The Factory-fortresses of House Veromer

[Superfluous Crow]

Hey everybody, now i finally have something new to show from my setting. It's another country (or power group, is probably more appropriate), and although it's somewhat fantastical, i believe it to be credible and plausible (and i hope you agree).

THE FACTORY-FORTRESSES OF HOUSE VEROMER
Out in the wilderness, nestled at the feet of three northern mountains, lies three isolated fortresses. Bearing the markings of an old house of merchant nobles, the Veromers, the fortresses appear to be normal at first, although activity seems to be unusually low. On closer inspection, you'll notice how this is indeed not an ordinary fortress: reinforced with metal and of a massive size and, most importantly, completely sealed off save from a single gate that leads to a small nondescript room. This room is where the people of distant countries come to trade. Because although not much is known about the nature of the fortresses, what is known is that they sell manufactured objects at a very good price, and that they will buy almost anything in return (of course, also for a reasonable price). No one knows who makes so many of these objects, and, truth be told, most people don't want to know; as long as the wares keep coming, they won't object.    

CITIES
There are three fortresses in all: Ward, Haven, and Sanctuary. They are all similar in the services they provide, except for Haven, which acts as an international prison as well and many countries ship the more troublesome prisoners to Haven for a tidy sum of money from the Baron of Haven.

The cities are largely similar in their construction: huge, ugly, and immensely well-fortified; completely sealed off in metal and stone, and capable of sustaining a frontal wilder attack. Also, most of its wealth seems to be in produce, so for civilized nations there is more profit in keeping them around.

Though there are levels above ground, of course, a lot of the fortress proper exists below ground. The fortresses are largely built up of large cells, each housing a single factory unit (could be a carpenter unit, or a forge unit, or anything else really). These cells are connected by a large network of corridors, patrolled by guards, overseers, and medical personnel and kitchen staff. On the highest levels are the luxurious private quarters of the Veromer descendant in charge of the individual fortress; the Baron.

GOVERNMENT
Each fortress is lead by a Baron, or, in the case of Ward, a baroness, each one a daughter or son of Mikhail who, as fate would have it, was the only surviving member of the Veromers after the Malady. Under them are the overseers and supervising staff, who in turn oversee the laborers who toil in the factory cells. The laborers live under horrendous conditions, but are kept docile with a combination of drugs and the lie that the outside world has been torn apart by the Malady. Workers are never allowed to venture outside their factory cell (It's a contamination risk), and therefore have no idea of the workings of the rest of the fortress. Workers are generally considered to be more or less expendable, and breeding facilities are kept where young women help make the next generation that is to repopulate the disease-wrecked earth. If workers become too nosy or interfering, they are given topside duty to help scavenge the devastated countryside for foodstuffs and the like or to protect against the feral wilders. Of course, they are pretty much just taken into a room and executed. People are largely uneducated, but are given a very thorough education in the function they are to perform in the factory.    

HISTORY
During the Malady danger was everywhere; even if you didn't succumb to the disease itself there were still bandits and wilders to worry about and although most decided to stay and protect their ancestral homes, many fled to places they deemed safer. What many fugitives quickly discovered, though, was that there was no such place. One nobleman, though, named Mikhail Veromer, a man known both for his brilliance and acute paranoia, decided that if there really was no such place, he would just have to build one. Using much of his families saved-up fortune; he began a project of great proportions to convert a series of three large forts in the mountains into self-sufficient settlements. Using the great workforce of the thousands of desperate fugitives who wanted a place in the sanctuaries, the fortresses were finished amazingly fast, and as soon as they were filled up, the buildings were sealed off, and remained like that for almost a decade.
   
When Mikhail opened the fortress after the first decade, he realized that the apocalypse hadn't happened while he was absent from the world. The Malady had been cured though, which meant that he could safely reopen his own personal fortress, Sanctuary. He chose not to though, because although the world had gotten better, his paranoia had become much worse and had now been coupled with a severe xenophobia and agoraphobia. So he chose to stay locked up in his impenetrable fortress and, requiring the fugitives' help to keep the fortress functional, he decided to keep them in the dark on the betterment of the world, and therefore he made up a very detailed lie concerning how the world was looking topside. Anyone who objected was 'removed', so Mikhail could enjoy his isolation in peace.

