The Citadel

[Delbareth]

Hi

My friends and I were wondering some technical points about the Citadel. That's not really important questions for RPG, it's rather for consistency and completeness of the world. And also because we love to investigate such technical points.

The questions concern the heat in the Citadel:
- is there a fireplace in each room ?
- is there a common heating system ?
- is the Citadel rather cold, rather hot, rather wet, with moisture ?

First I have perhaps to remind that the underground temperature is quite constant (day/night cycle is averaged quite quickly, and summer/winter cycle is averaged after few meters of rocks). So the sub-surface temperature is around the year average, around 15?C on Earth (I don't know how much in Farenheit), probably a little bit colder in the Citadel. This is why in summer (30?C outside) when we visit a cave we find it quite cold. Anyway 15?C (or worse 12?C) is not a temperature I would like to have in my house all the year.

I started wondering about that when I wanted to draw the players' room and place a fireplace. If there is a fireplace, there should be a chimney associated to it. And this chimney has to go through all levels up to the "roof" of the Citadel. Even if you imagine that several chimneys are mutualized between differents room and between differents levels, there still should be a quite large amount of such channels traveling vertically through the entire Citadel.
Another solution could be to have a common heating system: big fires in the lower levels, with again great vertical shafts. But this time, these chimney would redistribute the heat in each level and each Citadel section by a clever heating system (I remember that some roman villa had a heating system in the floor channeled through special hollow bricks).
This is probably technically possible but it leads to another linked question. Perhaps, the builders of the Citadel were gifted craftmen and architects. But I don't think generations of ogres and orcs have the ability and the will to maintain such a complex system.

Nowadays, perhaps a magical solution is used. It should be ok for a Black Sorcerer to produce a very small amount of heat in each cubic meter of the whole Citadel volume. Personnally I'm not fond of this solution, because I think there should a found a more "permanent" solution. But perhaps I'm wrong and they just don't care and everybody wear more clothes.

It leads to the last question: is the Citadel cold/hot/wet/dry ? I've always imagined the Citadel as a quite warm place, but that's probably anthropocentric. Perhaps it's a quite cold place. Perhaps a heating system is working in some part, and never repeared in others. Perhaps everybody light fires in its room without systematic chimney, and smoke evades in the corridors...

So, what is your vision of the Citadel ?

[David Roomes]

First of all, I love your questions!   

I've always envisioned heating in the Citadel is handled much like waste disposal. It's a haphazard approach solved with a number of different solutions.

There was a central heating system built along with the Citadel was it was first created. There are massive furnaces in the lower levels and a network of pipes, chutes and vents connecting to various chambers. But, as you guessed, over the centuries, the system has fallen into disrepair. Most of the furnaces are empty and cold and have been for many decades. Only a couple of the furnaces are still kept burning these days and many of the ducts and airways are clogged or broken. Overall, this heating system adds little heat to the interior. (Side note: the ventilation system would be an interesting way to move around the Citadel in an adventure).

Are there fireplaces? Yes, but not in every room. The chambers closest to the outside of the mountain vary in temperature with the season - warmer in the summer, but much colder in the winter. Some of those chambers have their own independent fireplaces with chimney chutes, at an angle, leading to the front face of the Citadel. (Actually, that could be a really cool visual... dark smoke belching out from a dozen or more vents on the front of the Citadel)

Deeper in the mountain, the temperature is less prone to vary with the outside temperature. I figure the deep interior of the Citadel is much like a cave with regards to temperature. Caves tend to be the about the same temperature as the year-round average of the environment (or so I've read). The Citadel is a few hundred miles inland from an eastern coast, with some mountains, humid continental climate, so... the climate is somewhat similar to the state of Virginia. Temperature ranges from about -2C to 30C (28F to 86F). Therefore, the interior of the Citadel would hover around 14C (57F). Cool, but not cold. Castles were notorious for being cold and drafty. That's one reason why they hung tapestries everywhere - to help keep the drafts out. But in the deeper chambers of the Citadel, it wouldn't be that bad. Stable temperature and no drafts at all. I think in the deeper chambers, many people just adapt to the 14C temperature with many blankets and a little extra clothing.

In the upper levels, the higher ranking officials have several options. Some chambers in the upper levels would have independent fireplaces and chimneys leading up to the roof. Some people have minor magic items that help keep them comfortable.

And yes, the Black Sorcerers no doubt heat their entire level, and the Queen's chambers, with a permanent spell.

I should add these notes to the Citadel page.