Titan's Gate | Notes About the Setting

 The massive, iron-walled gate stretches the entire breadth of the valley of Calam. Built in the style of a castle, with battlements, turrets and a great portculis held in place like a guillotine blade ready to sever all ties to the outside world, it is an unignorable statement that this land is now under the authority of the Northern Kingdoms. Given the sturcture's scale, many a visitor has been surprised to learn that it has no relation to the ancient landmarks left by previous civilisation, and then even more shocked by the realisation that it must therefore have been constructed here within the last few years. But in truth, the process of fabricating this defensive wall began well before the end of the War of the Dragon, back when Calam was still home to the metallic monsters that preyed upon the settlements of the southernmost border.
 Although the craftsmen and royal sponsors involved would never divulge this information, the plan to create a mighty fortification in the land reclaimed from the beasts had already been decided upon in the earliest stages, and a number of carefully selected teams of smiths, engineers and other specialists had been tasked with preparatory work. The aim of this was for the gate to be put in place as soon as the land was taken by the knights, and as a result as much work as possible would need to be done off-site. Of course, this effort would be for naught if the knight orders failed in their own task, but the Grand Regent's vision allowed no room for doubt or dissent - only singular unity of purpose and unwavering faith in its success.
 The base of the design agreed upon by the parties was a modified variant of the citadrell - a war machine utilised by the knights as a transport, fortification and siege engine. The citadrell owes this flexibility to its magma drill: an array of rock grinders and searing, industrial torches on the vehicle's front face, capable of boring through solid rock and fortress walls alike. After erupting from beneath the ground, a number of stabilising talons spread around the hull can be driven into the terrain to hold it vertical as a makeshift fort tower. From this position, the knights within can exit onto the vehicles front face (now its top side) to strike from a defensive position, protected on each side by the same resilient outer carapace which protects the magma drill's mechanisms from damage. Alternatively, the knights may venture forth from its side hatches and clear a path for their transport to continue on - once its stabilisers are withdrawn and it topples back onto its side-mounted treads. In this way, the design of the citadrell was a perfect starting point for the endeavour that would become Titan's Gate.

When news of victory reached the capital, a dozen metal behemoths, giants to even the citadrells that they had descended from, started to life. The walls of the hangar shook with their collective rumble, and those few who lived closest to the compound used by the knights garrison were shaken from their sleep by a tremor in the ground as the machines began the journey to their new home. Picked within were further materials and prefabricated equipment to be used to setup barricades and emplacements in between, while the convoy carrying the full bulk of the resources required for the final design made their separate way.

The construction of the fortifications began as soon as the engines stopped. Hundreds of craftsmen disembarked from the tightly packed transports and began the respective tasks thry had bedn drilled on for the past weeks in preparation for this day. Every team had been vetted by the knights, but the sheer number of workhours required had forced to expand the ranks of the workers well beyond their preference in order to meet the required timelines. The master of the beasts in this region had been beaten, but its underlings had not been wiped out entirely and they danger they represented was not to be underestimated. As the building site took shape, a cordon of knights around the structure worked to fend off a barrage of attacks from countless angles as scattered packs of beasts antagonised by the heat and the noise made desperate attempts to return to their home. However, with every hour that passed, the defensive network dug in further and grew, cementing the hold of its new masters in every sense.

By the time dusk fell, the knights were now the ones protected, shielded from the last stragglers by the walls of their new base. The workers too remained in the defences, as their services would be required when the convoy arrived in the following days, but, as desired by the Grand Regent, the valley was now firmly under the control of the Northern Kingdoms.