Stonekeep
From MoongatesWiki
Stonekeep is the player-run village and fortress of the Guardsmen Militia, based at the Yew crossroads in Trammel on the Europa-shard.
It loomed in the distance, a mighty stone building standing for Justice and Duty. The marvel was a credit to the simple people of Yew and its protectors the Guardsmen Militia. The young women sat on an overturned tree trunk to rest a while, taking the opportunity to take in the new surroundings while feeding her grumbling stomach.
&mdash Ril Nnahtol, on her first viewing of Stonekeep
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The Citadel
This old and battle-ravaged building has been torn down and rebuilt countless times. It has stood through numerous wars, weathered repeated invasions, and endured disasters of all sorts. The pale grey rock from which the keep is shapen stands in sharp contrast to the sea of green that surrounds it, like an islet of order ravaged by the waves of chaos. From atop it's walls fly the gold-and-grey banners of Yew, teamed with the grey-and-white Royal standard. Whether true or simple romantic fantasy, it is claimed that within the Citadel are enough arms and armour to equip the citizens of Yew three times over. This is unlikely as the Militia are all too often under-funded, though few attempts have been made to end the rumour. The Citadel was last rebuilt around a decade ago, and has since acquired scars in abundance; from scorch marks and stubborn blood-stains in the stonework's nooks and crannies, to whole sections of the outer wall dented, toppled, and patched up. It may not be the prettiest building in Sosaria, but it is certainly one of the most enduring, and is the pinnacle of Yewish martial pride.
The Kings' Deer
The foremost inn and tavern to be found in Yew, the King's Deer has stood in the Citadel's shadow for many years now, the vestage of cheer in an otherwise cheerless setting. It is a peaceful and prosperous structure run by Militia bondsmen and raking in a sizable fraction of Stonekeep's upkeep. The tavern is supposedly built on the foundations of the first Citadel.
The Church
At the north-eastern edge of Stonekeep stands the Guardsmen's personal Avatarian church, the spire towering skywards, and it's mounted silver ankh catching the sun's light magnificently. This is a beautiful but sobering building, with a dark slate roof, grand stain-glass windows, and great doors carved of the native yew. The local clergy go about their business within, disrupted only by mass, common service, and the occasional Magistrate visit.
OOC History of Stonekeep
It all began in the spring of 2000..no wait I tell a lie, the guardsmen have always wanted bigger grounds, since all we had in felucca was a four small houses and a main large brick house. Most of the things you see in Stonekeep now doubled up in the Felucca HQ. The workshop was also used as a cell. The main hall was also meeting room, tavern, training room and armory.
When we heard that there was actually a set date for placing in Trammel we started to get excited, unfortunately it was due to be right in the middle of Damien's exams so it was passed on to the too most senior members to him at that time - Sergeant Timothy McGregor and Templar Knight Sir Hugo.
These people worked very hard to make Stonekeep what it is today. They both spent a lot of time on test center, testing different combinations and enlisted the help of Sergeant Llemandrell to make some drawings.
Drawing closer to the date of placement we were the people were chosen to place the new buildings. I was to place the Marksmen tower, everything was carefully planned. We were briefed on exactly what to do and sent a program and a diagram of exactly where to place for it all to fit in. Each man also had a back up with a deed to place if he failed or lost connection. In the case of the citadel we had two backups as it was the main piece. Other than the citadel each man was to place a sandstone building as it covered the space needed. These were nicknamed "Stonekeep Blockers".
The day finally came. Everyone got there two hours early and as it approached more and more people were starting to turn up, it looked to me less and less likely of placement..
Then it occurred to me.. Why not bring in the twenty guards that were sitting back in Felucca doing nothing. We bought them in and four or five of the other people started to leave to go somewhere else.
I started my special program at around 8:40 GMT. (placing was at nine). I was suddenly surprised that at around 8:50 my house was placed! The taints looked astonished, 8 or 9 houses appeared out of nowhere. It was a wonderful sight. That night a rough decoration of a few chairs was placed in the citadel. Gradually over the week some other decorations were put up although it was again redecorated a few weeks later by a redecoration committee and again by Lyria near Christmas.
Over the coming months the other buildings began to turn into new placements and by September Stonekeep was well and truly established running its first events in September.
For the record, Stonekeep was established on 20/07/00
