Falkeame

Falkeame is a small, fortified town located within the Aqirli Rei de Reikarii (Imperial Realm of Raykara). The personal domain of Reyjad Solgal (JayRed1), it was at first under the jurisdiction of Bel Amir, former leader of the Imperial Watch. Falkeame was (prior to its disbandment) the primary headquarters for the Imperial Watch, an organization dedicated to evicting squatters, demolishing ruins, and improving infrastructure across the lands it operates in. Located in north-west Nieden, it lies just south of Mt. Rulagmo. Apart from being a hub for Watch activity, Falkeame was used as a direct launching and defensive point for the Watch during squatter wars. After the disbandment of the Imperial Watch, Falkeame shifted away from its primary use as a military hub. Upon opening its gates to merchants, Falkeame saw a flood of Reykarii and Rulagii traders open stores within the town, as it sits nearly halfway between the route used by traders travelling from the merchanting towns of Raykara to the Varmerion trade ports along the Phagosian Sea.

Falkeame is one of the oldest towns in Rathnir, having being founded on November 30th, 2022 by _Comrade_Bear_. Therefore, it dates back to Rathnir's first era, known as the "Towny Period" (2020 September 25th - 30th). It has gone by many names since; such as it's original, Ekona, as well as Ekoreanna, Arrertarium, Falkenhayn, and other names lost to time.

History
Before being repurposed as a Watch facility, Falkeame's previous history is a near mystery. Once handed over to Reyjad Solgal, he discovered the area lay partially in ruin with an exposed series of underground passageways and corridors. The castle itself remained mostly intact, but the grounds and surrounding walls required serious work. For an unknown period of time, Falkenhayn remained unclaimed and exposed to the wilderness. However, with the founding of the Watch, a dedicated facility was needed. The leader of the Watch, Bel Amir, tasked a Watch member, Reyjad Solgal, with reclaiming Falkenhayn and retrofitting it for the Watch's use. Alongside this, Solgal was granted the title of Watch General and personal ownership of the claim. From there, the reconstruction of Falkeame began. There is not a lot of information about Falkeame's time as Falkenhayn, but a few details about the history of Ekona are known, notably that is was one of the first settlements in all of Rathnir and one of the three domains of the early Republic of Raykara.

Before Reyjad began to reclaim the area, a name change was agreed upon. Both Bel Amir and Reyjad came to the consensus that Falkenhayn should be renamed to Falkeame, partly because of linguistic issues. Utilising Watch resources, Reyjad almost single-handedly rebuilt much of Falkeame. After the stables and blacksmith were patched up, the barracks building was built. From there, the interior of the castle were redesigned. A new meeting hall for the Watch was installed, the storage room was refitted, and a ground-level balcony was made more accessible. Reyjad was also designated a personal quarter within the castle, and then work began on landscaping the courtyard areas.

Falkeame Membership
As a part of the Watch, Falkeame required special permission to be accessed. The main requirement was that only Watch members can enter, with little exception. To be trusted in the claim, one of two things must occur. Either a squatter war was being prepared/declared, in which participating Watch members were granted access to the claim; or specific Watch members were performing roles such as resource restocking. Membership was limited to Reyjad and Falkeame's first immigrant and former owner, BaconBowl2035.

During a squatter campaign, Watch members were allowed access to all areas of the main castle except for the storage room and personal quarters. They were primarily stationed in the barracks and courtyard areas for rallies. Within the barracks was accommodation for up to a dozen soldiers, with a storage, sleeping and PVP area. Watch members could be granted access to Falkeame's stables to use the horses during times of war.

There is also a clause that allowed military personnel to be stationed in Falkeame. For example, the Varmerion regiment of the Escharian Army was based in Falkeame before its disbandment.

Griefing of Falkeame
During early redevelopment, Falkeame faced a series of griefing attacks which ranged in severity. Because funding for Falkeame was still being organised, the claim boundaries hadn't fully expanded to beyond the walls, which enabled griefers to attack. Early assaults were mostly trespassing and attacks over the walls, but this was quickly remedied by terraforming the area outside the walls, making unauthorised access more difficult. Another, more targeted attack, was against the main entrance to Falkeame. Once more, funding was to blame for claims not covering the entrance fully, which enabled the damage. This caused a series of repeated offences against the main staircase and entrance, in which they'd need to be replaced each time. The legacy of the griefs can still be seen today, as the front entrance of Falkeame was partly remodelled to conceal the damage. After a set of signs warning against griefs was destroyed during another attack, the Watch took a stance and managed to locate the name of the griefer. With the exposure of the griefer, further attacks against Falkeame were halted.

Road Griefs
Similarly to the griefing of Falkeame, the main road leading to it faced many of the same issues. A series of attacks against the road disrupted infrastructure and forced the Watch to subsidise resources from Falkeame to fix it. After a short investigation, it was discovered that a griefer had been repeatedly using an abandoned house built into the underside of the hill on which the road ran on top of as an entrance to the redstone under it, which had steadily been stolen. After repairing the road, the house was demolished and disguised to hide its entrance. The Watch now uses this area as a maintenance entrance.

Brothar Incident
On August 5th 2022, a sudden development involving squatters occurred just outside of Falkeame. Rather suddenly, a huge new squatter town named Brothar had been created just outside of Falkeame. Owned by Bertilowitz, a squatter who was already on the Watch radar, plans were immediately formulated to launch an attack from Falkeame to destroy the settlement. This came rather contrary to Watch protocol, as usually a period of negotiation would occur beforehand. However, since Bertilowitz had been a burden to the Watch before, and with rampant Watch member support, the decision to open a war campaign began.

As resources and equipment began being directed towards Falkeame for the upcoming war, the Watch attempted to establish communication with Brothar and Bertilowitz. It was discovered that Brothar had no interest in joining Escharia at the time, instead favouring independence with the adoption of its own flag, which flew from atop a tower and banners from walls. This defiance only invigorated Watch members to begin the campaign. But just as Watch members were gearing themselves up and organising battlegroups, a diplomatic breakthrough was made with Bertilowitz. With the threat of war quite literally at his doorstep, Bertilowitz agreed to disband the claim and was offered citizenship in Escharia. Watch members who aided in the destruction of Brothar were paid a portion of the claim's resources. Meanwhile, a portion of its resources were stored in Falkeame. Due to its size, Brothar remained mostly intact until the formation of the Kingdom of Creed. In total, the incident lasted around two weeks.