County Felway
Felway, a land of rugged moorland, craggy outcrops, oat farms and finally it’s forests of Pine, Oak and Ash. One could compare it’s landscape as a cross between that of Falkreath hold and the Colovian Highlands, it’s weather is either storm, rain, snow or overcast. The history of County Felway begins in the late Second Era, when an Altmer Sailor by the name of Julius Scipion after years of sailing the seas as a fine sailor, landed near where Felway is currently and after a climb, came to a village situated on the edge of a cape.
The approach from the sea was impossible, the cliffs were made of a strange dark-grey rock and steep sided, rising to a height of seventy feet. The approach from the land was also rather strange, though one could land at the beaches on either side of the cape, the sides of the cape from the sea steadily rose to a height of fifty feet. The next peculiarity is that where the seventy and fifty feet cliffs meet, on the cape itself is a sharp projection of twenty feet rock, the correct term for this peculiarity on the cape is that the village was situated on an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amba_(geology), on the edge of a very steep cliff-sided cape.
All is known is that something went wrong and Julius Scipion was forced to use his magic against the natives, at which point, the natives dropped to their knees and suddenly proclaimed their undying loyalty to Julius, calling him the “Stormlord”. Slightly surprised at this turn of events, Julius nonetheless set out what he’d meant to do before, build himself a home.
Seeing the geographic importance of the Alba, Julius resolved to build himself a residence worthy of his people and so began the building of Castle Maeror.
After years of Labour, Castle Maeror was finished a single tower had also been built on a sea-stack to the east of the castle, a few more years and Felway was a flourishing town, a path had been built up to the castle, though it’s walls were still regarded as having the strength of the sea itself.
At the start of the Third Era, Julius returned from his campaigning as a Soldier under Tiber Septim, his reward had been the granting of a much larger spread of Land, the lord was now a Count. The County of Felway was at first still rather troubled, it’s clans resistant to their new ruler, so Julius Scipion formed a Force called the Steel Wolves and proceeded to give an ultimatum to the rebellious clans, Accept or Die.
After around ten years of further pacification and Bloodshed, Julius finally held all of County Felway under his thumb. To show he was not a snobby noble, Julius ordered his Circlet to be made out of Steel, a symbolic act which won him the steadfast support of the clans. In the chaos of the Warp in the West, Count Scipion managed to hold onto all of his county, his quoting of his pledge of allegiance to Northpoint in 2E 848 might have been a key factor in this. More years passed and Count Scipion continued his lifestyle of running the land with a fair had and generally hiding in his Library.
Then the Oblivion Crisis occurred, Count Scipion emerged from his studying to lead the situation with a calm head. Co-operating with the Local Imperial Legion Count Scipion managed to have a force of steel wolves led by him shut the Oblivion gate outside Felway. With the immediate threat to his county conquered, Count Scipion promptly dispatched his entire remaining force of Steel Wolves to assist Northpoint. With the collapse of the Empire, Count Scipion quickly aligned himself with Northpoint, then formed two legions of 1,000 men each.
When the war with Shornhelm occurred, Count Scipion dispatched his two legions, leaving the Steel Wolves to keep the peace in Felway. Though the blood price was heavy, Felway succeeded in all of the tasks it was given. Upon the return of his Legions, Count Scipion announced his military plans, the two depleted legions were fused into one, the Steel Wolves were cut in size and seven ships were built.
Thus do we come to the present day, the people express complete satisfaction in the Count’s Ruling of the County, indeed the Count often walks around the town, greeting various people by name and partaking in some events , when his infirmity allows him.
Physical Geography of County Felway
Let us start in an anti-clockwise direction starting in the north-west, County Felway starts on the east-hand side of the river which is called in Felway, The Blue Danube, Count Scipion even wrote a piece of waltz music dedicated to this River.
As we follow it down, we find on the Felway side of The Blue Danube the pine forests of Felway, which on their eastern outskirts have oak trees galore, around three-quarters of the trees are Pine trees and the majority of the rest are oak, with the final and smallest grouping of trees being the Ash trees. We follow the Blue Danube down to where it splits and follow the eastern tributary, as that denotes the border of County Felway, the tributary is known as the Rhine, and finally do we reach its beginning, a small outcropping of rocks from which a waterfall projects and so falls to create the Rhine.
