Crucible Rock

Crucible Rock is a fortification in the Bastion Line, a string of ancient fortifications along what is now the border of the Frontier Counties, and which had onces described the southern border of the kingdom of Bastonia. The name is also extended to the large town of Crucible Rock, which exists on the northern side of the fortification. Crucible Rock is the headquarters of the Right Honourable Companions of the Engineer, a Chivalric Order in the service of San Heather who have been tasked with assisting in the reconstruction of Castle Rock and the construction of additional fortifications in the Frontier Counties. The town is considered part of the Bastonian Heartland and the holding of a baron, owing fealty to the County of the Line.

The fortification occupies a key position along the line, on a promontory to the western side of a pass that allows you access past a cliff if your route is north to south, known as Crucible Pass, which has become an important thoroughfare. The northern slop of this promontory is much more gentle, and the town of Crucible Rock is about four miles away from the fortification itself.

Geography

The fortification occupies a key position along the line, on a promontory to the western side of a pass that allows you access past a cliff if your route is north to south, known as Crucible Pass, which has become an important thoroughfare. The northern slop of this promontory is much more gentle, and the town of Crucible Rock is about four miles away from the fortification itself. The castle, such as it is, comprises an outer and inner ward together with a keep, and given its relative height over its southern overwatch, affords those who hold it surprising control over the pass itself and the plains beyond. However, the castle is not large, barely housing the retinue of knights that occupies it, and so the Engineers have also built a low wall around the town itself for additional protection, should the pass be overrun.

Economy

Most of the economy of the Large Town of Crucible Rock is in supplying travelers along the Crucible Road with accomodations, trail rations, and other supplies, which is lucrative given the extent to which such travel is incentivized - workers, settlers, and adventurers of all kinds make their way south in droves via this pass.

Crucible Rock also commands access to a softwood forest and a limestone quarry, both of which are important raw materials for construction, and the revenue from these quarries is increasingly impressive as the Companions pursue their mission of strengthening this and other nearby positions.

Crucible Rock is also the closest town of its size for several days travel in any direction, and its agricultural market is commensurately large.

Politics

Like the other positions along the Bastion Line, the settlement of the Frontier Counties has lead to a decrease in relevance for Crucible Rock, though its selection as headquarters of the Right Honourable Companions of the Engineer helped to mitigate that to a certain degree. The baron who holds Crucible Rock owes fealty to the Count of the Line, placing the settlement properly under the jurisdiction of the Bastonian Heartland through the county's fealty to the Duke of Bastonia and, ultimately, thence the Crown.