This article is part 3 of a series on Fantasy Fortifications by Toni Šušnjar.

The design of a fortification depends on its purpose and on the threats it is expected to face. A fortification facing only infantry-held weapons, one facing mechanical artillery, and one facing gunpowder artillery will all significantly differ in design characteristics. Some characteristics however will be the same – geography will always provide advantage (or disadvantage) in defending a fort or a city, and thus location has to be carefully chosen. In some cases, location may be good enough to allow the defender to skimp on certain design features – as seen with e.g. Klis fortress, where northern wall is waist-tall at best, thanks to its position on an inaccessible cliff (clissa). In other cases, disadvantageous terrain may have to be compensated with by massive man-made features.

General Design

In order to cope with development of artillery, design of fortifications changed with time. First fortifications, which only had to deal with handheld weapons, were simple wooden palisades. These were later supplemented with earthen ramparts

As siege weapons developed, fortifications grew both in height and thickness.

Continue reading Fantasy Fortifications — Part 3: Design at Mythic Scribes.

This article is part 4 of a series on Fantasy Fortifications by Toni Šušnjar.

Building a Fort

Build time of a castle, depending on design and available funds, may last from half a year to half a century. It also depends on the situation before the building: a ruined castle is a half-built castle after all, and rennovating (and/or updating) walls is much cheaper than building new ones. This can be seen with city of Dubrovnik, where (massive) medieval fortifications were, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453., reinforced with outer line of walls to reinforce them against cannon fire.

Both build time and extent of fortifications depend on material (financial, logistical, humane) capacities of the builder, as well as the perceived need. Many castles were never finished for lack of resources.

Builders are professionals; peasants, soldiers and other amateurs were used for muscle work only. This means that they have to be paid, and many in fact travel from a building place to a building place. Beaumaris Castle in England required 400 masons and 1,000 assistants to be built in a nearly record time (from 1278 to 1280).

Types of Castles
Motte and bailey castle

Motte and bailey castle is the earliest and simplest type of a castle.

Continue reading Fantasy Fortifications — Part 4: Types of Castles at Mythic Scribes.