Yolena's Bastion

Seat of Power | Emarian Moors | Defensible Stronghold

At the core of Parn, beneath a skyless vault of gray-black stone, rises Yolena ’s Bastion—a monolithic fortress forged of enchanted obsidian veined with necromantic quartz. Towering, lightless, and polished to an unnatural sheen, the Bastion swallows both torchlight and warmth, casting its surroundings in a dull, emotionless pall. It is a place where silence deepens and time feels unwilling to pass. The foundation date is lost to the annuls of history, but its beginning is said to be shortly after Yolena came to power nearly 700 years prior. The Bastion continues to grow and develop. None but Yolena and a few trusted inner servants have really any idea how large the whole complex truly is.

The fortress is both seat of power and magical node, anchoring the city’s concentric runic foundation. Every corridor, ward, and hall has been etched with glyphs by Yolena ’s own hand over the course of seven centuries, creating a living architecture of death-magic and silent domination. The Emarian Lodestone is rumored to be situated in the catacombs deep below the Bastion, creating a near sentient building that is able to defend itself given Yolena's glyphic inscriptions.

The Bastion houses Yolena ’s most loyal Sparkmages, a cadre of elite Necros and Sylvans selected for precision, obedience, and magical aptitude. These are not courtly advisers—they are operatives, researchers, and instruments of control. Yolena herself rarely leaves the Bastion. She does not need to. The Bastion is her voice, her reach, and her vigilance made stone.

Known Defenses

Bone-Reactor Sentinels

Among the Bastion’s many defenses, none are as unforgettable as the Bone-Reactor Sentinels—towering constructs of fused bone and ash. These silent giants line the main interior causeways like statues, watching without motion, yet humming faintly with stored potential. Foreign dignitaries know them well; few who’ve passed beneath their gaze sleep soundly thereafter. The Aethryn Lyceum has an entire seminar discussion over the implications and potential ramifications of using such manifestations of Spark Magic.

Whisperglass Halls

While visiting, dignataries find themselves ushered through the Whisperglass Halls—corridors where all sound is devoured. Even the clink of boot-heel on stone vanishes, Diplomats report on the oppressive deathlike silence that is difficult to recover from once the halls have been traversed. What few realize is that each sound made within these halls is magically transported to a listening chamber far below the citadel, allowing early warning of impending invasion even as armies find it nearly impossible to communicate within the halls.

Glyph of Entropy

Beneath the Bastion, carved into the deepest layer of the Stronghold, lies a subtle necromantic glyph that presses faintly on the joints and nerves of all who enter -- a constant pressure all who enter feel within the walls. Diplomats, messengers, and generals alike speak of a weight upon them—never enough to name, but always enough to remember. The ache and weight is a constant reminder, as if one could forget, that all within the Bastion are under Yolena' s Domain. Only the Emarian-born, stationed long within the Bastion, learn to move through it without pain.