Wall Systems
Most castles and cities in Keider are surrounded by walls made from stone that is found locally and only accessible through a few gates inside these walls. Thick walls topped with battlements and approximately evenly spaced watch towers have been popular for a long time because of their practical and intimidating design that is perfect for defense against any dangers from outside.
While the basic idea of walls with spaced out towers has remained the same for a long time, their style has changed with time. It is customary for cities and castle owners to update their walls and other buildings according to the current style. With the invention of cannons, a new style has become necessary to be able to defend the walls with them.
This new style of watch tower is called a bastion and has a characteristic arrow-head shape that enables the guards on them to fire cannons both outward and in parallel to the rest of the walls. The shape of a bastion gets rid of blind spots that previously couldn't be covered by projectile weapons and were therefore harder to defend than other places at the foot of the walls.
Of course, there have to be gates in a wall as well to allow in people who are supposed to get through the walls. Even though, ideally, the enemy won't even be able to reach the gates in the first place, as natural weak spots, the gates must be even more defendable. Castle gates are often protected with drawbridges that can be pulled up in case of an attack. This solution doesn't work for cities most of the time, but that does not necessarily mean that the gates are less defendable.
Most gates, both in cities and castles, are double gates, outfitted with portcullises both on the outside and inside gate. This makes it possible to trap an attacker between the two, a zone that can easily be turned into a death trap. In there, rocks or hot pitch can be thrown down onto the intruder, and there are countless other ways to dispose of people there once trapped.
While the basic idea of walls with spaced out towers has remained the same for a long time, their style has changed with time. It is customary for cities and castle owners to update their walls and other buildings according to the current style. With the invention of cannons, a new style has become necessary to be able to defend the walls with them.
This new style of watch tower is called a bastion and has a characteristic arrow-head shape that enables the guards on them to fire cannons both outward and in parallel to the rest of the walls. The shape of a bastion gets rid of blind spots that previously couldn't be covered by projectile weapons and were therefore harder to defend than other places at the foot of the walls.
Of course, there have to be gates in a wall as well to allow in people who are supposed to get through the walls. Even though, ideally, the enemy won't even be able to reach the gates in the first place, as natural weak spots, the gates must be even more defendable. Castle gates are often protected with drawbridges that can be pulled up in case of an attack. This solution doesn't work for cities most of the time, but that does not necessarily mean that the gates are less defendable.
Most gates, both in cities and castles, are double gates, outfitted with portcullises both on the outside and inside gate. This makes it possible to trap an attacker between the two, a zone that can easily be turned into a death trap. In there, rocks or hot pitch can be thrown down onto the intruder, and there are countless other ways to dispose of people there once trapped.
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