AC - Primer: Ironcastle

=== Overview ===

Like all Castles, Ironcastle is divided into nine habitable Layers, plus Layer Zero, which is reserved for the Heart. Layers Nine through One are divided into nine Floors. The Layers' numbers descend from the highest Layer to the bottommost. Layers Nine, Eight and Seven are aboveground, while Six through Zero are all belowground.

Each Layer has a designated purpose, reflected in its epithet, but all Layers have some common features on at least one of their floors, which is dedicated for those common features. This includes lodging (temporary or permanent), cleaning services, dining, commissaries, Abbean worship, entertainment and culture, and so on. Additionally, one Floor of each Layer is reserved exclusively for temporarily harboring criminals, with the goal of eventually transferring them to the primary gaols on Layers Four and Three.

The Nine Layers are connected by hundreds of keycard-operated elevators, as well as public access stairwells. In the event of the unthinkable -- an invasion by the Dreaded Ones -- each Layer can be sealed off with a double-layered bulkhead system. If the invasion cannot be contained, there is also a self-destruct mechanism, though it can only be activated by the Iron King.

Floors are internally connected through pedestrian walkways, public transit systems in the forms of trolleys and railways, as well as separate streets for those using lightriders -- floating, single-user vehicles that come in a few different forms (such as skateboards, bikes, flying carpets and wagons). It is estimated that, to travel from the top of the Ninth Layer to the bottom of the First Layer on hoof, it would hypothetically take approximately three days -- discounting the fact that special clearance is required to go below Layer Four, and only the Royal Family and the Papilliones can access Layers One and Zero.

Special lights in the ceilings of each Floor brighten and dim in order to simulate the passage of time, and to signal the onset of curfews and the like. Teams of griffons, pegasi and Vola produce weather in patterns according to guidance provided by the Sages so as to simulate the seasons.

Generally speaking, most other Castles have very similar structures to Ironcastle, and so this can be taken as a general model for how other Castles are laid out.

=== Layer Nine: The Observatory ===

The topmost layer of Ironcastle. It is manned by the Observers, a group of Sages and Warriors whose task it is to monitor the Outlands from a safe distance, recording the movements and patterns of the Dreaded Ones, and to keep watch for any significant events that might affect expeditions into the Outlands.

=== Layer Eight: The Ramparts ===

The Ramparts serve as the primary defensive outpost for the Warriors. In the rare event that the Dreaded Ones attack the Castle, the Warriors will gather here to retaliate with ballistas, cannons, arrows and guns, as well as massive laser railguns, which are only deployed in the most dire of emergencies, as they are connected directly to the Heart.

Additionally, the Ramparts generally handle the deployment of Warriors to and from the Outlands. Ramp-like tunnels built into the sides of the Castles connect to both the Commons and the Ramparts, but those that connect to the Ramparts are most often used to avoid the risk of the Commons being exposed to contaminants from the Outlands. In general, the tunnels that connect the Commons to the Outlands are only used in case of emergencies.

=== Layer Seven: The Commons ===

The name 'Commons' is a double entendre, as it serves as both the primary residential district for the Commoner Strata as well as that of the Warrior Strata, with the Warriors living on the outer perimeter of the Layer, and the Commoners living in the center.

Warriors enjoy a certain degree of luxury more than the Commoners, living in more spacious housing on a number of bases dedicated solely for their use. The regions for the Warriors are equipped with better medical services, training facilities and commissaries than what would be found in the Commoners' districts.

Commoners reside mostly in small, tightly packed apartment complexes, or in modest houses if they are of greater means. The vast majority of Commoners then commute to the various lower Layers depending on where they are employed; those who work in engineering, production, and related fields work most often in the Technicarum; those gifted with some amount of magic ability may find employment in the Aetherium; those who seek to advance their status by joining the Abbey's clergy often go to the Magesterium; finally, those without any skill at all will default to the Orchards. The Commons exhibit a wide range of economic disparity, owing to various taxes and levies imposed by the Nobility.