Mikhail also sent a message to his two stewards who were in charge of his back-up fortresses, telling them to stay locked up so they could remain hidden away from the attention of the more powerful states in the vicinity. His son Denal Veromer, the Baron of Haven, was sick and tired of staying locked up, though, and so he sent out a large caravan with some of the surplus goods of the colony to acquire himself some luxury he could pass the time with. When they came back with enough luxury to last some time, and money to spare, he realized that in a world that was still recuperating from a great crisis, there was a good deal of profit to be made. He slowly made changes to the fortress, converting it into something closer to a gigantic factory, and he isolated the population in cells so they could be easily handled. He sent a message to his brother Voril, telling him of his clever ploy. Voril, though, had passed away and left his sister, Erina, in charge, and she quickly saw profit in Denal's plan and set about converting her fortress as well. Denal didn't have long to enjoy his success though; a breach in security allowed truth about the outside world to reach the laborers, and as a reaction they rebelled, forced their way to his private apartment and killed him, before the guards managed to kill or subdue the rebels, resulting in an almost total massacre of the population. Erina heard of the event and instated her own son, Karaun, as the new baron, trying to keep the death of Denal secret from the now sick Mikhail. She succeeded, and Mikhail died a year later without knowing what had befallen Denal. Mihails youngest son, Boron, was instated as the Baron of Sanctuary along with Erina of Ward and Karaun of Haven. Boron was also eager to participate in Denal's old plan, and with each fortress properly redesigned, and the lie spread, each fortress took to open trade with the surrounding nations, although they kept the inner workings of the fortress a close-kept secret. To fill up the ranks that had been decimated during the uprising, Karaun also began taking in prisoners from outside sources for a considerable sum of money. They are of course all kept under a close guard.

Terminology:
The Malady: A contagious mental illness that kind of set the world reeling. It was often simply crippling, but did result in the Wilders as well.
The Wilders: Some people reacted strangely to the Malady, and fled civilization, reacting extremely violently to any attempt at restraining them. They congregate in small tribes for unknown reasons, and raid civilization from time to time.

Problems and questions:
1) This might be slightly jumbled, so if there are any sections that could use some clearer writing or something, please tell me; text is best if it can be read.
2) Any severe inconsistencies that i should take a look at?
3) Anything you would like to know that i haven't written anything about? Something that you would miss if you were using this for anything?
4) Any additions you would like me to make? Good (or bad) ideas of any sort?
5) Any praise?

[Eladris]

My only suggestion would be to separate the different factory-fortresses into their own sub-sections.  The names are near-synonyms, so reading about each one in succession might be clearer than reading a little bit about each in every section.

Content-wise I like the idea of the Malady, Wilders and a mad ruler bent on keeping his people ignorant of current events.     Are their factions inside the sanctuaries that wonder how the outside world fares?  Are their factions outside that wonder what's going on within?

[Superfluous Crow]

Those who wonder about the outside are generally removed from the rest of the populace so they don't cause dissidence. Many people wonder about what's going on inside the fortresses, but since they are generally sealed off, and to profitable whole to conquer, most people just suppress the curiosity and enjoy the benefits.

And the fortresses seem a bit too similar to me to warrant their own section? They were made to be largely the same.

And thanks :)

[Lmns Crn]

They are all similar in the services they provide, except for Haven, which acts as an international prison as well and many countries ship the more troublesome prisoners to Haven for a tidy sum of money from the Baron of Haven.

get rid of[/i] your prisoners. It costs money and space to keep them, they're a constant security risk, they're unsightly... a major liability. Some real-world communities build extra-large prison facilities for the sole purpose of housing prisoners from other jurisdictions, because they get paid to do so.

Why is the Baron of Haven paying other people to take their prisoners, when other people should be paying him for tidying up their jails? It looks financially very unwise, and if I'm correctly assuming that the Baron is using the prisoners for some secret, immoral purposes, it's terribly unsubtle.

