> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.empiresbattle.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.empiresbattle.com/empires-battle-lore/factions/servants-of-decay/citadels-of-decay.md). # Citadels of Decay

Main Citadel of the Servants of Decay

#### Fortress of the Last Bell The Order's main citadel stands high in the mountains, far from trade roads, caravan routes, and inhabited lands. It is called the Fortress of the Last Bell. It is built upon a black ridge where the rocks themselves resemble the broken bones of a colossal beast. From below, the fortress looks not as though it was built, but carved directly from dead stone. Its walls are narrow and high, its towers thin and jagged, its windows like dark slits in a skull, and the entire structure looks as though it was not constructed, but raised from the mountain itself together with ancient bones and ash. By day, the Fortress of the Last Bell seems almost dead. No ordinary smoke billows above it, no bright banners flutter in the wind, and no loud cries of guards carry from the walls. There is only the gray sky, cold arrow slits, dark ledges, the black iron of the gates, and rocks covered in ashen dust. At night, the fortress comes alive in a different way. A cold greenish-gray light appears in its narrow windows, tower openings, and deep inner arches — not like living flame, but as though somewhere within, sickly Flur smolders, mixed with ancient dampness, bone dust, and dead prayer. #### Gates and Exterior The main gates are made of blackened iron, old bone plates, and heavy crossbeams. Above them hangs the enormous bell from which the fortress takes its name. It is almost never seen moving. They say the wind cannot make it ring. It sounds only when something important occurs: the death of a great servant, the fall of a fortress, the beginning of a major campaign, or the approach of a force marked by Decay itself. And its toll is felt not with the ears, but in the chest. Before the gates stretches a bridge across a deep chasm where mist almost always gathers. Iron spikes, bone pillars, and weathered grave markers line its edges. #### Upper Levels The upper levels of the fortress contain the servants' cells, archives, prayer rooms, halls of psalms, inner courtyards, and chambers of the Bishops of Decay. Everything here is austere and almost entirely devoid of luxury: stone floors, candles in black holders, walls covered with the names of the dead, niches containing bone relics, wooden benches, and heavy doors bound with iron. #### Hall of the Last Council The heart of the citadel's inner authority is the Hall of the Last Council. Here gather the Bishops of Decay, Archbishops of the Last Threshold, Commanders, and senior Knights of Decay. It is an enormous chamber with columns resembling the petrified ribs of a colossal creature. At its center stands a round table of black stone carved with the names of ancient battles, fallen cities, forgotten crypts, and dead campaigns. #### Throne of the Last Earth The most important place in the fortress lies both higher and deeper — within a tower hidden behind several rings of walls and inner passages. There stands the Throne of the Last Earth, the seat of Jaihim Karedim. A long, narrow staircase leads to it, its walls carved with verses from the Psalms of the Last Earth. The closer one gets to the top, the quieter the air becomes. The servants say that there, the citadel itself forces everyone to remember the end. #### Lower Crypts and Fields of Return Beneath the fortress lies another world. The crypts descend deep into the mountain. There rest the bodies deemed worthy of final service. Some lie peacefully. Some are chained. Some stand in niches as though already awaiting an order. Deeper still lie the Fields of Return — vast underground halls where the great rites of raising the undead are performed. Circles are carved into the floors, along with channels for ritual resin and sockets for iron stakes. Along the walls stand chains, standards of Decay, sacrificial tables, and platforms where necromancers prepare bodies for service. When the Return begins, the entire hall hums as though the mountain itself remembers everyone who has died within its depths. #### Repository of Psalms The most forbidden place in the main citadel is the Repository of the Psalms of Jaihim Karedim. Even many senior servants are forbidden to enter. It is said that the first Psalms of the Last Earth are kept there, written not in ink, but in ash and blood. The Fortress of the Last Bell does not look like a place made for ordinary life. It resembles a monastery at the end of the world, a tomb of faith, and a fortress that does not protect against death, but guards it as something sacred.

