Bal Vertesk is the titular "Black Tower" for which the Free City of Vertesk is named. It was designed and built by Balgar the Builder, said to be completed in 593 AA. It is counted among Balgar's Wonders. It is notable as the central nexus of the Vertesk Dominion, the vassal-state of Black Castanor which was abolished following the War of the Sorcerer-King. During this time, Vertesk was under the rule of Highlord Venac the Arrogant. It is from this rule that his descents take the name Blacktower, with such known members of the line as those that rule the Count's League in Escann.
Construction and Later Modifications[]
Bal Vertesk, despite what some might think, is crafted from the same pale stone as Castanor's walls. However, during Venac's reign, the sorcerer summoned forth his magics to alter the tower's stones, further hardening them, and giving them the distinct black cast from which his descendants take their name. Largely in disrepair by 1444, much of Vertesk's efforts in the period centered around repairing and improving upon Balgar's original design, playing upon the ominous reputation granted by the tower's dark stones to create a much more imposing appearance. Whereas the original construction was similar to Balgar's other works, the later reconstruction took a number of departures, adding a much more imposing crest to the tower's peak. Jagged and spiny, it was said to cast a shadow "like the maw of a great dragon" upon the city's streets, as an open threat to those dissidents who would oppose its elites.
Use[]
The tower has long been used as the administrative center of the city, but after by the time of the Lilac Wars the decrepit tower was shared by the Magisterium and Vertesk's constabulary, which was remarkable for its similarity to the "secret police" of some modern authoritarian states, who actively brutalized any citizens who the Republic's rulers considered to be subversive. In this period, the fortress served as a nexus of administration, espionage, and military matters domestic and foreign.
In later years, it was equipped with a number of bright lights crafted by the city's Artificers, which were operated in such a manner as to sweep across the streets in search of any unscrupulous activities (those which were of course, not sanctioned by the state). This ensured that there was no respite from the presence of authority that the tower created, the lights becoming the night's answer to the great shadow cast in the day.
This great "Panopticon" was adapted from a design by a particularly sadistic architect who wished to instill a constant paranoia in prisoners, thanks to the construction of a tower at the center of a rounded prison complex, which could look in upon all cells. Some dispute whether the Kheionai's cities, said to be former prisons created by the Precursor Empire, first introduced this concept. However, it is possible that both were independently developed.