Shadow Bastille
Few places in the world of Orr inspire as much dread, and terror as the basalt castle of Shadow Bastille. This fortress, constructed by the Magisterium Archmages of the first era, was created as a prison not just for mortals, but for monsters, and beings from the Outer Planes. The enchantments cast upon the black stone of this unsettling fortress were wrought all the way to the very bedrock of the world, for the depths of Shadow Bastille plunge down to the very seas of molten fire that roll in the deep.
It is said that once you have been inprisoned here, there is no hope of escape save for the pardon of the Magisterium. The depths of the prison are enchanted with such glamors of illusion that one could spend their entire life searching for an exit that will never arrive. Planar travel is impossible from behind the black stone of the castle. Wizards, sorcerers, and anyone who possesses arcane potential are chained with anti-magic, beholder shackles. Zones of obscurance even prevent the divine powers of the Endless from granting their clerics, and champions their boons. The halls of the prison are patrolled by specters, and wraiths who feast upon the life eccense of those bound in Shadow Bastille's depths. And these are only the known protections and wards that have been placed within the prison.
The Magisterium knew that in order for a prison such as Shadow Bastille to be maintained it would recquire a warden like no other. So many threats, and beings of the Outer Worlds were ensared within its depths that whomever was chosen would need to be able to serve in such a position for untold lifetimes, and be able to thwart whatever attempts such powerful creatures and entities might employ to be released. After much debate, and discussion the Magisterium council selected, not a mortal, but X'llamerix (a Beholder) to serve as the warden of Shadow Bastille. Turning his genius fully towards the prison, X'llamerix has seen Shadow Bastille expanded over his long tenure to become a maze of torture which only his mind could hope to unravel. X'llamerix (by technical matter of fact) presides as one of the official Archmages of the Magisterium's highest council of Xathrus, but no event has ever been deemed critical enough by the Beholder to be worth abandoning his millenia-long, ongoing projects concerning the prison and thus he has never attended a summoning of the council.
While the Shadow Bastille was originally designed for Outsiders of the material plane, and monsters that would be far too dangerous to be allowed to run amok across the continent, over many millenia it also became a prison to mortals. The exterior of the basalt castle was converted into a more conventional fortress to house the likes of murderers, thieves, and rogue mages.
These mortals, however, are made to work upon the Shadow Bastille. Their sentences are spent constructing new chambers, and preparing new cages and contraptions to house the intended occupants of the basalt fortress. They are watched over by Specters, and Shades commanded by the Magisterium's crucibles. These 'guards' often prey, or feed upon the life eccenses of the prisoners, which, given the nature of their work is one of the least painful ways to die in the Shadow Bastille. As the workers plunge into the depths to help complete projects throughout the bastion, their encounters with the ensared denizens of the prison can be far more gruesome and weightful upon their minds. Many prisoners go raving mad before their release, but the Shadow Bastille finds a purpose for them by sending them northward to the city of Osklund and it's strange Institute of Neuromagical Study for the Mentally Disturbed (I.M.S.M.E.D.).
Purpose / Function
After the Spelltowers of Rizion had been raised in the wake of the Cataclysm, the doors to the Planes that had opened upon Orr were closed, leaving many powerful, and dangerous Outsiders locked in the prime material world. These beings, and entities sowed havoc across the fledgling realm, and the first truly great works of the Magisterium, and the Elder Realm was to seek them out and destroy, or banish these enterlopers.
But not all of these great calamaties could be so easily bested. Some had gained such a foothold in the world that sending them back was a fruitless effort (for they might easily be able to return), or impossible due to their nature and abilities. In order to face these threats, and secure a future where such beings could be properly disposed of, the Magisterium of Dalair proposed an unorthodox solution; a prison whose purpose would rival the Spelltowers.
Construction of the Shadow Bastille began in the year 489AR, but the war of the Broken Wand left the Magisterium drained of the resources to properly begin the massive endeavor of creating the prison, and centuries later the first crusade of Iskandar would further delay the massive project. It was not until the coming of the Gloomrot plague, when Drin and Iskandar both opened their treasuries to procure the arts of the Magisterium's Necromancers did the funds to finalize the prison at long last arrive.
It is difficult to say whether the Shadow Bastille was a project that has fulfilled the hopes of its original design. So many beings and entities have been cast into its depths that scarsely anyone except its warden know for certain what lies beneath the basalt rock. How many horrors, dreadlords, and titans now call its cages and labryrinths their eternal abode?
The Shadow Bastille is a place that many choose to forget, or overlook. It is a horrifying testament to what the Magisterium is capable of when its mages can devote their ambitions towards a singular goal. A monument that reminds the world that Dalair was the first realm, and remains a power in the world to forever be reckoned with.
"No one has ever escaped my prison, and those who have tried have met fates so gruesome, and grisly, that they have screamed for death ever since; but I relish the challenging prisoners. You always learn something new from the unruly arrivals. For instance, do you know what must be done to make a vampire fear the dark?"
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