Aldrim Citadel

Aldrim citadel, or more known as just Aldrim, its a fortress-town situated in the north of Sakravir, between Therkōs and Tarrus. It's part of Therkōs autonoumus province and its under the rulership of Sea king Arawn. The citadel climate is cold, and the flora is composed mainly by spruce trees and other cold adjusted plants.
== History ==
The origins of the area is uncertain, as the first inhabitants were not human beings, but members of a quasi-humanoid race known as Oshuk. It's not clear when this beings first occupied the area, nor it's their origin in itself clear, but studies conducted by notorious magicians of the Healing Congregation suggest that the zone was first inhabited at least 1000 years prior to the Sakraviri exodus.
Huge Blackstone monoliths and houses are suggested to have been present even 800 years prior to the exodus. The question of how the Oshuk gathered Blackstone is not clear, as there are no hints of them having any nether portal. Some prominent members of the Healing Congregation suggested the possibility that the Oshuk could have reached the nether with their mysterious Psychic powers related to their worship of darkness, while others, a minority, mainly composed of alchemists, propose the idea that Oshuk could have created Black-stone with alchemical reactions using only materials present in Abexilas, without having to descend into the underworld. Other interesting archeological findings are mass graves near the sea, full with Oshuk corpses presenting particular precise wounds, suggesting ritual sacrifices commited by the Oshuk themselves, possibly to satisfy the darkness, or to even strengthen their own Psychic powers - idea strongly supported nowadays, as the ban on any type of darkness worship and sacrifice seems to be coinciding with lesser and lesser anomalous activities in the now minute Oshuk population.
=== Ytharash refugees ===
In the last days of Rathnir, a group of construction workers part of the Ytharash reconstruction project, was cut out from the main body of Sagaviri refugees. This was due tho the harsh swamp terrain, made even harsher by the change in the gravity due to the now almost near terrain comet. The group of workers, lead by Ancotar, was slowed considerably by the putrid water of the marshes, now becoming higher and higher, and many of them died drowned. At the end, a group of approx. 600 construction workers reached Ytharash port, and, joining the ships crew and the town refugees there, they started trying to escape via the sea alone, having no idea were the main group of Sagaviri refugees were heading. The ships started their journey, lead by a Sakrelist priest, without any clear destination and without any hope for survival, as nobody could have hoped of surviving a comet destroying the world. But the Sakrelist priest was certain of Sakrelith help. He said that everything was prophesied, and that the 5th prophet would have saved them, as it was foretold. After a few hours of sailing, the priest said that it was time. An altar was quickly made by his assistants, and everyone was ordered to pray. Now in the ships, around 10000 people were kneeling an praying. After 48 hours of fasting and prayers, a loud explosion was heard. Fearing of the worst, everyone ran to check what was happening. The sky was red an the comet probably already touched the ground. But in front of them, an enormous portal was opened. The priest shouted to bring at full speed the ships inside the portal. The crewmates did as it was told as no other options were available. Inside the gate a terrifying void of nothingess stood before the people, and for a brief moment all seemed lost. It was then that a luminous figure appeared "Im am the one who was prophesized, and in my name you will find a fortress that will be an eternal omen for everyone that will try to siege the Sakrelist kingdom" for a brief moment, to Ancotar it seemed that the figure was the legendary hero Liraxak. After this, the ship found itself out of nowhere in a beautiful ocean. The sky was blue and clear, and the sounds of the sea were calming, a complete opposite of the infernal apocalypse they were in just a few moments before. It's not exactly clear what happened in the first few days in this new oceans, but it's clear that Ancotar took the lead of the little refugees fleet, and together with priests and experienced sailors, they calculated a route to the promised land. How exactly did they do this is not sure, but it's heavily speculated that Sakrelith himself brought heavy insight, in what is whispered to be the "holy map", which urban legends see as secretly keep by the healing congregation.
==== The landing and the battle ====
After exactly 35 days of navigation, the people landed on a beach adjacent to a spruce forest. Sources describe how the landing was not satisfying at all for the refuges, as one would be lead to believe after such hardships. In fact, most people felt grievously ill or were brutally attacked by nightmares, visions, hallucinations. Almost all of the remaining food, that was already little, become rotten in a moment. After few hours, mysterious creatures where spotted on the vicinity of the beach, seemingly observing the poor mass of miserable Sironians. After few hours, an altar was assembled, and prayers and chants were shouted asking Sakrelith for help, as it was certain to most of the people that this terrible misfortunes could have been created only by the darkness.
