Bastion Grimmslayers

The Bastion Grimmslayers are an fan faction created by KyranKandosa2 for his Silver Moon Chronicles fanon. They are an independent order of Huntsmen and Huntresses who recruit, dwell, and operate on Vale's northern frontier.

Bastion:
The Grimmslayers consider the frontier of any Kingdom to be split into two regions. The Borderlands, and the Outland. The Borderlands, as the name suggests, are the lands directly bordering the Kingdom's walls, and have the occasional, scattered village and nomadic caravan, with irregular visits from Huntsmen and Huntresses from the Kingdom for various missions and patrols. Beyond this zone is the Outland, the wild region where there is virtually no Hunter activity at all, and is almost completely uninhabited. Bastion, the Grimmslayers' namesake fortress-village, is located on the northern coast of Vytal on the far edge of the Borderlands. It is comprised of four sections, each walled off from the others to provide compartmentalization in the event that the primary walls are breached. The harbor is directly on the sea, and it also contains an lighthouse. The military-industrial zone is located on the opposite side of the harbor walls, and is where the manufacturing and training facilities of Bastion are located. The residential sector is comprised of the eight hills arranged in an rough crescent shape on the east of the village and the area partially enclosed by them. Small, walled keeps are built on top of the hills, which have been hollowed out to provide underground storage. The sides of the hills have been carved out into terrace farms, and defensive ditches have been dug around the bases of the hills. Fortified tower-houses have been built in the central area, and in between some of the hills where there is sufficient space. The final sector is the agricultural district to the south, and it is comprised of two main sections. One is comprised of traditional farming fields, while the other is an orchard.

The fortifications:
Bastion's fortifications are comprised of stone walls forty feet high and surrounded by defensive ditches. The walls are kept as smooth as possible, to prevent climbing. The battlements of the walls have a slight overhang, permitting the use of machicolations, floor openings that are used to drop stones, etc, onto enemies at the base of the walls. The walls have towers placed in regular intervals, and the towers have a triangular shape to reduce the area not covered by supporting fire in the front of the tower. On the borders of each sector, where the sectors' walls face each other, the towers are placed in a zig-zag fashion, so that two towers of one wall can support one tower of the opposite wall, allowing a single tower to be supported by fire from four others. The battlements of the towers are fitted with Scorpions, large, powerful crossbows mounted on tripods and cranked by two men. Artillery grade crossbows called ballistae are mounted on the portions of the towers projecting out of the walls, while catapults are placed on the raised platforms built directly on top of the towers. This artillery is used to deal with larger Grimm, with the ballistae and Scorpions using bolts loaded with shaped charges made of Dust for extra firepower. Additionally, an tunnel network has been built to allow the inhabitants to evacuate and reinforce areas as needed. These tunnels are only just large enough for two or three spearmen to stand abreast and defend them, allowing the defenders to deal with any intruding Grimm one at a time, and they are also made to be collapsed in the event that they can't be held, sealing it against further enemy advance. The gates, the weakest part of any wall, are protected by two enclosing towers on each side, thereby forcing the enemy to breach not one but three gates, enduring constant barrages from above in the process. Arrays of spikes have also been built into the floor of these gates, ready to be raised on a moment's notice to stab the enemy from below.