Castle Rowan Close

[Kiba]

rowan close 1 - aug 27 2015.JPG

I swear I'll finish the Hawthorn Fort and Ballybegrosh soon. Probably when I'm procrastinating on homework.

Here's a sketch of the Fair Folk summer-castle that my protagonist in Moonflowers ends up with. It's in the south of her kingdom and noted for two things: Being ridiculously scenic and pretty, thanks to being built into the walls of a corrie, and having a massive thousand-man garrison.

The garrison is huge because the southern half of the kingdom is really rugged and hilly, which causes two problems: The scouts are dedicated to pointing lost travelers back onto the road (and frequently bringing them to the castle to rest for a night or two), and most of the guards are busy making sure bandits and pirates don't try to get any ideas by taking the castle for themselves.

Geographically, it's close to one of the kingdom's cities and so it's got a whole lot of imported stuff from other kingdoms and countries thanks to the river. The Hawthorn Fort is the seat of the kingdom where a lot of important stuff gets done, but Rowan Close is the social gem of the kingdom--important noble/royal guests or very close friends? You get a room in the Dragonfly's House with a view of the Bloody Hundred Falls. Need to calm down some arguing lords? Stick them in Rowan Close and cram them with fancy food, and while they're busy going OMG I'M SO IMPORTANT, you can work out a deal that doesn't get anyone killed.

This area is also known for exporting cloudberries, which is apparently a VERY rare food in real-life and it's a delicacy in the Nordic countries because it's just so hard to grow it. So thanks to the general Northern/Celtic blend between this kingdom, I stuck a mead-hall right in the middle of the larger courtyard; it's been updated and modernized over the past few centuries, but everyone makes sure to keep the building's traditional silhouette and the timbered supports. "Valokki Sali" translates appropriately to "Cloudberry Hall" in Finnish. The garden has a small stock of cloudberry plants, and the village has a few berry-picking spots that they rotate every summer.