"At the Town There Was a Vanity Fair Kept", Byam Shaw, 1907
A fastness is one of eight strategic, fortified locations in the kingdom. Each fastness corresponds to one of the Eight Evil Thoughts: gluttony, greed, sloth, sorrow, lust, anger, vainglory, and pride. While a fastness may be captured and occupied physically, it will never be truly conquered until its spiritual enemy is overcome.
Each fastness lies over a subterranean labyrinth or ‘dungeon’ that may or may not be some kind of hallucinatory state rather than a real place. Regardless, the dungeon must be explored and overcome, by capturing or destroying its mystical heart, in order to completely capture the fastness.
When you physically capture a fastness, highways between it and your base or previously captured villages become Free Roads. You can use them without triggering encounter checks. If you oust the current rulers of a fastness but do not defeat its spiritual enemy, monsters emerge from the dungeon (individuals and detachments) and terrorize the settlement and surrounding countryside.
Finding out how to conquer the spiritual enemy of a fastness is a collaborative exercise. The GM describes the spiritual enemy and how its hold over the town is evident. The group then mutually agrees on two objectives that must be achieved to break the enemy’s grasp on the place. The third objective is to overcome the dungeon. When these three things are accomplished, the fastness is yours and its benefits are unlocked for you.
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