"When Tileans combine Elven architecture with Dwarf masonry you get a leaning tower!"
Tilean forts usually consist of a tall and frequently inclined tower and a great hall with colonnaded galleries and terracotta roof tiles. These are joined together by a courtyard and walls of white stone. It is common to decorate these with paintings. Since the genius engineer Leonardo da Miragliano perfected the technique of building a leaning tower, the fashion has spread throughout Tilea and many princes demolished their old towers to rebuild them in this latest style.[4a]
Leaning towers, or bent towers, are the product of Tilean genius, buildings that defy gravity itself thanks to ingenious buttresses. Commissioning one is a sign of great prestige among the richest patrons of the Tilean city-states. Leaning towers are also used as defensive bastions and prisons across Tilea. Their dungeons have been home to important political prisoners and other uncomfortable personages.[1b][1c]
Miragliano: Origin of the Leaning Towers[]
One of Leonardo da Miragliano's favourite hobbies and intellectual exercises was to devise leaning towers. He would set himself the problem of designing a tower which would stay up despite the most exaggerated angle of inclination. Soon the princes of Tilea vied with each other to acquire Leonardo's latest design for the most outrageous and gravity-defying tower![1c]
The princes of Miragliano have always been patrons of learning and science as much as art, if not more so. Being so close to the mountain passes, and in past centuries under some threat from Bretonnia and the Empire, the princes have been especially concerned with warfare and defence.[1c]
It is no surprise that not only Leonardo da Miragliano, but also Borgio the Besieger began their careers in this city. The defences of Miragliano feature several tall towers which were built to give a view far across the flat landscape. Unfortunately, because of the unstable nature of the ground, most of these are leaning at awkward angles.[1c]
However, thanks to the exceptional engineering skills of the architects in the pay of Prince Cosimo (Leonardo da Miragliano among them) these towers do not fall down. Indeed, Miragliano has set a fashion in architecture which has been copied in other cities, especially Luccini where the princes are renowned for their great sense of humour.[1c]
Now every Tilean city either boasts its own leaning tower or aspires to have one. Only in Tilea could such a thing happen! Borgio once commented that executed men look so much better hanging from a leaning tower. He should know! He would often execute his opponents a dozen at a time. It is said that the weight made the towers lean over a couple more degrees during his rule![1c]
All around Miragliano, thick walls protected against invasion and numerous towers protruded from their soggy foundations to protect those walls.[2a]
Notable Leaning Towers[]
Dumio[]
The Dread Tower of Dumio is one of the many leaning towers in Tilea. It was here where the Orb of the Ancients was kept until the mercenaries called the Birdmen of Catrazza were commissioned to steal it by a nerchant prince.[1a]
Remas[]
"What do you know about it Giovanni! It's not so bad, it's a nice tower! You just got no respect for the work of Leonardo da Miragliano"
The Leaning Tower of Remas, also called the "Old Tower," is a leaning tower used as a prison guarded by Ogres. It was here that Ragged Ricco was saved by his troops before he was chopped into tiny bits and impaled on the tower itself. The regiment promptly rescued Ricco from the dungeon, routing all troops sent against them (which outnumbered them ten to one) in the process.[1a][2a]
The towers on the north gate of Remas lean over the moat beyond the walls. Some say far too much due to the terrible angle of fire. These towers were made by Leonardo da Miragliano himself.[1f]
Other towers are at both ends of the Great Reman Bridge. They are huge; rising to twice the height of the tallest of the mansions and leaning out over the water at angles that defied gravity so intensely that it seemed impossible, even with the many colossal stone buttresses that arose from the water to give them support.[1a][2a]
Luccini[]
The many bent towers of Luccini can be seen leaning in different directions even from outside the city walls.[1e]
Sartosa[]
An apocryphal tale says that Borgio the Besieger was once taken prisoner by the Pirate Princess of Sartosa, and escaped by diving into the sea from the dungeon tower, which was conveniently leaning over a high cliff in Sartosa, and swam the Pirates' Current across to Tilea. Then he returned with a mercenary fleet, captured the princess and would not let her go until the pirates had paid him an enormous tribute gathered from their far-flung stashes of plunder. If this ever happened it must have been early in his career.[1b]
Verezzo[]
Above the piazza of Verezzo there is a leaning tower. It is the same tower where Daddallo was imprisoned after accidentally killing the captain of the bodyguard of the Batta Family.[1a]
Catrazza[]
The parents of a beautiful young woman named Isabella Dellecta wanted her to marry a rich and cruel merchant from Miragliano called Grobbo. In order to force her consent, they decided to lock her in the leaning tower of Catrazza. However, this vile plan was thwarted by Alfeo Romeo, Isabella's lover, who hired the mercenaries of the Birdmen of Catrazza to free her. Dadallo and his troops succeeded in this, although the tower was guarded by a troop of crossbowmen.[1a]
For their success, the mercenaries inherited the name of the town and from that day forward they were known as the Birdmen of Catrazza.[1a]
Game History[]
The leaning towers of Tilea first appeared in White Dwarf 211 as the creation of Nigel Stillman. They would later appear in the Dogs of War army book and Warhammer: Siege supplement.
Trivia[]
Nothing is known about the location of the Dread Tower of Dumio, the reason it was feared, the importance of the artifact in question, or the success of the Birdmen's mission.[1a]
The leaning towers are based on the concept of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The Tilean trend of building increasingly leaning towers is a reference to a real practice in medieval Italy, where every wealthy person gained prestige by building a tower in their name. The higher the tower, the greater the prestige it conferred.