Asargam's Tower of Great Vision

General introduction

Asargam's Tower of Great Vision was the seat of the Order of the Five Sages in Asargam's capital Nilapur. It's construction followed shortly after the order was founded, as emperor Adjanyaj, one of the founding members, decided that the former research academy for magic and arcana was not sufficient for the needs of his new elite group of imperial high magicians.

The tower was, for practical reasons, erected close to the kings palace at the cost of a living quarter. While the academy was kept for general research, teaching and training, the Tower of Great Vision was an exquisitely equipped place to refine the skills of those revered enough to become part of the order.

Structure and history

Befitting the architecture, that gave the entire city of Nilapur, 'dark city' its name, the Tower of Great Vision was also built using mostly black shist. There are three accessways to the tower: The main entrance was also representative, as it was used for some announcements of public speeches. It was positioned at the top of a staircase, that started from the central square and ended in a small balcony, offering a befitting stage for such uses. The other two are small doors to the left and the right of the staircase.

While the two smaller entryways lead to the discussion and teaching area, which were connected to the upper floors with a staircase and also some form of elevator, the main entrance lead to the reception room. This room was as representative as the way that lead to it.

Further up there were eight more floors which were equipped with libraries filled with tomes and maps of all kinds of topics and areas. Also laboratories, tools, all kinds of minerals, ingredients and materials in well organised storage rooms could be found there.

The towers top was flat and housed three telescopes, two of which were meant to observe the planets and the stars and one to look over land and sea.

Significance

The Order of the Five Sages was the most decorated research facility of Asargam. The erection of the tower underlined the outstanding abilities and achievements of this highly productive group. Some of the most memorable feats accomplished here were the research of Samthô's first and up to date only flying ship, the Vimãna as well as the only quasi immortality besides the gods achieved by the sorceress Ramuna, who had her soul implanted in a ring called Ramuna's Will.

The research conducted here as well as the achievements made lead to Asargam's downfall in the end, as the Asargam Empire got overly proud, disrespected the gods and fell victim to the same hybris as the Luak before them. The gods, to prevent Asargam from a complete conquest of Samthô and thus spreading their twisted ways over the entire world, punished Asargam with a devastating rain of fire, stones and sulphur, destroying them so thoroughly, that only minor traces of their existence remain. Being situated in Asargams capital, this rain, that started the Era of the Fire, especially the Great Scorching, also erased every trace of the Tower of Great Vision.

Type

Tower