order, Kazarak non withstanding. Laureum’s magistrates recorded oaths of fealty, settled disputes under the Charter Law, and ensured that Emperor's due flowed southward to Skyreach.   Fort Laureum fell in 13 IE, during the turmoil of the Imperial Civil War. With Skyreach destroyed and the League fractured, plainsfolk riders rose against the garrison that had enforced Imperial rule upon their villages.   The garrison held fast, unwilling to abandon their post even as the League fractured. When the Novayan riders pressed the assault, the Plainsfolk turned to fire, driving it through the gates and into the granaries and barracks. Smoke and flame choked the courtyards, collapsing roofs and walls alike. Some legionaries tried to break free, hurling themselves from the battlements in desperate flight, only to be cut down amongst the long grass as the fort burned behind them.   For the villagers of Borkov, this was more than the fall of a rural outpost. It was the destruction of Imperial Law’s hold upon the plains, a rejection of authority in favour of Kazarak.    

Legacy

The fort is shunned as a place of ill-omen. Promises pledged beneath its walls are said to unravel, marriages falter, debts go unpaid, and pacts are broken. Elders warn that the land itself remembers the broken promises of the League, and that the restless spirits of its legionaries still pace the walls in endless patrol.   Yet Crowspire also serves the Plainsfolk as a reminder of their victory. That no fortress, no matter how high its banners, can withstand the will of a free people.