The **windbreak** is a massive structure spanning Merchant's Gorge, just outside [[Vinsklar]]. > [!infobox| right wikipedia] > # Windbreak > ![[windbreak.webp|cover hsmall]] > ##### General > | | | > | ---- | ---- | > | **Location** | [[Vinsklar]] | > | **District** | The Chasm | > | **Category** | Military | > | **Faction** | [[Haakon's Mercenaries]] | > | **Owner/Proprietor** | [[Lord Haakon]] | # General The wind whips through Merchant's Gorge at a rapid clip, pulled down from the higher peaks to the northwest by gravity and accelerated by the canyon's steep walls. Outside the Vinsklar cave, the chasm widens, and the air currents swirl about in treacherous eddies. Many a ship was doomed by the invisible currents and wrecked on the unforgiving canyon floor. In order to rectify this situation, Vinsklar's wealthy merchants joined together to construct a wooden barrier that stretches across the chasm, blunting the windstream enough that docking at Vinsklar's edge is no longer a deadly risk. In addition to its primary function, the windbreak also serves as a bridge to the other side of the canyon. As Vinsklar developed further and started moving away from the western edge of the cave, the windbreak became less and less relevant. Some used it as an extended dock and some used it to cross the gorge, but with the city's centre shifting towards the east, these uses waned in importance. Its main function, of course, remains vital, but its work is invisible and often unnoticed. When [[Lord Haakon|Haakon]] decided to use the land opposite Vinsklar as the construction site for his new city [[Prosperity]], he easily acquired most of the remaining stakes in the structure from the other magnates, as they had little use for it. The [[Vinsklar Raed]] retains a 50% stake in the windbreak on behalf of the city, as it is crucial to the city's continued affluence, and Lord Haakon holds the other 50%. The Raed agreed to allow Haakon free use of the windbreak as a bridge and allowed him to garrison the structure with his [[Haakon's Mercenaries|mercenaries]] to guard it. The windbreak was under tight security while Prosperity was being built. Now, even Haakon sees no reason to pay much attention to it. It serves as a minor garrison for some of his mercenaries in the city, but other than that serves no strategic purpose. # NPCs %% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: start ```dataview TABLE WITHOUT ID file.link AS "NPCs", gender AS "Gender", faction AS "Faction", district AS "District" from "4-People/People" OR "6-Party" where home = this.file.link OR settlement = this.file.link where publish = true sort file.link ASC ``` %% | NPCs | Gender | Faction | District | | ---- | ------ | ------- | -------- | %% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: end %% # Gallery > [!example]- Image > ![[windbreak.webp|center|800]] > Composite of Minsk Castle fortifications reconstruction \[[link](https://avatars.mds.yandex.net/get-altay/19693520/2a0000019bdbadc0e1b8a3eb4abe73017ae1/XXXL)] and Crevice – Thomas Wievegg \[[DeviantArt link](https://www.deviantart.com/thomaswievegg/art/Crevice-503599728[[]()]())]