The Grand Commandery Demalamor
The Grand Commandery Demalamor is the first and primary House of the Order of the Swords of Heaven, a militant order of the Pantheon of Heaven.
It is a 460-year old complex of towers, halls and chapels built on top of a tall, steep stoney hill 6 miles from the walls of the City of Malamor in the Kingdom of Aria. The building is built of white stone, finely dressed, with high peaked roofs on all its towers and buildings, all tiled in bright blue fired tiles. It is located on the banks of a tributary river of the Malam River, and has two well-traveled roads that also give access to the site. The approach to the complex is by a stone bridge that leads to a paved road that wraps around two sides of the rock hill to a stout, towered gate.
Purpose / Function
The first and primary Chapter House of the Order of the Swords of Heaven.
Architecture
Bright white stone, clear and stained glass panes in hundreds of windows, blue tiles roofing dozens of tower and hall roofs. More than twelve tall slender towers reaching as high as 200' above the surrounding plains and fields. The building is built on top of a large outcrop of bedrock that sits in the middle of a broad, flat plain broken only by a small clear-flowing river that connects the plain to the Malam River.
Within the high and stout curtain walls of the Commandery there are three primary buildings: The Temple and Chapter House stretching along the western wall; the Dormitory Hall; and the Cathedral Tower. The Temple and Chapter House share the same building, with the Temple taking up the largest portion (more than two-thirds) of the southern end of the building. The northern end is made up of the Order's Chapter House, where meetings, elections, trials, lectures or debates are held, primarily because the rooms are designed to hold up to 2,000 men at one time. The Dormitory Hall is the southern-most building, standing fully eight stories tall, and built over cellars and storerooms that descend another three stories into the rock. This building holds the kitchens, refectories, living quarters, hospitals and many of the shops and offices of the Order's craftsman and specialists. The tallest and most impressive building, though, is the Cathedral Tower, so called because it is within this tower that the Grand Master (and indeed all the Command Division) maintain their offices and quarters. Within this massive square tower, which soars to a height of ten full stories, with a spire tower that extends another three stories above that, all the ruling and command elements of the entire Order are to be found, along with a massive library, an observatory, two scriptoriums, a meeting hall large enough for 300 men (more if no one sits), the residences of the Grand Master, the Grand Marshal(s), the Chaplains, Masters, Captains, Commanders and Grand Librarian(s).
Defenses
High walls and even higher towers guard the approach road as it climbs the steep rock base of the stoney hill. A massively deep gate building makes a direct assault on the castle gates nearly impossible. There are no known postern or secondary entrances to the complex. The Commandery is, of course, filled entirely with heavily armed and highly skilled warriors that are supplied with enough arms, food and fodder to keep themselves in the fight for two years should a seige ever be laid.
History
The original fortress was built many centuries earlier but it was overrun and destroyed during the Great Southern Orc War of 365 BF. A horde of several hundred orcs breeched the castle, killed all the humans within it, sacked it of everything that could possibly be used by them, then proceeded to destroy what remained over the course of an entire winter. After the war was over and the orcs destroyed, the ruin was left abandoned for many decades, then it was granted to the by then rapidly-expanding Order in 227 BF by King Cedric IV. The defiled and almost entirely destroyed castle complex was completely rebuilt with the needs of the Order in mind, and almost nothing of the original structures remain.
Founding Date
227 BF
Alternative Names
The Mother House
Type
Monastery
Parent Location
Owning Organization
