Lone Fortress

Purpose / Function

The lone fortress was apparently built to protect the entrance to the ancient tombs two hundred kilometers from Iderwig. While much of it has fallen into disrepair and cannot be properly analyzed, what little remains offer interesting possibilities.

A religious site

The central courtyard of the castle holds a massive area, apparently built for worship. It is surrounded by six massive ruins, looking like taverns or Inns. The tombs, which seem to be the subject of the worship were untouched for a longer time than the fortress. It is possible that entrance to the tombs was forbidden and the worship took place outside. Whether entrance was forbidden due to the perceived holiness or some danger lurking inside could not be determined.
If the ceremonies took place in the courtyard it speaks of the importance of the tombs for the builders of the fortress. Temperatures in the Northern Wastes rarely rise above minus twenty degrees, making it extremely hazardous to stay outside for long periods of time. If the builders deemed the contents of the tomb important enough to freeze while worshipping them, they are certainly a sight to behold.

A defensive Structure

The fortifications are not simple walls to hold of occasional raiders or funnel visitors into a customs office. They are an elaborate system of walls, moats, siege weapons, and traps. Due to their current state of disrepair, it is hard to say how elaborate they really were, but what can be seen today would be enough to hold off a decent army. Why anyone would spend the resources necessary to transport hundreds of tons of building materials so far into an icy hell, is beyond most current historians.
Apparently, the fortifications were necessary, as the fortress was not abandoned but destroyed by a hostile force. Details are hazy, mostly due to the destruction and attempts by the victorious invaders to wipe out any trace of them or the original builders. Due to their hard work, we cannot say how the original builders looked, nor who invaded and what their war was about. One of the few hints remaining is that the invaders did not touch the tombs, implicating that they also deemed them holy or were afraid of what was inside them.

Architecture

The center of the fortress was a massive keep, surrounded by three sets of walls. Inside the keep was the courtyard and the taverns. The first was five meters high, the second ten, and the third fifteen. Each wall was dotted with towers of differing size, depending on the wall. Towers of the first wall were eight meters high, towers of the second thirteen, and towers of the third are twenty meters high. The entire fortress was built out of white stone, making it look like an illusion from far away.
Between the walls was only empty space, only broken by moats, which were not filled with water, but by some mysterious liquid that was green. Any hint of the liquid is gone, the appearance can only be assumed from schematics found in the central keep.
During its time as a ruin, some tribes now extinct sought shelter there. They built numerous dwellings between the walls and the central ruins, which break the illusion of eternal ruin.

RUINED STRUCTURE
Unknown

Type

Fortress

Parent Location

Northern Wastes