Andromache's Prison

Built by the Sparite King Panagiotis long before the rise of the Empire of Turelion, Andromache’s Prison was made to provide a challenge for any potential suitor wishing to marry Panagiotis’ only daughter, Andromache. To add extra incentive to any would-be son-in-laws, Andromache herself was locked inside an impregnable obsidian cube in the heart of the structure, along with the fortune that would be her dowry. However, so intricate and deadly were the array of traps that were placed within the various rooms of the structure, no one was able complete it. The crazed King declared that his daughter was destined to ever be a handmaiden of the goddess Iramater, sealed the tomb and Andromache was left to die atop her mountain of treasure.

Purpose / Function

The purpose of the prison was simple, to provide a way of judging which of the noble Sparite youth was worthy to take the hand of King Panagiotis’ daughter Andromache in marriage. It was hoped that through strength of arms and the application of their wits and cunning one of the suitors would be able to navigate the whole prison and claim the prize, but unfortunately the seven Elven mages that designed it did their jobs too well and no one was able to complete the myriad tasks set before them.

Architecture

Andromache’s Prison sits in the heart of Penelionar's most affluent district, set atop the terraces that look over the once grand, now ruined metropolis, only a stone’s throw away from the remains of Sparos' royal palace complex. From the outside the Prison is a large rotund building made out of white marble, decorated with monumental marble columns that ring the structure and which provide a covered colonnade all around the exterior. The exterior marble walls of the structure proper have been decorated with monumental marble friezes depicting the great and heroic deeds of King Panagiotis’ ancestors, deeds that he expected any suitor of his daughter to live up to. The only entrance to the Prison is  monumental set of bronze doors, once burnished to a mirror sheen, now turned green with age and neglect.
Very little is known about the lay out of the inside of the Prison as no one who entered to try and complete the challenges within survived and all the seven mages who designed the structure and its challenges disappeared shortly before the edifice was complete. All that is known about the interior layout is that entirety of the above ground space, contained within the rotunda structure, is an enormous entrance hall which has the monumental obsidian cube imprisoning Andromache’s remains and her dowry still within it.

History

Constructed hundreds of years before the founder of the Empire of Turelion, Machestaro I was even born the structure was built at the behest of an incredibly powerful, rich and crazed King of Sparos, Panagiotis, who once ruled the Elven kingdom high up in the Heavenspire Mountains.
Countless craftsmen toiled for years to build the structure in Sparos’ capital city, Penelionar and seven of the most powerful mages that King Panagiotis could find enchanted it with intricate traps and defences. Panagiotis demanded all of this, which took over fifteen years of arduous labour so that he could imprison his only child and daughter, Andromache within.
That is not to say that Panagiotis hated his daughter, far from it. As his only child and the apple of his eye, the King wished that only the strongest, most worthy of Elven men should have her hand in marriage. The Prison was the King’s test that any potential suitors would have to go through in order to be approved of as Andromache’s husband and heir to the throne of Sparos.
In order to succeed, a potential suitor would have to find a way to unlock the impregnable obsidian cube in which Andromache had been imprisoned, and once open, the Princess along with her enormous dowry would be revealed. Unfortunately, no suitor was ever able to complete the task, and Panagiotis took this as a sign from the gods that there was no Elf in the world of Kelbonnar worthy to marry Andromache.
So, Panagiotis sealed the building and dedicated it to the Elven mother goddess Iramater and Andromache was left within the prison to die, the doors to the complex were shut and the key stored away deep within the royal treasury.
Such was the strength of the magical defences that were placed upon the building, that it even survived the destruction of the city of Penelionar in 4AIF at the hands of Machestaro I's forces, who were not able to gain access to its interior. 
The key to Andromache’s Prison, on the other hand, as part of the hoard looted from Sparos’ royal treasury is thought to have been carried back to the Imperial capital Meltaro, it’s true purpose unknown, where it has since become lost in the mists of time.

Founding Date

400BIF

Alternative Names

Temple of Iramater's Handmaiden

Type

Dungeon

Parent Location

Penelionar