The rest is interesting, though. How are you planning to use this in a game (or are you, yet?) Are the players going to be factory workers trying to escape, or traders who accidentally discover too much, or something else entirely?

[Superfluous Crow]

Oh, that's actually a mistake... I think I said the right thing somewhere farther up in the text. I'll fix it to him getting paid immediately :)
And glad you like it. Currently, I'm just trying to put a setting together out of my many incoherent ideas. But generally, i like the fact that this could be a substantial power group as it can quickly outfit a foreign army if they pay up front, for example, and also it could make for an interesting origin (or interesting games for that matter).

[LordVreeg]

The Xenophobia is a riot.
Since Mikhail is still alive, were talking 10-20 years?  I saw 1 decade, but there is no reference to the time periods after that.
How big are these fortresses?  What is life like on the inside?

[Superfluous Crow]

I'm not at all sure what you mean with the first line...
The reason i haven't included years or anything yet is mainly because I'm not quite sure how long it should take. Is 5 more years to short a period? Would 10 be better? Or more?
Size-wise they are massive and expanding, digging new underground compartments and the like. I guess they are multi-level constructions of metal and stone, extending rather deep underground or into the mountains.
Life on the inside is hell, pretty much, but as far as the inhabitants know, the outside world isn't any better. They are pushed as hard as they can be, and sometimes even a bit beyond that.
Hmm, i think i could use some help on construction, population and history.

[Acrimone]

This is a sweet idea.  I'm stealing it for my game.

If prisoners are brought in, presumably for labor, are they just kept isolated and confined?  Because they have to know what it's like on the outside.  You can't have trade and new people and such and keep a secret.

Not for long, anyway.

[Superfluous Crow]

I would be honored if you stole it :D
The idea is that the barons and their officials deal with the trade while the general populace is kept in the dark. By isolating them in work units they are unaware that the massive amount of produce they are making is actually mostly going to the outside world. If the product necessitates the knowledge of outside trade (farm implements for example), they are told that there exists a few devastated cities that are constantly fending off the plagues that the Malady has brought upon the world, while they live safely underground. The confinement in factory units is generally explained by the fact that it would make them able to quarantine areas if they were contaminated with the Malady.

[Gilladian]

My first question with things like this is "Where do they get their food?"

If they are sealed off, do they have magical food and water production systems? What happens to their waste? Is it totally reprocessed? Thrown out? Sold?

Do they have hydroponics? Magical lighting for greenhouses? Gardens on the tops of the fortresses? Trade for all their food? If so, they're very vulnerable to sieges.

If they do have sewers or waste disposal systems, this would be a place where outside infiltration could occur - an excellent RP opportunity.

What would happen if they were digging new chambers and broke into "the underdark", or old ruins, or an active community of, for example, dwarves? Has this ever happened?

[Superfluous Crow]

At first, they mainly lived off huge warehouses full of dried food, and they boosted that with a large production of sunless plants and mushrooms (i'm actually rather sure i've heard of a real-world equivalent to this, so i don't believe it to be unfeasible as such). Now, as the warehouses have finally run out, they mainly trade for it. Whenever produce goes out, luxury foodstuffs goes in for the baron and his consorts, while whatever basic foodwares you can make some nourishing gruel out of goes in. And yes, trade makes them vulnerable, but as stated above, it's not like they have giant markets or anything that people can freely access. They only have a room where the deals are made.
My campaign isn't low-magic as such, but magic isn't really integrated in the common world, and it doesn't look much like the magic we see from other settings, so no, they don't have magical appliances. The fortresses are built near natural underground springs, so they have an ample source of fresh water.
There aren't really any subterranean races to speak of, and no Underdark as of yet, but there might be ruins... it's not a bad idea. I'll consider that. But they would probably just convert the ruins to suit whatever purpose they need.
Waste disposal is probably a combination of organic composting, incineration, and throwing it into even deeper holes.
I think that was all the questions. Hope you like the answers.