Kethira-720TR-Harn-Chybisa-Ulmstane

Ulmstane (Abbey)

Ulmstane is the only Laranian chapter-house in Chybisa with about 30 Meken (common soldiers) in various ranks, four knights of the Order of the Lady of Paladins in residence, and usually about a dozen or so other knights visiting from elsewhere. Plus support staff to supply and feed them, and care for warhorses, armor, and weapons.

There are also two priests in residence (out of the chain of command), including the Menoran from Namadees that spends much of his time here. He is effectively the bailiff for the manor as Ulmstane owes fealty to Namadees (much like Hanarden).

Greater Ulmstane is little more than a village of about 200, run by the reeve under the authority of Knight-Commander Heidel. The abbey is located on a hundred acres behind it, fenced to keep horses from wandering and walls around the core. Livestock is handled by the village. A lot of the residents split their time between working in the fields and working for the Order. It some ways, the efforts look almost like a military conquest instead of serfs but they are obviously prospering. The village has two woodworkers (including one doing heavy carpentry), two smiths (including one weaponsmith, both kept very busy), an ostler (lives in town but works at the abbey), and a part-time mason (who winters at Namadees). There is also an apothecary and some fishermen.

The wall around the chapter-house grounds is impressive. A stone wall, obviously heavy and solid, 12’ high and a yard thick extends some fifty feet to each side of the main gate where it then merges with a dirt wall that surrounds the grounds in a big oval. The gate spans eight feet and is nine feet high at the top of the arch. Two sentries stand atop the wall and there is a wooden tower projected outwards beyond it with at least one archer inside, arrow nocked and ready. The sound of steel on steel beyond the gate can be heard from the outside. A ditch six-feet wide and three-feet deep runs along both the front and back sides of the wall.

The knights of Ulmstane periodically rotote out to Burzyn to train with the King’s men and send a squad with the Spring caravan from Thay along the Genin Trail to Oselbridge where they spend a couple tendays before returning with the first caravan heading south.

The inside of the compound is typically as muddy as the road but during the day there are usually men training in the space just inside the gate. Further back are more open spaces for maneuvers on horseback with three quintains for lance practice.

Places

Buildings include stables, a carpentry shop, barracks, forge, chapel, and the chapter-house itself. It’s a bit crowded with buildings overlapping each other in a zig-zag manner so there are no clear lines-of-fire for attackers. Both the chapter-house and the chapel have flat roofs for observers and archers.

Chapter House

The chapter-house is mostly stone and very well fortified but it is not crenellated, as that requires a license from the king. It is clearly for defense with furnishings secondary. It is clean and dry but not warm with all the stone.

The Main Hall has its own fireplace and a screen across the far end that is moved aside during meal times. With trestle tables and benches now in place, it was clearly divided into three separate sections: the head table, tables for knights, and tables for commoners.

At the far end of the Main Hall, near a large fireplace, is a low dais and the high table for Commander Heidel and the others in charge. At floor level, taking up about a quarter of the room, is a small cluster of tables for the knights and their families. They are close by the high table, sharing its exalted status and, as the saying has it, “standing between the liege and any threat”. There is a significant amount of room around the middle tables … not only room for the servants, but also room for fighting men to move and maneuver if there is trouble. Though a traditional arrangement, the extra room is rarely needed. Also by tradition, the families sit at the side closest to the high table giving the knights the easiest access to the rest of the room. The rest of the room, more than half, is taken up with the lower tables. This is where everyone else eats.

Sleeping cells are small, about eight feet long by six feet wide with a shuttered window at the far end. Big enough for a narrow bed and a small wardrobe and space to move around them. A shelf near the bed provids a place to set down a candle and a couple of shelves over the bed provide a bit more storage. It’s better accommodations than many landless knights could expect in someone’s service.

Stables

There are three stables made of structural stonework with heavy-timber roof-beams, each with two rows of stalls facing inwards with an extra-wide corridor between. Each stall has access to the covered hall outside and a fenced-off second chamber inside for gear and prep-work. Harness and tack is visible on many of the fences. At the near and far ends, larger stalls are set asid ewith extra space. One corner is set aside as a workspace for the ostler and assistants. Colored shapes are painted on all the stalls to identify them for those that cannot read. At sunset, a beam is lowered to block the outer doors, ostensibly to keep someone from accidentally openeing the wrong stall.

People

Heidel of Langlin (Knight-Commander)

The Knight-Commander of Ulmstane is skilled, honest, fair, disciplined, courageous. He expects more of himself than of his men and is well liked by them.

He has sun-darkened skin stretched taut over a broad, muscled frame, accented by a couple of crisscrossing scars that tell silent stories of past battles. Age-lines surround his eyes but they are a bright blue and move with his careful observation of everything around him. He wears his armor like a second skin and his sword like it is part of him.

Sir Callan

Callan is an older man and the assistant to the Reblena. He is in good physical condition for his age. He wears the three-quarter red diamond of a senior knight with the black border that marks him as retired from active field service. His hair is graying but his skills are little diminished. If he chose to wear his full honors, they would likely cover most of his chest.

Menoran Gareth

Master Gareth splits his time between here and Namadees. In his late 60s, a smile usually adorns his weathered face, framed by a halo of snowy white hair. His skin is loose on his bones and has the pale cast of someone who does not get enough sun. Nonetheless, his blue eyes still hold a twinkle of youthful curiosity amid the knowing look of someone who has seen or heard it all. His hands, gnarled with age, rest upon an old wooden staff, simply made with a well-worn carving of a sword inside a diamond. He radiates a comforting warmth to all those with whom he meets.

Eldrid (Ostler)

Eldrid is a thin man with skin like old leather. He has an easy manner around horses that speaks of many years of experience.