Silverwick's First Defense
The Iron Gate is Silverwick's main entrance and first line of defense—the heavily fortified southern district that stands between the town and everything beyond the walls. This is where the Winterguard lives, trains, and prepares. Where weapons are stored, armor maintained, and vigilance never ceases.
This district exists for one purpose: to stop threats before they reach the rest of Silverwick. Everything here—architecture, layout, atmosphere—serves that function.
The district sits at Silverwick's southern edge, facing the most dangerous approach. Beyond the walls lies the forest to the west, rolling tundra to the south, and uncertain wilderness where Frost-Walkers roam. Every threat that walks to Silverwick encounters The Iron Gate first.
Watch Captain Daren Frost commands from here. The barracks, armory, training grounds, and command post are all within this district.
The Gate Itself
The district's namesake dominates its southern edge—a massive gate serving as Silverwick's primary entrance.
Construction: The gate stands twenty-five feet high, set within the town's defensive walls. Twin doors made of thick oak planks, reinforced with iron bands forged by Smith Kaelen Ironhand. The iron is Red Iron—Kaelen's special Glimmer-forged creation that retains heat permanently. The bands glow faintly in darkness, radiating warmth that prevents the gates from freezing shut.
The doors are massive—each weighs hundreds of pounds, requiring coordinated effort to open or close. During normal times, they stand open from dawn to dusk. During threats, they seal shut.
The Twin Guard Towers: Flanking the gate rise two stone towers, thirty feet high, providing elevated positions for archers and observers. Each tower houses a fire beacon that can be lit to signal emergencies. Guards rotate through tower duty—watching approaches, monitoring gate traffic.
The towers connect via a fighting platform above the gate—allowing defenders to rain arrows or stones on attackers.
Protective Wards: The gate stones are heavily enriched with warding ore—more than any other wall section. Multiple Glimmer-users maintain wards here constantly. The concentration of magical protection makes Frost-Walkers uncomfortable approaching.
When fully charged, the wards glow faintly blue in darkness—visible reassurance that magic reinforces stone and iron.
The Portcullis: Behind the main doors, a heavy iron portcullis can be dropped—additional barrier if doors are breached. It hasn't been used in decades, but the mechanism is maintained, tested regularly, ready.
Gate Control: Opening and closing requires authorization. During normal times, guards at the towers operate the mechanism on schedule. During threats, only Captain Frost or Sergeant Frostguard can authorize opening.
The Barracks
The Winterguard barracks occupies the district's eastern section—a large stone building housing the forty full-time guards.
Appearance: Militaristic stone construction with narrow windows and soot-blackened walls. Functional, austere, built for defense. The walls are thick—designed to withstand attack if outer walls fail.
The building shows its age—patched repairs from past attacks, scorch marks, worn steps from thousands of boots.
Interior Layout:
Sleeping Quarters: Large common rooms with rows of bunks. Little privacy—guards sleep in shared space, fostering unit cohesion. Senior guards have small private rooms.
Mess Hall: Where guards eat together. Simple meals, efficiently served. The mess hall's hearth (maintained with Hearth-Warding) provides precious warmth. This is social center—where guards bond, share stories.
Common Room: Worn furniture, dice games, card playing, drinking (within limits). Where guards decompress between shifts.
Training Room: Indoor space for weapon drills when weather makes outdoor training impossible.
Captain's Quarters: Captain Frost's private room. Sparse—bed, desk covered in patrol schedules and reports, armor stand, window overlooking the gate.
The Atmosphere: The barracks smells of weapon oil, leather, smoke, sweat, and perpetual stew. It sounds like boots on stone, weapons being sharpened, dice rolling, occasional laughter, more often quiet exhaustion.
It's home for forty people who chose to stand between Silverwick and death.
The Armory
Adjacent to the barracks sits the armory—a heavily secured stone building storing weapons, armor, and equipment.
Security: The armory has one entrance, always guarded. Only Winterguard members and authorized craftspeople can enter. Theft is considered treason.
