Fort Hold | |
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Coming Soon | |
Leadership | Lady Tresa |
Imports | Various Goods |
Exports | Fruits, Crops, Fabrics |
Political Status | Good |
Fort is the oldest hold, and as such maintains its place as one of the traditional leaders of Pern. Fort is a large complex, with rich farmland as well as a booming Sea Hold nearby. Located in the center area of the Northern Continent, the hold itself is dug into the right-angled face of a palisade three kilometers long in a valley formed by a shifting fault line. Inside this palisade are miles of natural caverns that were easy for the first settlers to expand into rooms and corridors. Natural chimneys lead to the surface for ventilation and artesian wells surfaced in the tunnels, allowing for water to be pumped right into the baths and sinks. The Harper and Healer Halls are also located within its boundaries, along with several other small crafthalls. Fort Hold is a day's ride (via runner) from Fort Weyr and only a few days ride from Ruatha Hold and Benden Hold.
As noted from the Atlas of Pern:
Although relatively close to Ruatha, Fort Weyr is much closer to Fort Hold: “only about two miles as the crow flies, but fairly inaccessible.” Fort Hold was the first human habitation in the Northern Continent, but after the dragons bred by the Ancient grew too large to be house in the Hold, Fort Weyr — the first of the great Weyrs — was established in a nearby extinct volcano. The cone was damaged, however, when “an earthslide had rampaged down the range, broken through the southwest part of the Weyr and into the lake.”
Fort Hold was named by the Ancients for the protection they hoped to gain in “the natural caves of the northern mountain ranges”. The planning of Fort Hold was rather haphazard, “thrown together as a temporary accommodation after the Crossing” from the Southern Continent. The haste accounts for the strange configuration of some of Fort’s passages, such as the “steep, circular, and narrow … blind stairways of which Fort had more than its fair share. The Ancients had been fond of them in the construction of the first holds as auxiliary access between levels of what were, essentially, natural caves.”
The natural caves which house Fort are in a familiar cliff formation — a palisade. Telgar and Half-Circle also occupy palisade cliffs.