Citadel Umbra was a disturbing and sinister castle concealed within the forest of Winterglen on the Isle of Gwynneth in the Moonshae Isles. It was the source of many of the unseelie fey who threatened the safety of Sarifal in the late 15th century DR.[1][2]
Location[]
The castle was exceedingly difficult to find. It sat atop a large burial mound in the deepest and coldest reaches of the dangerous Winterglen Forest.[1]
The site of Citadel Umbra marked a rare conjunction between the Material Plane and both a particularly foul potion of the Feywild as well as the evil depths of the Shadowfell,[1][2] and it thus hosted several fey crossroads and shadow crossings. Because of the twin strange and dreadful planar energies emanating from the area, the forest around the citadel had been corrupted, causing the pine trees to thirst for blood and the animals to act as spies for the citadel's occupants.[1]
Structure[]
The citadel appeared as a desolate stone spire atop a large mound.[1][3] Its shadowy towers were about the same height as the tall pines that concealed them.[1]
Interior[]
Within the main tower were a number of sculptures which served to maintain the open planar breach and to anchor the citadel in place.[2]
The burial mound below the tower was riddled with tunnels that teemed with unseelie fey.[2] Below the citadel were old mining tunnels (possibly dug long ago by shield dwarves and later enlarged) that connected its deepest cellars to the Underdark.[3][4] Within these tunnels was an unusual shrine to Lolth. The upper tunnels also opened into the forest above in a couple of places, including a grotto beside the citadel that was open to the sky and bounded by a cliff face that glittered with semi-precious stones, crystals, citrine, and peridot.[3] The lower tunnels connected to a network of fomorian-dug tunnels leading south to the Cambrent Gap and Harrowfast.[5]
Shrine to Lolth[]
In the old mining tunnels beneath the citadel was a shrine dedicated to Araushnee. The drow who maintained this shrine acknowledged their goddess's modern identity as Lolth, but maintained that she would one day be redeemed back into her former self with the help of the Earthmother, at which point their clan would rise to live on the surface. In addition to the unusual theology, the shrine itself was unusual for a holy site of the Spider Queen: it sat in a tall, dark chamber surrounded by dense plants that made the air uncomfortably thick with oxygen, and held four distinct idols representing the goddess: an ebony and ivory statue of a beautiful drow elf, a gold figurine of a pregnant spider, a wooden effigy of a half-drow half-spider, and a bloodstone carving of a hypersexualized human woman.[3]
The chamber in which this shrine had been constructed was the exit for an old portal located in the Breasal Marsh on Moray.[3]
Defenses[]
The citadel was protected by a mythal that caused it to vanish when the sun shone upon its façade and to return into existence under moonlight.[1][3]
The area around and within Citadel Umbra was thick with evil fey and their allies.[2] Anyone attempting to approach it had to contend with its many protectors, which made finding the hidden castle even more difficult.[1]
History[]
As of the mid–15th century DR, Citadel Umbra was the seat of Prince Araithe of Sarifal. In the 1360s DR, after killing his own grandmother, Princess Callia, Araithe briefly brought Callia's seven-year-old daughter (and his aunt), Amaranth, to the citadel in hopes of grooming her into a future partner.[3][6] About two years later—by the time Amaranth had been taken to Karador by Araithe's mother—he welcomed a fomorian royal from the Underdark, Marabaldia, as well as her lover, Ughoth, after they had fled their home to elope. However, he quickly betrayed them, imprisoning Marabaldia and using her as a hostage to force the fomorians into concessions relating to the Pact of Eschatos.[4][5] Prince Araithe continued to dwell at the citadel until the late 1470s DR.[7][note 1]
As of the Year of the Ageless One, 1479 DR, Citadel Umbra was a bastion of evil fey who threatened Sarifal.[2] Even as they radiated out from their fortress, Prince Araithe's champions—largely consisting of dryads, satyrs, and treants—managed to press them into a stalemate within the Winterglen.[1][8] This fighting would continue for at least a decade.[9]
Inhabitants[]
The conjunction of the Feywild and Shadowfell made Citadel Umbra a breeding ground for unseelie fey as well as an attractive site for creatures who reveled in evil.[1]
Under Prince Araithe, the citadel was steadily abandoned by eladrin as they lost faith in him, and in their place he kept human slaves and provided space for a clan of drow from beneath Gwynneth to establish their temple and guard posts. He made loose promises to these drow of allowing them to integrate into surface society in exchange for serving as his soldiers.[3][6] These drow were led by a warlock, whose daughters—Amaka, Chinedu, Kemdelime, and Onyiye—served as priestesses in the shrine of Araushnee.[3]
By 1479 DR, the citadel was occupied not only by cruel and amoral fey, but by cyclopses, displacer beasts, dusk unicorns, feygrove chokers, howling hags, shadow creatures, and undead, such as fey lingerers.[2][8][3][10] The mistress of these forces was a dreaded and powerful hag known as Urphania, who aspired to conquer Sarifal.[10]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Canon material does not provide a year for the events described in The Rose of Sarifal, although the novel indicates that it takes place "more than a hundred years" after the return of High Lady Ordalf to Gwynneth in 1375 DR (ch. 1) and "nearly a hundred years" after the Spellplague in 1385 DR (ch. 3). While this fits the usual assumption that all 4th edition material is set in 1479 DR, the novel contradicts a number of other sources set during that year: at the start of the novel, Caer Moray is held by lycanthropes rather than by soldiers loyal to House Kendrick (as stated in Backdrop: Moonshae Isles), Citadel Umbra has been home to Prince Araithe for at least 12 years rather than being the base of his enemies (as stated in Backdrop: Moonshae Isles, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, and Realmslore: Sarifal), and Malar is stated to be "dead" rather than an active exarch of Silvanus (as stated in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide). These contradictions are largely resolved by the end of the narrative, meaning that the novel is best assumed to be set prior to 1479 DR. Unless a canon source contradicts this assertion, this wiki will thus assume that the events of the novel take place after 1475 DR but before 1479 DR.
Appearances[]
Novels & Short Stories
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Shawn Merwin (November 2011). “Backdrop: Moonshae Isles”. In Steve Winter ed. Dungeon #196 (Wizards of the Coast) (196)., p. 7. Archived from the original on 2015-11-03.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 {{Cite book/Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide|153
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 Paulina Claiborne (May 2012). The Rose of Sarifal (Kindle ed.). (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 14. ASIN B006NPFFHY.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Paulina Claiborne (May 2012). The Rose of Sarifal (Kindle ed.). (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 4. ASIN B006NPFFHY.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Paulina Claiborne (May 2012). The Rose of Sarifal (Kindle ed.). (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 13. ASIN B006NPFFHY.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Paulina Claiborne (May 2012). The Rose of Sarifal (Kindle ed.). (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 11. ASIN B006NPFFHY.
- ↑ Paulina Claiborne (May 2012). The Rose of Sarifal (Kindle ed.). (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 18. ASIN B006NPFFHY.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Brian R. James (June 2009). “Realmslore: Sarifal”. In Chris Youngs ed. Dragon #376 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 65.
- ↑ Steve Kenson, et al. (November 2015). Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Edited by Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7869-6580-9.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Shawn Merwin (November 2011). “Backdrop: Moonshae Isles”. In Steve Winter ed. Dungeon #196 (Wizards of the Coast) (196)., p. 8. Archived from the original on 2015-11-03.