Help me figure out a good Layout for Coroth Castle

[Laurna]

In my long search for the Protocols of Orin, I came across Shiral's essay on Shiral Crystals found here.
The Uses of Shiral Crystals, by Melissa Houle    http://www.rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,1946.0.html

In that essay I discovered this discription:

Lewys ap Norfal
There is one further use for shiral crystals that doesn't fall into any of the three categories. We the readers cannot know what Lewys ap Norfal hoped to achieve in his experiment at Coroth Castle, but surely his own disappearance wasn't it. It had to have been important to him, for he defied the Camberian Council of his day. There is a brief description of his procedure in the Codex Derynianus:

"At sunrise on the XXIst day of March in the year 1052 which is the Vernal Equinox, Lord Lewys conducted a magical working in the Barroughyard near the center of the Castle grounds, erecting a large shiral crystal there. As the light of the sun touched the windows of the Green Tower, it reflected into the garden, each subsequent Tower adding its light to the focal point as the sun continued to rise. When the last Tower, which had windows of black obsidian glass, was touched by the rays of light, the crystal suddenly flashed white, temporarily blinding all of the observers." Codex Derynianus, p.99.

All the observers could be sure of afterwards was that Lewys had disappeared and hasn't been seen or heard from since. If nobody knew that he was dead, he couldn't be said to be alive, either.

Shiral, may I ask if this is from the first edition Codex, because I am not able to discover this Quote in the soft cover Edition.

From this description, I am lead to believe that the whole castle will be turned about 45 degrees from what I have drawn.  The green tower will be furthest  North/east while the black tower furthest west. That would put the open gates instead of South, more in line with the harbor, facing South/West.  and the Vermilion tower almost directly South.

Any Ideas?

[Evie]

I can tell you that passage is also in the 2nd edition of the Codex, since that is the version I have, although I don't know what page number I read it on.  I found that passage when looking up information for my description of Coroth Castle in BoP.  I think it might be under the Coroth entry, if not Lewis' entry.

[Laurna]

OK! Found it!
Codex 2nd edition, Page 106,   under the entry of "Green Tower"
Thank you.
I remember studying this early on, but forgot about the sun placement during Lewys's experiment.

[Laurna]

As you can see, I am still playing with what Coroth Castle could look like. To better match the description in the Codex about Lewys ap Norfal's experiment, I turned the gates to the south west facing the harbor. That aligns the south tower (the Vermilion Tower) with the calling of the wards much better. This then calls for a switch of the blue and black towers, making the blue tower in the west and the black tower in the north, where it should be according to the archangels. The Blue Tower is on the Cliff over looking the bay. The black tower is on the cliff next to the River as it cascades down a waterfall into the bay. The fifth tower then becomes the green tower. Green is for Healers and therefore can be associated with the Archangel Raphael in the East and green can also be associated with Uriel in the north. Therefore, the green tower is in the North/East. Also the green tower is much taller then all the other towers. The keep and the green tower would be on the highest part of the hill looking over the Harbor That is why it gets the morning light first. The black tower gets the light last because it is lower and furthest North/West. I hope this makes sense.

The only trouble I am having is that because Gwynedd is so far north of the planets equatorial line that the morning sunlight would never shine on the North side of the gold and vermilion towers which need to be lite by sunlight facing the inner courtyard for the experiment to work. So either Coroth is located around 23 Degrees Latitude North (the Tropic of Cancer) and it can only be performed on the summer solstice, or the sunlight must be magically transferred around to the inside facing tower windows, Maybe by mirrors, else-wise I do not see how this experiment would work.  But it makes for a good story, anyway.

[Evie]

The only trouble I am having is that the morning sunlight would only shine on the outside part of the gold and vermilion towers. Therefore, unless the light is magically transferred around to the inside facing tower windows, I do not see how this experiment would work.  But it makes for a good story, anyway.

Remember that the curtain wall (that outer wall connecting the towers) would not be as high as the towers themselves, not to mention that the sun would be traveling much higher in the sky than any part of the castle structure; therefore, sunlight would still reach the towers on the opposite side of the castle, at least once the sun has risen enough for the light to clear the lower curtain wall.

[Laurna]

I was playing around with my layout of Coroth Castle and I started to wonder what the Great Hall of Coroth would look like. It would be a combination of British and Mediteranian styles that showed high wealth, for Coroth is the center of trade routes in the Southern Sea to all the Eleven Kingdoms. I fell in love with Hampton Court's ceiling rafters and Monreale Cathdral, Italy's columns and plastered walls. Maybe this is a little too grand for 1127, but when I had played with the pictures and made them mesh together I feel in love with the place.  Tell me what you think.

[DoctorM]

I love that image of the great hall, and I love the diagrams of the castle!

[revanne]

I love it Laurna and I think the mixture of styles is just right for Coroth. A bit too fancy for Alaric I suspect, but like his elablorate ducal clothes he has to learn to live with it.

[Jerusha]

I love it, Laurna!  What will we have to do to wrangle a dinner invitation?

[DerynifanK]

 I agree with the revision of the layout of Coroth castle, I think it fits really well. I also love the great hall but I agree that Alaric might have liked something a little less ornate. However, 1. he inheritied it and it certainly is impressive and 2. impressing visiting leaders would certainly serve an important purpose, especially if he was trying to negotiate an agreement. I would have liked to be able to see a little more detail, particularly of the high table. Were those tables along the walls of the hall or benches. I thought he might need more seating room there.  Great job. I love it when you do these studies of the surroundings of the important settingss in the eleven kingdoms. Don't happen to have one for Rhemuth Castle do you?

[Nezz]

Well that is certainly gorgeous! I don't mind admitting that I'd kinda like to live there.

[Laurna]

Remember Coroth was the largest city in the Deryni Kingdom of Mooryn which formed from the Byzantyn  Empire. The first king of Mooryn was declared in 561. The kingdom did not become a duchy of Rhemuth untill the end of the Rengarth wars in 983. The great hall at Coroth Castle would have been the thrown room for the Mooryn Kingdom, and later the ducal palace for Corwyn. I have no doubt the walls would have been painted in gold.
A agree that the great hall would have been far about what Alaric would have liked. he merely inherited this huge castle on the cliffs overlooking the Coroth Harbor. He just had to keep it from falling into ruin.  Or more likely it was Duchess Richenda who made sure it stayed in good repair.

[Wren]

Oh that Great Hall is gorgeous! I would love more detail. I can imagine Alaric squirming through an official dinner there. I agree too ornate for him, but oh what a hardship...

[Laurna]

We all love to see His Grace, Duke Alaric, squirm. Perhaps the ornateness of Coroth is what kept him leaving it so often and returning to Rhemuth.  Love the idea of setting down to dinner with Alaric.

[Laurna]

I agreed that Alaric would not have liked the last image. So, I spent the day redoing the great hall. I shouldn't get so focused on these things, but after spending the morning repairing horse stall plumbing, I had little desire to do any house work. So, I made this instead. Do you think Alaric would like His Great Hall  renovations much better?