Stormhold

The Cloud-Citadel rises as a tiered palace of veined marble trimmed with gold cornices and gem-set friezes, its lower halls sunk waist-deep into a roaring anvil-cloud. Wide colonnades stand open to the winds, while lightning rods shaped like tridents and sun-wheels crown the rooftops.   At the Sky Court lies the Opal Pool of Two Shores, a mirror-still basin that seems no larger than a hundred feet across from outside but opens to endless bright shallows and star-deep lanes for those within.   Hiatea and Surminare often come to bathe in its waters, which mend wounds, soothe hearts, and wash away the burdens of salt and thunder.   Beyond, the Anvil Yards spread as open terraces where cloud-giant smiths and bralani strike thunderheads into tune with singing hammers, each peal inscribing pale glyphs across glassy balustrades.   The Bannerway stretches as a wind-bayed processional, lined with proud pennons gifted from friendly courts such as Grove of the Unicorns, Aquallor's Pearl Parliament, and the Aerie.   Mortai Lanes, smooth and silken runways of vapor, serve as gathering places where the great cloud-faces dip low to parley, trading quick arcs of blue lightning as if speaking in crackling conversation.  

Notable Locations

Sky Court and Opal Pool

Heart of hospitality; healers and heralds keep watch, and visiting deities sometimes walk the water like warm glass.  

Anvil Yards

Thunder-smithies where vows are “rung in” and stormgear is tempered; apprentices learn to read weather from the color of struck sparks.  

Sun-Hammer Gallery

A ring of sun-mirrors that catch Noctos-light and flash signals to distant aeries; scribes etch each hunt and festival into fused glass tablets.  

Bannerway Green

Parade ground and feast-field; when the Sky-Hunt is called, standards of allied realms are raised here amid drums and rain.  

Mortai Balcony

A wide, low cloud-porch where the oldest cloud-faces counsel travelers—answer a riddle in thunder-meter to earn a safe stormpath.  

Travel and Access

Thunderpaths

Ride swift storm-jets between Beastlands layers; a shouted destination and a beat kept in step with the thunder carries you true.  

Aurora Span to Ysgard

During great geomagnetic singings, a ribbon-bridge of color unfurls toward Gudheim; ascend while drumming the Sky-Hunt cadence.  

Moonstep Ladders

Under bright Luna, pale ladders of rain and moonlight descend to Karasuthra’s forests and kopjes.  

Okyanus Updrafts

Plumes rising from the river below can loft sky-galleys and winged travelers to the palace when guest-right was freshly kept.  

Inhabitants

Petitioners of the Storm

Storm-blessed souls, Giants espacially Storm Giants, sailors, skyfarers, musicians, and keepers of joy, reborn with steady stance and bright voices. They camp in open-air cloud hamlets, tending lightning gardens and rain cisterns.  

Giants and Kin

Storm and good cloud giants serve as wardens and stewards; firbolg and voadkyn visit as rangers and messengers.  

Celestial Allies

Azatas (bralani storm riders, lillend chorus-keepers), Agathions (albatross-, dolphin-, and lion-hearted guides), air/water elementals, and mortai in close attendance.  

Honored Guests

Aerdrie Faenya's aeries, Asathalfinare envoys from Aquallor, and festival retinues from Library of All Knowledge during great concerts.

The Static Veil heralds moments of truth: hair rises, metal hums, and honest words discharge the tension, while falsehood earns only a snapping shock and numb lips.   Gale-Shear cuts the sky into knife-edged boundaries of wind; step with the flow and you glide safely, but resist and you are tumbled end over end.   Mortai Etiquette demands patience, crossing through a lightning exchange mid-sentence is considered rude, and those who intrude find the cloud-lanes stretched endlessly ahead until apology or song repairs the breach.   The Cloud-Edge Mirage plays tricks on the unwary, turning balconies into paths that seem to extend forever; only the careful focus of a traveler or the steady hand of a watch-warden can guide one back from the wandering edge.   Storm’s Favor lends strength to spells of lightning, thunder, air, and storm, making calls of lightning, wind, and sky-borne travel strike cleaner and carry farther during an active tempest.   Way-Quiet aids casters who weave their magic into cadence, whether drumbeat, chant, rowing rhythm, or marching calls, so that bystanders perceive benign spells as part of the work or revel. Joy’s Respite blesses magics of healing, reconciliation, and calm, especially when invoked during feasts or to settle quarrels, letting peace sink deeply into the soul.   Undeath Refused manifests as resistance against necromancy, soul harm, slavery bindings, and fear compulsions, while rites of rest and consecration take hold with gentle certainty. Appointment Travel steadies journeys bound to purpose; way-walks, fold-gates, and teleports tied to a clear time and intent arrive with uncanny precision, while casual leaps drift aimlessly upon the winds.