[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/7f28c785-bb7c-4826-8dbd-4f45a4e28f0c.png[/img]
[color=Peru][b]The Great Artisan, Divine Mason, Builder of Civilisations
Level 5 God of Crafting (Masonry, Carpentry, Smithing, Alchemy, Armaments)[/b]
16 Might & 1 Free Point[/color][/center]

Power beyond mortal comprehension clashed in the uppermost floors of the Celestial Citadel. A torrent of prismatic energy outshone the sun as it boiled matter into energy, and it was met by a beam of darkness so absolute that all was destroyed upon contact. These forces clashed with an explosion that would have maimed gods and felled mountains. The architecture in which the battle took place, well-built though it was, was blown aside like dust. Walls were turned to gravel, and chunks of masonry were flung away at great speeds. The tower in which the shade and the djinn fought was obliterated, and many other rooms were demolished by the shock waves.

The greatest loss to the floating palace, though, was its connection to the brilliant sky blue gem which pulsed with Zephyrion's essence. This gem's gentle glow had mingled with the air blowing through the roomy corridors for millennia, and calmly guided the winds around the castle and kept it aloft. Yet the explosion had sundered this spire, and rent apart the combined craftsmanship of the Eternal Sky and the Divine Mason. And as the spire soared higher into the stratosphere, gravity took hold of the Citadel and pulled it towards Galbar below.

At first the stratospheric air was thin, and the palace fell unhindered, accelerating under the force of gravity. Yet soon the air thickened, and a second shock wave echoed through the halls as the hurtling stone structure tore through the air faster than the speed of sound. Supersonic wind ripped through the passageways, scattering furniture and loose debris. The turbulence caused the building to rock violently, threatening to fall into a tumble, although each time it tilted the air caught in the cavernous halls and pushed the Citadel back upright. Fractures in the masonry, caused by the initial explosion, caused chunks of the palace to slough off, the fragments of building spiralling away from the hurtling Citadel.

This turbulent descent lasted for less than a minute before the Celestial Citadel was violently reunited with the ground from which it had been made. The foundations impacted the ground with such force that the Citadel did not stop until it had hit bedrock. Sand sprayed outwards forming a crater, and the earth shuddered many kilometers from the point of the collision.

The Citadel was further dismembered by the crash. Spires were thrown hundreds of metres from the palace, digging great furrows into the desert dirt. Several of the towers collapsed, becoming nothing more than rubble. Bridges were snapped into pieces. Walls shattered. Ceilings crumbled. Towers toppled over. Quartz and marble of the Citadel was mixed with sand and tossed high into the air, raining pebbles miles around. The force of the impact was so devastating that it could have levelled a city, and it was only by a miracle of divine engineering that any part of the Celestial Citadel was still recognisable, let alone standing.

And Teknall had felt every crack, every shattered brick, every collapsed column. He had been painfully aware of each explosion and crash, of the horrid lurching as the palace fell. His essence ran through the very masonry of the Celestial Citadel, and the catastrophic damage dealt to it had been felt as acutely as a physical blow to his own body.

The craft god emerged from the clouds of dust as they settled around the crash site and he stood on the ridge of the crater where the ruins of the Celestial Citadel lay. His mouth hung open in shock as he saw the destruction with his own eyes.

He then looked up to the sky, and high above he Perceived the perpetrator of this destruction. The echoes of that divine clash lingered still. The shade had battled against Ventus, who had wielded the forces from the Mechanism of Change, and the shade had won. Teknall could sense Ventus's fading divine trail (was it not concerning that Ventus had collected such power without him even noticing?), marking the wind-djinn's fall, but as expected for an elemental no body remained. The shade now ascended with the severed spire which had once crowned the Celestial Citadel, laying claim to Zephyrion's power (which, in a sense, was the shade's own).

[color=Peru]"Your days are numbered, foul shade,"[/color] Teknall snarled, although his curses drifted away on the wind unheard.

As Xos flew further away, Teknall turned his attention back to the wreckage before him. He climbed down the lip of the sandy crater and approached the Citadel to inspect the damage. The exterior damage was obvious, for whole rooms and towers had been demolished and torn off. Teknall climbed over chunks of granite and entered a section of the palace which was still upright.

