Argonth

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Argonth maintains a constant population of roughly 1,600 soldiers, healers, cooks, smiths, innkeepers, grooms, and other support personnel. This sizable population lives in what resembles a tiny slice of a larger city supported on the stern portion of the floating fortress.

The bow of Argonth contains the magical engines that levitate the fortress and propel it forward. As with airships and the lightning rail, harnessed elementals bound into Khyber dragonshards provide this motive power. In Argonth’s case, however, three separate elementals are bound—an air elemental, a fi re elemental, and an earth elemental. Unlike on an airship, these elementals are not visible from the outside. Unlike the lightning rail, Argonth is not dependent on conductor stones.

A team of pilots must devote constant attention to control the course of Argonth. The fortress does not rely on dragonmarked pilots the way other elemental vehicles do—the pilots are loyal only to Breland. Increasing the fortress’s speed demands more human attention and puts undue strain on its construction, so Argonth moves at about two miles per hour most of the time. Once during the war, Argonth sustained a speed of ten miles per hour for nearly two days traveling from Lurching Tower to Cragwar to respond to an attack. However, three pilots died from overexertion on that journey.

Roughly 90% of Argonth’s population is combatready, with 10% serving purely support roles. This high “tooth-to-tail” ratio is important when Argonth enters combat, ensuring that most of the people in harm’s way are trained military personnel. Because the support population is relatively small, a busy marketplace springs up around Argonth whenever it stops to resupply, which it does at each of the major forts along Breland’s border.

The stern of the fortress provides living quarters for Argonth’s population. Despite its relatively small size, it resembles a slice of one of Sharn’s soaring towers. Cannith Tower is the tallest protrusion on Argonth’s back, featuring apartments for the commanding offi cers at the top and barracks in the lower levels.

The hull of Argonth floats about 30 feet above the ground. A section of the bow can be lowered to the ground to admit and discharge passengers. The bow is heavily armored and can hold as many as 2,000 people in an emergency. The base of the stern is a full 100 feet in the air, protecting the towers and buildings of the village from any ground-based attack. When the fortress comes under attack, the stern is evacuated, soldiers are deployed to meet the attack, and noncombat personnel take shelter in the fortified bow.

The first mobile fortress entered service in 912, with the appearance of the citadel Chydris. Over the next thirty years, Sharn produced four more mobile fortresses, and the Brelish army put them to work, moving them where they were needed. Some supported Breland’s campaigns against its neighbors, while others were assigned to protect the borders against incursions.

The last and greatest of the mobile fortresses was Veldarren, commissioned in 970. As its first mission, it traveled to Marguul Pass to quell the goblin rebellion that had declared Darguun an independent state. Even this awesome fortress could not turn the tide of battle in Breland’s favor, however, and Veldarren fell to the goblins. Its toppled husk still lies in the pass. It is now called Matshuc Zaal, and it forms an important part of Darguun’s defenses.

The fall of Veldarren was a serious blow both to Breland’s military capabilities and to its national pride. At least partly as a result of the Battle of Marguul Pass, no new mobile fortresses were produced. During the remainder of the war, Chydris was lost in the Battle of Cairn Hill and Ursa was decommissioned (rushed into the field, this fortress suffered from cripplingly poor craftsmanship). Argonth is one of the two survivors, and by far the better known.

Since the end of the Last War, Argonth has become an element of Breland’s border patrol, traversing a route of nearly 4,500 miles from Shadowlock Keep in the west (near Droaam) to Sterngate Keep in the east (near Darguun). This route is defined by the network of permanent fortresses that range along Breland’s border, in combination with the mountain ranges and lakes that help define that border.

