Castle Cormanthor

The Castle Cormanthor was a once-great citadel located at the heart of Myth Drannor, with the city slowly built outward from the castle over the years. In 1369 DR Castle Cormanthor served as the base of operation for the Cult of the Dragon led by Kya Mordrayn.

Exterior


Castle Cormanthor was a stunning example of elven design and architecture. The body of the citadel was un-evenly shaped with seven spired towers of various sizes reaching out to the sky. The spires were enchanted with a delicate glow that lit up the castle at night and faerie fire danced around the main and the largest tower. This enchantment was still active by the 15th century DR.

The main body of the citadel was three floors tall, with its towers rising up 20-40 feet higher. The many arrow slits in the walls of the Castle were replaced with bigger more attractive windows during the glory days of Myth Drannor.

Veering pathways that surrounded Castle Cormanthor had two drawbridges connected to the Windrider Glade area of Cormanthyr. The castle's main gates were made out of old and tough-looking dark brown wood reinforced with silver-like metal.

Interior
A lot of doors inside the castle were crafted to blend in with the walls, making them very hard to spot for anyone but the elves of Myth Drannor, the rightful rulers of Castle Cormanthor. The interior of the main tower laid behind the castle's main gates. The room itself had a high dome, that took the first two floors of the tower, decorated with delicate carvings and beautiful enamel inlays. The windows of this tower had intricately-designed colored glass windows (the beauty of this room stayed mostly undamaged far into the 14th century DR long past Myth Drannor's prime). A thick carpet greeted the visitors of the castle and directed them towards two smaller doors opposite the main gate that led to the Castle Cormanthor's Main Hall. In the heyday of the city's glory, this entry dome was decorated with small ornate but unusually comfortable chairs that were used by the castle's guest while they waited to be announced.

The Main Hall was a large open area that took most of the first floor of the citadel. The door was adorned with elven carvings and the walls were decorated with luscious tapestries (that lasted into the 14th century mostly undamaged). From the main entryway, a large set of stairs in the center of the hall led up the second floor, and a smaller one - down, to the castle's first sub-level. Open smaller doorways led to the six towers of the castle.

The Main Hall served many purposes in the days of Myth Drannor's glory. It was a royal court, a ballroom, a meeting room, and a banquet hall. The Main Hall had well-disguised doors to smaller rooms, like a coat room for the castle's guests, a storage room that housed furniture that was not in use, a room that kept the castle's delicate glassware safe, etc. Three larger towers had a similar design to the one at the main entrance but with a large spiral staircase that veered upwards. These rooms at the base of the towers were used during social and diplomatic events that took place in Castle Cormanthor. The rooms gave the guests some privacy to discuss business and were domains of the castle's musicians. These satellite rooms provided excellent acoustics and enhanced any performer's natural musical abilities.

Sub-levels
The dungeon levels of Castle Cormanthor expanded into the Elven Catacombs that were used as barracks during the time of war, elven burial chambers, storage, dungeons, and prisons.

History
By 1369 DR, Castle Cormanthor was over a thousand years old and remained almost completely untouched by the destruction of the Weeping War, and ravages of time.

Inhabitants
In 1369 DR, the Cult of the Dragon, led by Kya Mordrayn was occupying the Castle. Dracolich Pelendralaar was the part of the occupying force and generally could be found in the Castle's sub-levels or Elven Catacombs. The total number of cultists exceeded a hundred making the Castle heavily populated during that time. With them, the Cult brought a small army of slaves and subservient undead into the Castle and its grounds. A group of dragonkin allied with the Cult of the Dragon could be found inside one of the Castle's levels.

Other members of the Cult of the Dragon of note residing inside Castle Cormanthor were Ellis, Marjon, and Shamoor.

Some of the Castle Cormanthor's spires became a home for gargoyles and margoyles that had an uneasy truce with the Cult of the Dragon.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor
 * Video Games:
 * Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor