Doors of the Citadel

[Delbareth]

I have a very little question about the structure of the Citadel. Noty very important, just something weird from a practical point of view.

I imagine the Black Sorcerers invoking monsters and stuffs from other planes, or creating new creatures, in their own labs.
I guess they have pleinty of special rooms, quite large, for this purpose.
I also think they would like to test them, to use their ability... and for that they will often have to get them out of the Citadel (to laucnh them into war, to test them in the wilderness...).

But I find weird to imagine these foul beast getting out of the Citadel through the main staircasen through the main gate, going on the main large road into the city...
If I were one of them, I would like to bring them out more... clandestinely.
Would I be obliged to use a large piece of cloth to cover my monster? Ot do them have some sort of special -large- path to get out unnoticed?

[Roman]

Why not just teleport?

[Delbareth]

Teleportation is something very special.
I think teleportation has to be a very difficult spell, not just something to simplify life. Black Sorcerer could have the ability to do that of course, but I think it's a little bit too much...

[sid6.7]

i could see them having a secondary entrance to move large objects in and out of the citadel

[Delbareth]

Of course secondary entrances could be a good idea but...
The Citadel is a fortress (or at least was created like that), usually a fortress doesn't have multiple backdoors.
Moreover in the Citadel page, there is no specific description of such things, only the main gate.

In fact that's the point!  
I'm sure there is other entrances (hidden? private? heavily guarded?) and that point should be a little bit investigated

[David Roomes]

The page doesn't explicitly state secondary entrances, but they do exist. On the main page, in the opening description, it mentions that "Great caverns lie behind the Citadel piercing deep into the mountain". It's very possible that the Black Sorcerers have at least one cavernous route into the mountain and a possible exit/cave near the top. Yes, this would compromise security a bit, but they would have taken precautions. Although the Citadel was original built as a military fortress, it has gone through centuries (literally) of being expanded, modified, built up and changed. At this point in history, it is, no doubt, riddled with secret entrances, hidden passageways and so forth. There are probably a dozen ways to get into and out of the Citadel. There are dungeons and mines below it. There are caverns leading from the fortress into the mountains and there's the roof (with the roof guard and all that).

That doesn't really make it any easier to attack. The lords of the Citadel aren't pushovers. So, having a dozen ways into the Citadel doesn't really compromise security all that much. I would say it's probably easy to get into the Citadel and it's big enough that it's easy to hide inside there. But it's still dangerous. For example, if the Queen wants to find you, her minions are many and some of them have powerful magic. Also, different areas within the Citadel have different levels of security. Some areas are communal and open - meeting halls, market places, etc. Others are more sensitive and restricted. There are obviously some very secure areas in the Citadel that would be suicidal to enter and only a fool would try it.

Second, if the Black Sorcerers want to get something big out of the Citadel, I imagine they could do it. They probably would have developed a powerful variant of the "dimension door" spell. Sort of like a very high powered, short range teleport spell capable of moving very big things a very short distance (I'm thinking, several metric tons being transported several hundred meters). That would be enough to move something big out of the fortress to the mountain top or wherever they want.

[Delbareth]

I also think secondary entrance are not a big fail in the Citadel security.
And I love to imagine that for centuries, many people managed to build their own secret entrance/exit without asking for that.

Another question : is their some sort of sewer system (or Citadel-compatible sewer)?
I mean, how do they manage to keep the Citadel from being a big garbage dump? I guess there is no strong ecological common behavior... 

[David Roomes]

There is a system of garbage chutes that lead down to the Citadel sewer system. And their sewer system feeds into the river. There is a underground river that passes beneath the Citadel. The Citadel obtains fish and fresh water from upstream and dumps sewage into the river downstream.

There are also several "garbage dumps" in the Citadel where refuse is just tossed. A few of these have some nasty creatures (oozes, slimes, nightmarish tentacle creatures) that dwell in these dark pits and feed on the waste, consuming everything organic.

In the upper levels, servants carry waste down to the lower levels where it's disposed of. In the very highest levels, they use magic to dispose of waste.

[Delbareth]

Every question finds an answer, in the Khoras world!
ta-da-dam-dam 

[David Roomes]

In case I haven't mentioned it lately, I do enjoy the questions that everyone posts on the forum. Questions help refine the world. Sometimes a good question points out something that needs to be added to a page or re-worded for clarity. Sometimes it makes me think about something in the world in a different way. Often I learn something new. But always, it's an interesting conversation and I think that's what this forum is all about. So I do appreciate all the forum comments.

Plus, it's just fun to talk about gaming stuff with fellow gamers.

[tanis]

Hear, hear!