Citadel and the Scourge

[freid78]

Hello all,

have a question about the Scourge and survival technics. Kratas citadel didn't survive the Scourge, but it was a earth elemental dome above the city. I think i've read elsewhere that some citadel used an air elemental dome, or perhaps it was both ? So basically, my question is, how did the citadels survived the Scourge. Kaer are pretty easy to understand, but full outdoor cities are somehow more sketchy in details.

If it's an air elemental dome, the citizen could actually see the horrors... and vice-versa. Can you shoot from inside the dome (like a StarTrek shield) or is it like a force field blocking everything on both sides ? How can you regenerate those domes (earth or air) if they are attacked ?

If it wasn't a dome, what was it ? Only walls, towers and other fortifications ?

Thanks in advance!

[Flowswithdrek]

[freid78]

Interesting reply, many thanks.

About the dome visibility, there could be good reasons to keep the dome clear. I thought illusionist could block the visibility (instead of true water or true earth) by making a perpetual sunny day without the visible destruction outside, but that wouldn't warn you of a possible attack. Keeping the dome clear would make some gruesome image of the creatures attacking the citadel, but it would allow some kind of response instead of just being sitting ducks. Imagine an horror that is attach to the dome outside and trying to find a weak spot or a way to penetrate the defenses. I've read in plenty of places that the Scourge was not just a sit and wait situation. People were often fighting at some point or another.

Not many citadel survived, but there's plenty of them. Jerris, Travar, Urupa, Thera, etc. And more are still somewhat intact like Kratas and Parlainth. I would sponsor a team of heroes to investigate the matter!

[Mataxes]

Urupa did not exist before the Scourge. It was built through the combined efforts of the survivors of several kaers in the area.

[etherial]

IMB, Travar already had a substantial wall. The dome was constructed with the entire city inside, including this wall and the killing field beyond it. Within the city, 12 towers were erected (one for each Passion, natch), each capped with a ring of orichalcum to help support the dome. Vertical shafts were also dug down into the earth and caverns were hollowed out to provide enough gardening space to keep the Citadel fed during the Scourge, which is really the only reason Travar is still habitable today.

In the event that a Horror breached the dome, the city's defensive walls and teams of Adepts were equipped to put it down.

Today, the gates for Erendis, Rashamon, and Vestrial are permanently chained shut while the gates of Chorollis, Floranuus, and Garlen are always open. The other six are usually closed, but demand to enter and exit the city is so high leading up to the Founding that they are opened then. Several of the towers have had additional crenelations and other things added to them post-Scourge, but they keep the rings of orichalcum as a reminder of the city's history. Roughly 100 yards outside the wall is a 10-foot wide ring of permanently scorched stone where the dome of the Citadel touched the Earth and was anchored to it there.

[Slimcreeper]

Very cool, etherial.

[freid78]