Glothreth

Category	Cities
Continent	Elemantum
Region	Anubeth
Owner	Cinderfall
Population	35,000+
Founded	2 Lunar 725
Map	Sapthûn

Work on this hold commenced under the wizard Anube and her subordinates. Designed for fire titans, Glothreth was constructed from lava stone, obsidian, basalt, and other volcanic rock. The majority of this stone was dredged from a crater lake situated downslope. When the wizard Anube created the Pumice Throne, the lake vanished along with the erupting volcanoes and great rivers of lava, forming what is now known as Groa Torveig. After Anube sacrificed herself to empower the throne, her former minions seized control of the grand bastion. As more fiery foes emerged through the Rifts generated by the Throne, the bastion evolved into a formidable citadel. Upon the establishment of the Cinderfall empire, Glothreth became its capital.

Even with all our forces, Glothreth remains impregnable. Any besieging army would be prudent to attempt to starve out the garrison, but doing so would necessitate an excessive quantity of provisions beyond what could be accomplished by land. Only dedicated skyships could provision them, though they would be under perpetual menace from the hellfire wyrms of the region.

Agannâte, Giruk General, "Glothreth Siege Strategy"

In the heart of Glothreth, which encompasses the surface and a sizable area beneath, lies a rift to the world of Muspelheim. This rift connects to a fiery realm believed to be the birthplace of Surtur and other fiery abominations from the Dawn Era. From this rift, fiery creatures emerge into Anubeth and are then pressed into the ranks of Cinderfall's military. Those who resist are enslaved or killed, while the few who escape or evade the soldiers guarding the rift become free-willed creatures, sometimes preying on those who tried to entrap them or fleeing into the wilds of the region. Since the rift opened, the Flamemeans have engaged in an unending war with the Artaxerteans. This Thrones War is the only thing keeping the populations of both sides in check, as long as the rifts remain open and new threats continue to emerge. The original purpose of Glothreth was to protect the Pumice Throne. When the wizard Anube disappeared into it, the rift opened, and fiery brutes began to pour through. Those who took control of Glothreth, undoubtedly under the Throne's guidance, expanded the bastion to cover the rift and use it as a collection area for the new arrivals. The arrival area at the rift is an open-air, hewn stone canyon, as some of the creatures that can emerge from Muspelheim are colossal, towering abominations that defy imagination. In 1421, a primordial monstrosity, a progeny of the fire primordial Baltalas, came through the rift and wreaked havoc on Glothreth before moving westward into the glacial wastes of Igas. This fiery humanoid, towering the height of three titans, took an entire Artaxertean army to bring down. As a result, the collection area of the Glothreth Rift was expanded further to accommodate the rare chance of something similar emerging again.