Damatian Cliffs
Overview
The Damatian Cliffs are located near Damata in the Freeborn territory of Kahraman. Custodianship of the Damatian Cliffs grants an Imperial title; a seat on the Imperial Bourse; and a seasonal bounty of valuable white granite.
The Resource
The mountains of northern Kahraman are rich in stone and ore, and site of the richest white granite quarry in the Empire. Damatian granite is easy for an expert to spot, because it is usually flecked with faint silver marks. These impurities are purely cosmetic and do not lessen its value, but a skilled stonemason who can extenuate them and work them into a structure can create breathtakingly beautiful buildings and statues.
Almost every significant Imperial fortification has foundations of Damatian granite, and it has been a point of pride for Seats down the ages to ensure that new fortresses and castles from Wintermark to Urizen use at least a little of their stone. It is traditional for those who have worked the cliffs here to be dismissive of the longevity of any major structure that does not use Damatian granite. Perhaps the best known fortification built with Damatian granite was Fort Braydon (prior to its destruction in 385YE), built in the earliest days of the Brass Coast with the first granite quarried in Serra Damata. There are also three smaller castles built into the sides of the mountains overlooking the great quarries, each garrisoned by Freeborn soldiers.
There are several armed camps, small-scale fortifications, along the mountains above the Cliffs that protect both the quarries and the rest of Kahraman from the bandits and outlaws who dwell in the hills and mountains along the borders with Mournwold and Liathaven. There are five fortresses in the region in all, each built of granite quarried nearby. The five garrisons are named for distinctive patterns of silvery inflection on their walls, which are said to take the form of one of the constellations. They are, from east to west, the Key, the Oak, the Chain, the Mountain, and the Web.
Inacia i Correrro i Riqueza was the architect who designed four of the five small castles (the Fort of the Key was built a hundred years after the other four as the quarries were expanded). She was paid a small fortune by the dhomiro of Kahraman for her work, but died shortly after the last castle (the Fort of the Web) was completed. She died without other family, and her fortune was never accounted for. Inacia also drew many of the designs for Fort Braydon, and for several other structures both in Kahraman and beyond, and in addition to silver was regularly paid with small amounts of ilium, which she wore as jewelry on her fingers and in her hair. Always eccentric, rumours quickly surfaced after her death that she had concealed the bulk of her fortune somewhere in the mountains near the Damatian Cliffs, and barely a year goes by without someone claiming to have insight into the likely location of Inacia's Trove. Such treasure seekers are figures of regular mockery to the hard-working quarry workers, of course.
The funding of guards in Kahraman has ensured that despite problems with raiders, the custodian continues to receive 27 wains of white granite every season.
The Bourse Seat
Responsibilities
The Seat has no particular responsibilities; they simply receive a bounty of white granite which is theirs to do with as they will. If the Damatian Cliffs were to be threatened in any way, it would be the responsibility of the Seat to deal with those threats. Likewise, if any particular opportunity were to arise related to the Damatian Cliffs, the Seat would expect to be consulted as to how that opportunity might be resolved.
Powers
Seat on the Bourse
Custodianship of the Damatian Cliffs comes with a seat on the Imperial Bourse. For the most part, this Seat comes with no additional responsibilities. It is an Imperial title that grants the right to participate on the rare occasion when the Imperial Bourse as a body is required to make a decision.
Bounty of white granite
The Seat has control of a source of white granite and receives Bourse certificates to represent that control. They can dispense this resource as they choose. Production is 27 Imperial wains of white granite every season.
Appointment
As with all white granite Bourse seats, the holder of the title is determined during the Summer Solstice. As an Imperial seat, any Imperial citizen may participate in the auction and hold the title.
Custodianship of the Damatian Cliffs is retained for a year, or until the citizen holding the seat dies, or steps down. An Imperial Bourse seat cannot be revoked by the Imperial Synod.
| Summit | Nation | Elected | Bid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer Solstice 386YE | Highguard | Naomi, Felix Watch | 375 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 385YE | Urizen | Esteban Ezmara of Zenith Ascendant | 285 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 384YE | Wintermark | Bron Mordssen | 501 thrones |
| Winter Solstice 383YE | Urizen | Bartimaeus | 220 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 383YE | The Marches | Henry Ap Tudywr | 594 thrones |
| Winter Solstice 382YE | The League | Lorenzo “La Volpe” Macelliao von Temeschwar | 130 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 382YE | Dawn | Pontus | 331 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 381YE | The League | Vieri Allori | 355 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 379YE | Jeremiah of the Cenotaph | 405 thrones | |
| Summer Solstice 378YE | The League | Giacomo Corvinoscuro | 170 thrones |
| Winter Solstice 377YE | Varushka | Lukash Biessek von Temeschwar | 50 thrones |
| Winter Solstice 376YE | Vittorio of the Butcher's Guild | 13 thrones |
Recent Elections
This title is currently held by Naomi, Felix Watch; it will be reelected at Summer Solstice 387YE. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.