The Khagerax Gate

The Khagerax Gate is an iron wall and gate sealing the south mountain pass into the Tyrnizig Valley. The solid iron structure is said to have taken three mountains to construct by the ancient King Khagerax nearly a thousand years ago. The towers flanking the 30 meter high gate reach 20 meters past that and stand ever vigilant in the shadows of the Tyrnzig Mountains. The monstrous walls are 10 meters thick and command the steep road that snakes its way precariously to the iron gate. Slabs of solid are smoothly welded to each other in unbroken seams, the facade etched with ancient runes and symbols the glow with a faint arcane blue light. Jutting out along the 1,000 meter wall are semicircle balconies of iron and teeth, atop them large ballistae ready to send massive javelins into the the pass should an enemy approach.

Purpose / Function

The Iron Maw was built around the year 1000 by King Khagerax, not long after his father Khager the Strong united the Tyrnzig Valley. Repeated Orcish invasions from the south inspired Khagerax to begin plans when he was still a young prince. Today the wall and gate stand as a precaution against such a threat again, despite no invasions from the south in nearly three centuries.

Alterations

Initially it was just a large iron gate house with towers and a low stone wall stretching into the mountains. Khagerax managed to capture and submit several Rock Giants and Golems to assist him in the building of the actual wall. Sometime later, before his death in 1053, an ancient Mage offered his help by melting three mountains into iron and casting them by arcane forces into the walls that stand today. His strange runes and inscriptions are what prevent the walls from rusting to dust and sinking into the mountains.

Architecture

The style is old and crude by more modern standards, but not ugly. Its sharp crenelations of iron are even and spaced perfectly, its spears of solid metal arranged in lethal rows of barbed barriers. Ancient and unknown runes are etched in picturesque shapes across the wall giving a phantasmal glow in the night.

History

Khagerax began the project as an ironclad gate house in the middle of a fairly narrow pass leading north up into the mountains. Two towers were added and a low stonewall of rock stretched out across it into the mountains. Eventually he forced Rock Giants and Golems from their peaks and managed to have them build the stoneworks even higher and grander. It is believed that around 1040 an ancient Mage came to his court and offered his help in creating an impenetrable barrier to keep out the invading Orc clans from the south. For as at that time the Orcs were not as deterred as they would take their time to find openings and weak spots in the stone structure, or simply lay siege to a single point and draw vast manpower from other parts of the wall to defend it. The Mage melted three entire mountains into iron and raised the iron structure as it can be seen today, placing powerful runes and enchantments on it for posterity and strength. It is said the Mage did not leave empty handed, but records do not show what his payment was. Some claim that it was the souls of a hundred generations yet born, others rumor that it was Khageraxs own firstborn son, supposedly stillborn a year later.

Alternative Names

The Iron Maw

Type

Wall section

Owner

Arch Protector Erich Klaust

Owning Organization

The Protectorate of Kolwidg