After 10 hours of prayers without any food or water nor rest, the luminous figure appeared again to the people "My people this is the holy land, don't flee for any reason, but prepare for a great battle that is coming, and many of you will perish under the hands of the damned that will stand before you" After this, the food mysteriously regenerated, and many accounts even talk of food falling from the sky. The people finally rejoiced, as not only now provisions were plenty, but also because the terrible feelings that before attacked the people were substituted by joy and vigor, as if Sakrelith himself instilled it in the people. Ancotar ordered to gather wood and prepare barricades, to take the few weapons that were brought and arm the warriors, and to dismantle the ships to gather as many materials as it was possible. Then he rallied the best soldiers and took the lead of a recon group, to explore the spruce forest ahead. The group found mysterious blackstone monoliths and homes, but they did not find any trace of the mysterious creatures that seemed to have been sparsely appeared soon after the landing. The spruce forest was too thick to continue without risking some sort of ambush, and so the party was recalled. At night, the soldiers were ordered to remain awake, and many people participated on religious services to obtain the supreme favors. It was then that a terrifying sound as that of 100000 screaming voices was heard coming from the forest. Then enormous thuds, as those of an enormous creature walking. The soldiers were put in positions. It was at this point that tens of thousand of white eyes appeared from the the spruce forest. Then they approached faster and faster, and soon at the barricades the fight started. The situation was dire, as the enemies were clearly more, and for some mysterious reasons all the torches were extincted. The soldiers couldn't fight in the complete darkness, but the mysterious foe seemed to have no problems, as they slaughtered many with ease. All seemed lost and many tried to escape. It was at that moment that the priest that first announced the fifth prophet started to bless as many torches that he could, and they started to light up again, this time without using their flame. Many testimonies even talk of the torches providing much more illumination than normally. This gave renowned strength to the warriors, and the attack was now repelled. But the losses were heavy. Of approximately 1000 soldiers 80 died and 200 were badly injured. Hardly another attack could have been withstood.
It was after a few minutes that the second attack started. This time the attack was much more vigorous, and other abominable creatures appeared, different accounts talk of different creatures, even of the formidable Rákesh'kexir (presence of this creature in the battle is heavily debated, and probably a later addiction to spice up the story). While many of the Sakrelist soldiers fell, an incredible light appeared in the sky illuminating the world under as if it was a day. It's not clear how much of Abexilas it illuminated, but some theories talk of all of Sakravir being illuminated. This gave soldiers even more clarity, and many of the enemies were repelled. But they were simply too many. As much Oshuk were killed, they were just too many. It was when the lines were finally collapsing, that a loud horn was heard in the distance. Then sounds of horses riding. Then warriors in shiny armors appeared on the horizon. Then they charged. In few hours the few Oshuk remaining were fleeing the battlefield. At the lead of the army was a vigorous and tall man, crowned like a king, that approached the exhausted Ytharash refugees. He was the sea king of Therkōs, he who lead the Kallerians from the despair of dying Rathnir to the new world. Ancotar bowed to him, and so all of the others that were saved by his majesty. In that moment everyone present swore loyalty to the sea king and his kingdom, promising to help him forever in his cause. In exchange, the generous monarch gave Ancotar the ownership of the land from the beach till the the central mountain range of what now is Sakravir.
=== Aldrim first years ===
After the victory at the battle of Aldrim, Ancotar lead the refugees from the beach to the spruce forest. There the last remaining Oshuk were killed or imprisoned at the hand of the tiny refugee militia and the sea king army. Now a big portion of the northern spruce forests was open to the Ytharash people for settlement. The Oshuk habitations were either infested with mysterious malevolent powers or simply inadequate for human life, so almost all of them were tiered down, but the material from which they were made, blackstone, was stored in what was the first little magazine made few days after the dust settled. Many trees were cut down for warming the refugees and cooking, and to make space for the first rudimentary habitations. In the first day the Aldrim committee was founded by the order of Ancotar himself, to organize the relatively big amount of people and the work to be done, in particular in outlining the future project of the town. At the same time a much more historical event was taking place: a group of alchemist meet in an ancient Oshuk ruin, and there they sealed the oath of healing: thereby creating the healing congregation. The group's intentions were officially those of restoring the well-being of the people, by use of potions and other medical treatments. Soon they started producing barrels of the best healing potions, which flooded Aldrim market, due to their cheapness and usefulness. The small group of alchemists did not become "rich", in the common understanding of the term, as the town people did not have much money and the gold available was very little, but they earned an incredible reputation and soon influence, being noticed by the Aldrim committee. There were, though, a few people that were against the little congregation, in particular some of the priests that inhabited the refugees' camps. Most of the suspicion was due to the mysterious high rate of production of the alchemical substances, and by the fact that the alchemist disappeared often into the forest, and the few time they were seen sneaking at night they were always going into the direction of the few Oshuk ruins remained. One priest in particular Moarh of Ytharash, started making loud and scandalizing sermons to the people: his accusations were incredibly heavy. For the clergyman the Alchemists were dealing with terrible forces of darkness first conjured by the Oshuk, and the potions themselves were