Fort Conchúr

Sketch of Fort Conchúr by tumblr user @thewatchau

Location of Fort Conchúr in Duilintinn by tumblr user @thewatchau

Fort Conchúr is a garrison of The Watch located in House Jackie, Duilintinn, close to the border of House Jameson and House Marvin.

## History

Fort Conchúr was built during the Feadhainn Era, and still retains the circular architecture and intricate stonework of that age to this day.

When Lord Jackie began his life as a vigilante, he took up residence in Fort Conchúr, which was nothing but a ruin at the time. It would become a sort of HQ for the young hero, later expanding to welcome all members of Sean’s questing party.

After Duilintinn's founding, Fort Conchúr was repaired in a series of government-created civil projects over the course of several years. This was when the modern wooden floors were added. The original floors were at least a thousand years old by the time Duilintinn was founded. Despite how long Feadhainn’s architecture had lasted in most other respects, gravity and exposure to the elements left most of the upper floors of these structures in a weakened condition.

After the repairs had been completed, barely a few months passed before The Watch was founded and the structure was chosen for its use. To this day, the original reason why Fort Conchúr and Iolla Beacon (a similarly decrepit Feadhainn structure that was chosen for The Watch) were being repaired is unknown. Perhaps it was nothing more than a public works project to bring the kingdom together, or an attempt to preserve the land’s ancient heritage.

In the three years between the announcement of The Watch and its eventual implementation, thousands of workers were hired to prepare the garrisons and outposts for their new residents. Hundreds of carpenters, woodworkers, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen were hired on behalf of the king to get the job done as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Since the initial plan was to build barracks-style living spaces, the Guard Coalition were also consulted on how to safely, efficiently, and practically house as many Watchers as possible into the limited space they had in each garrison. While the Guard Coalition discouraged the use of barracks-style housing in Fort Stiofán, they agreed that it was ideal for a more action-focused garrison such as Fort Conchúr, where people spend most of their day on the move, return to their rooms exhausted, and pass out instantly.

The same guilds who constructed rudimentary plumbing in other areas of Duilintinn (The Order of Stone and Ocean Men) were recruited to construct the bathhouses and other necessary facilities in all of the outposts and garrisons.

The garrison was put into official use by The Watch in January 1603.

In 1604, three heavily armed, angry-looking fighters entered the garrison in the middle of the night. The Watch hadn't implemented any sort of identification system yet, so they were assumed to be Watchers until they began to attack Watchers in Fort Conchúr's living quarters. Thankfully, many of the Watchers inside were still awake and sprung to action; only five Watchers were severely injured before all three attackers were killed or incapacitated, and all five injured Watchers eventually recovered from their injuries. The two attackers who survived the initial response by the surprised Watchers both resisted medical care and died soon afterward, refusing to explain their actions. While their motivations are still unknown to this day, this event led to the implementation of a membership certificate for all Watchers that proved their identity before they were allowed to enter areas exclusive to The Watch.

## Purpose

Fort Conchúr technically serves the same purpose as Fort Stiofán and its stone walls are full of similar activity: bards, messengers, patrols, intense discussions of the threat at hand, etc.

However, Fort Conchúr’s closer proximity to the Western Forest allows this garrison to be a launching point for any hunts or attacks upon The Enemy hiding beyond its borders. The atmosphere within has evolved to differ from its northern counterpart accordingly. Unlike Fort Stiofán’s environment of hushed concentration, analysis, defense, and anticipation of The Enemy’s movements and actions, Fort Conchúr seeks a way to strike first.

Together, the offensive tactics from Fort Conchúr and defensive tactics from Fort Stiofán function as a cohesive unit. They are in close communication with one another, with messengers and ravens constantly traveling between the two garrisons. While each garrison is solely responsible for supplying and maintaining their four outposts, neither garrison will send orders to one of their outposts without conferring with the other garrison except when time is critical. However, despite all of this contact between them, Fort Conchúr and Fort Stiofán could not feel more different to the Watchers who live there.

Fort Conchúr is the garrison that never sleeps. The Watchers within don’t just seek to watch The Enemy and anticipate his plans. Rather, in everything they do, they seek a way to actively fight back. Watching, in their minds, is no good if we cannot react to what we see… and I’m not inclined to disagree with them.

