Harrot

Harrot is an old building in Sun's Beacon, celebrated as the heart of the city. It is among the oldest structures in the region, and may well be the oldest standing, continuously-used building in The World. Today, Harrot is a museum said to encompass the whole history of Sun's Beacon. Its exact origins may date as far back as Classic Antiquity.

History

Harrot became notable in A.Y. 5642, when the full extent of its history was discovered. At the time, Harrot was a large, dilapidated, mixed-use structure in the middle of one of Sun's Beacon's poorest areas. The massive building contained various residential and commercial rentals, but was largely empty. The current owners were considering tearing the entire thing down, though the land beneath it was not worth much more.

At the time, the building was listed as constructed in A.Y. 4911, but this was a well-known falsehood. Local lore held that it dated at least to the late Third Age, but had gone through numerous renovations.

While replacing a water pipe, workers broke into a series of sealed rooms, apparently closed and forgotten with all contents still inside. Artifacts recovered from these chambers, dated them to the early Third Age. This attracted the attention of historians, who began an archaeological investigation of the structure. While the artifacts discovered dated to the Third Age, the stonework and style pointed to older construction. Poured concrete had become commonplace in Sun's Beacon in the early Second Age, with most stonework after that for simple cladding. But the sealed chambers held massive solid-block structures, in a style architecturally inconsistent with Golden Age aesthetics.

A massive excavation followed, with much of the Alliance-era structure removed entirely (though any pieces of historical and architectural significance were carefully preserved, and later returned). Historians went to work on the records, and found a curious account. During the First Chaotic Period this particular district of Sun's Beacon was one of the wealthiest parts of the city, making the land on which Harrot was constructed extremely valuable; but there was no account of a structure there. The land was owned by a succession of individuals, but was listed on extant records as an undisturbed patch of forest around which the city had been built.

The Legend

According to legend, sometime around 2700 B.G.A., a group of adventurers visiting the city acquired the deed to a patch of land known to be cursed, and encountered a Shade summoning Fiends in this patch of forest. The adventurers banished the shade, defeated the fiends, and opened the land for development. Because the land was worth so much, they became fabulously wealthy selling off the plots, and constructed four elaborate mansions at the heart of the property.

While never proven, the artifacts and architectural styles indicate these mansions may have been the first structures on the site of Harrot.