extremely dangerous as he claimed, they were made with the help of those same forces. This accusation reached much more popularity when, 86 days after the landing a young woman started having convulsion and then reached an almost feral state, before running away and disappearing into the forest, all of this after making use of the potions made by the congregation. Moarh offered to help the destroyed family of the woman, and promised the now big portion terrified people that the heretics healers would have been brought to the justice. Later that day the first murder in the history of the town took place: one of the young alchemists was found dead in the middle of one of the streets, stabbed multiple times in the back. The event took place at night in one of the most anti-congregation part of the camps, where most of Moarh sermons took place. As no testimonies were brought forth, the Aldrim committee started to worry that the entire or at least the majority of that part of the camp was implicated in the murder, and that they were planning a rebellion of some sort. The committee was also swayed by Ancotar trust of the Healing congregation, institution that he believed would have only helped the community, and by the fact that two days prior two alchemists of the congregation entered the Aldrim committee that now was composed of 10 members. Under the advice of one of this alchemists an Aldrim militia was formed, to guard the streets of the town and to arrest the troubling priest. The militia was not a real organization, but more something akin to an improvised group of patrols, ready to be disbanded at will. Two days after the murder in the morning of the 90 day after the landing, the militia men stormed the town and moved to occupy the rebellious district. Much to their misfortune, though, probably cause of some spies inside of the militia itself, the committee or just because of poor planning that caused the movement of the troops to be too evident to get a surprise effect, the rebels already managed to get half decent barricades and they armed themselves with rough pieces of iron resembling swords, kitchen utensils and other rudimentary weapons. Leading them was the renegade priest, inciting the crowd with fiery religious speeches. The committee decided to stop before any kind of bloodshed could ensue, and decided to start negotiations with the rioters. Unexpectedly to most an agreement was reached in less than three hours: the healing congregation was forbidden to enter their section of the town, and the Moarh was given autonomy to control his zone much like a local mayor of his own. Days passed and the power of the healing congregation grew in the rest of the town. For the first time the congregation put its hands on something that did not pertain to alchemy: a little league of Ytharash historians called the Aldrim scholar association was absorbed into the congregation after its leader swore the oath of healing. Now the congregation had control of most if not all of the written records available in the town, except for the few acts emanated by the Aldrim committee. Committee itself that was becoming much and much more congregation aligned, with now 4 of its members having sworn the oath of loyalty. It was after this that the plan of the town was presented to Ancotar: an enormous citadel of pure blackstone would have to be built, with incredible tall towers much in the same stile as smaller towers made by the Oshuk. Ancotar like this plans as the at the time Archon of Sakravir, Vikathir known as "the rock", required for the settlement of Aldrim to become a sort of fortress, and also because he remembered the orders of the "fifth prophet" that appeared in the first days. The construction started in no time, with all the citizens, except the one lead by the Moarh, ordered to start cutting trees and laying the foundation of the terrible towers. 
==== The growth of the healing congregation and the construction of the citadel ====
The congregation took the unofficial lead of the construction, forming patrols of militia men powered by strength potions and others, to brutally repress the workers and oblige them to enormous hours of work, in incredible dangerous working conditions. They also gave extra health potions and other remedies to make the workers continue even more in they're work. The six towers were in this way very quickly built, in only few years, despite their enormity. This was the start of terrible times for the town inhabitants, as thousands died cause of poor conditions, lack of food, or by just falling from the towers. The town, though, only grew in numbers: many immigrated to it despite the terrible conditions cause of the inebriating properties of many potions that the congregation provided or for having access to the mysterious cures offered in the citadel, that seemed able to solve almost any illness. The poor conditions, instead of creating further unrest, increased the power that the alchemists had on the people: almost everyone was now completely dependent on the addictive effect of the congregation products. Remedies to desperation, sadness for having lost a close relative in the construction, and to the mysterious nightmares now emerging in the citadel were given to everybody, and almost everyone was now completely addicted to them, except for the now smaller and smaller group of people still loyal to Moarh. Another peculiar fact was that now almost all the birth were of twins, sometimes multiple pair of twins, leading to even more growth to the town. It was during this period that the raid against the neighboring town of Coronia ensued. Many citizens of the town participated on these raids, often being the majority, and some of them were even started and completely organized in the citadel by the healing congregation, eager to test their more military related potions. After the collapse of the Coronian empire, the construction restarted at full speed, and soon the towers were finished and the foundations for the walls were starting to get laid. It was during this period that a mysterious fire ensued in the part of the town lead by Moarh. hundreds of his followers there died, and he with them. After the oddly late arrival of the aid, the fire was extinguished. Now the basically independent part of the town was basically no more, the few survivors were distributed in the rest of the town. The "autonomous" status was eagerly revoked by the now completely congregation controlled Aldrim committee. Nobody was now able to stand in the way of the Healing Congregation.
Category:Towns