Citadel of the Seal

The Seal was placed over the hole that once was Stronghold some time early in the Fifth Age after the Hero Astrid reconciled with the Mysterious Mistress of The Vault of Deeper Knowledge. The Mistress cast a seal much larger but effectively of the same nature as the one she cast in the Vault. It keeps any Shadow creature from emerging. Astrid and Joergen built up the Citadel around the Seal with the help of the Mistress and her students. There are four Commissions of the Citadel: The House of Guardians, the Conclave of Horizon Walkwers, the Conclave of Gloomstalkers, and the House of Vigilance.

The Citadel of the Seal is often referred to just as "The Citadel" by most people. Those who are or were servants of the Citadel tend to use the shorthand of "The Seal" instead, because of their devotion to protecting it and the understanding that the Citadel itself is just the building to house those who defend the Seal...and if it ever broke from the other side the Citadel would fall in minutes.

The city-sized fortress also contains a grove of mighty oaks.

House of Guardians

Guardians of the Seal (those who guard the Citadel itself), are mostly dwarves but any race is welcome. It is staffed primarily by Oath of the Watchers Paladins, Order or Life Clerics, College of Valor Bards, and Circle of Land or Circle of Wildfire Druids. No sorcerers, wizards, or warlocks are allowed inside the Citadel (except for the Mysterious Mistress herself).

Conclave of Horizon Walkers

Trained at the Citadel, but not residing there upon completing their training, are the mysterious Rangers of the Horizon Walker Conclave. These rangers venture out into Voktegård to seek new threats: cracks in the Barrier containing The Forgotten Powers, a visitation of Celestials, or even the misguided experimentation of arcanists that could lead to another Gnō tragedy. They seek these threats actively and (mostly) publicly. They do, however, have close cooperation with their brothers and sisters in the House of Vigilance.

Conclave of Gloomstalkers

The somber and eerie Gloomstalker Conclave is also based here and was developed when the dwarves began digging into the land again at the New Dwarven City, where all of the Gloomstalkers live once they finish their training. They patrol the city by night and Mines at all hours, ready for the day the dwarves dig too deep once again.

House of Vigilance

This is sometimes called the House of Spies by outsiders, because that is a more accurate name. While the Citadel acknowledges the existence of the Vigilant, you will never meet anyone who owns up to being a member. Anyone with a few years missing from their life story might be suspected of being a member, and certainly anyone who claims to have failed their training to become a Guardian is met with a wink and a laugh. These are almost all rogues, mostly Inquisitives and Thieves. A few of them are Lore College Bards. Their purpose is to live unseen amongst the good people of Voktegard, gathering intelligence on those who are not. The most common mission is to keep tabs on Mørkland "defectors" in case they are really sleeper agents like the infamous Lute family of The Fourth Age. Some are also rumored to live in Vault's Fen or even to have enrolled as students at The Vault of Deeper Knowledge itself. Many Vigilants have connections with Oath of Vengeance Paladins that hunt the natives of Mørkland.

Type

Acropolis / Citadel