Fortrain Summary

Dec 10, 201813 min read

Deviation Actions

Anniverse

Meihia

Published: Dec 10, 2018

1.2K Views

⛲Fortress and Fountain⛲

⛲Background⛲

Long ago, a small village’s wells completely ran dry, forcing its inhabitants to eventually abandon their home. Weeks of rationing water made daily life near impossible to go through and they knew they would not last much longer if they stayed there. On that exploration trip, young Meghan would use her affinity for water magic to track and detect a new water source that could provide for everyone. She eventually picked up on something and led everyone to a large plain. In the plain, large water spheres and bubbles could be see strewn around, and upon further inspection, it was noticed that each of these water spheres were formed around crystals protruding from the ground.

Their crystals had the special property of attracting moisture to them and it would eventually save everyone. As the settlers started digging to build the foundations of the new town, they realized that a gigantic cave formed by the same crystals found on the surface provided an underground lake with a nearly endless supply of water. The village first started small, but as centuries went by, it kept expanding larger and larger. Slowly, instead of small houses here and there, the whole town would eventually be built out of marble.

As war started being more of an issue, Meghan, who is now the priestess of the town, directed the architect to make the town a fortress that would keep everyone safe from a potential invasion. Walls were erected, and towers were built. In the current age, the massive fortress town, resembles a gigantic fountain with water coming out of each towers with streets split in the middle by waterways. There are large pools of water here and there where Annies can swim at their leisure and small boats offering tours of the town.

In the current age, Meghan remains the town’s guardian but relayed the leader position to one she judged apt to direct the town. Everyone is welcome in Fortrain, as it is believed that anyone can wish for a safe place, free of war.

⛲Temp & Climate⛲

The town goes through all 4 seasons, seeing temperatures as low as -20°C in winter and as high as 30°C in summer.

⛲Flora & Fauna⛲

Most of the farmlands of Fortrain are located outside the walls, with only a fraction of them inside the walls of the town. Corn, potatoes, apple trees, and other similar crops can all be found in the area. Most flowers, however, are in large pots and decorative structure as the marble floor prevents most plants growing through its tiles.

The underground cave system has a wide variety of fish favoring the darkness.

⛲Location⛲

Slightly north of Aster’s center.

⛲Special Occasions⛲

The Water Marathon:
During the summer, multiple aquatic activities are held such as the swimming race. Each town quarter holds a race within its water streets to determine their champions. Once selected, the champions will make a final race across the whole city.

Ice Sculpture Contest:
Ice mages are gathered to freeze large blocks of ice where anyone can try their hands at sculpting them.

⛲Architecture & Buildings of Interest⛲

Fortrain’s massive structure is composed of 3 main stratum. One stratum is at ground level, the second is elevated and is able to be reached by using large marble stairs, and the third is even higher than the second, also reachable by stairs. Each of these stratum are shaped like a bowl, with the structures at a lower altitude than the entrances. All of them have wide streets with a water path at their centers and the occasional bridge to cross by foot.

The first stratum entrance requires outsiders to climb stairs outside the walls of the city. Once through the gates, the visitors will need to get down to the bottom of the giant bowl. Cubic houses and stores can be found all around, each of them decorated to the preferences of their owners. Most if not all furniture are also carved in marble or other type of rocks and minerals due to the town’s anti invasion procedures. The stratum is divided in 4 equal parts, each of them having a tall tower rising from them. These towers have a giant water attracting crystal at their top and act as giant fountains. These towers also double as guard towers.

The second stratum, similar to the first one, has a similar entrance and architecture. However, this stratum is mostly used to grow crops and be used as farmland. Most of the houses found on this level are owned by those who help cultivate and process the food of Fortrain. Grain silos and other buildings meant to store food or other materials can all be found there. Just like with the first stratum, this one is divided by 4 and each quarter is crowned by its own fountain guard tower.

The third and final stratum contains the last tower, a taller and larger one than the guard towers found below. The largest of all water attracting crystal sits at the top of this one, bringing water at the very top of the city and flowing down to the lower levels. The guardian of the town resides within that tower and at its foot, the habitations of those training to be future protectors of the town can be found. All the facilities necessary to arm and train the elite of the town are accessible and visited frequently by the current guardian. The schools will teach all the important skills required to defend the fortress such as magic, fighting with a weapon and most importantly, swimming.

It is important to note that there are secret water paths that connect each towers to each others and allow aquatic Annies to swim from one ot the other much faster than if they had to travel above ground.

⛲Government & Laws⛲

The first rule of Fortrain is that anyone who needs shelter and is willing to work for the benefit of the town is welcome to call it home. If no more house are available within the walls, arrangements will be made to provide a roof for the refugees. However, those who were given asylum are expected to try finding a new home once they are no longer in danger from whatever conflict brought them there in the first place.

The second rule is that anyone wishing to live in Fortrain has to learn to swim. If the town gets assaulted and the invader reaches a certain point in the town, the whole fortress will be flooded and inhabitants may need to swim to safety.

Other than that, most standard rules like no stealing, killing and so on are all in place. All of which have varying degrees of punishment.

While the guardian of the town may act like a ruler to an extent, leaders in charge of each quarters of each stratums are those who come up with new laws projects and the like. They each manage their quarter as best they can, with the guardian only weighing in when absolutely necessary.

As for the protection of the town, there are constantly guards patrolling the ramparts that surround the whole town. In each towers, there is always at minimum at least 4 annies specializing in water magic and 2 specializing in fire magic. At least one of each type of mage is also expected to have an aquatic blessing they can use to quickly travel through the hidden water network in case they are needed to defend another part of town.

⛲Trade & Specialties⛲

The town specialities include sculpting as most structure and furniture are carved in various minerals.

The other heavily sought after products are the items crafted with the water attracting crystals. Such items include flask that fill themselves up by drawing moisture in them thanks to small crystals lining their insides.

The town is also a flourishing touristic spot. People love to visit the city of ever flowing water, and exploring the place using the gondolas found around the it.

Thanks to the height of the stratums, tourists and citizens can see the continent of Aster far and wide. The thousands of carvings and statues found on the outer edge of each stratum each tell stories of the past. Watching them and learning about Aster’s history through them attract thousands of tourists yearly.