Not Silvanesti, where the Towers are at.As far as I know, nothing is written about the Towers, but I have hardly read all there is to know about Dragonlance. My knowledge of the novels isn't thorough at all. But it's definitely not the one in the Dragons of a New Age series.
Sounds like a temple to me . . .
I was only guessing about the Fist of E'li being there - wasn't really thinking too hard about it. Where did they go for the Fist, though?
Paladine, or E'li, was always the primary god of the Silvanesti, since their creation, and the clergy, a part of House Cleric, has always had influence and power amongst the Silvanesti. If the elves were the chose of the gods of light, the clerics of the highest god of good must be the chosen of the chosen.
Always having had a martial bent, the clergy was the first to suggest a defensive tower at the mouth of the Thon-Thalas, to guard and warn of potential attacks by water. Granting this request, Silvanos himself had one further pragmatic suggestion: a beacon of light at the top of the tower, to be lit at night to guide elven sailors into the mouth of the river.
Completed between the First and Second Dragon Wars, the Towers of E'li served the roles of protector, guide and teacher, as the young clerics and monks of Paladine would serve at least a term of service in the Towers, whether for weapons training, beacon maintenance, or other menial jobs around the temple set up there, to practice humility. The entire community became known as 'the Towers', despite there actually being only the one tower. The rest is made up of a large temple, a small building where a number of the lower order clerics would sleep, a food store, well, and training ground. All was surrounded by a wall of stone.
During the Second Dragon War, it became increasingly under pressure by the evil dragons and their armies attempting to besiege Silvanost itself, and so a barracks for soldiers of House Protector was made out of the sleeping area, and those clerics moved inside the tower itself. This still being insufficient, a new idea was conceived. Whenever an attack was underway, the beacon at the top of the Tower was to be lit, as a glaring red light, and any elf seeing it was to move into the forest around the Towers with their bows, and pepper the enemy from behind, whilst being unseen in the foliage. More warriors would come downriver from Silvanost itself, as well. The Towers never fell.
At the time of Istars dominance, faith had begun to dwindle across the land, the Towers of E'li as much as anywhere. Humans who served the Istaran churches, as a high honour, would be allowed so far into Silvanesti as the Towers. The elves, in their superiority, allowed them to do all the menial work, while they concentrated on the being holy, meditating, training, and maintaining the beacon for the trade ships fat with Istaran goods.
When the Cataclysm struck, the Towers were badly damaged, the temple and food store almost entirely collapsing, killing many of the elven clerics who had been praying for the success of the Kingpriest that day. Although the beacon tower remained standing, the elves resented the damage. House Cleric, like the clergies across the face of Krynn, turned from the gods. In doing so, the House forfeited much of its influence and power, and the clerics instead turned to record keeping, and echoing empty words of a past time at formal ceremonies. The Towers, no longer special to the clerics, are turned over completely to House Protector, who repair some of the damage to the temple, and create a makeshift hospital out of it.
The borders of Silvanesti remained closed until shortly before the War of the Lance, when the dragonarmies start to invade. Most of the Silvanesti fled to Southern Ergoth, including those stationed at the Towers, and Lorac's twisted use of the dragonorb rendered the Towers uninhabitable, inaccessible and overrun by evil forces. It remained so until Porthios and his army retook it in 362AC, as one of the first of the victories in the decades long campaign to reclaim the land.
The Towers are again restored to House Cleric, who invite all elves to share in the newly rediscovered worship of E'li, who they thought had abandoned them for so long. Silvanesti, Qualinesti, a small number of Kagonesti, and one curious Dimernesti worked side by side to restore the Towers to what they were, and they even managed to enhance the beauty by combining the architecture of all the races. However, when Alhana and Porthios are ejected, so are the Qualinesti, the wild Kagonesti and the Dimernesti, for the sake of 'purity'.
With the greatly reduced numbers in the Towers, it fell too quickly to the Chaos creatures during the Summer of Chaos, and all memories of several prominent clerics are lost. Unable to reclaim the towers, they are left outside the Shield when it is erected. Through the heroic efforts of Alhana and her band of Silvanesti 'rebels', though, the Towers are cleared, since they hoped for some way to get through the Shield there. Although unsuccessful, a watching kirath on the other side of the Shield reported this to the Sinthal-Elish, in the hopes of garnering some sympathy for the outcast Queen.