Now we come to the start of the western border of Felway, here from the start of the Rhine starts a stretch of craggy outcrops and moors, this stretch is known as the Felway Highlands, though it is slightly ironic as the highest outcrop only reaches a height of twenty feet. At the northern end of the highlands begins the forest which is purely on the other side of the border. Felway folk generally just call the forest “The border forest” and as it is on the other side of the border it isn’t part of Felway so I need not write about it.
Continuing our route we find ourselves on the Felway coast, travelling on a well-kept road called The Fell Way, hence the meaning of evolution of the name Felway, The Fell Way has the coast on its north side and quite a few fishing hamlets, on the south side is the gentle rolling hills on which the main crop is oats. We pass Felway itself, which will have its own section, passing by the town we follow the Fell Way and after much of the same scenery reach the mouth of The Blue Danube and if we take a quick look in the centre of County Felway, we see that it is mainly farms and Moors upon which the hardy Felway Stallions reside.
Felway Town
Felway, the town itself, is a rather nice town, the style of housing is some light grey stone with slate roofing. The town is built clearly centred around the sheltered bay which is created by the Cape on which Castle Maeror resides, in a rectangular block.
The Docks
The Docks are arranged in an ordered arrangement, each one is identical, cranes operate to help load on the precious cargo which Felway is the largest producer and exporter of, oats, the ships which take this cargo are known as Clippers, they sail with such speed they can outrun almost any ship as long as it isn’t propelled with magical aid.
The Docks are constantly busy from around an hour before sunrise until moonrise, Fishing boats, Clippers and other vessels, it is a constant stream of ships, to manage such a vast operation requires an ingenious administration, which is what there is, at the start of each dock is a clerk who takes the name of the ship, it’s cargo and the name of its captain.
All records, complaints and other things are all held and dealt with at the Felway Company Headquarters, a building which rather surprisingly is usually empty, at the end of the day the records are collected and entered into the record library and then it waits for the next day. At the western end of the docks is where new Clippers are built, with a commercial fleet of twenty one clippers, the shipyard is quiet, one can request to buy a clipper, the reply is always the same, a no and then an armed escort away from the shipyard.
The Residential Sect
The Residential sect is where the people of Felway town reside, the houses are as I have already wrote made of light-grey granite and roofed with slate tiles. Shops puncture the scene, as do stalls and fountains.
The Lighthouse
The lighthouse is, funnily enough, a lighthouse, a thirty feet high tower of whitewashed walls and red roof tiles, along the pier to the lighthouse, there are often painters and fishermen, they acknowledge each other with cool respect, the painters paint and the fishermen fish, it’s rather strange when one thinks about it.
The Chapel of Julianos
The Patron divine of Felway, the Chapel of Julianos is built in a style extremely similar to that of Churches in Cyrodiil, inside the carpets are navy blue and it is generally, Religious.
The Town Wall and Towers
The fortifications of Felway town are rather imposing, twenty feet high walls made of dark-grey granite. The towers are octagonal and the turrets of the walls and towers are the standard one would expect of a normal castle, the fortifications were clearly designed with defence in mind, with no ornamental decorations, just plain smooth stone.
There are two gatehouses, one at the western end and the other at the eastern end, rather thoughtfully they are labelled the west gate and the east gate. The gatehouses are reminiscent of the Gates at Bruma, with thick heavy doors and generally a cold air around the guards who man them.
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081213213157/fable/images/6/62/CastleArt.jpg – OOC: the tower connected by a bridge is on the left rather than the right as the picture shows.
At last we come to the defining feature of Felway, Castle Maeror. Castle Maeror is made of very dark-grey stone, matching that of the cliffs that hold it up, these eerily smooth sided cliffs are rather peculiar, what with their strange resistance to erosion by the sea. Let us approach Castle Maeror from the front, we come to the Gate, this time it’s style is reminiscent of the entrance to castle Dour, it’s walls indistinguishable from the sides of the Amba it is built upon.
