Castle Delhalla

"Inside the keep the Queen of Blood keeps a watchful eye on the shadows to the east" - Al'Jibran provides a history lesson on the fortress of the Vryloka.



At a Glance
Formed by the Barbarian survivors of Mace Cross, Castle Delhalla was the seat of power of Delhalla and her race of vampiric Vryloka. Located in the frozen hills of The Near Reaches, Castle Delhalla was a fortress-city that held out against the armies of Halruth for eons through the untiring tenacity of its soldiers. While closed off to outsiders, Castle Delhalla made no attempts to hide its location from the world, errecting the "Triumphant Seven", a series of constantly-burning towers that welcomed home its raiders or invitied would-be-invaders to their doom.

History
Founded near the end of the war between the Deva and Halruth during the Destruction of the Deva, Castle Delhalla was constructed under the command of the Vryloka queen Delhalla. Abandoning Mace Cross and the memory of the Deva's failed alliance, the Vryloka of Castle Delhalla were quick to errect a series of fortresses on the frozen hills within the mountains. Creating a new home for themselves, the Vryloka were invigorated by their newly-achieved blood magic and worked tirelessly to stage a formidable defense against the still-lingering armies of Halruth.

When the pursuing armies of The Shadowfell arrived, the Vryloka had already finished the walls of the Castle. Thinking the Vryloka exhausted from their construction, the servants of The Revenant Queen converged on the keep, unknowingly cutting themselves off between a mountain pass and the new fortress. Pinning the Revenants between the walls and the incline of the mountain, Delhalla and her army proved to be very strong at adapting to the climate and terrain and delivered Halruth its first overwhelming defeat -- albiet far too late in the war.

With the Deva defeated and Mace Cross abandoned, the armies of The Raven Queen retreated to The Shadowfell, allowing Castle Delhalla the freedom to grow and build a small peppering of fortresses around it.

Religion
Blood-magic fuels the religion of the Vryloka people, and no deity is more important to them than Hextor God of War. An ancient deity, few civilized races continue paying him sermons, but every week a tribute (animal or prisoner) was brought before the altar in Castle Delhalla to take in its blood and thank Hextor for his teachings that gave the Vryloka their transformation.

Few families in the city secretly believed the divine agent of the Vryloka's transformation to be Asmodeus, the God of Change, given the deliverance of blood-magics in the face of death (Asmodeus being a life deity). These beliefes were regarded as heresy to the ruling leader of Delhalla herself who regarded her people as a clan of warriors, not horned-mutants.

Political Structure
Castle Delhalla was ruled by a series of generals under the command of Queen Delhalla. The eldest of her people, Delhalla was regarded with silent respect and unwavering loyalty. Ascension through the military system was the only means to advance one's status, including the ownership of property or land. Each general was expected to stage raids on Berdusk, Gladethal, or other smaller settlements for tribute and bounty, and those who succeeded would be rewarded by the nature of their victory.