What had once been pristine hallways was now a quagmire of shattered architecture. The floor above had collapsed onto this floor, which had half collapsed onto the floor below, and a whole wall was missing. Teknall clambered over the rubble and entered a tower, which was leaning precariously but was in slightly better condition than the surrounding structures. The staircase, perhaps one of the stronger parts of the building, was still mostly intact, although that only meant that the destroyed furnishings were not hidden under a layer of rubble. Teknall had planted trees and flowers in the Citadel, and this tower was no exception. The plants and the dirt they had been planted in lay strewn across the base of the tower. The trees had been reduced to splinters by the final impact. Tangled amongst the dirt were the remains of a marionette, one of the servants who had tended to the plants, its fibres twitching occasionally.

[hider=Redacted due to plot inaccuracies]
Smeared across a few steps was a splash of Liquid Light, which Zephyrion had used to illuminate what parts of the Celestial Citadel received inadequate sunlight (he had essence of pure Magic, and he used it for illumination. The vanity!). The meagre quantity in this shattered lamp had already evaporated, and stained into the masonry were transmuted rocks, such that the once-white steps were now speckled with shades of red, brown and grey. Teknall would collect what little remained of the Liquid Light throughout the Citadel.
[/hider]

Teknall climbed up the stairs until he came to a landing which led to a collapsed bridge. From that vantage point, looking inwards to the Celestial Citadel, he saw more destruction, a maze of rubble and destroyed passages and towers. Splinters and dirt could be seen mixed among the piles of granite, quartz and marble, marking where trees and gardens once were.

Teknall clambered down the ramp of rubble and dropped down through a broken floor into a lower level. The twisted remains of a marionette dangled from between two chunks of rock, its fibres drooping lifelessly. Teknall stepped around it and descended deeper, ducking under a half-collapsed ceiling. He came to a larger room which had been half-crushed by a collapsing tower, and half of what was left had been buried by its own ceiling. The rubble strewn across the floor of this room included not just fragments of wall but also artistically carved statues, all shattered. Teknall knelt down and inspected one fragment, which was the likeness of half of Notte's face. Allure had made these statues, long ago, while the Citadel was still inhabited by beings of flesh. He had long since vacated, along with Lifprasil, all the Lifprasillians, and eventually Ilunabar too, leaving little behind. In its final years the Citadel was inhabited only by wind elementals, who had no need for anything other than airy halls, and all of them had either fled or perished in the brief battle which had led to the Celestial Citadel's fall.

Heading up through a hole in the ceiling, Teknall continued wandering the halls until he came across another mangled wooden wreck crushed under a chunk of masonry. Yet this was no marionette or tree. He effortlessly lifted the rock and put it aside, revealing the remains of a wooden clockwork dog, made from an assortment of scrap materials.

Until this point, the destruction of the Celestial Citadel, while it had shocked Teknall deeply, had also been somewhat impersonal. Ventus had been right when he said that Teknall had barely ever walked the halls of this palace, that he more often came as a guest than the landlord. He had once tried to liven the place up by planting trees and gardens, but they were only appreciated by a single generation of High Lifprasillians. While the palace held a special place in the lives of Zephyrion and Ventus, it was but a footnote in Teknall's portfolio, something he had completed long ago and had no interaction with the rest of Teknall's work.

Yet there was one memory in the Celestial Citadel which Teknall did cherish. This was where his daughters had first seen Galbar. This was where they had met each other. This was where they had created their first machine, which now lay in pieces before him. A single tear rolled down Teknall's cheek as he held the splintered paw of the wooden dog. He remembered their smiles, their laughter, their joy. And now this memory had been shattered under twenty tonnes of stone.

Teknall ran a hand over the broken machine. [color=Peru]"It need not end this way."[/color] There was the sound of wood cracking, except in reverse. Splinters slid back together and the clockwork corpse began to shift. [color=Peru]"I can fix this."[/color] Pieces of wood reassembled themselves, twisted metalwork straightened out and strings reattached to the mechanisms. In mere moments, the wooden dog had been reconstructed, and its head tilted to the side and canvas tongue lolled out of its mouth, oblivious to its recent demise or the destruction surrounding it. Teknall patted its head and looked up. [color=Peru]"I can fix all of this. And make it [url=https://youtu.be/NDypKtiDWdA]better[/url]."[/color]

The rubble in front of Teknall lifted itself up and and began piecing itself back together, slotting into the ceiling above. The floor shifted as the section of castle straightened itself out. Teknall advanced through a corridor, which cleared and repaired itself as he approached. The end of the passageway led to open air, until the ground floors of a tower grew from the stone foundations. He entered the tower and began climbing the rapidly reassembling stairs. Above, a fallen tower lifted itself up and attached itself to the top of this half-tower, and Teknall continued to ascend. Cracks in the walls healed over and missing chunks of stone regenerated as Teknall passed by, his divine aura now casting a visible golden light across the masonry.

