Fortress Lyquis was once the home of a noble family of Grey elves, and it was also the heart of a vast forest. The forest has long-since been cleared away and the family slaughtered, but the monolithic city-fortress still stands amidst the ragged hills and scattered villages. The fortress is now the capital of the Tahliten Order. Aruthali Eyllisraheal, the last surviving member of the Eyllisraheal family, gave the fortress to the Order. The outer walls have withstood the tests of both time and siege, and the city within survived human occupation for generations before later reclamation by the grey elf Aruthali. The forests cut down by human conquest in the past, have begun to grow again in spots. These groves are maintained by villages and guarded by Tahliten Templars.
Along the cobbled streets leading up to the fortress, rotting heads of both heretics and criminals remain on scattered stakes. A few complete bodies, some long-since eaten away to the bone, are kept in cages at every gate. There are four gates into the fortress. Three gates are on the same level, one leading out North, one West, and the last East. These gates are on the ground level, where winding pathways dominate the crests of the tallests hills. The last gate is a mile down the slops of the hills into the valley, and is made of woven bones. It\'s called the Gate of the Dead, and is the gate the Templars use when leaving the fortress to march to war. It faces South.
Within the fortess itself, there\'s chaos. Some streets maintain an oppressing silence, and anyone who speaks out has their tongue cut out. Other streets seem to never stop making noise. Each district is ruled in the manner that seems fitting to the Templar Lord ruling it. Each of those lords answers to the Tahliten, a masked elf who rules the Order ruthlessly. Elves aren\'t the only race in the order, any race can join. Grey elves are considered superior, and humans amongst the lowest lifeforms, but all are welcome to serve in the manner they\'re best at. There have been human Templar Lords, so anything is possible.
[written by Reaver]
