Draakhohen Castle

Draakhohen Castle (meaning 'Dragon High Castle' in Kredasene) is the ancestral home of the Dunheuvelin clan, and the seat of Duke Dunheuvelin. It is located in the Vuurfelde (pronounced FU-ER-felt-uh), and is the second largest of the eight adminitrative regions in Kredashmi.

Location

Draakhohen castle is approximately 20 miles (32 km) from Alahnis, the main city in the Vuurfelde, and 80 miles (128km) from the capital city of Rykfontein. The castle is built on the top of a very high hill; one side, it backs onto a cliff edge, while on the other, it overlooks the town of Draakskaduwee (pron. DRAAK-sca-duh-vee-ah; meaning, Dragons Shadow). This town had traditionally always been home to most of the castle's servants, guards and their families.

History

It is believed that the first structure at the site was a longhouse that served as the base for what would become Clan Dunheuvelin. At some point in A CERTAIN CENTURY, a curtain wall was constructed. Traces of the foundation for this wall can still be located in the cellars of the modern castle. A rudimentary wood and stone castle was built a little later in the place of the longhouse, which is assumed to have burned down during a clan raid.
By the time of the Unification of the Clans sometime after 324HE, the Dunheuvelins had built an impressive castle on the site. The arrival of the dragons on Cape Draakenruhe, and their alliance with the Rhalen clan, ultimately led to end of centuries of bitter clan warfare. The Unification itself was brought about by the willingness of the dragons to accept riders from other clans, in return for their chieftans swearing loyalty to the head of the Rhalen clan, Jurrijn Rhalen, as the newly-formed könig of Kredashmi. One of the first to swear allegiance was Bastian Dunheuvelin. He suggested that the Vuurvelde made the best location to train new riders in the art of dragon flight. By the time König Erhart I created the military order of the König's Dragon in 351 HE, the Vuurvelde was already a well-established training facility. This had seen the partial demolition of the second curtain wall on the cliff-side of the castle, and the creation of the imposing Dragon Gate, and the creation of the Flightway: a long terrace that reached the length of the cliff, allowing dragons ample space of take-off and landing.
The close relationship fostered between the Rhalen and Dunheuvelin clans led to the creation of Ruan Dunheuvelin as the first Master of the König's Dragons in 352 HE.

This is an incredibly rought draft, written for Summer Camp 2023.