Minas Brethil (Gondor)

Minas Brethil (S."Tower of the Silver Birches"), the capital of Celossien, was situated on the upper Serni, and was a center for the agricultural region between the Glinduin and the Serni. The town began to grow in the fourth century when the surrounding countryside was settled. After the Kin-strife, Minas Brethil had approximately 4,000 inhabitants, a number halved in the Plague and only regained at the end of the twentieth century.

When the Corsair raids started and both Linhir and Fanuilond were attacked, the town council decided to build a wall, even though Minas Brethil was far from the coast. In T.A. 1499, the wall was completed, but was not tested in combat throughout the following Six centuries.

All houses inside the town walls were of stone, to reduce fire hazards. Most buildings antedated the kin-strife, so Minas Brethil had a slightly shabby and disrepaired look. The town garrison was housed in the Legate's Block. When working as a town watch, the soldiers rarely wore armor or any weapons, except clubs or staves. Their tabards were green with a river of silver across the the breast.

Minas Brethil's garrison was not large, and it was actually more of a heavily armed town watch. To be able to man the walls and withstand a potential Corsair attack, the town depended on its comparatively well-trained militia of 400.

Notable buildings in Minas Brethil were the Legate's Block and two taverns: the Haymaker and the Poleaxes.

The Legate's Block, consisting of all the public buildings, was so named because it was a single complex covering a block in the northern part of the town.Here were found the barracks, the legate's home and garden.The town government, and the guildhall.

The block was built in the late fourteenth century and was basically one large square building with an open plaza in the middle. The building was three stories high, with squat, five-story towers in each corner. It was not built for defense, so there were many windows as well as arches leading into the central plaza. While not beautiful, the Legate's Block was impressive with its size.

The Haymaker was a tavern just outside the town wall to the south. A large wooden structure, it was the most popular tavern among the local farmers because of its cheap yet heady brew. On market days, the Haymaker was crammed to its limits with boisterous farmers, and there was much. good-natured brawling, arm-wrestling, shouting, and singing, and almost always one or two fist fights going on outside the tavern. The innkeeper, Madar, was a straw-headed giant who, while good-natured, had been known to fell troublesome brawlers with one blow.

The Poleaxes, named for the two poleaxes crossed over the door, was the soldiers' favorite inn. Travelers with a thin purse have learned to favor the Poleaxes since it offered huge amounts of good, solid food at moderate prices. Order in the tavern was very good, and the innkeeper could count on any soldiers present to give a brawler a beating he would not forget.