Rijker's Isle

(needs map)

Known locations and landmarks:

• none

“She's got a split personality, does Rijker's. The southern half's like any military camp, full of bustle and life. But the north court, beyond the Wall, is as barren as the Waste and nearly as quiet. Nary a sound, 'cept for the creaking of the gallows after the trapdoor has dropped out.”

Occupying most of the island on which it sits, the fortress is built on a hexagonal plan with a keep at the east point and towers at each of the other corners. With battlements facing both in and out, the walls are 50 feet tall and 30 feet thick. The towers rise another 20 feet, and atop each is a brace of cannon meant to repel ships invading Marienburg harbour.

Van Zandt's Wall, an internal barrier fifty feet high and fifteen feet thick divides the fortress into northern and southern halves. The southern half houses the quarters of Rijker's garrison, a battalion of 120 men that comprises gunners, mercenaries and men-at-arms. Here also are the homes of most of  the prison's guards and jailers, though those few with families often prefer to reside in Marienburg itself and take the daily supply boat to and from the island.

Visitors to Rijker's will find what seems to be a small, bustling village. The southern half contains the fortress' armoury, food stores, smithy and a workshop where trustee prisoners make reed baskets for sale in Marienburg. There is a chapel dedicated to Myrmidia, who is honoured by the mostly Tilean mercenary garrison, and Verena, patroness of Rijker's in its role as an instrument of justice.

The northern half is almost the exact opposite, barren and paved in grey slate flagstones. Unoccupied most of the time, its monotony is broken by just a few features: the chapel to Morr where the condemned spend their last night in prayer, the great black iron doors in each of the three outer walls  that lead to the cell blocks themselves, and the gallows in the courtyard's centre.