Stone Castle Invictus

The Industrious Castle City of the Fifth Floor

Broken. Every single soul within is Broken. Do not enter, lest ye want to become broken as well; avoid the castle, avoid the clockwork, and avoid the sound of ringing metal.

— Warning sign posted on the foothills surrounding the Castle

Great dark gray stone walls stand towering over the expansive landscape of The Daybreaks mountain range. Twelve different towers stretch upwards, connected by thick walls. A massive keep stands in the center of it all -- it's windows are dark, occupants unseen, and yet dark smoke continuously rises from the hidden machinery within. Resident's of Synthacrosia's Fifth Floor avoid the castle, for what once was a place of peace is now overrun by automatons with malicious intent.

Structure

The majority of space on the Fifth Floor is taken up by a massive mountain range known as The Daybreaks. Nestled within and upon these mountains is the daunting castle known as Stone Castle Invictus. Its walls, towers, and supports are made of a rough hewn, dark gray stone, and is unnaturally cold to the touch. Above it stretches The Great Tree, it's massive branches filtering out the endless daylight of the fifth floor.

Broken

The Seperatist Wars, also known as the War of the Fracture, broke the Fifth Floor. Physically, the floor underwent massive changes. The ceiling of the floor, which previously emulated a regular day and night cycle, froze. The floor was trapped in endless daylight. The slopes of the Daybreak Mountains crumbled, revealing the dark, twisting, abyssal network of caves known as The Down Deep.
Metaphysically, the flow of time was entirely altered within the floor. From The Floor of Study's point of view, it has been 500 years since the Separatist wars. The Fifth Floor has instead felt twice as many years go by; the passage of time within the floor increasing to double time.
While the other floors of the tower continued life as normal, the Fifth Floor suffered in it's broken state, festering like a quarantined wound. Cut off from the other Floors, the broken could do nothing but wait.

Empty

The breaking of Floor 5 broke the denizens as well. Memories fled, reasoning abandoned them, and tribalism occurred. After a short bought of infighting, the majority of the souls left Castle Invictus. They were forced out by the clash of ideals, and clash of flesh vs metal. A small minority of souls chose to side with the newly corrupted clockwork as they took over the castle, while the rest hid in the trees.
The minority of souls remaining in Castle Invictus had allied with the corrupted clockwork responsible for the War. Whether suffering from Broken Core, or just evil at heart, the remaining souls began to worship the clockwork. These two groups, the Broken Souls and the Clockwork, ruled over Castle Invictus together, though haphazardly. It took many years before they appeared to be working towards a single unified goal. Eventually though, the sound of ringing metal and sight of rising smoke signified their cooperation.

The Castle, Unified

Somewhere around 200 years into the Fifth Floor's thousand year curse, the Stone Castle began it's work. Black smoke began to pour from various towers and spires of the Castle. Piles of chaff, stone, and debris began to grow outside the walls on the slopes of the mountain, as tunnels were dug deep. The Clockwork and Broken Souls of the Castle had begun work on Synthacrosia's second Clockwork Forge.

The Self Replicating Machine

Nearly 300 years after construction began, the second Clockwork Forge was finished; it's location known only to residents of the Castle. Immediately upon completion, the forge began pumping out more and more clockwork soldiers, adding to the horde. Stone Castle Invictus had it's focus change from building the forge, to continuously supplying it with materials.
An endless stream of autonomous brass began to filter through the tunnels dug below the castle. Each one was an exact copy of the next. The numbers of clockwork automatons soared, soon reaching the thousands. For the most part, the clockwork seemed singular in their motivations; they ignored the Great Tree, and those who resided within. The newly created clockwork filled the corridors of the Castle, where they remain to this day.
Finally a point was reached where it appeared the clockwork horde could increase no more. The smoke still rose from Castle Invictus, signaling that the industry within was still going strong. However, whatever was being built could no longer be observed from outside.

Wes hasn't seen any metmen in many many days... but they keep taking children of the great tree . They keep taking life wood . The smoke still rises.

— Quote from a Tree-person

Alternative Name(s)

Fifth Floor Castle, Broken Keep

Type

Citadel

Population

Clockwork:10,000 Broken Souls:300

Inhabitant Demonym

Invicti, Clockwork Horde

Location
The Daybreaks, Fifth Floor, Synthacrosia

History
War of the Fracture

Raw Materials

There are four things that Castle Invictus needs in large quantities; Ore, Wood, Water, and Food. All three of them are able to be found in The Down Deep , of which the Castle has easy access to thanks to the tunnels.

Ore

Ore it needs to keep the Clockwork Forge running, and to keep the stream of brass Automotons flowing from the forge. The ore is broken down into usable and non-usable parts. Anything usable is melted down into the alloys required for proper clockwork construction. The non-usable parts of the ore are either discarded outside the castle walls, or used for construction and reinforcement of tunnels.

Wood

In order to keep the fires of their forges running, the clockwork of Castle Invictus need a near constant influx of wood. So far, they've filled this need with the small trees that grow on the slops of the Daybreak Mountains. Residents of the Great Tree fear what will happen when the supply of small trees runs out, however.

Water and Food

The Broken Souls of the Castle may be broken, but they still require food and water to live. The most deep parts of the Down Deep is where both of these required materials may be found; for in the deep, water pools and collects in dark corners. Small rodents like to congregate around these pools of water, providing the source of food for whomever needs it within the Castle.

SSshhhhh. RRrk. Yah, you be speaking true about that. The rock dirt pile is a might bigger than before. Castle Town must be makin many more Metmen. We needa spread more Shadow-paste around, afore the Metmen see our new homes.

— Unnamed Tree-man, Fifth Floor, Great Tree