The plan kind-of worked, and the council consulted with Glaucous (the polymorphed dragon Cyan Bloodbane, creator of the Shield), who agreed to try and expand the Shield to reclaim this historic landmark. He did do it, but it was only the kirath who saw the devastation left in its wake. In moving, the Shield had destroyed all plant and animal life over the distance between where it had been and where it now lay, 500 ft of forest, leaving the Towers once again empty.
With the collapse of the Shield and the minotaur invasion, a work detail was left behind to re-reclaim the Towers. After two months, the debris was cleared and the Towers fully restored to working order, although not beauty, since the ground around the Towers remained dusty, dry and dead. It was then Cult of the Bloody Condor struck.
Although the minotaurs profess to revere Sargas above all other gods, the current Emperor and his wife are almost fanatically loyal to the Forerunner faith, sidelining even the return of their God. Some elves, distraught and angry over the loss of both homelands, turned to the worship of Kinthalas, their own conception of Sargonnas. Sargonnas, angered at the lack of true worship in the so-called 'Sargasanti' ('Sargas's Glory'), has empowered these elven worshippers to fight to reclaim the land that was theirs. Whether the elves succeed or the minotaurs crush them mattes little - the strong will survive, and have to acknowledge him.
The Cult have now settled into the renamed Towers of Valthoni ('Towers of the Exiles'), and perpetually shine the red warning beacon as another reminder to the minotaurs that they do not belong there, and that there will be a fight for Silvanesti.
A secret alliance with a group of Dimernesti has allowed for great surprise tactics against incoming minotaur ships, often leaving no survivors and the goods intact, while the cleared area around the Towers and the solid, reinforced wall the minotaurs built mean that elven archers can decimate any overland attacks. They mean to stay there for quite some time, build support for their cause among other elves, and pick off any minotaurs that come too near. It is by no means the only place the Cult have taken.
I know there's a lot, but if I could have some feedback, I'd be very appreciative.
A bit more how the tower is designed, it’s layout, it’s defensive structure and strategies used to defend it (the Beacon idea was a nice one, however on a greater level, is it designed to withstand sieges or to be used as a rally point for the Elvish forces?) would be good, as it has withstood multiple Wars and Dragon-raids then it must be of quite an impressive size and design. Also how much has the defence of the tower been compensated by the death of the forest due to the influence of the Shield?
I’m curious about how the minotaur responded to the recapture, they obviously thought it had some importance because they repaired it. However are they still unaware that it has been taken by the Cult? Have they attempted to recapture it yet? Or if the haven’t, are they planning too or are they apathetic about the issue at this precise moment?
I suppose part of this answer depends on exactly how much control the Minotaurs have over Silvanesti, which hasn’t really been detailed. Are they still being routinely harassed by Elvish freedom fighters (and hence have a lot to deal with besides the tower) or do have it under their hoof-I-mean-heel (and hence the tower should expect a punishing attack soon)?
Then it's the adventure.
In the course of my research, I discovered that a ballista was in fact another catapult, and the giant crossbow thing everyone thought was a ballista, is in fact called an arbalete a tour, so I've compromised, and given them the elvish name of 'arbalests'.
The beacon I've decided was lit by a cleric using the greater turning power from having the sun domain (only Paladine grants it, and mystics only get normal turning from it, so it won't work by divine grace any more). Instead, Kinthalas is letting the elves light it with a small blood sacrifice over some burning wood.
Now, I've got to finish writing the adventure, else I'll probably end up having run out of time. Still, does anyone think I could try and make a Tobril submission out of this?
If the beacon was lit by Channaling positive energy (through greater turning) then I assume it is kind of magical in nature (rather than just being alot of flamable material)
The two Towers of E'li are at the mouth of the Thon-Thalas which leads out into the south Courrain Sea. The two Gates of Paladine are at the mouth of the bay of palanthas in the same manner.
Maybe some connection nobody knows about?
The two Towers of E'li are at the mouth of the Thon-Thalas which leads out into the south Courrain Sea. The two Gates of Paladine are at the mouth of the bay of palanthas in the same manner.
Where does it say that the Towers are on either side of the mouth of the river?
I would also say there wasn't going to be that close a connection, because Palanthas was created a very long time after most of the things in Silvanesti, and those Silvanesti are very inflexible, and don't like new things. I suppose it's possible that the Gates of Palasine were inspired by them, but from what I remember, the Gates can actually close the harbour. Where the Towers is located is a mile or so from the shore, and the mouth of the river is a few miles across. It would seem unlikely that they both did the same things, so I'd reckon a lighthouse of some sort would be more likely.
They are also shown at the mouth of the river on the map posted on the WoTC site that is in the DLCS
Map of Silvanesti
