Castle Algathom

Castle Algathom was a massive, legendary structure located in The Lands Beyond. A huge building built of enchanted eclipse stone, the structure originally served as the fortress of House Algathom, an ancient Sverden noble family. According to Sverden mythology, the fortress later served as a prison for Monchartran, a fearsome goddess of storms and fire.

Architecture

Among the castle's features were a great hall, a throne room, military barracks, living quarters, and a fighting arena.
The castle was said to be one of the most beautiful examples of Sverden architecture before the First Era. According to legends, the structure's primary component, eclipse stone, was adorned with silver and platinum trimmings, and was said to shine brightly at certain parts of the day.
The interior of the structure was no less extravagant. House Algathom filled the castle with great amounts of riches and wealth, expressed in items such as statues, carvings, and fine ornaments.

History

Little to no concrete historical information was known about Castle Algathom, even to Sverden scholars. All information about the structure was shrouded in mythology, and by the beginning of the Fifth Era, many historians theorized that the building didn't exist at all, due to the lack of a known location.
According to the Saga of Broduin, the castle was constructed long before the First Era by King Segvir Algathom after he defeated the Seven Tiefling Tribes, a geopolitical faction that occupied an area of the Lands Beyond that was fruitful and prosperous. He tore apart the towns of the tieflings and used the material, eclipse stone, to construct a huge stronghold.
While most of the tiefling gods turned their anger at their own subjects, since they had failed to keep their lands, the tiefling goddess Monchartran turned her anger toward the Sverden. She began to instill curses, such as grisly plagues, upon the dwarves.
King Segvir did not take the curses lying down. He challenged the goddess to a fight in the great hall of Castle Algathom, and Monchartran accepted. When the fight occurred, Segvir quickly was defeated, unable to harm the immortal flesh of a god with neither the sharpest steel nor the strongest spells. At the last second before Segvir was defeated, the Sverden goddess Astridere descended down upon the mortal world. She bound the eclipse stone of the castle with divine magic, entrapping Monchartran so that she could not ravage the Sverden people further. King Segvir and all of House Algathom were also trapped within the structure, punished for the arrogant act of challenging a goddess to combat. It was said that an enraged Monchartran destroyed all the Sverden within the castle, but continued to do battle with their spirits for eternity.
Over time, the exact location of the castle was lost as the Sverden moved out of the Lands Beyond and into the Makovai Mountains and Sverdenland. Several trips were made to try to find the castle, both by archaeologists and treasure hunters, but each expedition was either unsuccessful or did not return at all.
Since the castle would be inevitably ravaged by eons of vicious fighting, some argued that the castle had once existed but would now be nothing more than a pile of rubble.

RUINED STRUCTURE
Sometime before the First Era

Founding Date

Long before the First Era

Parent Location

The Lands Beyond