Beklagard

Beklagard Fortress, sometimes called Beklagard Castle or simple Beklagard or Beklagar, is a massive stone fortification which stands like a man-made island in the middle of the River Helvander where it flows through the city of Torrune. It was built as that city’s central citadel and the lynchpin of its defenses during the early days of the Old Empire, and is now used by the Archon of Torrune as a prison, armory, store-house, treasury, and barracks for his city militia. It has been over a century since Torrune was directly threatened by a hostile army, so the military function of Beklagard has been long-neglected, but it would certainly remain a formidable stronghold if the city was ever besieged again.  
The foundations of Beklagard stand upon what was, originally, a low, rocky, roughly teardrop-shaped island in the center of the Helvander’s main channel. This islet is now completely built over and no trace of it remains visible. In ancient times, though, prior to Beklagard’s construction, this small island was the site of a series of smaller forts and watchtowers whose remaining foundation stones were partially incorporated into Beklagard itself. The overall plan of Beklagard is elongated and ship-like, with its western end tapering like the bow of a gigantic stone ship turned into the flow of the river. 
Beklagard is connected to both banks of the Helvander, and both walled portions of Torrune, by the twin spans of the aptly named Fortress Bridge (also called the Dwarven Bridge, since it was dwarf-built). One span of the bridge runs from Beklagard's south-facing bastion to the High City's Griffin's Gate; the other runs from the fort's north bastion to the Tower of Ghorodan on the Low City waterfront. Between the bastions, where it traverses the fortress, the roadway of the bridge passes through a long rectangular courtyard with high ramparts looming over it on either side.
Like the bridge spans that connect it to both banks of the Helvander, the Beklagard fortress was designed and built by dwarven engineers in the employ of the Asgalian Emperor XXXXXXXX. This accounts for the surpassing high quality of the fortress’s stonework, the superb defensive features of its design, and its durability over nearly a millennia during which very little maintenance or reconstruction work has been needed. Typical of dwarven military architecture, it is constructed of very large but meticulously shaped blocks that fit together so tightly and neatly that no mortar is required between them. Its foundations and outer walls are made not from the blue-grey riverbed limestone which is abundant around Torrune, but from harder and stronger granite quarried in the foothills of the Adhemars some 150 miles to the north. 
Beklagard's name is derived from that of Bekala the Blue, a renowned warrior who was long in the service of Emperor XXXXXX (and his son and successor XXXXXXX after him). She was appointed to serve as the first commander of the fortress after it's completion, although she held that post for less than a year before being called away to lead troops in XXXXXX's wars against the Phyridians.