## Location

Fort Conchúr is built into the side of a hill!

   Loch Glas is located in the lowest part of the Draoidh Valley, and Fort Conchúr is located very close to its eastern banks. It only makes sense that the fortress would be built into the side of the nearby slope.

In addition, Fort Conchúr is very focused on the military side of fighting The Enemy, and having a body of water in front and a hill at its back is a pretty tactically defensive position. At the very least, the forces of The Enemy would have to get across TWO rivers and at least one outpost in order to sneak around the back to gain a height advantage. That high ground also happens to be in the lands of the most martially skilled region of the kingdom: House Jackie. Anyone who attempted this would most likely be facing a fight on two sides as fighters from House Jackie in the east come to reinforce the fighters from Fort Conchúr in the west.

Plus, fortresses built into the sides of hills are just cool.

## Architecture

Fort Conchúr is a massive circular fortress, built in the ancient style seen in Monacoil and Iolla Beacon. This architectural style was developed in Feadhainn, using precise stonework and as few corners as possible. The stone walls and echoing halls of Fort Conchúr’s imposing stonework are constantly illuminated with entertainment, color, and life from the creativity, joy, magic, and invention from House Jameson and House Marvin.

### Layout

   Though difficult to tell from my drawing, Fort Conchúr is built into the side of a hill. While the central courtyard of the fortress is dug about two stories below ground level, the hill’s slope has been preserved.

This slope gives the garrison an interesting layout. As depicted on the right without the central keep, you can see that there are multiple gates and layers of buildings along the outer wall (see right image). Note that, with the exception of the stairs and hillside (of course) none of the surfaces are angled or ramped in any way. Rather than lowering to meet the ground, the hillside is rising to meet the end of the path to the courtyard.

For a different perspective of what this would look like, here’s an earlier draft of the image at the very top of this page (see right image). At first, the ground drops, creating space for a second floor to be added in the structures underneath the walkway. However, when the ground rises up again on the other side, the walkway loses one story, dropping it to ground level.

### Outer Ramp

Fort Conchúr is very focused on the military side of fighting The Enemy, and having a body of water in front and a hill

at its back is a pretty tactically defensive position. At the very least, the forces of The Enemy would have to get across TWO rivers and at least one outpost in order to sneak around the back to gain a height advantage. That high ground also happens to be in the lands of the most martially skilled region of the kingdom: House Jackie. Anyone who attempted this would most likely be facing a fight on two sides as fighters from House Jackie in the east come to reinforce the fighters from Fort Conchúr in the west. Plus, fortresses built into the sides of hills are just cool.

While the central courtyard of the fortress is dug about two stories below ground level, the hill’s slope has been preserved, giving the garrison an interesting layout. As depicted in the image to the right, without the central keep, you can see that there are multiple gates and layers of buildings along the outer wall. Note that, with the exception of the stairs and hillside (of course) none of the surfaces are angled or ramped in any way. Rather than lowering to meet the ground, the hillside is rising to meet the end of the path to the courtyard.

### Living Spaces

    I referenced the structures seen underneath the walkways along the outer walls of Fort Conchúr. You can’t see much of them except for the doors and windows I added to indicate how many stories tall they are.

It’s hypothesized that this area under the ramp was originally designed for stables during the Feadhainn Era. The doorways on the lower floors are far larger than the doors in the rest of the garrison, so the rooms on the first floor were probably used as stalls or washing/grooming bays. The upper floors were likely used for storage for feed and tack, or perhaps living quarters for stable hands. It’s hard to say; nothing except the fortress itself has survived since the rooms were used for their original purpose.

Today, the spaces are filled with bunks to house the Watchers living in Fort Conchúr. Unlike in Fort Stiofán, privacy wasn’t the main priority when planning living spaces for the Watchers of Fort Conchúr. Instead, it was safety and mobility in case of an attack. Since Fort Conchúr is a military research base, Watchers come and go far more than they do at Fort Stiofán. The latter is a place of work, but in the former, the garrison is simply a staging point for further operations. To this end, living spaces are large, shared rooms that resemble a hostel. Each room holds multiple bunks, a washbasin, and nothing more. There aren’t assigned beds; Watchers just collapse in the nearest bunk at the end of the day.

