Sleshk-Sfehrae, Daeed-Thealaehr

Sleshk-Sfehrae.

A massive structure that sits at the heart of Athad, and stands as a monument and testament to the power and time that Athad and it's forces have remained in power over their people and their land.

Sleshk-Sfehrae is the tallest free-standing structure in Athad, at over forty-five hundred feet tall and littered with windows, balconies and statues hanging from the exterior.

It stands as the main fortress for Pitos and the commanders of his dark forces, and will come to serve as the gathering place for the armies when the end of the Fourth Age arrives, which will see the end of the realms and their peaceful rule over the continent as well as the end of the known races and their dominion over the world as a whole. Pitos lives - or so legends tell - in the highest reaches of the tower, watching daily over the country and the realm that surrounds it, silently waiting for the day to come when his power will be set free and his reign over the world will begin.

When one views the tower from a distance and from the peaks of the mountain ranges that surround Athad, they will be greeted by a strange sight. From the peaks, glowing spots and trails of lava and magma can be seen flowing from the crags and fissures that dot the remains of the massive volcano that once dominated the landscape. these channels and rivers flow steadily into underground chambers and foundries where the elements are harnessed and used to forge metal armors and weapons for the growing armies and forces of the dark lord, and every day, thousands of pieces of weaponry and armor are completed and fed out to the creatures who will one day wear them into a victorious battle against the realm. Athad is a dark and dry country.

Early in the days of the Pantheonic Age, the large volcano which sits to the northeast of the dark tower erupted and churned out ash, smoke and rocky rubble for two weeks straight without end, covering the land in a thick, choking layer of soot, smoke and toxic fumes. Scientists debated for a long time that Athad had once been flush with greenery and plant life and possibly even inhabitants and cities, with thousands of people taking residence in the country before the two-week long eruption of the volcano, which was known as Mount Leelem', which translates to Mount 'Wailing' in Reethese.

It is believed that the volcano had access to the deep crust of the continent where pockets and oceans of lava and magma hundreds of feet in size and creating more and more of the deadly, flowing rock by the day. The circumstances that allowed the volcano to erupt in such a violent manner for such a long time, but it is believed that the mountain - and Athad in general - was located on a very unstable and unpredictable fault line which finally broke open and blasted magma and lava into the open sky, destroying the country and changing the atmosphere forever.

Purpose / Function

The tower was built as the center-point of the country and acts officially as Pitos' home in the mortal world and will become the gathering place for the armies and forces of Pitos' dark control at the end of the Fourth Age. The tower was built to note the power and strength of the dark forces and Pitos himself as a God of Death.

Architecture

The structure was built with blocks and slabs of stone, and they were polished and carved in transit. The statues and busts that stood on the corner blocks and parapets were fashioned before they left the countries that they were ordered from.  The building was constructed nonstop from the very beginning. When the plans were laid and set out for the construction of the building, the plans were put in motion that, until the tower was complete, the construction process would not stop. The inside of the tower is mostly open void with staircases and ladders that lead upwards to floors that are devoted to dungeons and cavernous cells and torture centers where prisoners and other inhabitants are relentlessly depraved. Statues and facades are disgusted and purposefully grotesque to provide a dark and scary air to the tower. Chains and cages hang from unseen hooks and supports, with skeletons and remains trapped inside.  The air smells of soaked carpets and leathers.  The tower stands over forty-five hundred feet tall, and other than the statues, supports and other similar structures, the walls are glass smooth and without any damage whatsoever. It was built to be inescapable, and anyone who has been able to leave the fortress has never lasted a day in the open country.

History

The foundations of the structure were laid around two-thousand-one of the Pantheonic Age, and the structure was slowly but surely constructed over five-thousand years, bit by bit with stone and other materials shipped in daily from the outside countries through passages and roads through the mountains that were opened temporarily. Around twenty-three-thousand, the halfway point of the structure's construction, the building was halted due to issues of height and complications in the plans that had been updated hundreds of times through the years in order to cope with the continuous construction and higher elevations of the structure. The construction was paused for around six months, and the interior of the structure was fashioned during this time to provide room and storage space for the materials. Sometime in the middle of the year twenty-five-hundred in the Pantheonic Age (Which lasted for four-thousand years total) the roofing of the structure was placed, and a small pedestal adorned the crown of the roof. Upon this small pedestal, a large, oval-shaped stone of glowing orange and red gemstone and precious rock was placed. This large jewel had been discovered at the bottom of an empty cavern where lava had once been contained, and was still hot to the touch and glowing fiercely.

Tourism

The country as a whole is avoided by anyone and everyone from the outside world, and only the forces of Athad and Pitos have been provided access to the fortress. The mountains that border the country are ragged and unsafe, and only the most experienced of travelers and adventurers can even make it over the mountains before being slowed down by the toxic, hazardous and unwalkable terrain that stretches for hundreds of miles in all directions. Only adventurers and quest-runners from countries such as Yesmos and Opron have ever dared venture into the country with varying degrees of success in their ventures, but the lucky few that managed to escape and return home to their native lands were always quick and ready to promise on their lives that they were never going to return to those lands for as long as they lived.  The last adventurer to have ever stepped foot into Athad was a Kitsune named Fox. He reached the inner mountains of the border before turning back, with a sudden change of heart thanks to previous arguments with friends concerning his safety. He never returned to the borders of Athad again following the treacherous venture, and had always sworn that to him, the country was living Hell

RUINED STRUCTURE
Approximately 500 S.A. (Second Age)

Founding Date

Approximately 2000-2500 P.A. (Pantheonic Age)

Alternative Names

Hell's Gate (Haell's 'ethae)

Type

Fortress