Teknall soon reached the top of the tower, and looked over the parapets at the panoramic view of the Celestial Citadel and the surrounding landscape. It was near the eastern border of the Firewind, with the ocean not far to the south. The sand here was mingled with dirt and desert shrubs, and the collision had exposed the bedrock below. A river flowed not too far away. This was a good location.

Teknall cast his eyes back to the ruin of the Citadel around him. He lifted his hands and his voice boomed with divine command. [b][color=Peru]"Let this Citadel be made anew."[/color][/b]

Obediently, the shattered masonry shifted and moved. What structures still stood straightened up, were repaired and shifted their positions, sliding along the ground with the sound of grinding stone. Those towers which had fallen were lifted by unseen forces and stood upright once more, positioned strategically. Shattered rubble was swept up, clearing the ground and the halls and merging into the buildings, pushing the spires to grow higher and thickening the walls. The reformed [url=https://xpe.deviantart.com/art/desert-castle-428283242]cluster of towers[/url] held all the grandeur of the original Citadel, yet the architecture was distinctly more robust, giving the feel of [url=https://suzuko42.deviantart.com/art/Sand-Castle-20699546]an earthen fortress[/url] rather than an airy palace.

The castle around him growing and the rubble being swept up, Teknall stretched his hand towards the ocean to the south, turned his palm downwards, and pushed down. The earth trembled, shifted and sank, receding back from the ocean. Under his hand a bay was carved into the bedrock, one large enough to shelter a fleet of ships. The stone taken from the bay was pushed inland and bulged up beneath the fortress, lifting it out of the crater and onto a hill, overlooking the surrounding landscape. More of the stone was moulded into walls, which rose from the ground around the Citadel and [url=https://piotrdura.deviantart.com/art/Ankh-amon-Citadel-574225291]loomed as an impenetrable bulwark[/url].

With his other hand, Teknall made a sweeping gesture to the north. The river diverted its course by a few kilometres to flow next to the walls of the Citadel then onward into the newly created bay. The waters seeped through the soil, and at Teknall's command trees and plant life grew in the gardens of the Citadel, bringing [url=https://bricksandstones.deviantart.com/art/Deserts-of-France-468097738]life and greenery to the stone and sand[/url], and providing a source of food, fuel and lumber.

With the structures assembled and the landscape sculpted, Teknall turned and descended back down the tower. The walls were thicker and the windows narrower. Embedded in the walls were crystals of quartz which cast a warm glow into the rooms and corridors, powered by the divine essence flowing through the masonry. Teknall walked down the newly reconstructed hallways, braced by sturdy pillars, with fortified windows looking outwards. Doors were a new addition, made from strong wood reinforced with steel, partitioning the interior into rooms.

No longer was this Citadel the lofty palace for a creature of wind. Instead, it had been reincarnated as an impregnable fortress. Mastery of design and construction of the masonry, carpentry and fortifications ensured this, and the walls themselves pulsed with the creative power of Teknall. The stone itself was alive, and could change and adapt over time, to ensure that this new Citadel always maintained its grandeur and superiority.

Soon Teknall came to a large chamber, centrally located within the fortress. In any ordinary castle, this would be the ideal place to put a throne room. However, it required furnishing and decoration. Teknall stretched out his hands, and the stone walls shifted.

[color=Peru]"The mortal civilisations would pay nearly anything to have a citadel so heavily fortified, a location of such immense strategic value. Impenetrable walls. A safe harbour for a grand fleet. Imposing control of the surrounding landscape. This fortress will be a great boon to the empire who occupies it."[/color]

Along the sides of the chamber rose ornate pillars, stretching from floor to lofty ceiling. The floor was covered in a geometric pattern of stone tiles, marking a path from the front of the room to the rear. A grand doorway constructed itself behind Teknall, with a giant fortified double-door to match.