Covered walkways with arched openings and large windows line the inner side of the ramp outside these quarters,

offering shortcuts to Watchers who, say, don’t need to walk all the way down the ramp and up two flights of stairs to get to their room on the third floor. There are still security checkpoints at the doors to the living quarters, regardless of what floor you enter from, but non-watchers are allowed to wander the walkways or take the stairs down to the ground level instead of the ramp.

In addition, three awkward-shaped spaces in this section of the garrison, which’s original purposes are unknown, are now used for bathhouses. This is different from the bathhouses of all other outposts and garrisons in The Watch, which were constructed specifically for the organization in the preparatory period from 1599-1603, not placed in pre-existing structures as we see with Fort Conchúr.

Watchers at Fort Conchúr are assigned a chest in a shared storage room, unlike the chest-bed storage in Fort Stiofán. At Fort Stiofán, everyone has semi-private quarters with a piece of furniture that doubles as a bed and a storage unit. Since the rooms are lockable, you aren’t given a lock for the chest, and have to bring your own if you have valuables. However, in Fort Conchúr, everyone sleeps in large, hostel-style rooms of bunked beds, while large rooms of chests are used to store personal items. Since these storage rooms are not locked, Fort Conchúr does provide a lock, which Watchers use to secure their belongings in an available chest. However, these chests are not large, and full-time residents of the garrison are encouraged to bring as little with them as possible. Everything you’ll need to do your job will be provided to you at Fort Conchúr.

### Shops

There are other important buildings in Fort Conchúr as well, besides the living spaces underneath the walkways. Namely, the shops on top of those walkways! These shops are fairly self-explanatory. Just like Fort Stiofán has a number of workshops built around its main courtyard for repairs, supplies, entertainment, etc, Fort Conchúr has some within its walls as well.

Like Stiofán the workshops are mostly used by professionals, but Watchers can use them as well, with premission and supervision of the professional.

The main difference is the sheer amount of shops. Some are run by former Watchers who wanted a more sedentary lifestyle but didn’t want to leave the garrison. Others are locals trying to do their part or make an extra buck. While the workshops at Fort Stiofán are sponsored by The Watch, many stores in Fort Conchúr are not. There are a few that are run by The Watch, offering free services to Watchers who need them to keep the garrison running, but the additional shops that would not be found in Fort Stiofán are independent efforts.

### Central Keep

The central keep of Fort Conchúr was built primarily as a final stronghold in case of an attack. Round towers are

remarkably strong, and the keep’s large size allows it to shelter thousands if necessary. Nowadays, it not only protects people, but the ideas upon which rest the hope of success for The Watch. Councils of soldiers discussing battle strategy, mages experimenting on unfamiliar magic and testing new spells, scouts reporting their findings from the deepest fringes of Enemy territory we dare tread…

Everything new we learn about and from The Enemy passes through Fort Conchúr. Dark magics, horrible monsters, psychological horrors… the Watchers in the western garrison are not only the first to know when new danger is upon us, but they are the first to begin seeking out countermeasures as well. Fort Stiofán may seek to understand The Enemy, to find an answer that will finish this war once and for all, but in the meantime, Fort Conchúr is the garrison that has to react to his evil every single day.

The results of their decades of effort are all found, created, perfected, and stored within the central keep of Fort Conchúr. It’s reasonable to assume that, if it falls, The Watch will fall with it.

#### Floor 1-Great Hall

Featured on the first floor are:

* 4 main entrances, each with spaces for a guard room
* 2 kitchens, each with 3 fireplaces and 2 large ovens
* 2 messenger rooms
* 2 large staircases to the upper floors
* and a large open space in the center of the floor

Many of these features are very similar to those found in Fort Stiofán.

The guard rooms fill the exact same purpose as their counterparts in Fort Stiofán, but likely don’t feature a messenger desk. As you can see, two of the entrances are directly adjacent to the messenger rooms, while two others have a (currently empty) space between themselves and the messenger rooms.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to use that empty space for, but my biggest plan is to turn those spaces into a mail-room type area, where the mail coming into or destined to leave the garrison is stored until someone comes along to deal with it. In a way, it’d fill the functional hole left behind by the lack of a messenger desk at the entrances. However, that still might be subject to change.

