When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not
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Ebon Askavi. Its name simply means the Black Mountain in the Old Tongue. It is an accurate appellation for the steep solitary mountain of black rock rising jaggedly in the middle of the long valley of Ebon Rih, the Black Valley. The mountains surrounding the valley are also dark, but none match the Black Mountain.
And yet it is more. Those who look upon it tend to find themselves filled with an awe that goes deeper than mere natural appreciation, and awe that for some can turn to a subtle terror. For it is more than a mountain, it is also the Keep. The Keep is built into the living mountain. The idea is akin to that of the eyries found elsewhere in the valley and in the rest of Askavi, rooms and passages hollowed out of the rock. But whereas the Eyriens tend to use the quarried rock to build on additional buildings to their eyries, if such was ever done at the Keep such external structures have long since fallen to dust. Simply looking up from the outside, you would never guess there was anything like a building incorporated. However, an Eyrien flying above would be able to spot cunningly placed gardens and smooth terraces and balconies carved into the side of the mountain.
The Keep is looked after by the Seneschal. [He/she] is the caretaker, but [he/she] is also more than that. [He/she] is the ultimate authority in the Keep in the absence of Witch—which is of course almost always. When Witch does not walk the Realms, it is the Seneschal who receives the tithes of money and labor from the residents of Ebon Rih for the maintenance of the Keep.
There are several landing webs around the Keep, and several entrances, one is even near the base. But do not let this fool you into thinking the Keep would be easily penetrated, easily conquered. The Keep has undreamed of defenses. The Keep exists in all three Realms and has deep within it one of the Thirteen Gates, the Dark Alters that can serve as gateways between Realms for those who know the secrets of how to open them.
The Keep is the repository of a vast Library. This Library contains much of the history and lore of the Blood, as well as books on everything from Craft to poetry. It also has the most complete Register of the Blood. Each Territory keeps its own Register, recording all the Blood who go through a Birthright Ceremony or an Offering to the Darkness and noting what Jewels they received as well as parentage and caste. Copies are sent to the Keep from all the Territories (even when copies are not sent, the Librarian seems to have ways of obtaining the information) and the Register at the Keep is often more accurate and complete, free from changes made from political expedience or losses made from carelessness or the destructions of war. Scholars or people with a specific mystery to research come from all over the Realm to study in the Keep Library and there is a whole wing set aside for accommodation for visiting researchers.
The Keep is at the center of things. It is the hub from which the Winds radiate out like spokes, and the center to which they return. The inrush of so many Winds is what causes the famous Runs. Psychic and physical winds combine as they are pressed through the narrow river canyons. The Lighter Winds come from the south forming the Blood Run, the proving ground for young Eyrien warriors that finishes as the canyon opens out in the south of Ebon Rih near Doun. The Dark Winds come from the north forming the far more deadly Khaldharon Run which ends at the rock formation known as the Sleeping Dragons—one dragon facing north and the brave who have made it that far in the Run, the other dragon facing south out over the valley, Agio the nearest Blood village, and on towards the Keep. Only a bare handful brave the Khadharon each year, and even so many do not survive the attempt.
The Keep is also a Dark Sanctuary in some sense deeper than simply containing a Dark Alter, though that is part of it. It is a place of the Darkness in some fundamental way. As such it can be a place where the darkest Blood come to renew themselves and commune with the Darkness.
But the Keep is perhaps most famous as the private Sanctuary of Witch, of the Black Jeweled Queen. In Terreille, where the legend of Witch has been soured, this detracts from the Keeps reputation. But the last Black Jewelled Queen's contact with Kaeleer was brief enough that the legend is still strong there.
~ They spiralled into ebony, catching stars with their tails ~
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