The Domumfortis Castle
The Domumfortis Castle was a massive unfinished fortress that towered over Helmira during much of the Third and Fourth Era.
History
Emperor Henry II Viromaro gave the order to begin construction of the giant fortress during the Third Era. Helmira was mostly unprotected except for ancient walls from the Second Era. The consensus by the crown at the time was that the Kythiran armies could outfight anyone long before they even reached the city. His father, Emperor Francis, had led the construction of a small castle just north of the city to serve as a refuge for the Viromaros in case of a siege, the Castle of Angles. Seeing the costs of buiding walls around Helmira to be prohibitively expensive, they instead opted to build the Domumfortis Castle as a place of refuge for the city's population in case of a siege. Located north of the Bay of Splendour, it was easily reachable in a good central location.
As a symbol of Kythiran power, it was to be the largest castle in history. Its massive foundations took several years to create, using a mixture of granite, bricks and near impenetrable obsidian. The outer walls soon began to rise up, making the building the tallest in the world. Upon realising this, the Emperor ordered the King’s Keep’s tower (forming what would become known as the White-Gold Tower) to be increased in height.
Emperor Henry II never saw the completion of his castle. By the time his son, Richard II Viromaro signed the Treaty of the King’s Keep, establishing the Long Peace, construction was halted due to their exorbitant costs.
During the Fourth Era, occasionally members of house Viromaro tried to reignite the construction of the castle as a prestige project. However, by this time the original plans were already lost, and the outer shell of the fortress had been occupied by Helmira’s lower classes, who had taken shelter in tents among the towering walls.
At the end of the Fourth Era, Emperor Louis Viromaro began his great expansion of Helmira. To make way for the new Palace of the Imperial Senate, the castle was demolished. Former inhabitants were relocated to distant provinces, such as Alcanzar or Ardoragh.