The messenger rooms function identically to the messenger tower in Fort Stiofán, but differ slightly in layout. Instead of a single tower, these are actual rooms, with dedicated stairways into the messenger room on the floor above (and below, on upper floors). In addition, Fort Conchúr has *two* messenger rooms on each floor, rather than Fort Stiofán’s one.

The open space in the center is still unfinished (in Minecraft, not in canon), but I do have an idea of what it’ll eventually look like. It’s similar to Fort Stiofán’s great hall in that it takes up both the first and second floor and features tables and seating for Watchers to gather and socialize. However, it differs in how it opens up directly into the kitchens through two large archways on either side (you can see the pillar between the arches on the map).

Finally, the stairs are… well, stairs. They’re closed off from the rest of the garrison for noise-dampening purposes, lest the echoes from the lower floors reach the quieter areas on the floors above.

#### Floor 2-Hall Balcony

Fort Conchúr’s second floor functions very similarly to the second floor of Fort Stiofán, but instead of seating areas

with windows looking into the great hall, Fort Conchúr has a combination of meeting rooms, messenger rooms, and seating areas along the outer edge of the balcony-esque floor. There’s no wall around the central open area; it’s just a big hole. Although I’ll probably add a railing or something later.

Although you can’t see it in the diagram, the seating areas get some natural light from the windows along those two sections of the wall. The four rooms also have at least one window.

Finally, the stairs take their usual form by the time we hit the second floor. Throughout the rest of the keep, each flight of stairs is enclosed by a section of wall that somewhat juts into the circular layout of each floor. Near the center of this wall, a door leads to a small landing, with stairs leading up or down in either direction.

#### Floor 3-Research Hub

The third floor of Fort Conchúr is the central research hub of the garrison. The main rooms have numbers penciled in,

which I’ll be using to identify each room and it’s purpose.

#1 is the Medical Desk. This is the place where people seeking medical attention are checked in and given a superficial once-over before being admitted to the Medical Ward (#2). Due to all of the research that takes place, strict
record-keeping of all medical care is necessary, both to accumulate useful data for the researchers and to protect the patients from any unsanctioned experimentation. Thankfully, the latter is more of a precautionary measure than something born of experience.

#3 is the alchemy, medicine, and enchantment room. Basically, it’s for researching and producing any goods that impart an effect upon someone through magical or mundane means. It’s located close to the medical ward to provide the latter easy access to any medicines they might need. It’s likely got all sorts of surfaces, tools, and storage spaces for
that sort of work, but I haven’t designed/built anything in detail yet.

#4 is the magical training room. Essentially, it’s a longer room specifically for two people to either a) learn/teach magic as a master and apprentice mage, b) spar magically with each other, or c) test new applications of ones focus (aka new spells). Generally, no one is allowed to use the room alone; even if you’re testing new spells, someone should be there in case something goes wrong. The room itself is heavily warded in case of an accident, but that’s more to protect the rest of the building, rather than the person inside. For everyone’s safety, you have to be at least a journeyman mage (or accompanied by
one) to use the space, since novices and apprentices are more likely to lose control of their magic. The door is also enchanted to lock itself automatically when the room is in use, to prevent any disastrous interruptions.

#5 is the magical research room. While the training room is used to practice and test one’s *ability* to use their magic, this space is used to learn more about its nature and effects. Of course, the facility’s primary goal is to neutralize The Enemy’s magic by finding a way to free those under his control and uncovering a means of defeating him. However, other useful applications of magic are also researched in this area.

This floor also features some meeting rooms for researchers who need to have a private meeting or table space for less tactile work (aka paperwork). Thanks to the nature of research, everyone who frequents this floor is painfully familiar with the lab reports they’re required to fill out after each experiment or procedure. There are some Watcher’s whose job (in part) is to a) make sure that paperwork is completed and b) assist anyone who’s struggling/not making an effort to sufficiently document their research. After all, The Watch is a group, and an individual’s research does no one any good if that information remains trapped in their head.

In addition, a few private bedrooms are located near the medical ward. These rooms either function as operating rooms (to avoid upsetting
others in the medical ward) *or* can be used by the doctors if they need a rest or want to remain on-call after their shift. Although, personally, I might hesitate to take a nap in the same rooms where surgeries take place, the doctors and nurses who perform these procedures might be less squeamish.

