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 Cliffs are well protected with a sequence of fortifications to guard the approach. Damation granite is flecked with silver marks although these are purely cosmetic and do not lessen its value.

Each of the fortifications is built of granite mined at that location, and each garrison is fiercely protective of the stone that protects them in time of need. Each of them identifies and names "constellations" of the greater silver flecks on their walls, and it is by their major constellations that each is known.

Every great Bourse member personally finances the building of a fortification, and some Bourse members have bankrupted themselves attempting to build the strongest, most impressive fort along and up the Damation Cliffs. The best known of these forts is of course Fort Braydon, built with some of the first stone quarried from the Damatian Cliffs long before the foundation of the Empire. Once the Bourse was established, the Damatian Cliffs Seats took a measure of personal pride in ensuring that most of the new fortifications built in the western Empire used stone from Damata in their construction.

Not every fortification has been built without incident; several were plagued with accusations of corruption regarding their financing. During the reign of Empress Deanne, for example, the noted philanthropist and popular stateswoman Inacia i Correrro i Riqueza was convicted for embezzlement and misappropriation of Senate funds. In a show of good faith, she volunteered to work the Damation Cliffs, in the shadow of the fort that she had stolen the funds to build. The irony was not lost on the troops, who would stand at attention and salute at the beginning and end of her every shift. Of potential interest to modern treasure-seekers is the story that Inacia's personal fortune was never recovered, and that she lived out her life in penury. Rumour persists to this day that there are coffers full of Thrones and Crowns buried somewhere near the Damatian Cliffs, and barely a year goes by without someone claiming to have insight into their likely location. Such treasure seekers are figures of regular mockery to the hard-working quarry workers, of course.