Castle Garamont

Castle Garamont is the ancient seat of power for the Castellan of Bastonne, and thus the first line of defense for the entire dukedom. it was also the birthplace and home of the famed Grail Knight, Calard of Garamont.

History
Castle Garamont was a fine, strong fortress, built in the time of the first ruler of Garamont, over nine generations earlier. Constructed from locally quarried pale stone, the castle glowed a warm rose colour during the rising, morning sun.

Perched atop a rocky bluff, the castle was the highest visible structure for miles around. The location of the fortress had been carefully chosen, both for it's defensive value and for the dominating aspect it held over the surrounding countryside. The approach from the south was gently sloping, though the northern side of the castle dropped away sharply, falling hundreds of feet down to the sprawling village of peasant hovels clustered in the shadows beneath it. To those lowborn living within the village below, the castle loomng over them was an ever-present reminder of the strength and power of the Castellan of Bastonne.

The walls of the castle were tall and thick, and scores of Men-at-Arms stood sentry upon the battlements, day and night. Seven tall towers were interspersed along the crenellated walls, three of them topped by sharply tapered spires. An eighth tower, grimly dubbed Morr's Rest, had been part of the original construction, but it's upper section had collapsed some five generations past. Though the repair of the tower had been started on separate occasions by two successive lords of Garamont, fatal accidents among the work crews had postponed work indefinitely, and now it was part of the local superstitions of those too simple to know better. The fact that for five generations the ruined tower had been the roost for countless ravens merely added to the superstitions, and it was perhaps for these creatures that the tower was named.

The powerful gatehouse that led into the castle faced to the south, looking out towards the Forest of Chalons in the distance. Beneath the mighty portcullis, there was an arched gateway littered with murder holes and arrow slits, the gatehouse was probably the most defensible part of the grand castle and it doubled as a barracks for those peasants given the honour of becoming Garamont Men-at-Arms.