From Shadowlock Keep, Argonth stays to the east of the Graywall Mountains, follows the road west of Ardev, and then heads north at the Droaamish border to Orcbone. Its route continues to the edge of Silver Lake, passing through Shavalant, until it reaches the Xandrar Road, which it follows as far as Drum Keep. Unless there is a particular reason for Argonth to visit Xandrar, it turns around and rides the road south of the Blackcaps as far as Cragwar, hugs the northern edge of the Greenhaunt, and stops at Sword Keep. From there it skirts the southern coast of Lake Brey, passing outside Starilaskur, and tracks the Brey River northeast to Lurching Tower and then Brey Crossing. It follows the Brey River until it reaches the dead-gray mists of the Mournland, then turns southward, keeping a careful watch along that border as far as Kennrun. From Kennrun, Argonth chases the road through New Cyre to Sterngate, where it turns around and reverses its route.

Argonth normally takes about six months to complete one circuit (from one end of the route to the other and back again), so it stops at any site along the way four times a year. Usually, it leaves Shadowlock Keep near the start of summer and again the start of winter, but its timing can vary.

Argonth’s twin, Dejarn, has played a very different role since the end of the Last War. The mission of Argonth is relatively public and its route is well established, but Dejarn moves about in secret, and its purpose is a mystery. Some say that it is a mobile citadel for the King’s Citadel, and the Dark Lanterns in particular, used to transport paramilitary troops, hold prisoners for interrogation, and otherwise conduct operations out of the public eye. Others suggest that House Cannith purchased the fortress back from Breland, and Baron Merrix d’Cannith uses it for his own secret research. A related theory holds that a renegade faction of House Cannith has teamed with nobles and officers of Breland to develop new military technology that will guarantee Breland’s superiority when war, inevitably, breaks out afresh in Khorvaire. Those few who know the truth of Dejarn’s mission are certainly not telling, but sightings of the mysterious fortress always lead to new rumors.

Once, the mighty forges of Sharn churned out new and amazing weapons of war. With the help of Cannith makers and other arcane crafters, the great forges crafted various types of warforged, powerful vehicles, and the wondrous moving cities. Of these latter creations, only two remain active to the current day. The most famous of these is Argonth, the mobile fortress.

Argonth, a massive structure that appears to be part fortress, part cliffside, and part cityscape, fl oats above the ground and slowly moves from place to place. The town might be along the shore of Silver Lake one day and sliding beside the Droaam border the next time someone tries to find it. The floating town was designed as a mobile fortress to help defend Breland during the Last War. Now it serves as a border patrol, circumnavigating the Brelish borders as it moves north, then east, then south, and back again, tracing a slow but steady path along the lines that divide Breland from Droaam, the Eldeen Reaches, Aundair, Thrane, the Mournland, and Darguun.

The Captain of Argonth is Alain ir’Ranek (LG male human). He leads the troops and support personnel that make up Argonth’s citizenry. The mobile fortress moves at a steady two miles per hour as it traces its patrol route, but its speed can be increased to as much as ten miles per hour when the need arises. The increased speed requires a lot of power and puts a strain on the fortress’s resources, and thus such speed is called upon only in emergency situations.

The citizens of Argonth are all in the Breland military, and the town operates under military protocols. In the past, it has served as a base of operations for enemy engagements, as a support center for stationary castles, and as an attack platform when Brelish troops crossed into enemy territory. Now its role is to patrol and protect Breland from raiders, marauders, and the potential threat of hostile armies from neighboring nations. It also spends a lot of time near the border with the Mournland, using its offensive and defensive capabilities to deal with creatures emerging from the obscuring mists.

Every few weeks, Argonth stops to take on supplies. When this occurs, a market grows up around the town where those nearby can come to trade and share news with the soldiers harbored within the mobile fortress. Visitors rarely receive permission to enter Argonth, so the next best thing for them is to interact with the soldiers and support personnel at a market festival.

Argonth has become home to a number of warforged veterans who have pledged their swords to the Brelish crown. Two of the more influential warforged are Big Bara (LN female personality warforged), who commands a company of scouts known as Bara’s Breakers, and Finias Wandhand (CG male personality warforged), who never fought in the Last War but instead became fascinated with the arcane arts. Currently, Finias is under the tutelage of Eera ir’Jalon (LN female human), Argonth’s master of magic