Xajorkith

The Citadel Xajorkith is majority-human Imperial settlement in the wide southern plains. It was built five hundred years ago. Unlike many other citadels originally built at the same time, it has never been breached.

Founding
Emperor Dazso IV expanded imperial holdings southwards from the capital towards the coast during the early part of his reign. Although the Imperial armies were able to sweep aside the minor rulers of the region, Imperial presence drew renewed interest from its rivals, particularly Fire Lizards who had previously crossed the channel to plunder the region. The distinct lack of natural defensive features left garrisons vulnerable to attacks from armies and from partisans attempting to expel the Imperial soldiers.

Dazso IV had an ambitious plan - if there were no existing fortifications, he would build some. If there was no geography to exploit as a defensive feature, he would build that, too.

Xajorkith was the second largest of seven citadels built on the plains to the same design.

Layout
The foundations of the citadels were dug fifty feet deep, filled with solid rock dragged down from the mountains and lengths of iron bar to make it harder to undermine. These in turn supported a steep-sided, rectangular motte, faced with worked stone. The entrances - usually one in each side - were at outside ground level but sloped upwards to the interior ground level, hemmed in on both sides by more worked stone. The main gates were controlled from small gatehouses built into motte, accessible from nowhere but the sloped walkway.

The main walls were fifty feet thick and built two to three hundred feet high, with a wall walk at the top. Rather than solid stone, they were two stone walls filled with rocky debris. The slope of the motte was continued in the walls, creating an optical illusion that makes them seem taller than they are when viewed from the bottom. The only buttresses were on the inner side, so attacks had no choice but to attack the wall directly. The corners had turrets built on top of them, little more than look-out posts and a small platform where a siege engine could be assembled. Apart from the gatehouse rooms, no windows were let in the walls for the first hundred feet.

Originally, the interior of the citadels was a well-planned military encampment. A central building for the commander had uninterrupted view to each of the gates. Civilian facilities, rooftop farms and wells were built up against the walls and buttresses. In time, however, citadel populations grew and forced the construction of more floors and more buildings, turning the interior into a warren of overlapping residences that, in some cases, reached nearly to the tops of the walls themselves. At the lower levels, daylight is never seen. Similarly, buildings were built just outside the walls, compromising the defensive integrity of the citadels in many cases.

Xajorkith Today
The walls have been kept in reasonable repair, although they bear the scars of previous sieges. The corner turrets have had their original catapults replaced with trebuchets, although they are of questionable quality. The upper floors of the turrets are home to some mystics from the barbs, who cast auguries against the future from the highest points of the citadel. The four main gates have been supplemented by portcullis drops in the avenues from them to the citadel's heart, although any enemy capable of breaching the first will only be delayed by the latter.

The main barracks have not changed, although they no longer have such conveniently straight roads to the defensive positions.

Some of the motte has been dug out to form an undercroft. This was previously used as a tomb for the dead when the citadel was under siege, but now has a number of small shrines. Worshippers also act as impromptu surgeons when the citadel is under siege. These 'sacred vaults' are off-limits without an invitation.

Military History
The citadels served the purpose that Dazso IV intended for them. Their extreme scale provided strategic challenges when it came to defending them - tactics for using archers, for example, had to be rethought. The siege engine emplacements proved to be less than useful, habitually overshooting the enemy or being too hard to aim at a foe that was further down than he was away.

Only one citadel fell in Dazso IV's reign, and that was due in part to an infiltrator. All other attempts to breach them came to nothing. Xajorkith itself came under attack and enemy sappers attempted to undermine the south wall, but to their chagrin the wall was well-enough supported by the adjacent buildings that it did not fall.

Despite this seeming success, they never quite justified the huge cost of their construction. As the Empire expanded, they were no longer in dangerous territory. They were too far from the coast to be useful in defending against enemy landings.

Two were abandoned completely and plundered for building materials by local towns until the walls finally collapsed in on themselves.

During the Second Empire, the plains were again contested territory. Two citadels were captured temporarily, one of which the invaders tried (without success) to slight before retreating. An earth mage shhok down the walls of another, but this resulted in more casualties among the attacking force than among the small number of defenders. One was destroyed by fire after a lightning strike, the haphazard construction was blamed for both letting the fire take hold and making it impossible to fight adequately.

Current Inhabitants
In modern times, the three citadels that remain are in less than excellent repair and are seen as dead-end postings. As fire lizard monarchs are currently indulging in rhetoric regarding 'reclaiming' the plains, garrisons have been increased.

The citadel of Xajorkith acts as a trade hub as well as a military stronghold. It is more cosmopolitan than the surrounding towns and villages, and plays host to merchants of all species. Because of this, non-human immigrants to the plains have chosen to settle in Xajorkith or nearby.