To get to the entrance one has to take a walk, this time it is almost identical to the route one has to take to get to Castle Skingrad, a first gatehouse, a bridge and then a second gatehouse. Once one has passed under the second gatehouse, they emerge into a surprising burst of colours, in the courtyard is a huge fountain, surrounded by gardens of which the Count himself tends to.
http://holidayblog.easyjet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Trevi-Fountain.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Trevi_Fountain,_Rome,_Italy_2_-_May_2007.jpgis the epitome of waterworks and Altmer style craftmanship , the Aldmeri God Magnus stands and around him does water flow and high elves tame horses. Whilst a strange choice of deity, it is nonetheless impressive. (OOC: Take away the big building in the background)
At the centre of each of the four gardens surrounding the fountain is a statue, in clockwise order, starting at the north-east is a statue of a Felway Wolf, the south-east statue is of a Felway Otter, the south-west statue is of a Sea Falcon and finally the North-west statue is of a Felway Stag, there is the Felway Deer species but for the statue a stag was chosen.
Each Garden is also devoted to a particular season, the North-east garden is devoted to winter, so lot’s of white roses and snowdrops are there, the south-east is devoted to autumn and so has lots of autumn coloured plants, the south-west is devoted to summer and the north-west is devoted to spring.
We walk around the statue and come to a wall dividing the outer courtyard from the inner courtyard, the wall is ornamental, on the far left of the wall begins a mosaic which ends on the far right, the mosaic is of the flight from Aldmeris, this is depicted as Aldmeris being a city with waters swarming over it and ending with the finishing of the crystal tower on the far right.
The inner courtyard is simply a straight path to the stairs which rise into the main hall of castle Felway. The inner courtyard holds two sections, the west garden and the east garden. The west garden holds an orchard whilst the east garden holds a garden where a manner of things are grown, mainly strawberries and herbs.
Finally we traverse the steps up to the Main Hall door, the door is once again simple, built for defence, not for decoration. Inside Purple carpets cushion the floor (OOC: this time just imagine that the interior of Castle Maeror is the same as the interior of Castle Bowerstone but with the crest of Felway on the banners and flags).
The only part of Castle Maeror open to the common visitor is the throne room where the Current Chamberlain Louis Vautrine makes the arrangements for an appointment with the Count, though on the first Sundas of every month he will be present in the throne room for the whole day to generally sort out anything that people believe requires the Count’s personal attention to.
Economy of Felway
The Economy of Felway is generally it’s exportation of oats and its other much smaller export of extremely high-quality coal. It is however self-sufficient, with its efficient clerks making sure nothing is wasted unnecessarily and with the Count’s personal fortune backing his County, the county can rest safe knowing its finances are safer than a Dwemer Safe.
Botany of Felway
The main tree is the Conifer tree, the second largest group being the oak and the smallest group being the Ash tree. Most of the land of Felway is moorland, as such the plants expected to grow in Moorland are present, the only plant of note that is natural is Wolfsbane, which is illegal to pick by Felway law due to its rarity.
Wildlife of Felway
There are a few species native to Felway, each one documented in the wild by Count Scipion and other nature enthusiasts over the years, the most mighty of them all is the Felway wolf, a wolf renowned for its intelligence and speed.
There is also the sea falcon, an offshoot of the Peregrine Falcon Species, which has developed its hunting habits to flying above the sea and then suddenly diving down to plunge into the sea and swoop out with its prey.
Also abundant is the Felway Deer, an offshoot of the red deer, the Felway deer is so called due to its dark brown coat rather than the usual reddish-brown found on red deer. The Felway otter is just an otter with a grey coat rather than the usual brown coat.
On the moor is the pheasant, the hardy Felway Stallion which is bred purely for the Steel Wolves to use, though one can pay a high price to have one bred for their own purposes, albeit with it made infertile so as to ensure that no other place can have this magnificent breed, imagine a bay horse, but swifter and more intelligent. In the seas there are many fish, however there is no eel present in Felway waters, the most common bird is the swift and the most domesticated animal is the Moor Sheep.
There are also no reptiles or amphibians present in Felway.
Politics and Security of Felway
The Politics of County Felway are relatively simple, there are four sections of County Felway, the north, central, east, south and west, each called a riding, so the town of Felway is located in the north riding.
Each riding is overseen by a Sheriff, an expectation of the job is that the sheriff is not corrupt, to ensure this a network of informants is utilised. County Felway is patrolled regularly by a standing force of the Legio Felway, the Steel Wolves are only used in protecting Castle Felway and when rumours of a necromancer or conjurer are floating around.
The only permanent noble in Felway is Count Scipion.
Demographics of Felway
The main ethnic group is the Felway Breton, followed by the Bretons of other lands, most races are present in Felway, the only ethnicities not found in Felway are the Wood elves and the Argonians.
» Sun May 05, 2013 12:22 pm 
