Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Birth
Castle Fireheart
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Castle Fireheart is named for its association with Ember Lion, the crest of House Bond. It symbolizes that the Bond family hunted an Ember lion mystical beast at one time to gain prominence. Only powerful and old nobles like Exalted houses could use mystical beasts on their family's coat of arms as their crests.
On the pitch black walls of the castle is a coat of arms with a black and red background, a red orange heather shield associated with the will to protect all humans and their land, with a Torch lily on it, associated with strength, courage, and rebirth, a crisscross of a black two-handed sword and a black halberd, associated with might, and an ember lion as a crest above the shield.
Castle Fireheart has an imposing structure, situated atop an elevated ground and surrounded by a deep moat filled with water. The castle's walls are made of thick, solid stone and are reinforced with towers and battlements at regular intervals. The walls are topped with crenellations, providing a place for archers to defend the castle with circular towers with ballista's at top at equal intervals and also lookout towers at corners and other strategic location.
Inside the walls, the castle is divided into several courtyards, each with its own set of buildings and structures. The outer courtyards are used for various purposes such as storage, a training ground, barracks and canteen, while the main courtyard is home to the castle's great hall, stables, kitchen, servant quarters, and other important buildings.
At the heart of the castle is the keep, a tall and heavily fortified structure that serves as the castle's last line of defense. The keep is surrounded by a second, inner moat which can be crossed via another drawbridge with a barbican on the gate, walls that work as a foundation of the keep with none of the windows being on the lower level, this was done to increase the defensive quality of the keep. The only entrance is through the barbican at the gatehouse of the keep. Inside the keep are the castle's living quarters, as well as its treasure rooms, armory, mage tower, a small training ground, and other important areas. The keep also has a small platform at the top from where whole of the castle was visible.
Overall, Castle Fireheart is a well-defended structure, with a variety of defensive structures in place to protect it against attack. Its walls, towers, and keep provide multiple layers of defense, while its moats and drawbridges offer additional protection against would-be attackers.
Central Keep Great Hall
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The great hall of Castle Fireheart is located in the main courtyard. It is a magnificent building, with a Road leading directly out of Castle Fireheart. The road is made of flagstones paved with mortar and is wide enough to fit eight coaches standing side by side, but the gate can only fit two coaches at most.
Even in the day, the great hall stands tall at least three stories high. The main hall has a single roof at the third floor. Upon entering the hall, one can sense its vastness. Its design is simple, with huge pillars spanning the perimeter of the rectangular great hall, supporting the triangular pediment design roof. Inside these pillars, a wall covers the hall on both sides. This simple and efficient design makes its grandeur and prowess stand out.
A great stairway leads to the great hall's large door, reaching more than two stories high to accommodate people of any size, even from other races. A podium on the other side of the gate at the other end of the great hall. On the podium, a throne is built for the house head and 24 other seats, 12 on each side of the throne. Additionally, another seat is built on the left of the throne, though not as grand as the main throne.
Below the podium, tiered seating is provided to accommodate more people, continuing to the gate of the hall.
When the man entered the great hall his outline could be clearly seen. He had a solid and robust build, with broad shoulders and a muscular frame. He had a strong, chiseled jawline, piercing blue eyes, and thick, bushy eyebrows. His skin was tanned and weathered from years of outdoor activities, and his short, curly hair was a deep shade of brown. His imposing physical presence had a confident and dignified bearing with an air of authority and power about him.
He had a serious expression on his face, while wearing a grey robe that looked like a mixture of thawb and tunic with elegant embroidery on his collar, chest and sleeves. While a long single-handed sword was dangling on his left side.
The moment he entered the grand hall the noisy hall suddenly became quite.
While holding the newborn, he walked with steady steps across the long hall, which was currently packed full of people, looking straight ahead. He walked straight to the throne and sat on it silently.
There were all types people sitting in the hall, some were women while most were men, ranging from middle age to old people with white hairs or even bald men. There were a total of 23 people on their seats right next to the throne with one of them being empty, while other sat in tiered seats below the podium.
All those in sitting in the nearest 23 seats to the throne looked like they wanted to ask something, but before they could, the air near the throne shifted and the middle age man who had disappeared form the corridor appeared.
Seeing the man all the people held a shocked expression, after the initial shock everyone stood up and called, "forefather".
The man just waved his hands, seeing which everyone sat back. The man took the new born child in his hand, under the shocked eyes of all the people in the hall, from the man still sitting on the throne, and said "The fist in line of inheritance, of House of Bond, Leo Bond".
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