Citadel of Purifying Flame
Rating: ••••• Aspect: Fire Hearthstone: ? Bearer: Cathak Mardus Attuned: Cathak Mardus, Cathak Meata, Cathak Cainan, Cathak Haren, Cathak Ain, Cathak Adlai, Cathak Caiji, Cathak Koshath, Ledaal Martia, Cathak Baitai, Cathak Rhodai, Peleps Treitaren, Cathak Shuwei, Mnemon Grailin, Cathak Vessala, Sesus Akachi, Cathak Chibuike, Cathak Yagu, ?
The Citadel of Purifying Flame is a massive fortress-manse aspected to fire, located not far from the Imperial City in the Scarlet Prefecture. It has been in the care of House Cathak for generations, though use of it has been seconded to the Imperial Legions since their founding. For centuries it was garrisoned by the 5th Imperial Legion, until it was granted to the 2nd Imperial Legion when the 5th was redeployed against the Bull of the North. The 2nd garrison transferred the Citadel to the 1st Imperial Legion in Descending Earth RY768, when the 1st was replaced by the 4th Legion as garrison of the Imperial City.
The Citadel is divided into two sections, the Upper Citadel and the Lower Citadel, all wrapped in high walls of plaster-covered metal.
Entry comes through the massive gatehouse of the Lower Citadel, located at the end of a paved road linking up with the Great Coast Road. The gate itself is closed by a massive steel portcullis, and then by a set of huge bronze doors decorated with the image of two Dragonblooded soldiers piercing some foul demonic Anathema with their blades amidst rolling fields of fire. Beyond within the lower Citadel can be found drill yards, barracks, stables, and other buildings for use by the garrison, capable of housing the bulk of an Imperial Legion and its auxiliaries (with the remainder housed easily in the upper Citadel). The most magnificent structure is not a part of the manse at all, but rather a building of metal walls and pipes, dotted with vents and smokestacks: officers of the Legions working in magitech units know it as the 1st's Mobile Repair and Fabrication Platform, though its mobility was lost long ago. Several large, low adjoining buildings serve as hangars, and an open area provides a landing space for skyships.
The upper Citadel is the most impressive part of the fortress, sitting atop a massive base of huge stone blocks. The walls surrounding it also divide it from the lower Citadel, allowing troops to hold the high ground and rain down devastation upon an attacker even if the main gate falls. The upper Citadel itself is a round multi-storey tower clad in red brass. The inside of the tower is hollow, a massive pillar of flame rising from deep within the earth and roaring out the top. This flame is channeled through adamant pipes circling through the tower, providing illumination. Atop the flame is mounted an observation tower affording fantastic views of the surrounding landscape, the metal furnishings glowing too hot for any without some form of immunity to fire. Here can be found the hearthstone chambers, and rumour has it extensive mechanisms for monitoring the Scarlet Prefecture.
The lower floors of the tower contain kitchens and barracks for both troops and servants. The next levels house the curved shelves of the Library of All Heroic Deeds, containing the great Cathak archives of military history (said to be the most extensive in Creation). Above those, quarters for Dynastic residents along with military planning chambers once used to direct Legion deployments across Creation.
The Citadel is currently garrisoned by the bulk of the 1st Imperial Legion, bolstered by cavalry and slingers from the Cathak House Guard and artillery taken from the walls of the Imperial City when the 1st Legion ended its garrison there.
