Athar Citadel

The major faction presence on the Astral is the Athar Citadel. These folks love being around the dead powers - it shows that the powers are no better than any mortal, in their eyes. They’ve positioned their fortress so that it is within view of three unknown dead powers. Nevertheless, these bashers aren’t stupid, and they know the dark of the Guardian of the Dead Gods. So, they don’t actually molest the powers’ corpses or even build on them like the githyanki. Instead, their fortress is a free-floating stone structure.
The Athar Citadel is most often referred to as a temple - a shrine dedicated to the Great Unknown in the face of “these fallen pretenders,” as they are called by Factor Tobias Gnoas leader of the citadel. Unlike so many of the faction’s safehouses throughout the planes, this place is not a ruin. Instead, its brand-new construction facilitates the training of Athar priests and insurgents who specialize in overthrowing religions, debunking beliefs, and undermining faith in the powers, Because of the unpopularity of these activities, the citadel is guarded well.
Factor Tobias Gnoas is a proud man, loyal to a fault and dedicated to the purpose of the citadel. He takes the training which goes on here very seriously, as well as its defending against the githyanki, who occasionally seek to destroy the structure. Though few defenders are stationed here full time, the priest can summon reinforcements from the Outlands or even Sigil with surprising speed thanks to the color pool found in the temple. Though he’s getting on in years (and looks even older than he really is), this staid, earnest man is committed to his duty and refuses to let anything prevent him from his work.  

Citadel Layout

From the outside, the citadel looks like a double-ended tower - a long narrow structure with a “roof" at both ends made of a bluish stone. The entire structure is made of stone, quarried from one of the Astral’s big floating islands, and all rooms except the entrance have gravity (granted by magic stolen from the githyanki) oriented to whichever end of the tower they are on. As a result, the Athar use the middle entrance room as a transition area.  

Classrooms

These rooms contains writing desks and schoolrelated supplies. The Athar give lectures and written tests here.  

Dormitories

The many residents of the citadel call kip in these rooms, including the guards, the trainers, the trainees, the priests, and the high-ups.  

Entrance

This spherical area has openings leading “up” to both towers. Five guards always stand watch here armed with broad swords and light crossbows. They can quickly summon help both in the form of 15 reinforcements and in the trainees, priests, and high-ups normally found either in or near this area.  

Library

This large library, which can be used by anyone dwelling here, has extensive resources concerning gods, religion, and related topics, as well as more general information. Factor Tobias Gnoas constantly tells trainees to “know thy enemy.”  

Offices

These rooms serve as offices for the citadel high-ups including Tobias Gnoas, his assistant Athaon Garla Fistan , guard captain Ridgath Ro , and chief instructor Athaon Bria Mossiki .  

Storerooms

Everything the citadel needs, from food (although not much is needed on the Astral) to weapons, can be found here.  

Temple

A large room for ceremonies and devotions concerning the Great Unknown, this is a central focus of the citadel and where most of the ten priests on staff can be found most of the time.
This is also where the link to Sigil is located, although it’s not a direct route anymore. That is, the Athar used to have a portal to the Astral located in the Shattered Temple, their Sigil headquarters, but the portal closed. Instead, they found another portal that leads to an isolated locale outside of the gate-town of Bedlam. They built a safehouse around this portal, which was fortunately situated near a two-way color pool leading to the Astral. The Athar Citadel on the Astral is built around this color pool.  

Training Rooms

A gymnasium and a sparring area make up the two rooms devoted to training.