Hushed and eerie whispers filled the grand and opulent chambers of the great Northern Grand Duke Castle—a structure fused directly with the very land of the Northern Cardinal. Its might was forged into every brick and stone that made up the structure of the castle, its strength coursing through every sinew of the immense structure, standing like a sentinel to the broken and clouded heavens above, to a pillar of flames extending far beyond. Behind it loomed the Central Gates that separated the Great City of Astrea from the great darkness beyond the wall.