Sternenachteburg - Shields

Rank can be understood from a quick look at the shield.

A round shield

Every good castles needs a shield for the defenders.  This is the very basic design of the defender's shield.  I have artistic licence with what is possible in my castle's universe, so I have a little fun.

Rank is easily determined by a quick glance at the shield.  A common soldier would have a plain shield. Officers would have their personal or family crest on the shield with the material determined upon rank.  Leutenants would have steel, Captains would have a white metal, and Commanders/Generals would have a Gold metal.  The remaining four shields have to do with a story-line with the castle, so I wont go into detail about them right now.

I also acknowledge that not all fighting positions use the stereotypical shield shape, so I included a round shield as an example of how this would work with multiple shapes.

Sternennachteburg - Whats in a name?

Sternennachteburg - Starry Night Castle

For anyone who speaks German, I apologize, I don't but I'm still using the language.  In a previous post I gave the name of the castle which my design gets inspiration from, but I did not give my own creation a name.  That's because it has changed a few times, so I wanted to be sure of my decision before posting it.  

The decided name is Sternennachteburg, which roughly translates into Starry Night Castle.  You can thank Google Translate for the beginning of the German, and me for cobbling(in other words, destroying a perfectly good language) it together.  I chose German because my family has German ancestors and I like the sound of Sternennachteburg.

The name comes from the material that I have built it out of.  It is a blue granite with yellowish spots that remind me a bit of a night sky. This has lead to some interesting story ideas with this castle, since I can play around with geology and science in an imaginary world.  

Beaumaris...Sort of (Floor Plan)

Another day another post!

I've included a cutout to show some of the other differences.  I've included an extra set of walls.  Inside of the walls is a castle village which I've set as the center of trade on the road that I've created.  Also I have a wall pointing out to sea, which allows for water trade as well.  Finally, I've included a keep, mostly because of the potential of additional story line.

Like the church this continues to grow and change, but the essence has remained the same.  One difference from the church though, as I build my castle, a story has been developing.  Perhaps one day I will write it down for National Novel Writing Month.

Until later.

Merry Christmas!

Beaumaris ... Sort of (Bird's Eye)

As I've mentioned, I'm not limited to churches, I also really like castles.  As a kid I loved getting to read books about knights and dragons, so it isnt surprising then that I've been working on a castle design.  

When studying castles, one of my favorite castles was a Welsh castle called Beaumaris.  Beaumaris is considered by some scholars to be the perfect example of a concentric ring castle, but it was never completed.  While it had started strong, the war moved before its completed and it stopped being important enough to finish. 

So when I found Google Sketchup, I started making Beaumaris.  and then it started growing.  From bird's eye view you can see that the interior is similar, but there are a few differences in the land.  Namely instead of a moat, I put in a river with a waterfall.

A sane castle builder would never put a castle in a waterfall, since you would have your foundation wear away, but here I took advantage of the strategic advantage, and the fact I don't have to worry about realistic worries like erosion.

Well that's all for today.  More to come in the future.