Aye, Laddie. I remember Whytegaard in it’s prime. Back when the lands were fertile and the foul creatures didn’t swarm out of the forests. Whytegaard is still there you know; the building is, anyways. It’s just past the long field and over that high hill. From the tallest tower in Whyteford you can almost see it. On a clear day with a good looking glass you can spot the walls of it, still gleaming white.
I remember the insides of those walls well. We slept in longhouses, stacked against the insides of the limestone walls so that if we were sieged we could get to our posts quickly. There were a lot of those longhouses and more were being built every year. The cathedral was in the center of course. It weren’t no gaudy thing like the big one in Belcraft, but it was glorious all the same. Pure, simple stone walls and a roof of red shingle. The windows let in good light and they used to cover em with a coating to make them red or blue or yellow, depending on the Archai who governed that month. Whytegaard got a decent amount of sun so the light always shone in real nice on the temple in the center. It’s odd we got so much sun; there are 7 hills that surround Whytegaard. The bishop used to say that nothing could hold off the light of Taeos and that it would always shine on those who needed it. I tell ya, though, when we would train in the towers and out in the green in the center of Whytegaard we could’ a done with a little less. It got dang blasted hot out there.
Now, Whytegaard was never officially made a capital or nothing, but Whyteford always looked to us for help. When it started, Whyteford was built to bring supplies here. At first it was just a camp tent city. Then they started building out of wood and shipping stone in from Belcraft. The rivers made it easy. They would get shipments down the main fork then haul them over to Whyteford. They would use a little to build the city and then send the rest to Whytegaard. It worked out real well. Unfortunately, Whyteford ain’t been the same since they abandoned Whytegaard.
When the church had it’s big split I hear they almost came to arms about who got to inhabit the keep. I guess it was too expensive to maintain by the group that finally got a hold of it. Those troops eventually moved out and went down to Breggum. They abandoned that old, decrepit keep quickly, too. I hear every so often about some paladin who will take on an apprentice or someone serving lord so and so as an ex-Whytegaard aid. I guess they’re still floating around somewhere. I hear some of the priests stayed at Hermit, but I think it’s been abandoned. The Abbot there was a good friend of mine. I think maybe he went to live in the woods somewhere near there, or maybe he finally went to try and explore old Fearmas. Who knows? It was all so long ago, and I’m so tired now . . .
