3.9 KiB
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Tor Praxis
Realm: Temerian Empire (formerly Mentralian Kingdoms)
Population: ~250 (garrisoned)
Local Leader: Commander Varek Tain, Imperial Warden of the Northern Watch
Known For: Former Mentralian fortress, strategic stronghold, contested symbol of resistance
Overview
Tor Praxis is a cold, stone-clad sentinel on the edge of the contested northern lowlands-a haunted relic of lost wars and bitter resolve. Though its halls now ring with the footfalls of Imperial soldiers, the walls still seem to whisper of fallen Mentralian knights and vows left unfulfilled. Mist clings to its battlements like shrouds, and every sunrise over its black ramparts is a reminder of a legacy forcibly seized, but not forgotten.
Purpose & Function
Originally built as a keystone defensive fortress for the Mentralian Kingdoms, Tor Praxis now serves as an Imperial outpost and command node for operations into the northern frontier. It monitors movement through the Stoneblood Pass, a vital corridor between Calvarien and the northern wilds, and houses scouts, scribes, and siege engineers.
Notable Features
Though battle-worn and partially reconstructed under Imperial design, Tor Praxis still bears the architectural bones of a Mentralian fortress: stark angles, high battlements, and narrow, arrow-slit windows that glare like watchful eyes. Among its most storied chambers is the Ashen Banner Hall, once the ceremonial heart of the Knightly Orders#Order of the Ashen Vow. Now scorched and sealed by residual sorcery, the chamber remains locked-untouched even by Imperial engineers who mutter of voices in the stone and banners that move when none are present.
Below the central tower lies the Echo Vault, an acoustically perfect war chamber once used by Mentralian generals to issue commands throughout the keep. Today, it has been repurposed for grim work-interrogations and oaths extracted beneath its perfect, sound-carrying dome. Many guards refuse to linger there alone.
On the southern wall, a hidden shrine still endures in secret. Though its idols were defaced during conquest, locals from surrounding hamlets slip in at night to leave candle stubs and offerings of rosemary or black iron. Imperial officers tolerate it-for now-so long as the flames do not grow too bold.
Threats & Hooks
Despite its current use as a garrison, Tor Praxis is a fortress uneasily occupied. Rumors persist of Mentralian loyalists and saboteurs who know secret ways through the crypts and service tunnels-routes that may have been deliberately left open or simply forgotten beneath layers of stone and time. Occasionally, patrols vanish without trace during the night. The commanders blame bandits. The men speak of ghosts.
Beneath the fortress lies a deeper problem still. Excavations during Imperial renovations broke through into sealed vaults older than the fortress itself, and something-perhaps a bound spirit or relic from the Shattering-stirs behind obsidian doors lined with warding runes. Those who guard the passage report dreams of hollow-eyed knights and voices calling from stone.
And then there is the Oathstone, still embedded in the courtyard. Once the sacred heart of the fortress, where knights of the Ashen Vow bound themselves to die before retreat, it has grown... strange. Imperial officers who pass it too often suffer waking nightmares. One legionnaire struck it in disdain-and screamed himself hoarse for three days before vanishing into the night. Some whisper it waits for a new vow. Others say it remembers the old.
Trade & Relations
Originally built as a keystone defensive fortress for the Mentralian Kingdoms, Tor Praxis now serves as an Imperial outpost and command node for operations into the northern frontier. It monitors movement through the Stoneblood Pass, a vital corridor between Calvarien and the northern wilds, and houses scouts, scribes, and siege engineers.