"All the nobles ride Pegasus and so forget that the rest of us need roads to get around. Double all travel time estimates if you want to be sure."
- —Eldegar of Busreq, Coachman.
Castle Parravon is a starkly impressive fortress-city, carved directly from the rock of the mountains. It is part of an outcrop at the edge of a spur of the Grey Mountains, and the River Grismerie runs along its base. Over the millennia, the people of Parravon have cut homes, businesses, walls, Grail Chapels, and palaces from the stone.[1]
Overview[]
Parravon is surrounded by deep chasms and can only be approached by a narrow bridge. Over the years it has been attacked by Orc hordes and ambitious Elector Counts of the Empire, but has always proved to be too strong a fortress for any enemy, whether man or Greenskin. Nevertheless, the city must continue to defend the lush lands of central Bretonnia from these foes. As such, it boasts a set of impressive fortifications and is in an almost constant stare of martial activity, holding a huge garrison of Knights and Men-at-Arms.[1][3]
A large fort crouched upon the only landward approach to the city. A massive bridge, an ancient relic from the days of the Elves, still as strong as the day it was built. The structure is slender, gracefully arching ribbon of stone stretching across the boundary of one of the chasms. So near did the white cliffs loom, that many houses had been built right into them; only their doors and windows and sometimes a narrow portico marring the sharply sloping barrier of rock. Jagged chasms dropped away on two sides of the city. The walls of the Grey Mountains and the narrow finger of the river formed the settlement’s remaining boundaries. Tall walls of stone, supported by still taller towers formed further defences against attack. A small dock was cut into the riverside wall, allowing traders to make their way along the Grismerie to unload their merchandise in Parravon.[4]
Bretonnia’s sumptuary laws state only nobles can use stone in building. However, the Dukes of Parravon have never wanted wooden buildings messing up their glorious city, so they have long maintained that a peasant living in a carved stone building is no different from a peasant living in a cave. Indeed, given the quality of many peasant homes in Parravon, the difference really is minimal. The wealthy merchants of Parravon naturally push this allowance to the limit.[1] The dungeons of the Duke are located beneath one of the watchtowers nestled between the half-timbered houses of the townsfolk.[4]
Parravon is the only city in Bretonnia with a substantial population of Dwarfs. Most of them were originally Imperial expatriates, but some came directly from the Dwarf Holds of the Vaults and Worlds Edge Mountains. There are now some Dwarf families who have lived there for generations, though they still keep themselves somewhat apart from the Human citizens.[1]
Many gardens are kept by Parravon’s nobility and are in constant danger by the multitudinous flocks that nested in the cliffs above the Bretonnian city.[4]
Castle Parravon, seat of the Dukes, dominates the top of the outcrop with its soaring towers. Like the rest of the city, it is carved from living rock, and thus has not been significantly altered since it was first carved, two thousand years ago. The Dukes have needed more space, however, and have extended the castle down into an extensive series of tunnels.[1]
Underground rooms are quite common in Parravon, as they are often less work to carve than an aboveground house. Tunnels linking those rooms are also common, and tunnels further back into the mountain provide more storage. It is said that you can go from any point in the city to any other without taking more than ten steps under the open sky. Parts of the tunnel network have been abandoned by Humans, and darker creatures now live there.[1]