Finally, there are two messenger towers (or one, see the first floor section) and two sets of stairs that function exactly like the others in the previous floors.

This floor of Fort Conchúr has a reputation for being notoriously maze-like. There’s a pretty good reason for this reputation; unlike every other floor of Fort Conchúr, the layout of the rooms on the research floor is asymmetrical.

On most floors, even if the purposes of the individual rooms are different on either symmetrical side, if you wander over to the wrong one, you can just turn around and head directly to the one that you know is located across the floor. In addition, the hallways on each floor usually form a complete loop or branch off in identical ways.

However, the third floor is cursed with a layout that, at first glance, looks like it might be symmetrical, but is anything but. And there’s a good chance that, when you realize your mistake and try to get to the other end of the floor, you’ll find the hall ending abruptly at the door to the medical office instead of continuing in a nice loop around the floor! And since only a handful of the rooms have doors on more than one wall… you’re starting to see why this is a hassle, right?

Thank God the magical training room only has one entrance, otherwise people would constantly be trying to cut through it as a shortcut. The medical reception has to put up with enough confused Watchers passing through on a daily basis as is. There is a joke though about new Watchers being given a map to this floor, and only this floor.

#### Floor 4-Watcher Storage

Welcome to storage land! Home of *boxes*. Lots and lots of boxes.

Okay, that’s only a slight exaggeration.

Watchers at Fort Conchúr are assigned a chest in a shared storage room, unlike the chest-bed storage in Fort Stiofán. At Fort Stiofán, everyone has semi-private quarters with a piece of furniture that doubles as a bed and a storage unit. Since the rooms are lockable, you aren’t given a lock for the chest, and have to bring your own if you have valuables. However, in Fort Conchúr, everyone sleeps in large, hostel-style rooms of bunked beds, while large rooms of chests are used to store personal items. Since these storage rooms are not locked, Fort Conchúr does provide a lock, which Watchers use to secure their belongings in an available chest. However, these chests are not large, and full-time residents of the garrison are encouraged to bring as little with them as possible. Everything you’ll need to do your job will be provided to you at Fort Conchúr.

Well, after doing the math and realizing just how many chests would be required for every Watcher to have one if every bed in the garrison was filled, I realized that I might need to rethink the concept of “chests”. At the time, I was imagining a typical, rectangular-prism-shaped chest that’s rarely taller than your hip and opens from the top, but I couldn’t fit nearly fifteen hundred of those in a single floor.

So instead, we’ve got lockers.

I know, I know, it’s stupid sounding, but since they rise all the way to the ceiling, it’s a far more efficient use of the space. When converted to real-world measurements, each box is a cubic meter, which holds most everything except the larger varieties of armor and weapons. Those last two things are kinda important, I know, but I also haven’t figured out where the Watchers of Fort Conchúr are going to store their food yet, so trust me when I say that more storage options will eventually come to this garrison. I’m just not sure where yet.

In the two box-less spaces near the door to the stairways, there will be some sort of desk where new Watchers can get a lock and key from someone before they find themselves an empty chest. The people manning these desks also function as witnesses to deter any attempts to break into someone else’s box.

And yes, I’m calling them boxes because I refuse to call them lockers more than once. This is a dignified high fantasy universe and calling the boxes “lockers” makes it sound like the garrison is a high school or something.

As with the other floors, there are two (or one, again, see the post about the first floor) messenger towers and two staircases.

#### Floor 5-Quiet Floor

The fifth floor is essentially the “quiet floor” of Fort Conchúr, partly to make up for the lack of private quarters, and

partly to fulfill the role of the garrison’s “place of worship”. It’s slightly less private in comparison to the equivalent space in Fort Stiofán’s Oratory Tower, but that seems to be a trend when comparing Fort Conchúr to its sister garrison.

Like Fort Stiofán’s Oratory Tower, there are small alcoves in a few of the walls for shrines, altars, etc. Two are located at either end of each of the thinner rooms on the edge of the floor, while eight are located inside the corners of the center room.

In addition, the same religious/spiritual items are stored on this floor as are stored in Fort Stiofán’s Oratory Tower, with the exact same policy regarding requesting and restocking these items.

