The Castle of Forests

From The Fifth City Wiki


"As the smoke clears and the last of your barricades falls, you can see the Castle of Forests visible on the far horizon. A mountain of green perspiring under the Parabolan sun, where Fingerkings conspire in ancient slumber."[1]

The Castle of Forests is a great fortress of the Fingerkings, located deep within Parabola.

Green Graves

"A formidable citadel stands at the top, bristling with thick thorns and bulging with poisoned fruit. It is part castle, part malevolent hedge-maze."[2]

Most leave crying.

The Castle of Forests is an enormous fortress of the Fingerkings, made from the dreams of primeval woods; it's many walls and floors are made from knotted trees and vines.[3][4] The Castle can usually be found near The Smoking Shore, with their borders separated by The Garden of Greener Dreams, a giant hedgerow decorated with representations of Fingerking sins and follies.[5]

At the very top of the Castle lies the Citadel of Vineyards; the Fingerkings's impenetrable seat of power, protected by three walls and seven corded gates known as the Gates of Remembrance, so named because of the many relics of dead Fingerkings that decorate them. The only way to reach the Citadel is through a net of hanging vines, filled with many protuberances. These bumps all contain coils of shed snakeskin, the memorialised remains of failed possessions.[6][7]

The Castle of Forests also functions as a giant prison for the Fingerkings's victims and enemies, it's labyrinthine corridors and fungal root-cellars filled with forgotten prisoners from all across Parabola.[8] Even very powerful beings, such as The Red-Handed Queen, can momentarily find themselves trapped there.[9][10]

References