Daschau

The tastefully named town of Daschau is a frontier garrison settlement. The town was Kasterburger in origins, and retains the architectural legacy of the Batavians, but presently is governed under the direct control of the Governorate of Siyachia whilst serving as a garrison town for the Land Forces of the Benacian Union.

Government

The seat of government for the Worshipful Corporation of the Bailiwick, imaginatively named as the Government House, is set atop the Castle Mound at the heart of the city. Built in the Batavian style, the structure, consisting of four galleried halls enclosing a central courtyard, is crenelated and machicolated, albeit decoratively with fanciful oriels and twisted chimneys of moulded terracotta.

Government House

Access to Government House is via the Gatehouse at the base of the Castle Mound on its western length. The structure a pattern of structured brickwork with decorative arcaded corbel tables and large mullioned windows to the two principle chambers. Above these windows the battlements of the central sections stand forward on open brackets, or machicolations, between which objects could be dropped upon any body of unruly subjects trying to force an entry into the building.

The ascent to the summit of the platform is via a covered stairway of brick and stone that winds its way the base of the mound, ascending in a counter-clockwise pattern. Two small octagonal bastions, one on the north and the other on the south face of the mound, regulate the passage of those ascending to the main house. Each bastion comprises of a guardhouse and an oubliette, with access to the next stage of the covered stairway being controlled by means of a portcullis and murder-holes built into the structure.

The final stage of the covered stairway, upon attaining the summit, leads into the courtyard, which continues the visual style established by the gatehouse, albeit the projecting turrets are smaller and corbelled out. Open arcaded walks intersect across the courtyard as well as marking its outer perimeter. The bailiff and the court of the aldermen occupy the south-facing Great Hall whilst visitors are obliged to register their presence in the north-facing Waiting Hall and there bide their time until summoned to the Great Hall along either the East or West Gallery. The Waiting Hall consists of a salon, drawing room, and library on the ground floor with guest apartments set above. The first floor of the West Gallery houses clerical offices and the dormitories of the serving staff whilst the East Gallery contains the kitchens and communal dining halls. The loft-space of the East Gallery also provides a discrete living quarter for the kept persons retained by the bailiff.

Geography

Situated on the northward flowing River Nederlinge between Sankt Klaus to its south and Istenbruck along the course of the same river to the northwest, Daschau is notable for its loamy soil and rich alluvial meadows, which made it a popular site for pasturing during the era of Batavian settlement. The heart of the city is a substantial platform mound, dating back to prehistory, rising above the flood plain, that is 30 metres in height, 236 metres in width, and 300 metres in length.

History

The position of Daschau placed it on the frontier between Batavian and Yehudim population groups, often changing hands in a way that marked the ebb and flow of the polities each group would usher into being during their periods of relative ascendancy. At the height of the Republic of Ashkenatza, circa 1566 AN, Daschau laid firmly within the boundaries of the province of Porolia which, alongside Volhyria and Merenia, was under the sway of the kossar tradition that continued into the era of Minarboria.

Castle Mound, the present seat of the civic administration, is speculated to have begun as an earthen platform raised in prehistoric times as a refuge during the periodic inundations of the floodplain. Over successive generations the platform would be added to, gaining its present dimensions, as its position dominating the riverine traffic of the Nederlinge came to be appreciated by subsequent rulers. Various castles and fortifications have been built and rebuilt atop the mound over the course of its existence, and there are clear indications that it served as an artillery platform during the Kossar Commonwealth, an early precursor to Ashkenatza.

During the period of Kasterburger settlement in the region, Daschau played host to "ESB Logistics Kasterburg", a subsidiary of the Honourable Company entered onto the Kasterburger Handelsregister from 1664 AN onwards. The city's selection as a logistics depot may have been influenced by the presence of the St. Gesellmann Brewery (est. 1656 AN) and convenient cross-border transportation links from the Lywall Protectorate to Litkov and the eponymous capital city of Kasterburg itself. The road into Kasterburg along this route having been pioneered by the Imperial Expedition to Kasterburg shortly after the foundation of that settler-state in 1656 AN.

During the period of Kasterburger rule the rail network connected Daschau with Nieuw Ingelheim via the Republican Line, stopping in Waldstein.

The subsequent history of the settlement is somewhat murky. Following the retrenchment of Kasterburg away from the frontier with Kalgachia, the region fell pray to Lach dominated polities such as the Republic of Inner Benacia and the Upland Confederation. Imperial Shirerithian influence in the region however would steadily increase

Following the Kalirion Fracture the former Shirerithian territories in Siyachia, including Daschau, would fall under the sway of the Unified Governorates of Benacia and see a remilitarisation of the region accordingly. From 1673 AN onwards the establishment of a military road between Litkov and Klymhigh and the creation of the fortified "Abatis Line" along the western bank of the Nederlinge river, would see Daschau placed under a firm occupation by the Black Legions.

Daschau hosted a foundational cadre of the Siyacha Corps of the Black Legions, established on 13.III.1674. Initially formed of N&H zealots, Babkhi mercenaries, unemployed naval ratings, and Mishalanski conscripts, the efforts of Benacia Command represented a concern regarding the vulnerability of the Siyachia territory, positioned between the anti-Raspur regional powers of Kalgachia and Kasterburg. The cadre garrisoned at Daschau would eventually consolidate into the Salb VIII "Anandja", commanded by the Salbnan Domnik Grifos.

Commencing from 18.XII.1678 AN, Daschau housed an interment camp for West Amokolian, Batavian, and Kasterburger nationals resident in the UGB, Elwynn, Ransenar, and the Sovereign Confederation. As relations deteriorated between the member states of the Raspur Pact and the Frankish Empire, leading into the Second Amokolian War, the majority of these internees were deported into Kasterburg.

Beginning in 1702 AN, the defensive works around Daschau were incorporated into the Southern Sector Defensive Lines of the Benacian Western Defence Zone. Attempts at redeveloping the town as a spa-resort were abandoned during this period owing to outbreaks of malaria and the marsh-rot sickness in the villages and farms surrounding the town.

With the reorganisation of the Black Legions into the Land Forces of the Benacian Union in 1703 AN the Salb VIII "Anandja" was replaced by the locally raised 3 Kossarfördelningen "Siyachia", commanded by the Salbnan-Afzælthvaszhaldan Rasoul Jahangiri, the particulars of which can be found elsewhere.