Firestorm Citadel
From SpiralKnights
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The Firestorm Citadel is a region. Regions categorize levels with similar characteristics that have been incorporated into the Clockworks.
Description
All that remains of the once great kingdom of Almire, the Firestorm Citadel houses the legions of lost souls burning in the flames of a forgotten war, endlessly rekindled by the twisted spirit of their former lord. — Gate Icons
Characteristics
Each level map is fixed.
Several levels of this region are always a permanent feature of one of the arcade gates. Their presence in an arcade gate is indicated by brown rook icons and their location is always in tier 3.
Levels are populated by seemingly infinite numbers of Slag Walkers. Ash Tails, Oilers, Trojans, and a few other monsters also make appearances. A boss named Lord Vanaduke is encountered in the Throne Room level of the normal Citadel.
Shadow Fire makes progress through Firestorm Levels impossible without the aid of Nature Sprites. These benevolent beings provide Water Pots via Water Wells. Use Water Pots to extinguish Shadow Fire.
The background is a roiling mass of what appears to be magma.
Similar castle-like structures can be seen in the Candlestick Keep, Royal Jelly Palace, and Scarlet Fortress.
Lore
- Almirian codex text, found in the
Dangerous Mission: Legion of Almire.
- Owlite tome text, found in the 9-1 Mission: An Occurrence at Owlite Keep.
- The recon module left by Grantz.
- The descriptions of items within the
Almire Furniture Box.
- The descriptions of the Blackened Crest and Crest of Almire shields.
- The description of the Maiden's Tear material.
- The words of Lost Souls of Almire and Nature Sprites.
Almire's Fall
The Citadel originates from a war-stricken land of three competing kingdoms. The smallest of the three, known as Almire, was a land of lush, beautiful trees and golden fields. It was ruled by a young and determined king known as Lord Vanaduke, and, despite its small size, Almire was recognized as a powerful nation for its military tradition and disciplined armies. Given time, it could expand to a mighty empire. For this, the other two kings feared him and formed a truce to invade Almire.
From atop the highest tower of the Grand Citadel of Almire, Vanaduke watched his kingdom crumble. His army was stretched too thin and it was not long before Almire would completely fall to the weight of the two combined armies. Going mad from the pressure, he fled from the citadel and vanished into the mountains, vowing that he would one day reclaim his throne. Leaving behind his family, his people, and his homeland, Vanaduke journeyed into the mountains to the east, driven by superstitious tales of ancient gods within their dark depths.
He tirelessly searched the mountains for many years, no longer the man he was before, but a mad hermit. Then one day he discovered a small cave that radiated with unnatural warmth, smelling of ash and sulfur. Within it he discovered a great chamber whose floor was waist deep in ashes. They were warm, and Vanaduke soon felt the sting of hot coals through his tattered boots. At the center of the chamber was a blackened shrine, whose deity's features were worn and indistinguishable.
Vanaduke began to whisper, reciting the names of his family, the names of the kings before him, and all the towns of Almire. He repeated this like a chant, increasing in intensity until he was shouting. With this he began screaming the names of the rival kings and all the wrongs they committed against his kingdom. He cried out to the god of the mountain to punish them, to give him the strength to take his kingdom back. In his frenzy he looked to the face of the deity and in it he began to see the face deform. The image burned into his eyes and brain like cinders, and contained that which sounded like the screaming of foreign tongues and war drums. With this, Vanaduke began to sink into the ash. He choked on the ash as it pulled him below, tasting sulfur his screams now sounding of roaring flames.
Many days later the citizens of Almire watched as fire began to erupt from the mountains. Leading an army of terrible fiends, Vanaduke returned to his kingdom, destroying the occupied forces of the two opposing kingdoms in a single day. In time the two kingdoms fell, Vanaduke's legion burning everything in their path. When he returned to Almire, it burned as well, for everywhere he went, and everything he touched was doomed to ash. With nothing left to destroy, his legions left him and returned to the mountains, leaving the king to sit in his throne of ash and cinder, all the people of Almire dead around him.
There the cursed king has remained since, ruling a burning kingdom from an ashen throne, surrounded by the lost souls of those that once served him. It is there that the king still mercilessly destroys any who dare enter his kingdom, however much the ashen shadow of what is was the rivers flowed with clear water and the leaves of the trees glittered like emeralds under the shining sun. — Cory Sponseller, 3d artist and developer on Spiral Knights
Notes
A version of the Citadel has been "cursed" as a Shadow Lair, featuring a similar group of levels and monsters with a curse theme as well as fire.
A Recon Module left by Grantz can be found in the treasure room after defeating this region's boss. If the Citadel is completed via the 9-3 Mission: The King of Ashes instead of an arcade gate, another recon module left by Parma is found in The Path is Sealed instead of misc NPC knights and Vaelyn.
History
- release 2011-04-04: Levels of this region have been available for exploration since launch.
- release 2011-10-19: a Shadow Lair version of the Citadel is introduced.
- release 2012-03-07: the 9-3 Mission: The King of Ashes showcases the Citadel.
- release 2014-05-21: treasure room of Throne Room reworked.
- release 2015-05-13: An overgrown, more unstable version of the Citadel is introduced with 10-2 Mission: Shadowplay.
- release 2015-05-20: Several Wheel Launchers are now invincible, preventing certain short cuts.
Gallery
Shadow Fire permeates all levels of the Citadel.
Nature Sprites will help provide water to put out Shadow Fire.
