Barandon Castle

**Barandon Castle** (Nevkrenian: Gōrun Bārondonskei) is a ruined fortress located in northern Nevkreno.

To the north lies the Valley of the Gryphons, and then the Hermits' Bridge, its watchtowers in the northern side, and the land of Arantar. To the south lies the village of Dannokroz and several army bases to stop a possible Wannaenid invasion.

## History

Barandon Castle was built by the Ontemazei Empire as one of their headquarters in their campaigns to exterminate the nearby humans. Every year on June (Mithura's Birthday), criminals and prisoners of war were brought before the governess to be brutally executed. The governess of Barandon Castle proclaimed herself as the daughter of the goddess Mithura and rebelled against the Ontemazei authorities to make herself a god-empress, and she was slain when the Ontemazei let a battleship crash against her fortress.

Thousands of years later, the Nevegornians controlled the fortress. After the Tornarin Bombardment, the fortress was seized by the Kalokei, and then the Tornarins, and then the Technocrats under their leader Laugeros. When the Technocrats were on the verge of being defeated by a Tornarin army, Laugeros unleashed the Raktesai droids to slaughter the attackers and their masters. Then, the Wannaenid Empire reclaimed the fortress, using it as their spaceport to deliver slaves and materials to the homeland and transport supplies and machinery to Arantar.

In 1954 AT, Enedris and his group took shelter within the broken fortress.

## Features

Crashed Battleship - the Tornarin headquarters, later used by the Kalokei, Technocrats, and Wannaenids.

Hall of Blood - Temple of Mithura

Cat-O-Nine's Court

## Prisoners

* Lâroto - a Lausorijo wrongly convicted of murder, banished with Vinaela hundreds of years ago to be enslaved by the Technocrats.
	+ He and Vinaela were the leaders of the Raptor Banner.
	+ Azdortil, his commander and the leader of his "army of monsters", was the leader of the Starhorse Banner. He organised his army into four regiments, each representing the gods of the four directions.
* Vinaela - Laroto's girlfriend
* Tôrebus - a Sidenoq cyborg who led a rebellion.
	+ He lived at an isolated village before he was exiled to Barandon Castle, as a mechanic and a smith.
	+ He and Kuraisa were the leaders of the Gryphon Banner.
* Kuraisa - a Felasa who was sold to Laugeros as a slave. She was another leader of the rebellion against Laugeros.
* Vûselino - a Sidenoq cyborg with golden armour.
	+ He was the leader of the Sunbird Banner. His army consisted of several Kirumagil knights who were killed as they were defending Enedris, his student, and their horse.
* Julakkan - a Vojari who led his band of messengers to deliver Azdortil's message to Dannokroz. When he and his two men succeeded, the soldiers of Dannokroz marched north to rescue Enedris and his companions.
* Raiturgo - the unfortunate Vojari who wing was shot down by Wannaenid guards.
* Vjarintô - one of Julakkan's men.
* Palishin - the leader of a band of five Lausorijo men who were abducted and used as experiments for an immortality elixir.
	+ He and his friends escaped during a blackout, only to find that they had become immortal. To punish the Wannaenids for taking them away from their home, they aided raiders and anyone who escaped the castle to sabotage their tormentors.
	+ They finally won their freedom after they aided Zerondo and Thinagijo to escape the castle together, leaving the frustrated Wannaenids to the scant mercy of the vengeful Nevkrenian armies outside the castle.
	+ The word "asmalim" (singular: samal), meaning "skeletons", is used for the Raktesai droids that guard the castle.
* Azadral
* Makrando
* Gîrdalka
* Roizadulen

## Trivia

* Barandon's name was derived from "Baradâ", an earlier name for the archangel Varda from The Silmarillion. Most likely, it was named after "Barâdâz", the author's fan-made Valarin reconstruction of Varda's name.
* Among the monsters that also wandered and devoured any raider or runaway prisoner they found included zalen (something like a crocodile and a panther) and great spiders. Nonetheless, to some raiders, those monsters were worthy challenges or delicious delicacies.