Contents:
Weapons: Racks of spears (primary weapon), swords, axes, bows, quivers of arrows. Everything is maintained obsessively—sharpened, oiled, inspected.
Armor: Spare chain-mail, leather cuirasses, gambesons, helmets. Most wear shared pieces that fit reasonably well. Custom armor is earned through seniority.
Shields: Wooden shields with iron reinforcement, marked with the wolf symbol. Each guard personalizes their shield with service marks, battle tallies, sometimes names of fallen comrades.
Winter Gear: Fur-lined cloaks, wool wrappings, face coverings, cold-weather survival equipment. Frost-Moss lanterns for night patrols.
Red Iron Weapons: A small number of Kaelen's special heat-retaining weapons—expensive, valuable, issued only to senior guards or dangerous missions.
Siege Equipment: Stored but rarely used—barrels of oil, fire arrows, extra arrow stocks, emergency repair materials.
The Training Grounds
Between the barracks and walls lies the training grounds—open space where guards drill constantly.
Features: Weapon racks with wooden training weapons. Straw-stuffed practice dummies. Open formation ground marked with lines. Obstacle course for climbing and strength training. Combat circle for sparring. Cobblestones worn smooth by decades of patrols.
Training happens regardless of weather. Snow? Train anyway. Freezing wind? Train anyway. The enemy doesn't wait for comfortable conditions.
The Atmosphere
The Iron Gate smells of weapon oil, leather, smoke from signal fires, and the metallic tang of iron and steel. It sounds like boots on stone, metal on metal, shouted commands during drills, the creak of the gate.
The air is serious, watchful, tense. This isn't a place for celebration. People here are preparing for violence, processing past violence, or resting between bouts of violence.
But there's also camaraderie. Dark humor. Shared meals. Dice games. The fierce loyalty of people who trust each other with their lives.
The Iron Gate is where the Winterguard becomes a pack. Where farm boys become soldiers. Where fear is acknowledged, processed, and overcome through training and brotherhood.
Strategic Importance
Primary Defense: First line against threats from the south and west—the most dangerous approaches.
Controlled Access: All legitimate traffic enters through here. Merchants, traders, travelers—everyone passes through the gate where they can be observed, questioned, assessed.
Military Center: Command post for all defensive operations. Captain Frost coordinates wall patrols, dispatch runners, emergency responses from here.
Deterrence: The visible military presence—guards on towers, weapons abundant, fortifications obvious—discourages potential threats.
Last Stand Position: If outer walls are breached, the Winterguard falls back here. The area is defensible, supplies are stored, the gate can seal—turning this district into a fortress within the fortress.
Connection to the Forest
The Iron Gate faces the western forest—where the Thornheart Grove lies, where Frost-Walkers emerge, where danger dwells.
Guards watch the forest constantly. They know its moods—when wildlife activity suggests Frost-Walker presence, when unusual silence means something dangerous stalks nearby.
The forest is always there. Dark treeline visible from the towers. The guards watch, document, prepare.
Grandmother Sile's cottage sits at the forest edge, technically within The Iron Gate's jurisdiction. Guards check on her regularly—partly welfare concern, partly strategic monitoring.
Why It Matters
The Iron Gate is where Silverwick's survival is most visible, most tangible, most honest.
Other districts can pretend safety. The Hearthstone celebrates community. The Hearthways offers domestic comfort. The North Quarter houses administration.
But The Iron Gate doesn't pretend. Here, everyone acknowledges: we live surrounded by things that want to kill us. These walls, these gates, these guards—they're all that stands between us and death.
The Iron Gate is Silverwick's acknowledgment that survival requires violence, vigilance, and people willing to stand in dangerous places so others won't have to.
And as long as the Winterguard mans these walls, as long as the gate holds, as long as Captain Frost watches the forest with tired, determined eyes—Silverwick survives.
The wolf guards the gate. The pack protects the heart.