However, this is where the similarities end. Instead of circular windows facing the eight points of a compass, the two outer rooms have a single wall of windows facing east and west, while the center room is completely windowless. There are also two small sitting areas in the hallways with windows facing southwest and northeast.

Since there are actually a few separate rooms in Fort Conchúr’s place of worship, the rules about quiet are slightly less stringent. You still have to keep it down, but since not every sound will be echoing across the entire floor, you don’t have to worry quite as much. The general policy is that the hallways must be silent (i.e. you shouldn’t be able to hear anything coming from
inside the rooms) and that you should exercise common courtesy within the rooms themselves. Most of the time, the result is the same; quiet religious/spiritual stuff is held inside, noisier stuff is held outside.

TL;DR: The fifth floor is Fort Conchúr’s equivalent to the top of Fort Stiofán’s Oratory Tower, and more or less functions the same with a few minor differences due to its position and layout.

#### Floor 6-Library

Yep, we’ve finally gotten to Fort Conchúr’s library!

There are two rooms on each side of the floor; a messenger room and an office for the librarians. Since so many documents and messages travel up to the library for archival and storage, there’s a small closet in the messenger room in case there are too many for the messengers on staff to drop off at once. Rather than leaving them on the table, any overflow is sorted into shelves in this closet in order to keep these messages organized and semi-private. Oftentimes, the librarians will ask the messengers to leave documents in this closet until they come to pick them up and deal with them, since the offices don’t have very much storage space.

The offices are smaller than the back rooms of Fort Stiofán’s archives, so Fort Conchúr’s library has less staff than in its sister garrison. Librarians focus on the daily upkeep and management of the library itself, but most archival work is sent to Fort Stiofán. The offices are accessible through a door behind the front desks, right outside the doors to the stairs where Watchers enter and exit the floor.

The differing roles between Fort Conchúr and Fort Stiofán are also the reason why Fort Conchúr’s library only has a single floor in comparison to Stiofán’s two and why the two garrisons have different names for their libraries/archives. A library is a collection of reading materials for the purpose of public use. An archive is an extensive collection of materials for the sake of storage. Therefore, Fort Conchúr has a single library, rather than the combined library/archive we colloquially call Fort Stiofán’s archives.

Since the library is open at all hours, there’s a small private bedroom in each office. It’s something of an unspoken rule that one of those rooms belongs to the well-loved, but slightly enigmatic Librarian Katerina Emerald, who rarely leaves the library floor. The fact that she hid a wolf in that room before the pair had him certified as a familiar was an open secret among library staff, and to this day, no one questions Kat’s unofficial claim to the bedroom.

The library area itself is made of two types of sections; the center stacks and the outer seating areas. While the stacks are pretty self-explanatory (typical close-set library shelves), it’s kinda hard to get a sense of the other two areas from the map alone. Luckily, I’ve been working on a sketch of this area on-and-off for months now: (will put it in when the wiki plays ball with me)

 It’s not finished, obviously, and the angle of the curve definitely isn’t accurate, but this gives you an idea of what this area would look like.

Tables and chairs are in the center of the open area. Rugs made by artistically-inclined Watchers add some color and homeyness to area.

Instead of flame-based light sources, glowing spheres of magic hover over the tables and shelves to supplement what little natural light enters through the pair of tiny windows on either side of the floor.

Along the wall are a mixture of shelves, storage cabinets, drawers, and baskets that hold books, magical records, and various tools and materials for writing and researching.

This is another difference between Fort Conchúr and its sister garrison in terms of archives. While Fort Stiofán keeps its magical records in a separate room on the archive floors, Fort Conchúr keeps their copies interspersed with the other contents of its library. Note that these records are only stored in the two outer sections; the center stacks are exclusively bookshelves.

For a more engaging description of Fort Conchúr’s library, here is an excerpt from a prompt that was written last year about Bard Emily Keyes’s first visit there:

> "With a groan, Keyes lifted her head and stared blearily at nothing in particular, taking in where exactly her flight had led her. Curved walls of perfect, neat stonework, their deep grey hue undaunted by the browns and blacks of leather bound tomes lining every surface…
>
>

> A bright bulb of magical light suddenly bobbed into view, too bright to look at as the glare forced her to turn her face back into the table."
>
>

#### Floor 7-Meetings Rooms

The seventh floor of Fort Conchúr is solely meeting rooms. Just a whole bunch of meeting rooms, for all of your meeting needs. The rooms along the outer wall have windows, the ones in the middle don’t. There are tables and chairs. The messenger rooms and stairs are the same as on the other floors. That’s… it.

