Castle Tethyr

Castle Tethyr was once the palace of the royalty of Tethyr before its fall at the start of the Ten Black Days of Eleint in the. In its day, it was the largest castle in the Lands of Intrigue. After it was burned to the ground, its haunted ruins were known as the Tethyruins.

Location
The castle was located in the Purple Marches, in what would later be County Bardshyr. It sat less than from the intersection of the Trade Way and the Ithal Road.

The region around the castle was fertile for keeping herds of livestock.

Structure
The entire square castle covered an area of about with about  per side. It had three stories and had a subterranean dungeon.

Without the building sat many supporting structures for housing servants, soldiers, and animals; for storing food and supplies; and acting as workshops for craftsmen.

Defenses
The castle's walls were high. It was encompassed by a deep moat.

Inhabitants
The castle was once home to the entire royal family of Tethyr.

After its fall, hordes of undead infested the ruins, including ghasts, ghosts, haunts, and shadows&mdash;all the spirits of those who died in the betrayal that happened when the castle was burned to the ground.

History
On the night of Eleint 11 in the, a party was held to which the count of Lathmarch, the count of the Mir Protectorate, and the duke of Dusk had been invited.

During the night, the castle was besieged by King Alemander IV's largest army, led by General Nashram Sharboneth. The army also had recruited angry peasants from the surrounding countryside. These peasants soon set the castle ablaze, near midnight.

The entire castle burned to the ground over the next seven hours. By dawn of the 12, the entire royal family, including the king and his wife, Queen Rhinda; the king's son, Prince Alemander V; Alemander V's wife Dhara; and the two royal grandchildren Princes Jhodak and Leodom. The noble counts and duke who had attended the party that night had also died, being prevented from being rescued by the servants by the soldiers who besieged the castle. The king's garrison commander and many of his loyal army officers also perished, because they had been strangely recalled to the inner areas of the castle rather than posted on the outer walls. General Sharboneth is supposed to have also died in the fire, though his body was never found.

One of the few survivors of the blaze was Marilyn Haresdown, an officer in the army. Sadly, her husband and fellow soldier Dorian Haresdown died in the carnage. (Marilyn would later become a member of the Company of Eight and after a duchess of Tethyr. )

Rumors & Legends
Several of the surviving servants of the tragedy claimed that the incident was the result of the scheming of Prince Alemander V, who plotted with General Sharboneth to take over the throne by force. However, General Sharboneth betrayed the prince in the end.

On the night of the castle's fall, a priestess of Beshaba, Dlatha Faenar, was seen visiting General Sharboneth's camp, and she was later spotted on the castle's walls as well, leading some to suspect that the Church of Beshaba also played a role in the castle's demise.

An elder beholder Xithallowthlan claimed to have orchestrated the events of the castle's destruction and later to have secretly aided Zaranda Star in her rise to the throne at the end of the Interregum&mdash;all as part of the game of Vellurith. The Great Mother supposedly gifted Xithallowthlan with body plates covered with functional eyes as a reward for his completion of one of the goals of the game.

The ghosts of Prince Alemander V and General Sharboneth were said to be in perpetual conflict with each other within the Tethyruins.