Citadel

Purpose / Function

Citadels, as they were during The War of the Shadows, were once the single greatest defensive structures ever built by the Children. Devised by Taneth The Navigator and his Engineers, their efforts were an attempt to gain an upper hand against the Shadow Touched Children and their Masters. They were both defensive and offensive in a regional sense, regional being within their solar clusters. As not every planet was able to built their Citadel before being taken by the Shadows.

They served as a shelter for the Children to flee to when planets fist began showing infection or invasion. Functioning as both a command center and a logistics hub. These were the structures where counter offensives were made against the hordes that ceaselessly tormented the inhabitants with their voices that heeded no walls. Though many planets were retaken from these positions, just as many fell. A citadel was, in every instance, the last structure to be taken. Should the Ash Bringers commanded by the Legion of Syn reach the besieged planet too late, they would often receive a message from the Citadel to crack the planet in an attempt to halt the spread of the infection, with a further instruction to ignite their atmosphere to attempt to save the Children from being turned in death.

Citadels never fell easily, and the Shadow touched paid a dear price for their efforts. In more than a few instances, the defenses of the Citadel proved too much for even The Shadows themselves, having felled Shadows only to be reborn somewhere else. A postponing of the inevitable, all killing a Shadow did was buy the besieged planet time. Killing the Shadow Touched was a bittersweet moment, baring the faces and voices of those they knew, for they were the same people the children knew. Only twisted mockeries of what they once were, living tools of war, horrors of mangled forms. For each of them that died at the hands of the uninfected, so too did the person they once knew. There was always a hope that they could cure the infection, yet... not even the gods could cleanse them of their afflictions.

History

The ecumenopolises of the planets across the universe opted to form defensive structures in lieu of the open orbital ports that they once were. In the beginning they first opted for immense orbital platforms capable of defending their planet from any number of threats, with numerous surface to air defenses, as the first waves of infected that attacked the planets had opted for aerial tactics. Though in the first waves of infection that spread across the worlds, some fell, some subsisted, while very few were able to quell the horrors. The Shadows quickly changed tactics for more efficient "subjugation", as they put it. The first iterations of the Citadels were a resounding failure, as the aerial tactics were dropped for a straight forward combined assault thereafter. The Shadows would infect areas that were not dense population clusters first, banking on the slightly slower response time from the planet's Legion. They proved correct as the first hordes overran much of the planet before the Legion could secure areas of control. The second iteration of Citadels came when Syn herself took to the frontlines along with Vilorlith. Where the two goddesses secured areas of control to allow the Children time to fortify a position. While on every available planet were give the orders to do the same before infections started appearing. It was at this point that the Quartet was forced to acknowledge that this was a full-blown war on every front, a war they had very little control over. These iterations of the Citadel's were fortified positions of high walls with warding structures over their airspace. Lining the walls were batteries of light and heavy artillery, along with various energy weapons capable of immobilizing swathes of hordes to be gunned down by other defensive arrays. In the skies Orbital platforms rained kinetic weapons down on the hordes, though nuclear weapons were often used in attempts to vaporize large numbers of infected Children. These orbital platforms protected the airspace above each of the Citadels as well as the thermosphere of each planet. These proved largely effective up to a point, for the Shadows had not been passive. The Shadows at this point in their Citadels development, choose to assault the fortifications directly, in many cases overwhelming the Children defending the planet. In successful attacks, the Shadows would be able to break through the Orbital defenses rather than the land-based fortifications. Allowing the Cities to be swarmed by aerial assaults relentlessly until the defendants were forced to flee or condense their forces inside a much smaller defensive ring in the cores of the Citadels. Taneth and his engineers had been working on structures that could withstand these assaults, which culminated in the final version of these structures.

All planets were given the plans and any resources they required to build these bastions. At this same time, the development of the Ash Bringers was also finalized, ships capable of destroying planets and solar systems from a distance. Like monsters in the dark, they were the sword to the shield of the Citadels. These new Citadels were fully capable of handling the Hordes with ease; there was finally hope that they could win this war and eradicate the Shadows along with their infection. As the Citadels repelled the infected children, the Ash Bringers eradicated them. Even felling the Shadows themselves in numerous attempts, though idle hands are the devil's playthings. The Children were finally able to mount a counter-offensive, reconquering infected worlds without having to destroy them, putting the Shadows on the defensive. While this was a slow, bloody, and horrifying theater, tested the nerve of every lost soul aboard the star-bound vessels. Not even the Quartet was spared the horror of what had happened to their Children, or their own stained hands for cutting them down. This victory would slowly change tides once more as the Shadows developed their tactics further. One by one, the Citadels began to fall as the infected were changed to purpose built abominations. Vilorlith's children, the Brownies, were by far the most difficult to deal with, as well as the saddest to put down. The Brownies had been targeted with prejudice in the first waves of the War, as the Shadows wrath was initially focused on Vilorlith for her crimes against them. The Shadows were incapable of creation; however, they had a divine control of change, entropy, and manipulation in all realms of physics and biology. The Brownies sharing the Voice of their goddess were capable in their own right of changing reality. Once the Shadows had been able to tap into the Children's Divine Spark, began the end of the Quartet. The Brownies were a species that were quickly becoming extinct, as much at the goddess brought her wrath down on the Shadows, having the most confirmed kills of the eldritch creatures, was still powerless to stop them from using her Children as frontline combatants. The Citadels fell quickly as the swarms of goblins were able to tear through the defenses of the megastructures, cleaving open paths for the hordes to take the structures from within. The last bastions to fall, every time. A Citadel does not fall without causing untold amounts of damage, hard to fall, harder to kill.

The Children could not save themselves by hiding in their Edins. The Children could not save themselves, swinging their swords in the Ash Bringers. The gods could not protect their creations against the Shadows; a slow war of extinction was inevitable. At least, until the Quartet fell, as Vilorlith died on her original home world, The Cradle. As Syn fell to avenge her fallen sister. As Kyln fell, attempting to evacuate the planet. As Alnya shattered the universe to flee.

Tourism

There exist two Citadels left, one being the City of Mhuzchet, a much smaller version. With much more limited armament, though it has nowhere near the capabilities that its forebears held. While the Four Kings are operating with state-of-the-art technology. As well as the seeds of much more powerful technology, thanks to their connections with The Elsewhere, it is still a far cry from what it is aiming to be. That is to say that it isn't a truly impressive structure in its own right. One of the most impressive structures to grace the planet, should its defenses ever truly be tested by the inhabitants of the Cradle, it would survive. If tested by the Shadows? Well...

The other that exists in its full glory, and then some. Sits in the heart of the continent of the Quartets Cathedral, a fully fortified structure rivaled by none. Having learned every lesson at the price of countless lives, this Citadel is truly a perfect version. Though the denizens of the Elsewhere would hope to never have it's defences ever tested. Hoping to never be found, even while planning their future retaking of Namix.

Mhuzchet is fully able to be visited, though none but select few individuals outside of the Elsewhere even know it exists.