Military Citadel of the Knights of Decay

#### Bastion of the Dead March If the Fortress of the Last Bell is the spiritual heart of the Order, then the Bastion of the Dead March is its iron fist. This citadel exists primarily to serve the military might of the Servants of Decay. Knights of Decay, the Order's living combat units, Bone Guards, campaign necromancers, and supply trains bound for war gather here. The Bastion stands below the main citadel, but still among the harsh mountains — upon a broad stone ledge overlooking the passes, valleys, and roads by which enemies might approach. Unlike the main citadel, the Bastion of the Dead March looks not like a sanctuary, but like a grim war machine. #### Exterior Its walls are more massive, lower, and heavier than those of the Fortress of the Last Bell. There is less spiritual austerity and more brute force: black stone, iron ribs, reinforced buttresses, battering gates, broad battlements, towers for signal fires, and drawbridges spanning chasms. If the main citadel seems like a place awaiting the end, the Bastion of the Dead March looks as though that very end is marching out through its gates. Standards of Decay rise above the walls — dark, faded, and hung with bone ornaments. Smaller bells than the one at the main fortress are mounted on the towers, along with iron cages for signal fires. Rows of palisades, stone barricades, and guard posts stretch down the slopes below. #### Gates and Courtyards The Bastion's main gates are wide enough for battle columns, supply trains, ranks of the dead, and heavy carts carrying bodies. Beyond the gates lies an enormous inner courtyard where the clatter of chains, blows of hammers, grinding of iron, pounding of paws, and muffled commands can constantly be heard. Here, ranks of undead are assembled, weapons are inspected, dead bodies are reinforced with iron, units are assigned, and campaigns are prepared. Along the courtyards stand shelters for captured weapons, stores of bone plates, the forges of the Grave-Smiths, and long galleries where necromancers inspect bodies. #### Halls of the Knights and Commanders Within the Bastion lies a separate inner circle — not as luxurious as the palaces of rulers, but austere and imposing. It contains the halls of the Order's Commanders, the chambers of senior Knights of Decay, strategic maps, rooms for military councils, and chambers where the standards of dead regiments are kept before campaigns. The knights' own quarters are ascetic: heavy stone walls, iron weapon racks, niches containing armor, black candles, chains, insignia of fallen units, and personal relics of those the knights once failed to save. #### Courtyards of Return The Bastion's defining feature is its battle Courtyards of Return. These are open or partially underground spaces where Knights of Decay and necromancers can quickly raise the fallen before an army marches out or immediately after a battle. Their floors are paved with black stone carved with circles and channels for chains. Bone pillars and iron stakes stand along the edges. The smell of ash, old blood, oil, and wet rust always hangs in the air. #### Mount Pens and Workshops The Bastion of the Dead March has no ordinary stables. In this world, after the Great Catastrophe, the animals of the past either became beastfolk, mutated, or were distorted by Flur, Decay, and iron. That is why the Knights of Decay do not ride ordinary horses. Deep within the Bastion are pens for mounts — long stone stalls reinforced with iron bars, chains, and bone locks. They hold creatures used by the Order for war and long campaigns: mutated beasts that never became beastfolk; half-dead predators raised through the Rite of Return; skeletal mounts assembled by necromancers from the remains of large creatures; and semi-mechanical monsters whose bodies the Grave-Smiths have implanted with iron plates, steam-powered fittings, spikes, and chain bridles. Some of these creatures were found in the depths of old mines. Others were dragged from contaminated ravines where Flur had distorted flesh for decades. Still others were raised from the dead within the Bastion itself. They bear no resemblance to the noble mounts of the old world. They are creatures of war: twisted, heavy, skeletal, with iron embedded in their spines, dim light glowing in their eye sockets, steam escaping from rusted tubes, and chains in place of ordinary harnesses. The pens are constantly guarded by Bone Guards and living servants. Necromancers ensure that the dead creatures remain under control, while Grave-Smiths repair their armor, reinforce their joints, replace iron braces, and implant new plates. Before major campaigns, it is here that the Knights of Decay choose their monstrous mounts for the Dead March. These pens do not smell of hay and leather. They smell of wet stone, rust, old blood, oil, ash, and cold dead flesh.