Moonrise Towers

Moonrise Towers was a fortress located in the Western Heartlands that was once a base of the High Heralds and of House Thorm in the mid-to-late 14 century DR and later infamously became the seat of power for the cult of the Absolute during the late 15 century DR. It was long associated with the well-regarded half-elven Thorm family, For over a century however, it languished in the center of the Shadow-cursed Lands, which was blighted by the Myrkulyte General Ketheric Thorm, who claimed Moonrise Towers as his own.
==Location==
Moonrise Towers was built along the northern bank of the River Chionthar, west of Rosymorn Monastery and Elturel, east of Anga Vled.
Looming in the shadows cast by Moonrise Towers was the small village of Reithwin, the longtime home to the noble half-elven Thorm family. The two sites were separated by a simple stone bridge that extended from the road that passed through Reithwin. Both Moonrise towers and Reithwin could be travelled to from the Risen Road, via a mountain pass, or through the Underdark (via a temple of Selûne). A toll was required for passage via the roadway.
Before being consumed by the shadowcurse, the lands around Moonrise were flush with game and popular for its abundant foraging. The land was home to deer, rabbits, and black bears.
==Function==
In the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the fortress was the residence of the heraldic office of the High Heralds, the Crescentcoat. 
As of a century later, the fortress was the seat of power for the cult of the Absolute in the Western Heartlands. It was from there that the Absolutists carried out their plot to convert the unbelievers of the Sword Coast and beyond. Moonrise Towers was also the site to which all True Souls were brought, in order best serve the Absolute and its three chosen.
==Structure==
Moonrise Towers included a central fortress, with six adjoining spires, just off the bank of the Chionthar. The sides of the fortress that faced the river featured extended battlements that were accessible by wooden scaffolding set upon the tower's facade.
Moonrise served as a shining example of the resilience of stone masonry and fine metalworking craftsmanship. Although the towers suffered superficial damage from assaults and corruptive forces that rotten the building from the inside out, its overall structure remained streon and resolute. Over the centuries it stood, only Moonrise Towers' rooftop sanctuary suffered significant damage.
==Interior==
The towers were decorated with grand statues, depicting what appeared to be Selûnite warriors, elaborately crafted iron window grates, and stained-glass windows. The entirety of the towers were adorned with lavish furniture, a vast collection of fine art including ornate tapestries, and myriad books that filled its expansive libraries and abundant shelves.
Over the years, the decor crafted to the Moonmaiden were replaced or covered over by the unholy symbol of Myrkul, the God of Death. This reflected the descent into despair of the tower's master, Ketheric Thorm.
===Atmosphere===
As of the late 14 century DR, Moonrise Towers were hardly the place of culture and reverence they were in years past. The austerity of the fortress was tarnished by the malign cultists that took up residence within. After the lands around Moonrise were stricken with the shadow-curse, the tower itself became overrun by malign growths. Massive shadowroot trees sprung up through the stone floors and sprouted blooming bulbs that emitted eerie teal light. While scant little Selûnite iconography built into the tower and its adornment remained, symbology of Thorm's new god, Myrkul, was emblazoned across ornate metal doors and the once-pristine marble floors.
Yet an even more malevolent force spread across Moonrise a century later. In the late 1490s DR,strange mucousy growths spread out across the worked stone walls and blotted out hidden passageways and secluded chambers. Otherworldly tendrils extended upwards throughout these hidden hollows in the fortress' six outer spires, like vines growing within the trunk of a dead tree. These growths originated from some dark source separate from the shadow-curse, but rather the depths of the Underdark far beneath the tower's foundation.
The alien source of these tendrils possessed the power to implant sounds in the minds of those that remained within Moonrise towers. If any poor soul investigated the sounds―and were unfortunate enough to encounter the tendrils―the alien force could psychically teleport their consciousness away for a brief while.
This new darkness was reflected in yet newer decorates set upon the towers' interior. Absolutist cultists crudely painted their gods' unholy symbol upon tapestries, and splattered bloody handprints upon Myrkulite skulls that had been installed some ten decades prior.