=== Layer Six: The Technicarum ===

The Technicarum is the Sages' Layer for technical, mechanical and scientific research and production. Factories, laboratories, plants and so forth are located here. Also serves as a headquarters for warehousing and delivery services.

=== Layer Five: The Aetherium ===

The Aetherium is the Sages' Layer for spiritual, magical and psychic research, and is rumored also to be the site of several secret facilities for study and experimentation into mutations. That aside, the Aetherium and Technicarum often have lots of overlap between personnel and projects. Technology and magic blend in many ways for the Castles. Additionally, most schools for youths can be found on this Layer, run by the monks and nuns of the Abbey.

=== Layer Four: The Magesterium ===

The Magesterium is the seat of Abbean power, and is also the primary residential Layer for the Sage Stratum. Here can be found also several colleges for those who can pass the rigorous aptitude tests and gauntlet-like entrance exam (45% Sages, 25% Warriors, 19% Nobility, 1% Commoners), as well as one of the two primary gaols; the Magesterium's gaol is for those criminals who are near the ends of their sentences and have demonstrated a willingness and capacity to be rehabilitated into greater society.

=== Layer Three: The Orchards ===

Layer Three is dedicated exclusively to agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry. Almost every inch of the nine floors here are full of farms, fields and artificial wildernesses owned by the Nobles, with small subsections dedicated to meager housing for the Commoners who work there. Nearly every kind of plant and farm creature imaginable can be found and grown here, owing to the incredible capacity for the magitech systems employed to simulate any kind of weather and climate. In addition, the second of the Castle's two gaols is stationed here; criminals near the beginnings of their sentences are taken here and used as forced labor among the rest of the Orchards' workers.

=== Layer Two: The Noblesse ===

This Layer is exclusively for the personal land and properties of the Noble Stratum. There are four main noble families, with several branch families that form most often as a result of remarriages following divorce or death, or illegitimate and secondary heirs coming to power without being able to inherit the birthright of the firstborn.

The main noble families are:

House Titanite: They are known for their companies which harvest and refine materials for catalysts and aetherios circuitry production.

House Integrity: This family is particularly involved with the systems of justice and law in Ironcastle, and has been involved with recent pushes against proposed legislation for the protection of mutants from discrimination.

House Vynter: The Vynters vie for control of the Orchards, owning a plurality of about 45% of the farms and fields there, which increases each year as they attempt to buy out the holdings of the other families. Their keen business sense and seemingly indomitable desire for expansion makes them quite unpopular with the other Noble families.

House Bahasa: House Bahasa is the family most closely associated with the Warrior Stratum, and many of its leaders are members of the Watchers of the Saffron Lamp. They are an outlier among the Nobles for their general lack of industries and companies, instead maintaining their prestige and privilege through their dedication to honor and servitude to the Castle's needs.

=== Layer One: The Palace ===

Layer One belongs exclusively to the Royal Family -- the Family of Iron. Although this Layer is isolated primarily for the royals' safety and security, it is by no means empty save for them. The noble families, the Abbot and the leaders of the Sages and Warriors (the High Magus and the Grand Legate) have established embassies here for their dignitaries and representatives when they come to petition the royal family. In addition, there are a number of offices, courts, council-chambers and the like for settling various matters, and housing for the vast court that assists the Family of Iron with processing all the various information they must consider when running the Castle.

=== Layer Zero: The Heart ===

The final Layer of Ironcastle is unknown to all but the Family of Iron, and the Papilliones, who are a group of the Castle's top Sages. In this last Layer resides the Heart, and the innermost workings of the ancient technology and magics which the Castles use to harness the Heart's power for the benefit of its citizens. Only the absolute highest levels of clearance can ever allow someone to have access to this Layer, and speaking publicly about any classified information concerning it is grounds for either life imprisonment or summary execution.