#### Floor 8-Rookery and War Table

Finally, the eighth floor of Fort Conchúr, aka the Rookery! It looks a lot different than Fort Stiofán’s rookery but essentially serves the same function.

The messenger room on this floor looks the same as
that of the other floors (I forgot to draw the tables though, oops), but with a second room attached for the Raven Master’s quarters. Like the messenger tower of Fort Stiofán, I haven’t actually designed that yet, so for now it’s just an empty room.

In the center of the rookery is a unique feature of Fort Conchúr: a huge round war table. Strategists of The Watch will gather around this table to coordinate the scouting and fighting groups that engage with The Enemy’s forces near the Western Forest. Being in the rookery allows them to send, receive, and react to messages from the field as quickly as possible, although it also comes with a few downsides (mostly related to bird poop).

Large windows along the outer wall allow the ravens to fly in and out of the rookery with ease. In the large open spaces near these windows, tall wooden perches rise up from the floor to the ceiling. A set of alcoves are set in one of the walls on each side of the floor (the straight, slightly wider wall by the stairs marked in red) for nests.

Speaking of that slightly wider wall, do you see the wall in the middle of the stairs? Beyond that wall, the stairwell’s ceiling gives way to the open air, allowing you to climb the last few stairs up to the roof. Without that door, the stairwells would be transformed into mini-waterfalls every time it rains.

### Exterior

Very little in an “encyclopedic” sense has been written about the area immediately beyond Fort Conchúr, which mostly features some rice terraces for agriculture nestled into the steep hillside down into the Draoidh Valley.

However, Em wrote a prompt describing the setting a while back that sets the scene quite well

> "The first time you travel to Fort Conchúr from the east, sighing in
> relief to see the endless horizon of House Jackie’s plains break against the trees and mountains of House Marvin in the distance, you wonder if you’ve mistakenly arrived at an outpost, or maybe a large village.
>
>

> This can’t be the fabled western garrison of The Watch, where mages and warriors strike out, seeking The Enemy’s darkest secrets and deepest weaknesses! A few stone tower- barely a few stories tall- poke over the horizon, and the walls don’t even look high enough to stop a band of brigands!
>
>

> You wrack your mind for where you made a wrong turn, trying to figure out where you’ve ended up. The only place you can think of is Mulladún, the regional capital of House Jackie on the coast of the Agrona, but even that seemed too large for the structure you’re moving towards right now.
>
>

> Maybe whoever lives here can help point you in the right direction…
>
>

> And then you reach the edge of Draoidh Valley, cross the border into House Marvin, and look down.
>
>

> Below you lies a massive stone garrison, built into the hillside about halfway up the side of the valley. The towers and walls were not small at all, but massive, reaching high enough to peer over the steep slope and survey all of the land around them. From this vantage point, you can see the waters of Loch Glas shimmering like a mirror in the distance.
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> The road carefully winds down towards a gate on the garrison’s eastern side. As you travel closer, you notice wide terraces cut into the hillside just beyond the walls. These structures, constructed hundreds, if not thousands of years ago by their ancient predecessors, hosts the crops and pastures necessary to support such a large garrison.
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> Like the eponymous structure at the Iolla Beacon outpost, Fort Conchúr’s stone architecture is a remnant of the civilization that tamed this land for centuries when the age of souls first began. Nothing remains of them now but the fragments of their language- preserved through place names and scraps of expressions passed down through the generations- and ruins such as these.
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> But Fort Conchúr is hardly a ruin. Not anymore. The Watch refurbished it years ago, just as it had Iolla Beacon, replacing the rotting floorboards and shoring up the few cracks that had dared mar the legendary stonework of forgotten masters. Not even Duilintinn’s finest architects have ever come close to matching the skills of their ancestors.
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> Now in the shadow of this great fortress, you understand why people say that Fort Conchúr is impenetrable."
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