He had selected Avanor for two very specific reasons, one having to do with the solitary mountain looming over Avalos, and the other involving its storied people.
The land of Avanor had been fertile ground for the Unifier’s ambition. The spreading of a new order and fighting a war to end all wars resonated strongly with the blood of Avanor’s people, no strangers to martial adventures. From the days when Thrydrik the Wanderer and his Midragardan band had first been given rights to the land by King Louis I and intermarried with the Galleans, to the conquests in Norengal, Paleria, and Gael, to the raising of Kingdoms in the Sunlands during the Holy Wars, Avanor had made its presence known in blood and fire across the face of Ave.
History recorded many bold testimonies to the small, potent land, whose people had conquered kingdoms and triumphed against tremendous odds. They were an ideal kind of people to support the Unifier in the beginning of His rise. From the seat of Avanor, the Unifier had gone forward to build an initial alliance of Seven Kingdoms, which had spearheaded the influence and acquiescence that followed thereafter.
Few had objected to the rapid ascension, as none wished to be seen as in conflict with a being that most held to be personally blessed by the All-Father of the Western and Eastern Churches, or The One God, according to the followers of the Prophet. The fact that The Unifier did not show any signs of age was cited as a glorious sign that He was truly a rightly guided man. It was commonly held that no son of evil could transcend the very laws of life, gifted with such physical beauty and a silvered tongue. Even the Great Vicar of the West and the Grand Shepherd of the East refused to challenge these widespread beliefs, vigilant as they were against all forms of heresy.
To the more perceptive within the realm, it seemed as if time itself was moving faster. The Unifier would not have disagreed with their assessment, for things were indeed well in motion that led towards immense, unprecedented ends.
The harshest truth of it was that only the Unifier, and a handful of others, knew what the nature of those ends really were. Each and every day His influence was spreading farther, and that of His Enemy declined, continuing the legacy that had been born out of the blackest and most fiery pits, transcending time itself. From a fathomless fall, a glorious ascension was being forged by sheer force of will and power. The road of vengeance led steadfastly towards a resplendent crown, one that was now within grasp.
The Unifier silently gazed out over the mighty city of Avalos, and the luxuriant sheen of the ocean waters reaching out towards the west. The steady breezes coursing in off of the sea buffeted the pennons flying from the numerous towers of the titanic citadel, both on the terraces below, as well as from the singular, great standard flapping against the unsullied backdrop of the teal sky far overhead. The pennon snapped about vigorously in the high winds, exhibiting its blazing white star at the apex of the vast citadel.
The waters of the capacious harbor fed by the Saina River teemed with the sails of numerous ships, from very small vessels rowed by a single man, to great merchant round ships and oared galleys.
As it was nearly the summit of the day, the city below was abounding with activity, its traffic coursing steadily through its narrow streets. Large throngs were gathered within its great market squares, engaged in the day’s business.
Graced with many great towers set at intervals between the robust gatehouses commanding the entrances to Avalos, the far ranging circuit walls on the city’s outer edge hemmed in its most important elements. Beyond those walls, and past the clinging suburbs, the surrounding countryside could be seen for league upon league to the distant horizons.
The low, undulating terrain revealed the orderly, telltale signs of numerous cultivated fields and outlying villages. The rich green of the spring was emerging into its fullness, enlivening a beautiful panorama of sparkling blue waters, green and flowering trees, wavy grasses, and vivid meadows, arrayed amongst the signs of human construction and habitation.
Affording such a magnificent view, the apex of the citadel was not the only spectacular vantage point on the prominent mountain. The great citadel had been built according to the direction of an assemblage of the greatest architectural minds across the world of Ave. No less would have sufficed for the Unifier.
A small army of elite stonecutters, sculptors, and carpenters had found themselves completely engrossed for several years in building the principle edifices occupying the various terraces, aided by multitudes of porters and other manual laborers involved with the epic construction.
The great northeastern empire of Theonia, known for its lavish palaces, golden-domed churches, and spectacular craftsmanship in marble and stone, had sent its greatest builder and architect, Andronikos Comnenus. The Kingdom of Paleria, now a part of the Sacred Empire, had dispatched its best designers, who had guided the building of several wondrous castles that had been built deftly into the sides of mountains. Architects of Avanor and Norengal, renowned for having achieved many great successes in building powerful, nearly impregnable castles, had pushed themselves beyond any level that they had previously known in addressing the needs of fortification. Gallea, Ehrengard, Lambar, the Fahtamid Khalif, the Great Emir of Andamoor, and many others had contributed their most capable minds and bountiful resources.
Several individuals had been sent across tremendous distances, undertaking harrowing journeys just to bring their own insights and expertise to the awesome endeavor. A large proportion of these hailed from the exotic lands of the far east, the mysterious places where even the farthest-ranging adventurers rarely tread.
Also testifying powerfully to the unique nature of the citadel, and the exalted Lord that it was built for, the spectacular creation had not been completed without the involvement of a few contributors of an extremely unusual nature. An enigmatic group had suddenly manifested during the construction of the great palace and citadel, from origins known only to the Unifier. After their arrival they had gone into the depths of the mountain, only to emerge and depart swiftly upon the great palace-citadel’s completion. The hidden individuals were uniformly very tall and lean, and impeccably silent and graceful in their movements. Dark face veils had shrouded their very faces, not entirely unlike the fashion common to many of the fanatical warriors of Andamoor.
Their presence known by their mere arrival, their separation from the laborers, artisans, and designers afterwards was rigidly maintained by a dedicated, ardent force culled from the elite of the Unifier’s own garrisons. The very few persons who had come within any close proximity to these obscured figures had reported feeling a chilling fear, or an overwhelming sense of anxiety, take firm hold of them. Most, with nervous laughs, related that they had shrugged it off later as just a trick of a fanciful mind, or the result of too much fatigue incurred from overworking.
In just over ten years, with the efforts of so many thousands of laborers, innumerable oxen and horses, and countless thousands of pounds of gold and silver, the huge edifice sprouted and bloomed to ever greater heights on the mountainside. To the surrounding populace, the grandiose constructs seemed like a living, organic entity, vigorously rising up the side of the lone mountain that stood sentinel over Avalos.
Great quantities of rock and soil had first been removed from the mountain, as vast platforms were cut out and leveled, prepared for the buildings that were then erected upon their surfaces. Many laborers had kept pieces of the black rock as mementos, as it was of a unique kind, found only upon the mountain itself. Seven terraces were prepared in all, the largest at the base of the mountain, and six others rising in concentric fashion above the first.