Citadel of Judgement
Relatively little is known of the Citadel of Judgement, for there are few who have ever returned from that place to tell of it. Referred to in some ancient texts as the “The Golden City”, it takes the form of a once-magnificent city in the heart of a great desert, at whose centre stands a great temple - the Citadel itself.
The ruler of this place, whose name is said to be Tzanga'ash, is known by many titles including the Pitiless Eagle, the Lord of the Bloody Cloak, and the Judgement of the Gods. Tzanga'ash is said to be the first among a council of magistrates, sometimes termed the Inevitables; these beings are tasked with hearing the cases of all who are brought to their court, the accusations of each and every moral failing of the accused lain before them in excruciating detail. No clemency is offered, no appeal or plea is granted - there is only accusation, conviction, and condemnation; and once judgement is declared, the condemned shade is seen to evaporate, delivered to whatever punishment awaits it. The nature of these punishments is unclear; some claim that those souls so-condemned are sealed away in some distant part of the cosmos until the end of time - sometimes referred to as the “Prison of Blood" - whilst others speak of them as being utterly annihilated. In any case, there are no reliable accounts of any who have been subject to the Judgment of the Gods ever returning to life.
The nature of the Inevitables is enigmatic at best; they are worshipped by a handful of cults in the material realm, but appear to be generally uninterested in the praise of mortals. They are speculated as being concerned with the upholding of certain universal laws, though precisely what acts they consider reprehensible is unclear, and is said not to fully align with the ethics of any mortal philosophy. Whilst some philosophers have argued that existence of the Citadel of Judgement provides a de facto basis for an objective system of morality, the sheer arbitrariness of the Pitiless Eagle’s judgements makes this a difficult position to argue.
Some claim that there is a connection between the Citadel of Judgement and the Four Hells, though most scholars contend that this is a misapprehension - for whilst the wicked are drawn to the Four Hells and often ensnared there, it is rarely considered to be a punishment deliberately inflicted upon them. Others have suggested that the Golden City may reside within the endless desert of Skomaellum, though the evidence for this is equivocal at best.
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