Gond Apexi

The Gond Apexi - the Crown, or Glory, of Gond - is the last intact remnant of Gond's greatness. Now located at the heart of the Empty Quarter, at the epicentre of the arcanotech catastrophe that devastated the legacy of the empire, its survival baffles scholars. It has the classic Gontish form of a square building with square minarets atop its high roof, and the slopes of the roof and minaret slightly concave. Its scale is such, however, that the pillars at its four corners are each a square-plan Gontish tower, four storeys high with a minaretted square pillar at each corner.   The complex has three known entrances: The great processional approach, the watergate, and the post gate. The approach is a magnificent staircase that rises from the desert sand to a gate thirty feet tall at the top of its arch and twenty feet wide, still sealed by two massive stone doors. The watergate in the east side is a perished metal grille covering a broad channel that once carried a long perished river, while the post gate is a small gateway in the north wall, its stone door long since broken in, but guarded by sentries from the local tribes.   It is widely believed that the Apexi was, or that it contained, the palace of the Gond hyaGond, and possibly the headquarters of the Seminary of the Heron. Legend insists that the complex holds an untold wealth of Gontish Arcanotech, historical records and treasure, but in addition to being the only intact ruin, it is the only untouched Gontish site. The local desert tribes and sodalities defend it against scavengers, and its own defences are formidable, even after millennia of neglect. In addition to arcane seals and traps, protective constructs and wards, it is held to be extremely haunted.   Despite the best efforts of the tribes, all sorts find their way into the Apexi, but very few find their way out. The Apexi is also a focus of attention for the Seminary of the Heron Defiant. The fanatics of the seminary are divided on whether the Apexi's preservation was a sign that it was free from the corruption of Gontosh arcanotech, or the centre and source of that corruption. Many knights of the Seminary have tried to plumb the secrets of the complex, while others lend their steel, unasked for, to the local defenders.