Manors and Keeps and Castles

Fastheld seems to have a lot of Keeps. Too many Keeps, in fact. Most of which just stand around collecting dust. A lot of this seems to stem from confusion over what a Keep actually is (or was) back when Chia was young and certain people felt that they needed a network of stone fortresses across the land to stave off a paranoid notion that Evil Brody Alt #57 was going to eat them.

Which it did anyhow, but whatever.

So, let's start by defining them:

A CASTLE is basically a generic term for any stone fortification. Neuschwanstein in Bavaria is generally what we understand the defining idea of a castle to be. I, however, like to think of a castle as being easily as a Keep surrounded by a Courtyard (or Bailey) with a Curtain Wall around that in turn. Fastheld Keep, for example, is a castle by this definition

A KEEP is tower which is built as the most protected part of the castle. The square shaped stone castle keep is the dominant feature of many of the castles in England which were built by the Normans, and one of the most commonly recognised parts of a castle overall. A Keep without a curtain wall is just a Keep

A MANOR HOUSE is pretty much what you understand it to be: a fortified country house, which historically formed the centre of a manor. These are generally smaller than a Keep, with things like the armory and chapel on the outside. Usually with two levels inside with the bedrooms on the upper floor and the dining hall and living room(s) on the ground floor. Wedgecrest Falls, for example, is a stone manor.

So - with this in mind - what I'd *like* to do is a little project to convert out existing Keeps into what they probably *should* be. Thus, if you know of a place that's named as a Keep but probably isn't, then throw me a +staffrequest and I'll get around to tweaking it. :>

The demilitarization of Fastheld begins with YOU!