Citadel of the Stars

The Dark Tower of the Ghost Queen

They say there is an artifact on this island of Forbuho that can expel a spirit possessing any body. It lies within a magician's tower called the Citadel of the Stars. - Dame Switch

Purpose / Function

The Citadel of the Stars had a great many purposes, the original being a location from which it's owner could experiment without distraction or fear of harming others. As time went on the tower became a school, a palace, and eventually it returned to the original purpose of laboratory though for far darker experiments. The Queen had transformed the tower into a lab to experiment on her darkest magics as well as her most insidious traps, she would have prisoners sent into the tower to see if they could survive, when there were too few prisoners she invited people she disliked to dine at the tower.

Alterations

As her following grew the tower itself was expanded upon with a second layer build around it to house her new experiments as well as her students. When she died she returned as a specter and constructed a fourth level creating a massive dome of enchanted glass stained in the pattern of the night sky. By the end of the Queen's reign the tower had become one large death trap with various magics and machinery built to torment any foolish enough to step foot in the tower.

Each time it was needed the tower was rebuilt for a new purpose. As the empire grew so too did the tower and as the Queen was twisted with madness the Tower changed to match it's owner. Finally when the empire fell and was abandoned the tower too was left for the the island to reclaim the land. - Svartálfar Historian

Architecture

A tall fortress rises above what could have been a clearing once. The jungle has overrun the surrounding land making it seem as if no one has been here for hundreds of years or more. Walking into the clearing allows you to notice the quiet of the surrounding area as no insect or animal can be found near the building.
The tower has four levels with vines reaching around most of the walls til the third level where the plants wither. Window frames are set on almost every level but the windows on the third and fourth levelhave been bricked up and sealed. Atop the fourth floor is a grand dome of glass that has been enchanted to withstand steel. A pattern across the glass roof resembles the night sky.

Layout

Ground Floor

There is only one entrance into the tower, a large ten foot wide double door made from reinforced wood with an enchantment on the doors to prevent spirits passing through. The walls are made from stone and cement with similar enchantments carved into the walls. The foyer takes up a small area that opens to the main building with three rooms on either side of the building and a second tower within the center of the building reaching all the way into the top of the tower like a giant pillar. There is no way to access the central tower save at the very bottom or the very top. Four of the six rooms had been a classroom till the Queen began to lose her mind, the rooms had been transformed from place of learning to an experimental death trap often focusing on the very school of magic it taught. The two remaining rooms furthest from the entrance hold staircases one going up into the second floor the other going down into the basement. The Foyer carpet runs the length of the first floor stopping a few feet from the wall. The carpet is enchanted and any who step foot on the carpet begin to sink as if falling into quicksand. Falling fully into the carpet will teleport the victim into one of the basement cells.

Basement

The lowest level is an open space with columns providing support. Around the wall are various cells filled with the bones of people who could not escape the enchantments around the bars. Within the center of the room is a large operating table with various necromantic and arcane tools and apparatuses as well as a few custom tools made by the Queen. Several ghosts are still trapped inside the cells having been reanimated by the ambient necromantic state of the tower. Hanging a few feet away from the cells are various cords that are reachable from various cells. Each time a cord is pulled a mechanism in the roof rotates the cords clockwise and depending on the cord pulled the imprisoned will be assaulted by various afflictions including: fire, lightning, a shrinking cage, or the cage door opening.

Second Floor

There were many residences of the former staff, now the rooms are nothing more than storage for the various needs of the tower. As the tower lay dormant the alchemical supplies that have been stored went sour and gradually altered to become an ooze that absorbed all the alchemy before going into hibernation. In the tome store house there are all manner of books written by the Queen on everything from planar cosmology to thanatology but just as with the academical storage the ambient energy animated various books.

Third Floor

The remains of the floor are in tatters as everything but the walls and doors are broken to some degree. Two creatures stalk the floor rending and tearing at each other till one falls and the other feeds upon the fallen. But as the victor is sated the fallen creature glows with dark magic and regrows the missing flesh and limbs and the hunt begins a new, the first beast sated from hunger but the second beast infused with new life as if it were well rested. Once this was another laboratory but now it is the stalking grounds of the deathless creatures. The doors and the walls seemingly have enchantments that ward off the creatures as they have yet to leave the floor.

Fourth Floor

The stone roof is replaced by an ornate glass dome that portrays the night sky in stained glass. The room is part observatory and part audience hall, with various scrying glasses situated around the room to allow the viewer the ability to investigate the entire tower within this room. Desks nearby are covered in parchment and quills, the ink having dried up long ago. Within the center of the room is an ornate throne made of stone with necromantic carvings covering every inch of the throne.

Inner Tower

Part of the original tower the inner tower was originally a laboratory until Morgana was crowned Queen. Afterwords Morgana began using it alongside her disciples to futher research into new spells and other forms of undead. As the Queen began to become more callous and sinister she transformed the majority of the inner tower into the core of her experiments and traps removing the laboratory and replacing it with a gauntlet of traps and spells to test upon any forced to climb the tower.

History

The tower has held a great many uses in the past ages: from the source of necromancy and rebirth of our people to the school that spread the arcane arts across the land. It even became our first royal palace while we constructed the proper one within the capitol. In the end it became the proof of the Queen's corruption as she turned it to darker purposes and it became a testing ground for her darkest experiments. - Svartálfar Scholar

Before the svartálfar crowned Morgana as Queen she was an sage who desperately sought to cure the curse that afflicted her people. It was within the Citadel of the Stars that she devised the first spells of necromancy and created the first undead.
When Morgana finally died all manner of svartálfar gathered before the tower where Morgana arose as a specter and revealed herself. The gathered cheered for finally death had been conquered and while life would not go on the svartálfar still could. While she was crowned Queen the tower was considered a temporary palace while construction on the actual palace began. When the Queen's new residence was built the Citadel of the Stars was still used to teach necromancy and occasionally the Queen would visit but after some time it fell into disuse as the Queen built the Citadel of the Sun and the Citadel of the Moon.
As the Queen slowly fell into madness she rebuilt each Citadel to suit her new darker needs. The Citadel of the Stars was remade into the lab where her most dangerous and dark experiments were made. None but the Queen had set foot within the tower for years save the unfortunate prisoners who were brought into the tower by the Queen's request.
After the Queen was overthrown many attempted to enter the tower but none ever returned. Guards were posted to prevent any seeking to use the tower against the new monarchy but what few who loyalists to the Queen who entered were never heard from again. Eventually the tower was abandoned and ignored as a hazard, left to wait for it's mistress to return.

RUINED STRUCTURE
After the Great Undertaking

Alternative Names

The Queen's Lab, The Final Death, The Tower of Nightmares

Type

Room, Tower, Wizard

Parent Location

Forbuho

Owner

Morgana LeFay