Castle of the Sun

The Castle of the Sun is a relatively modern fortress located to the east of the Sahri city of Qairi. It has always been the seat of power of House Mofid, which originally built the castle.
== History ==
The Castle of the Sun was conceived and designed in the 670's by Sheikh Peyman the Architect in response to heightened tensions between himself and the Satrap of Raysum. This reasoning was never made official, however - the reason the Sheikh gave his monarch was that he was worried for the safety of his realm after the Kiban Intervention several years ago had cut easily through Qairi's defences, and he required more reassurance of power and stability in the area. The Shah agreed, and subsidised Peyman for the construction.
The fortress was completed in 681, boasting the tallest keep in Suren's Desert, as well as seven gates, twenty-five towers, and more than a dozen kilometres of wall. It was named, as is tradition, by the Sahri monarch Shah Vahraz II - he dubbed it the Castle of the Sun, after the uninterrupted view of the sunrise afforded by the room he slept in to bless the fortress.
The Castle was tested in late 738 during the Sharaffi Invasion of Kiba. It held the Kibans at bay for an admirable seven months before finally falling in April 739 - the last Sahri-Sharaffi castle to fall in the war. The Kiban occupiers repaired the damage they dealt to the keep, though the Amir Tower has been abandoned due to the massacre which took place during the last day of the siege, and the subsequent supposed hauntings.
The Castle of the Sun was abandoned by Kiba in 742 as part of a tactical retreat dictated by the Year of the Plainspeople. It was reclaimed by House Mofid shortly afterwards, and since then has been part of the reconstituted Shahdom of Sahran.
== Layout ==
The Castle of the Sun is centred around a granite keep four stories high. Around this keep is a small courtyard, into which also open a barracks, armoury and several storehouses. The first curtain wall, twelve metres high and three thick, separates this nucleus from a less centralised area containing other amenities. This sector is surrounded by another wall, this one only eight metres high and one-and-a-half metres thick.
Category:Fortifications
Category:Sahran
Category:Kiba