Kemirosa

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Kemirosa is the ancestral castle and seat of power of House Jerisee and is considered to be the capital of Noth. It is located at the foot of the Fang Mountains upon the Speartip River. It is situated at the eastern edge of the Frozen Prairie, north of the Silver Tundra. Kemirosa is positioned southwest of the Barbarian Vale were Barbaria resides.

## Household

Morgan Hjort is the castle's steward, while Apec Dyfan Gwynn advises High King Beoland Jerisee. Valdmar Ibsen serves as Kemirosa's master-at-arms and his cousin Thorkild Ibsen is captain of the House Jerisee guards. Mother Stine maintains the castle's Nariphon Grove and Sister Eda tutors the Jerisee children. Other servants include the master of horse Olaf, the kennel master Dargen, the blacksmith Mikael, the cook Dorothy, and the brewer Glenn.

## Layout

Kemirosa is a huge castle complex spanning several acres and protected by two thick walls. Although there are stone houses lining these walls, there is also an open village outside, mostly compiled of wooden huts where the more poor can afford to live. Kemirosa has been built upon the foot of the Fang Mountains were some hot springs are formed. The water is piped through walls and chambers to heat them, making Kemirosa more comfortable than other castles during the harsh northern winters. As such, there are also steam rooms and hot water pools were those who live in the keep itself can relax.

Inside the walls, the complex is composed of dozens of courtyards and small open spaces were combat training and target practice take place. Next to the Great Keep, sits the Nariphon Grove which the populace use to practice their Vikken worship. Inside stands the inner castle, which contains the Great Keep and the Great Hall.

### Inner Castle

 • The Great Keep is the innermost castle and stronghold of the castle complex. It was built over natural hot springs to keep it warm. Its walls are made of granite. It is connected to the Great Hall and also to Ravenswatch Tower by a covered bridge. From a window on the covered bridge, one can see the Nariphon Grove.

 • The Great Hall is used for receiving guests and the place where the household would dine together, including the Jarl and their family. The Great Hall is very large. On the outside it is enclosed with grey stone and covered with Jerisee banners, with wide doors made of spruce and iron, which opens to the castle yard, whilst a rear exit leads to a dimly-lit gallery. Inside it can hold eight long rows of trestle tables, three to each side of the central aisle, and can seat near enough four hundred people. There is a raised platform for noble guests and visitors.

 • There is a small conservatory which was built for purposes of tutoring; this is where Sister Eda spends most of her day.

### Outer Castle

 • Ravenswatch, a tall and looming watchtower, is the oldest surviving part of the castle. Due to it having been constructed using onyx and black marble, it can appear invisible under certain weather conditions. Surrounding its base, there is a place of honour where burial urns are stacked high with the ashes of those who served House Jerisee with honour and loyalty. Ravenswatch was given its name due to the top of it having looked oddly like the head and beak of a raven. It has been speculated by an old Apec to have been built by the Lunar Elves during the Age of Catastrophe as a watchtower during the war.

 • The ancient Nariphon Grove of Kemirosa has stood untouched for an estimated eight thousand years, with an acre of luscious and fertile earth and close together trees creating a dense canopy, which the castle was raised nearby. At the centre of the grove stands an ancient Nariphon tree itself. It is tended to by Mother Stine to ensure that its carnivorous side remains dormant. The Bath House and also the Temple of Dianna sit within the grove. The grove is enclosed by walls, and is accessed by a main iron gate and a few smaller wooden ones.

 • The glass garden is a greenhouse heated by the hot springs, which turn it into a place of moist warmth. It is used to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers.

 • The crypt of Kemirosa, is located underground between Ravenswatch and the Great Keep, and is where members of House Jerisee are buried. The underground crypts are long and narrow, with pillars moving two by two along its length. Between pillars stand the sepulchres of the Jarls of Kemirosa and their families, the likenesses of the dead carved into their urns, iron weapons of their own choice set before them to keep their spirits from wandering restlessly as draugr. The crypts are located deep under the earth, cavernous and bigger than the complex above ground. They are accessed only by a twisting stone stair and a huge spruce door carved with an impression of Yggdrasil. The stair continues below to older levels where the most ancient Jarls are entombed.

 • The Bell Tower is connected to the rookery by a bridge. The bridge is covered to prevent the rain and snows from ruining it and runs from the fourth floor of the tower to the second floor of the rookery.

 • The rookery is a large open domed tower housing hundreds of ravens and owls. The Apec spends most of his day here reading and writing letters of import.

 • The library is housed as a conjoining building between the conservatory in the inner castle, the rookery and also Temple of Diana.

 • The barracks is in line between the Bell Tower and the Great Hall.

### Walls

Kemirosa is defended by two thick walls of grey granite with a wide moat between them. The outer wall is eighty feet high, while the inner is one hundred feet high also lined with stone houses beneath. There are guard turrets on the outer wall and more than thirty watch turrets on the crenelated inner walls above the installed housing. The great main gates have a gatehouse made of two huge crenelated bulwarks which flank the arched gate and a drawbridge that opens into the market square of the outer village.

 • The Silver Gate is a gate located close to the kennels and the kitchens. It opens directly onto Silver Tundra and by extent the edges of the Eldar Wood, so people can come and go without having to cross through the outer village. It is favoured by hunting parties when making expeditions to the hunting grounds of the Eldar Wood. The East Gate could also be another name for this gate.
 • The Traveller's Gate or Main Gate is next to the stables and leads to the Great Distari Road. The South Gate could also be another name for this gate.
 • The Ashen Gate is a gate located closer to the cover of the Fang Mountains and serves as the quickest route to the Frozen Prairie and by extent the White Forest. This leads nicely onto a signposted road known locally as the Danger Road due to its particular difficulty to traverse during particular weather conditions. The West Gate could also be another name for this gate.

### Citizenship

 • In the southern district of Kemirosa, there are a few residential areas lining the walls serving as both defensive reinforcements and also warm homes for those who can afford them. There is a large market square were trade is maintained by the populace. This is more referred to as the inner city. There is bespoke inn known as Bejewelled.
 • Located outside the walls of Kemirosa lies the wooden huts and farmlands of the outer village. The streets are muddy and lined with rows of houses made from log and undressed stone. During the spring and summer, most of the populace tend to their farms and livestock. The outer village is outside of the Traveller's Gate which leads warmly into the inner city. There is an inn located here called The Frozen Fern.

## History

According to legend, the site on which Kemirosa was built was originally a elven outpost called Ravenswatch, which had been built during the Age of Catastrophe, merely used as a stealthy watchtower seven thousand years ago. It is believed that the city was built in pieces over different times around the site of Ravenswatch, since the ground had not been levelled or planned as a single structure.

For most of recorded history Kemirosa was the seat of House Jerisee after the lunar elves had been driven from the land following the Age of Catastrophe.

According to Vikken legend, Jørd the Young had allegedly been raised in Kemirosa by his mother and father. When his parents did not return from Arkhythe, Jørd ventured there after overhearing reports of a wendigo having driven the populace from the town. During a battle with this wendigo, it had been said that Bjorn, the Aspect of Courage, came to him and offered him a pear from the Orchards of Iðunn. Upon eating the pear, he became Jørd the Wise.

During the Age of Ignorance, the Nariphon tree that currently rests within its grove had once been carnivorous until Vikken practitioners had befriended the tree and pacified it with their good will and charity.