Eisenvala

The citadel of Eisenvala exists in the south of Volsanger, at the head of a valley known as the Maw. It is ancient beyond imagining; if, as is sometimes claimed, it was built before the Aeon of Ice, then it may well be the oldest structure in the world.

The Distant Past

According to the Book of the Flood (in which it is referred to as the "Tower of Winter"), Eisenvala was the last redoubt of the Frost Giants who had remained on the material plane after the Ordning was defeated by the First Alliance; this would seem to be supported by an extract from the Birch Scrolls of Pryddcael in the possession of the Gilded Tower, which states that the frost giants were driven from Eisenvala by the Eladrin Dominions a little more than a century before the fall of Shas'Ellith (probably around 2100 pre-AK  ).
It is unclear whether the remnants of the Dominions continued to hold Eisenvala following the fall of Shas'Ellith, though it has been suggested that Orobouranithos seized control of the tower at some point during the War of the Paragons.

Old Volsanger

Eisenvala is mentioned in one of the oldest Volsangan sagas, the anonymously-authored Saga of Alaric Greenlaw, which alas only exists in fragmentary form in the modern age:

The draught of dreams did deepen then,
And shining saw he in the south,
A river red from the ravine;
The dread, departed, tattered host,
Who fell to frost and fear and woe,
Did raise their rimed bones to march
From Eisenvala's icy door.

According to the saga - believed to have been composed around the time of the rise of the Katari Empire, though describing events which may have taken place some time before this - which tells the tale of the great hero Alaric (often considered as one of the Wakeful Dead of the Balthan and Volsangan pantheons), Eisenvala had been abandoned and uninhabited for centuries; it was considered an evil and accursed place, haunted by the restless spirits of the ancient dead. The saga tells that Alaric was plagued by dreams of the tower, and came to believe that it represented a great danger to all Volsanger - but alas his warnings were mocked and ignored by the Volsangan chieftains until it was too late; the story tells of an army of the dead arising from the icy wastes surrounding the tower, which marched forth into the Maw, and were only turned back by an alliance between the Bearsark - a confederation of semi-nomadic tribes that dwelled in the tundra, who were mostly considered primitive and superstitious by the Volsangans - and a Volsangan force marshalled under Alaric's banner.
Later Volsangan references to Eisenvala suggest that the tower's dark reputation persisted, and that the Maw was kept heavily fortified against incursions of undead and ice trolls over the following centuries. References are made to the Volsangan clans paying a yearly tribute in food, weapons, and other goods to the Den of the Icewatch, a society of warriors who were sworn to stand as sentinels over the tower. The Den of the Icewatch are said to have honored both Alaric and the great hero Vorshatha, another Volsangan hero-deity associated with opposition to the undead.

The Black Wind Disaster

In 545AK, the Black Wind  struck Volsanger; this disaster is said to have begun with a freezing mist which spread over the coastal agricultural land and persisted for many weeks, ruining crops and causing widespread famine. Whilst the people starved and died in their thousands, it is said that an army of the undead arose in the south of Volsanger and began to march through the Maw, overwhelming all that stood in its way as it marched on the settlements of the northern coast. Those that could do so took to the sea, abandoning their doomed homeland to begin anew in some other place - among them, Baltha Sturmdottir, who would land in Trolfjord a year later, and found the nation of Balthas. Those who could not, retreated to the coastal fortress of Ulfgart in the hope that it might stand up to the siege of the dead.
Eisenvala is barely mentioned in the accounts of the Black Wind, but the evidence suggests that whilst the cause of the disaster is unknown, the ancient citadel was almost certainly the epicentre. The fate of the Den of the Icewatch is likewise unclear, though many scholars assume that they fell whilst trying to hold back the army of the dead.

Eisenvala Today

The siege of Ulfgart is said to have lasted twelve years before the Black Wind began to fade  and the army of the dead began to weaken, allowing the surviving Volsangans to begin the slow and arduous process of retaking their land. It is estimated that at least nine-tenths of the pre-545AK population of Volsanger died or fled the continent in the course of the disaster. It would be generations before the northern coast was cleared of the undead, and whilst the modern Jarldom of Ulfgart has now re-established itself, it is but a shadow of the former glory of Old Volsanger.
Of what has befallen Eisenvala since the Black Wind, little is known. Those who have travelled to Volsanger report that the Maw has now been abandoned by the Volsangans, and that even the Bearsark now tend to keep to the lowland forests and coastal marshlands, rather than risk the still-frozen uplands and the tundra where the restless dead still roam. In the last few years, though, rumours have begun to circulate that the undead are becoming more restless in the frozen wastes, and that there have been battles fought between bands of Bearsark warriors and some terrible force from the south. Those who have studied the histories tend to come to the same grim conclusion: that whatever situation may be emerging in Volsanger, it is likely that Eisenvala stands at the centre of it.

Founding Date

2100 pre-AK (or earlier)

Alternative Names

Tower of Winter

Type

Tower

Parent Location

The Maw