Lastgate Fort
- A Drankorian fort on the Kedron, in Cedrano, the Chardonian Empire, Greater Chardon
Lastgate Fort is a ruined Drankorian fortress in a dark ravine in the Kedron valley, upriver from Castrella. The fort was originally constructed after the Apporian Shadow War by the Drankorian Empire to guard the Cleaver-Stone portal site to Cairn Dor, although this purpose was forgotten for many years after the Fall of Drankor.
The surviving ruins appear to guard an ancient locked door set deeper in the ravine. For centuries, no reliable account described what lay beyond it: those who attempted to pass the door did not return, and thus it acquired its popular name, Lastgate Fort.
Some scholarly works have associated Lastgate Fort with the fortress known as Presidion Lymara in Drankorian records.
History
The Drankorians built a fort, known as Presidion Lymara, at the conclusion of the Apporian Shadow War, fortifying what was then recognized as a portal to the Shadowfolds domain of Cairn Dor. Control of the fort denied the Shemra Azem, the sleepless warriors of Cairn Dor, access to both the portal and the soul compass used to locate dreamers on the Material Plane. The fortress was maintained until the collapse of the Drankorian Empire.
After the empire fell, the fort was abandoned and knowledge of its purpose faded. Later accounts treated it as an inexplicable Drankorian ruin guarding a door that led nowhere—or from which no traveler returned. Legends associated with the War of the Severed Dreams remembered four heroes from Castrella—Atanza, Inor, Thusa, and Arippas—who entered a nightmare realm and never returned. Some scholars connected these stories with Lastgate, but little reliable information about the fort’s interior survived.
In September DR 1748, the Silver Tempests followed an old Drankorian milestone into the Kedron interior and reached Lastgate Fort. They explored the fortress, found a surviving Drankorian archive, and passed through the locked door into the ruins beyond. Their expedition produced the first surviving account of what lay past Lastgate and established the relationship among the fort, the Cleaver-Stone, and Cairn Dor. Using instructions preserved in the archive, they locked the portal and disabled the soul compass, interrupting the raids responsible for the Lizardfolk Village Disappearances.