Keter

The undead city of **Keter**, thanks to the structural changes inspired by the multiple raids into the city launched by Ranger, as well as measures of separation by other races such as the dwarves sealing up the tunnels between their civilizations, as well as the large number of undead that call the Kingdom their home, is near impregnable.

The city was built on two hills by a river, though the water is gone.

It has stood the attacks of no less than five crusades. This is in large part because the very environment of the undead kingdom has taken on aspects of death; all of the surrounding waters are filled with corpses and lake monsters, the very air is a poisonous miasma, and the city itself has a strengthened barrier that prevents intrusion both physically or through magic. The city is also host to a Greater Breach, a stable and permanent gate into one of the Hells, though which Hell specifically is unknown.

The leader and sole independent occupant is the Named Dead King. He is noted to be one of the greatest sorcerers to ever live, and was capable of turning himself and an entire nation into undead, through which he has ruled the region for something approximating five thousand years.

While, before the Tenth Crusade, he had not launched any attacks on the rest of Calernia in living memory, many kingdoms had remained weary of the possibility, due to the sheer number of subjects he has and the power he may personally exhibit.

The heraldic colours of Keter are purple and silver.

The weather around Keter is largely unchanging.

## Structure

The dusty plains around the city are known as the Ossuary. these plains once held streams fields, and cities.

The city is surrounded by a miles deep chasm. At the bottom of the chasm is an ever burning fire. This chasm is broken only by four bridges, each capable of being collapsed, and undead nailed underneath to detect intruders.

The outer walls of keter are 40 yards high and heavily warded. From there the city rises upwards towards its center.

The outer city is filled with a labyrinth of streets, empty houses, and towers. These houses can be collapsed to form barricades. There are 5 broad avenues passing through the city. The avenues are 40 feet wide and paved with massive slabs of granite. Through ritual the dead king is capable of rotating the outer city, as well as raising and lowering sections.

The inner wall is 30 feet tall with bastions rising even higher. During sieges the bastions hold siege engines. The walls themselves are warded.

Within the inner walls is the inner city, taking up a third of the city. It the center is a plateau with five palaces and a black spire of stone. The stone spire is miles tall and a sphere of hellfire holds a demon at its tip.

### Palaces

**The Threefold Reflection**: This palace is actually three overlapping palaces. A guiding artifact at the center can decide which threshold connects to which across the entire span. From the outside the palace looks like a "creepy dimensionally layered murder pyramid". The central chamber is a large room with a floor of bones seventy feet deep. The Arcadian reflection of the palace is an Escheresque realm of structures facing in seemingly impossible directions and gravity changing depending on position.

**The Spire** Within the Spire is the Hall of the Dead, the structure that holds the hellgate leading to Serenity. The keep reaches deep enough the bottom touches magma. The ground floor of the spire is a death trap and a labyrinth, with many ceilingless rooms overlooked by galleries. The Dead King's throne room is in its highest room.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Extra Chapters - Regard
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Book 7 - Chapter 59: Steel
3. ↑ Book 5 - Chapter 81: Devotional
4. ↑ Book 7 - Chapter 53: Motion
5. ↑ Book 7 - Interlude: Reputation
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Book 7 - Chapter 49: Arrival The Crown of the Dead was a dozen miles to the west, the great fortress-city jutting out of a chasm miles deep and a spire of black stone rising even higher, and around it in a loose circle I could see the encamped armies of the Grand Alliance.
7. ↑ Book 7 - Chapter 60: Blood
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Book 7 - Chapter 61: Break
9. ↑ Book 4 - Chapter 40: Vivienne's Plan
10. ↑ Book 4 - Chapter 42: Skein's Plan
11. ↑ Book 4 - Chapter 41: Akua's Plan
12. ↑ Book 7 - Chapter 66: The Empty Grave
13. ↑ Book 7 - Chapter 67: And Justice For All (Redux)