[color=Peru]"And so I will let them have it. A gift to Civilisation. Let them quarrel over it. Let them have a target to direct their warmongering to. Let them spend resources and ultimately become stronger. Yet let none of them be so pretentious as to think that this place is theirs. Let none of them forget who owns these walls."[/color]

Opposite the doorway, down the far end of the chamber, manifested a giant stone statue of Teknall as a hain, complete with apron and satchel, standing to the right. Standing to the left emerged a similar statue of Teknall as a human. Between the two statues, embedded into the wall, was a giant stone maul of the same design as Teknall's own maul, standing upright with the handle protruding from a stylised mountain. Conspicuously missing from the furnishings in this throne room was a throne, for to include a throne might give the mortal who sat on it a false sense of ownership.

[color=Peru]"To those who have my blessing, this fortress will be a safe haven, totally impervious to all assault. Yet to those who displease me, the stone itself will revolt against them and evict them from these walls. And this time, there shall be no doubt as to my sovereignty here."[/color]

The chamber was illuminated by Teknall's golden glow, and the stone soaked up his power. In the walls, along the pillars and above the doorway a message carved itself into the stone in every written language on Galbar: Alefprian, Vetruvian, Ogre, Grotling, Rukbian, Amestrian, Spiral Script, Yorumglot, Meteran and more. Even for those who could not read, messages in Tounic Calligraphy could still be understood. And in the centre, upon the stylised mountain on which the hammer stood, was the message in the Divine Language.

[center][i]
Blessed are they who reside in this Terrestrial Citadel
With Teknall's favour this fortress cannot fall
Yet remember that these halls are only borrowed
And these walls will not protect the unwelcome
Teknall is sovereign over the castle
Residence is given as he pleases
[/i][/center]

[hider=Summary]
In the aftermath of the battle between Xos and Ventus, the lower half of the Celestial Citadel crash lands near the ocean on the eastern border of the Firewind desert.

With a terminal velocity measurable in Mach Numbers and kinetic energy comparable to an atomic bomb, the only reason that the palace wasn't [i]completely[/i] demolished was that it was a blessed creation of Teknall, and therefore supernaturally robust.

Teknall arrives and sifts through the rubble, taking him on a walk through memory lane. Destroyed pot plants and marionettes are observed. Allure's collection of Notte statues was also destroyed. [s]The Liquid Light that Astarte had given Zephyrion long ago, which he had used as lighting, was found mostly scattered and lost (although Teknall salvaged any Liquid Light he could find, of which it is implied that there is some remaining).[/s] Teknall broods on how little connection he actually had to the Celestial Citadel.

Teknall then finds the shattered remains of Clockdog. Remembering the memories of his daughters' first hours here, Teknall is emotionally moved. He repairs Clockdog. Then he moves on to repair the rest of the Celestial Citadel.

Teknall restored the shattered ruins of the Celestial Citadel, not into the original design, but a new design which functions as an impenetrable fortress- something actually useful to mortal civilisations. While renovating the Citadel, Teknall also terraforms the surrounding landscape. A bay is created, large enough to shelter a fleet and not far from the Citadel. A river is made to flow past the Citadel, granting it fresh water. Trees and gardens are planted in the grounds of the new Citadel.

Teknall also does some interior decorating. Most importantly, he constructs a 'throne' room. Teknall expresses that it is his intent that civilisations will fight over this fortress. He also declares that all will recognise his ownership of the Citadel. Teknall blesses it to protect those he favours but evict those he disfavours. He carves a message in every language into this room.

He renames this fortress the Terrestrial Citadel.

(-1 Might to repair and renovate the Terrestrial Citadel and sculpt the surrounding landscape. Influenced by Masonry and Armaments Portfolios.)
(-1 Might to bless/curse the Terrestrial Citadel and its occupants. If Teknall wills it, the fortress will be impossible to attack by force, rendering its occupants totally secure. Alternatively, if Teknall wills it, the very walls will fight against the occupants, forcing them out. In general, the stone is animate, and acts as Teknall wishes, protecting those he wants to protect and harming those he wants to harm. Influenced by Masonry Portfolio.)

As far as Holy Sites are concerned, the Terrestrial Citadel is Teknall's half of the Celestial Citadel. It is still a 5 Might Holy Site producing 2.5 MP/turn. It is not a new Holy Site.

Most empires who occupy the Terrestrial Citadel won't have Teknall's explicit favour or denouncement. In such a case, the blessing/curse is generally inactive. The fortifications are still formidable, though.

Clockdog still roams the halls. Don't kick him.

[i]Before:[/i] 16 Might (5.5 MP reserved by Workshop) and 1 FP
[i]Spent:[/i] 2 Might
[i]After:[/i] 14 Might (5.5 MP reserved by Workshop) and 1 FP
[/hider]