Smallwood Keep

Smallwood Keep is one of the larger cities, ironically, in Dubria. Originally founded as a military installation as a check against the neighboring nation of Fonzia, Smallwood Keep is now a ringed city. As the original fort began to see buildings (first temporary and then permanent) cropping up around the area, they were eventually encircled by a new wall in order to keep them secure, along with new guard outposts around the perimeter. And as the city continued to grow, new homes and businesses were eventually built outside the walls.
The cycle of growth and encirclement has proceeded to the point that there is now three separate rings in the city. The center of the city of Smallwood contains the original fort, now an administrative building, as well as homes belonging to richer families who have been residents of the city since before the first encirclement. The zone outside the innermost wall is known as the Middle Ring. This zone is much poorer than the innermost ring, but generally free of squalor and the poor, who are chased out by the guards. The old original wall is all the separates the Middle and Center zones, and it is in an advanced state of disrepair as it no longer serves any vital functions, and sections of the wall have been removed in places to increase the speed of access from the Middle to the Center Zone and vice versa.
The outermost ring within the walls was only recently encircled in 221, and is referred to as the Outer Zone despite being within the walls now. The Outer Zone is the poorest of those protected by the city walls, and has a number of apartment buildings and other shared housing and renting capacities. The wall between the Outer and Middle zones is fairly well maintained, almost as well as the outermost wall. Entrance from the Outer Zone to the Middle Zone is restricted to the nobility, employees of businesses headquartered in the Middle Zone, the military and residents of the Center and Middle zones.
Outside the walls, new homesteads are restricted by the city government to new farms only, in order to fight back the need for another expansion down the line, as well as to feed the growing populations within the walls.

History

Established in 47 by Grast as part of the Dubrian Expansion . The prime location and proximity to other settlements caused it to grow quickly from a defensive military outpost into a large city within only a few generations.

Type

City

Owning Organization

Dubria