===Structural Levels===
====Ground Level====
The main floor of Moonrise Towers was accessible by two massive doors that gave way to well-decorated entrance, beyond which lay the main audience chamber and meeting hall. It was within that chamber Ketheric Thorm sat upon his his throne and commanded his army of undeath.
On either side of the main hall were the tower's kitchens, dining area, along with a small armory. Two curved staircases at the rear of the hall led up to the floor above.
====Second Level====
The first floor above ground level housed a sitting room that looked over the audience chamber. Outwards from the sitting room was a personal study and expansive library, a shrine to Selûne, along with two private bed chambers, including the master chambers along the northwestern quadrant.
Windows set into the walls at this level were decorated with stain-glass depictions of Moonrise, that depicted imagery of the moon in various phases in the night's sky.
====Rooftop====
The roof of Moonrise's main spire housed what appeared to originally be a shrine to Selûne, the Moonmaiden. Its location atop such a grand spire was perfect for her devotees to offer appropriate veneration. Archways encircled the outer perimeter of the roof, extending outward from a raised platform and shrine, situated at the northern end of the roof. 
Just in front of the raised shrine was a small depression that bore the holy symbol of Thorm's god. Four columns adorned with gargoyles were situated on either side of the holy symbol.
====Prison and Depths Below====
Beneath the towers' prison was a network of caves that had been transformed into an illithid oubliette, as it was known to scholars. The lowest depths of the oubliette led to the greater source of corruption that afflicted Moonrise: an illithid collective that remained hidden away for centuries.
==History==
The tower was initially built adjacent to the town of Reithwin by the architect of the Thorm family. It was a symbol of the Thorm's family devotion to the moonmaiden Selûne. Unbeknownst to the family or its future occupants, the tower was, in fact, built atop an illith colony that housed an especially powerful elder brain. Over the centuries of its existence, this elder brain corrupted numerous mortals from the world above, and infected them with ceremorphosis, a process that transformed them into mind flayer thralls. 
===14 Century===
Circa the , Naernythra Thaloudyn held the Crescentcoat office and lived at Moonrise Towers.
As of the early 1370s DR, Ketheric Thorm remained in command of Moonrise Towers and the people of nearby Reithwin. The influential general turned from the Selûnite faith and began to worship Shar, the Lady of Loss, after the death of his daughter Isobel. In his new goddess' name, Ketheric Thorm raised an army of Dark Justiciars and marched upon the surrounding lands. Thorm and his forces were defeated by an allied force of druids from the Emerald Grove and members of the Harpers. Before he was defeated and imprisoned within his family's mausoleum, Ketheric Thorm acted in desperation and released the shadow-curse upon the lands, with Moonrise Towers at its epicenter circa the . The curse persisted for at least the following hundred years. 
===15 Century===
Some time during or before the , Ketheric was "saved" by the god Myrkul, granted the powers as his chosen, and given the opportunity to reunite with his dead daughter Isobel. The undying general reclaimed Moonrise Towers in the name of his newest divine patron and raised an army of undead. Moonrise Towers became the central point from which General Thorm―and two fellow chosen of the Dead Three, Enver Gortash and the Dark Urge―orchestrated their plot to bolster the power of their respective gods. 
==Rumors & Legends==
Circa 1492 DR, Harper maps of the region around Moonrise marked the fortress as an inky crescent set along a nearby forest. One such map could be found in a cache situated in the beach along the Chionthar.
Archdruid Halsin of the Emerald Grove claimed that Moonrise Towers was the place from which means for removing a mind flayer tadpole from oneself could be found. He also claimed that these parasites seemed to be coming from Moonrise Towers, and that they had been magically altered by followers of the Absolute.
==Notable Inhabitants==
* Kar'niss, one of the Absolute's most loyal and fervent devotees.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
:;Video Games
::Baldur's Gate III
===External Links===
* 
===Gallery===
Moonrise Towers.png|Concept art of Moonrise Towers from Artwork from Baldur's Gate III.
===References===
Category:Fortresses
Category:Towers
Category:Selûnite locations
Category:Myrkulyte locations
Category:Absolutist locations
Category:Locations in the Western Heartlands
Category:Locations in West Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril