Starwatch Keep
Constructed after the Siege of the Prophets nearly breached the Postern Gate, the imposing Starwatch Keep lies just beyond the city’s walls. During times of peace, the keep’s relative isolation ensures that the Starwatch remains apart from the political intrigues they often are charged with unraveling, further preventing them from ever becoming a military threat to the city should they somehow become corrupted. In case of siege, Starwatch Keep falls under the command of the Harbormaster’s Grange and serves to flank attacks on both Pilot Island and the Postern Gate. Generally, Starwatch Keep is then charged with sheltering any vulnerable elements of the Navy and providing a route of retreat should the Flotsam Graveyard be breached and Pilot Island taken. Starwatch Keep has deep stores stretching underground, but if it needs to be resupplied during a siege it relies upon boats rather than trying to move through the Postern.
The height of Starwatch Keep allows its many siege weapons to easily reach the entire Flotsam Graveyard and the Postern. Some high platforms and windows here are kept clear of siege weapons to allow rows of Starwatch snipers to target enemy leaders within the harbor or entering Dawnfoot. If an army moves against the Postern, Starwatch rangers are deployed through the cover of Dawnfoot and the surrounding woods to make hit-and-run attacks.
The inner sections of the keep are a maze of narrow corridors, offices, and small record rooms. Starwatch officers manage investigations out of these secure chambers, while members of the watch conduct witness interviews and store evidence here. The tight corridors are designed to be confusing, the better to slow down intruders and escapees alike.
A walled set of docks provides a home to Wave Riders deployed in the Bay of Kortos. Fortified stalls provide shelter for trained hippocampus mounts. The Starwatch also uses its docks for the several boats and few warships it manages separately from the Navy. Starwatch boats patrol Absalom’s harbor to catch criminals as well as ships attempting to sail the Flotsam Graveyard without a guild pilot. Starwatch warships are also dispatched to interdict ships believed to be carrying violators of Absalom’s laws fleeing justice and to carry Starwatch investigators to naval vessels, the Isle of Erran, and occasionally Diobel or other settlements under Absalom’s jurisdiction.
Since no member of the Starwatch may live within Absalom’s walls, Starwatch Keep is supported by the community of Dawnfoot, which houses their families and support personnel just north of the keep itself. Dawnfoot evacuates into Starwatch Keep if Absalom is attacked.
The inner sections of the keep are a maze of narrow corridors, offices, and small record rooms. Starwatch officers manage investigations out of these secure chambers, while members of the watch conduct witness interviews and store evidence here. The tight corridors are designed to be confusing, the better to slow down intruders and escapees alike.
A walled set of docks provides a home to Wave Riders deployed in the Bay of Kortos. Fortified stalls provide shelter for trained hippocampus mounts. The Starwatch also uses its docks for the several boats and few warships it manages separately from the Navy. Starwatch boats patrol Absalom’s harbor to catch criminals as well as ships attempting to sail the Flotsam Graveyard without a guild pilot. Starwatch warships are also dispatched to interdict ships believed to be carrying violators of Absalom’s laws fleeing justice and to carry Starwatch investigators to naval vessels, the Isle of Erran, and occasionally Diobel or other settlements under Absalom’s jurisdiction.
Since no member of the Starwatch may live within Absalom’s walls, Starwatch Keep is supported by the community of Dawnfoot, which houses their families and support personnel just north of the keep itself. Dawnfoot evacuates into Starwatch Keep if Absalom is attacked.
Type
Keep
Parent Location
Owner
Additional Rulers/Owners
Owning Organization
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