Arandor - The Citadel of Anatheras

Anatheras is one of the oldest known names, its origin lost in time. Its meaning remains obscure.

Some sources claim it means "Summer Palace", due to the alleged archaeological site of the old Arkenassian palace, buried somewhere deep in the bowels of the citadel.

Others suggest the world relates to "Bane" or "Monster" due to the alleged presence of a slumbering ancient horror, sleeping in the depths of the sea near the citadel.

What remains certain is that Anatheras is a place with a rich history and a lot of development. Sadly, most of the old sites are sealed under the citadel proper.

But to understand Anatheras in its current state, one must comprehend the notion of the Arandorean Citadel.

The Citadels were first built at least a thousand years ago, before the rise of the gods of the Hexad, with technology that is probably now lost forever. They are colossal behemoths, remnants of an era that is now long gone. They were built to secure millions of inhabitants behind their walls, while a terrible war that ravaged the face of the world forever broke out outside.

The very building of the citadels, while a monumental achievement in itself, ravaged the world's resources, creating miles of desolation and wastelands.

Huge walls of ferrous concrete that could withstand the onslaught of high-energy bombardment or even thermonuclear assaults, layered with plastic compounds that could outlast a collision with a meteor were erected surrounding the old urban metropolises. The walls were kilometer-thick in their base, and rose up to several kilometers in height, rivaling the nearby mountains.

The citadels were marvels of energy production and consumption. For all their size and lustre they were self-sufficient, due to huge solar, hydroelectric, and nuclear power plants.

The existing metropolises were converted into refuges, entombed below a layer of ferrous concrete that was hundreds of meters thick. The new cities and buildings were built on top. All of the new buildings were fortified and connected to the new enhanced power grid and water refinement.

With time the more privileged citizens built more and more extravagant and luxurious buildings, creating new layers on top of the older ones, even as the war continued to rage outside their precious homes.

When the gods of the Hexad established themselves as the sole rulers of humanity, they built colossal palaces in the centers of the citadels. Their palaces towered insolently against the crimson skies.

The citadels projected a powerful forcefield that protected the inhabitants from most forms of harmful radiation, but allowing in the precious atmospheric light, and transmitting it through the various layers of the citadel with a combination of advanced mirrors and digital relays.

The layout of the citadels, became the foundation of human society under the rule of the Hexad. In the bowels of the citadels, all forms of outcasts and delinquents sought refuge unattended, and segregated, hiding in isolated sectors of the forgotten metropolis hives that had been buried under the ferrous concrete. Infrequent "cleansing" patrols would kill thousands of these outcasts, or take them captive to serve as slave workers for the rest of humanity.

Above the ancient hives, but in the bottom layer of the citadel were built the habitats of the laymen of human society. These were the free workers and laborers who willingly submitted to the wise and benevolent (insolent and tyrannous) reign of their respective Hexad God.

In the layer above were the habitats of the clergy, the clerks and civil officers of all forms of city affairs.

Above them were housed the military caste, expertly trained, and fanatically molded to give up their lives for their precious god-tyrant.

The priesthood resided above the rest, second only to the chosen. The priesthood were given unique privileges, for they had unique gifts, they alone could appease the god's immense ego with their tongues of silk, singing the right forms of praise, and enacting all forms of extravagant ritual to appease the cruel and fickle tastes of their masters.

Even above the priesthood resided the legendary chosen. The god had chosen only a handful mortals to impart them with a portion of their immense divinity. The chosen were like miniature gods in their own right, bearing the gifts of immortality and regeneration along with other divine gifts. They were the ultimate agents of the god's will.

Anatheras was built according to the same specifications as most other citadels. Some of its distinctive features were its size, along with its crescent-like shape. It was the second biggest citadel, after Balkorra. A signficant portion of it built on top of water, completely covering the port that was once there.

After the last census, approximately twenty five million civilians were found to inhabit the Citadel, whilst the most reliable estimates calculate the survivors living underneath the city somewhere close to a million people.

Education is not provided to laymen, (although they receive frequent sermons and spiritual guidance in the countless temples built for the glory of God-King Nalatoth - The Blade of the Seas, the eminent divine ruler of Anatheras).

It is available to all other ranks of citizens, in varying degrees, through institutions that are run by the priesthood and operated by the clergy.

The citadel garisson is part of the military personnel. Anatheras has a very powerful army that has crushed rebellious threats from within the citadel as well as without. The soldiers are armed with excellent weaponry, crafted within a hidden, gigantic factory. They have various advanced ranged and modern armaments to their disposal, as well as stun-inducing implements when acting as law enforces.

Anatheras is without doubt the most powerful naval force of Arandor with a small host of military ships as well as more than a few cargo ships at its disposal - all of them fully capable of navigating the perilous waters that surround Arandor.

The secret of the Citadel's relatively wealthy state is probably their ability to trade with other citadels, and perhaps even other survivors, by making use of their naval fleet.

The Citadel also boasts around fifty hover craft which are used to communicate with outposts in the outer parts of the realm, survey the surrounding wilderness, and scout the realm itself for any incursions or threats.

The domain of Anatheras spreads far beyond the Citadel, but with the exception of a few outpost towers, which are used to garisson the lands, and as hovercraft waystations, there is no trace of surviving civilization in the surrounding wilderness.

Some still mention the Kaldossi tribe settlements. According to some (probably heretical) legends, the Kaldossi were once the great civilization of Kaldos that scorned the Hexad and fought against them. Most known sources agree the entire nation was utterly annihlated by the combined forces of Anatheras and Balkorra. However, some whispers say that the conflict left the hardiest survivors alive. They took to the mountains, and they still survive to this day, in the wilderness, even raiding the occasional remote outpost with some measure of success.

The entire domain of Anatheras is enough material to explore in a separate entry.