Naglimund

Naglimund

Fortress and city in northern Erkynland right at the slopes of the Wealdhelm, domain of Prince Josua of Erkynland. Its banner and sigil is a grey swan.

Built by the military architect Dendinis for his master Duke Aeswides on land which had belonged to the Sithi. Their aversion to iron caused the Duke to surround the fort with belts of iron spikes, whence the name 'Naglimund' =  'Nail-fort' in Old Erkynlandish.

 

 "Sangfugol: 'What do you think Naglimund means, anyway? You Hayholt-folk have forgotten your Erkynlandish. 'Nail-fort' – that's what it means.' (TDC, ch. 30, p. 399)"Called by the Sithi  'Ujin e-d'a Sikhunae' = 'Trap that Catches the Hunter'. (TDC, ch. 30, p. 403)

The castle consists of several high walls, the outer ones surrounded by a ditch, and has tall, square towers. Until today the eastern side of it remains surrounded by Aeswides’ nails, that are "slanted up the slope and away for perhaps a quarter of a league (vaguely a mile), right up to the feet of the hills" (TDC, ch. 30, p. 414). The others were taking down by Josua when he was made lord of the castle my his father High King Prester John - presumably to put some distance between his sons.  "'They were arranged in symmetrical rows, as though a legion of spearmen had been buried there, leaving only their weapons protruding above the dark soil to show how conscienctiously they stood their guard. The road that meandered down from a gaping cavern in the hill’s western face wound back and forth between the rows as sinuously as the track of a serpent, stopping at last before Naglimund’s heavy eastern gate.' (TDC, ch. 30, p. 415)." 

Until the days of 'The Dragonbone Chair' Naglimund has never been broken by siege, forcing even the great conquerer Fingil of Rimmersgard to leave two thousand men to surround the castle in order to protect his flank. Its main weakness are the long supply lines.

Thus, easily defendable even against war machinery, Naglimund endures without too many losses a month of siege and attacks by the army of the new High King Elias, whose enemies had mostly joined his brother Josua in Naglimund. When Elias calls upon help from the Storm King, however, Naglimund falls within mere hours and gets raided by Norns, Bukken, Hunën, and the Storm King's own Knights, the Red Hand. The city and castle are put to the torch and anyone inside murdered - with only a small party around Prince Josua managing to flee into the Wealdhelm and the Aldheorte beyond.

After their victory, the Norns and the Red Hand destroy the city and keep the ruined stronghold as their own base, until a Sithi army and the Hernystiri troops rallied by Count Eolair take the castle from them (TGAT).