Unreviewed Sanctum Kraytaris - Sith Citadel of Prakith

[Darth Carnifex]

• Intent: Flesh out an old Chaos location that's been modernized
• Image Credit:
  • Image Generated By Me
  • Headers - Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax
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• Military Base Name: Sanctum Kraytaris - Sith Citadel of Prakith
• Classification: Dark Side Fortress
• Location: Prakith, Deep Core
• Affiliation: The Kainate
• Population: Moderate - Sanctum Kraytaris maintains a deliberately controlled and stratified population, reflecting Darth Carnifex's preference for elite concentration over mass garrisoning. At any given time, several thousand individuals inhabit the Citadel and its surrounding mountain bastions, though the majority are military personnel, ritual specialists, or bound servitors rather than conventional residents. Rotational deployments of Blackblade Guard cohorts form the Citadel's primary martial backbone, supported by smaller contingents of Koshûtaral Sentinels tasked with patrol and infrastructure defense across the surrounding peaks. Sith adepts and inquisitorial agents occupy the upper sanctums, while alchemical engineers, archivists, and technical overseers labor within the deeper vault complexes.
• Demographics: The Citadel's inhabitants are overwhelmingly aligned with the Kainate's inner hierarchy, producing a demographic profile that is militarized, secretive, and ideologically rigid. Epicanthix retainers loyal to House Zambrano hold many administrative and ceremonial roles, reinforcing Carnifex's cultural influence within the fortress. Human and near-human Sith acolytes make up the largest non-military population, drawn from conquered domains and subjected to relentless doctrinal conditioning in the restored halls once used by the One Sith. Cybernetically enhanced Blackblade Guard soldiers represent a significant visible presence, their armored forms patrolling corridors alongside KNT-series droids and automated sentry constructs. Non-organic labor units outnumber biological personnel in maintenance sectors, ensuring the Citadel can function even under siege conditions.
• Accessibility: Access to Sanctum Kraytaris is among the most tightly restricted in the Deep Core, both physically and metaphysically. The Citadel is hidden deep within a jagged mountain range on Prakith, where towering peaks distort long-range sensor readings and conceal fortified canyon approaches. Only a single heavily monitored land corridor allows conventional entry, forcing arrivals through overlapping fields of surveillance and defensive fire. Subterranean landing bays carved into the mountainside provide the primary means of access for trusted Kainate vessels, their apertures shielded by blast shutters and gravimetric masking systems that render them nearly invisible from orbit. Even Force-sensitive visitors find navigation difficult; restored One Sith pylons and Carnifex's own alchemical augmentations warp perception, cloaking the Citadel in an aura of oppressive silence that misdirects outsiders. Permission to enter Sanctum Kraytaris must be granted through layered authorization protocols - biometric, doctrinal, and Force-resonant - ensuring that the fortress remains not merely hidden, but actively hostile to any presence not sanctioned by its Dark Lord.
• Description: Sanctum Kraytaris rises from the mountain wastes of Prakith like a wound carved into the bones of the world itself. The Citadel is not simply built upon the range, it is fused with it, its angular obsidian architecture thrusting upward from sheer black cliffs whose peaks loom like ancient fangs against a perpetually dim sky. The tallest summit towers behind the fortress in silent dominion, its silhouette mirrored in the Citadel's central spire, creating the unsettling impression that the structure is an extension of the mountain's will rather than a foreign imposition. Wind scours the barren slopes without cease, carrying ash and fine dust that gathers along the Citadel's sharp buttresses and crimson-lit terraces. From a distance, Sanctum Kraytaris appears almost dormant - a monolithic shadow half-swallowed by stone - yet closer inspection reveals veins of red illumination pulsing beneath its surface like the slow heartbeat of something alive.
  
  The fortress bears the architectural scars of its history. Portions of the original One Sith sanctum remain visible beneath Carnifex's restoration efforts: weathered arches carved with forgotten glyphs, fractured meditation balconies overlooking abyssal ravines, and ritual halls whose blackened floors still carry the echoes of Darth Krayt's order. Rather than erase these remnants, Carnifex encased them within new layers of Kainate engineering. Heavy sarassian iron ribs brace cracked towers, alchemical conduits snake through ancient corridors, and colossal shield emitters are hidden beneath sculpted stone that resembles natural cliff faces. This merging of eras creates an unsettling duality, the Citadel feels both ancient and newly awakened; a relic dragged forward into a harsher age.
  
  Beneath the visible structure lies the true vastness of Sanctum Kraytaris. The mountain has been hollowed into a labyrinth of descending vaults, reliquaries, and command sanctums that plunge far below the surface, deeper than most orbital scans can penetrate. Subterranean chambers glow with low crimson luminescence, their walls etched with sigils meant to amplify Dark Side resonance. Meditation crypts, alchemical forges, and forbidden archives form concentric layers around the deepest core, a throne-sanctum where Carnifex's presence is said to press upon the stone itself. Mechanical infrastructure hums constantly through the depths: hidden hangars open into cavernous chasms, maintenance droids traverse vertical shafts like insects, and pressor generators embedded in the bedrock distort gravity in subtle, disorienting ways.
  
  Despite its restoration, Sanctum Kraytaris retains an aura of oppressive silence that unsettles even loyal servants. Sound carries strangely within its halls, swallowed by towering ceilings and angled walls designed to disorient intruders. Outside, the mountain range acts as a natural amphitheater for storms, lightning often crawling along the peaks and casting jagged shadows across the Citadel's facade. At night, the fortress becomes a black silhouette rimmed in faint crimson light, visible only when the wind parts the clouds. To the Kainate, it stands as a reclaimed throne, proof that the legacy of the One Sith did not vanish after their fall, but was seized, reforged, and made to kneel beneath their will.

• Crown Spire
  
  • Throne Chamber: At the apex of the Crown Spire lies the throne-room - a vast, cathedral-like chamber framed by towering black pylons that rise into shadow. The dual throne of the Sith Dyarchy itself is carved from obsidian-veined stone taken from the mountain, elevated on a stepped dais that forces all who approach to ascend. Crimson light bleeds through narrow architectural seams, creating the illusion that the chamber is slowly breathing. Tactical hololiths can manifest at Carnifex's command, transforming the throne-room from ceremonial space into a war command nexus without altering its oppressive atmosphere.
  • Meditation Sanctum: Located directly beneath the throne chamber, this private chamber is reserved solely for the Dark Dyarchy's use. The walls are unadorned basalt etched with subtle Sith sigils that amplify emotional focus rather than outward power. Gravity is slightly distorted here, allowing meditation suspended above the floor when deep in concentration. Unlike the grandeur of the throne-room, the sanctum is austere - a place of silence, reflection, and internal domination where even Blackblade guards are forbidden to linger.
  • Private Quarters: Hidden behind layered security doors and alchemical locks lies the personal living space of the Kainate tyrants. The quarters are functional rather than luxurious, furnished with dark fabrics, archival consoles, and weapon racks displaying relic blades and armor components from past campaigns. A narrow viewing aperture carved into the spire allows him to observe the mountain range below, reinforcing the sense that the Citadel itself serves as an extension of their will. Environmental controls maintain an atmosphere reminiscent of Panatha, subtly grounding the area in Epicanthix cultural memory.
  • War Oculus: A circular chamber suspended within the upper spire where real-time battle projections can be displayed in full three-dimensional scale. Transparent hololithic constructs float through the air, allowing Carnifex or his commanders to walk through fleet formations and planetary siege layouts. The Oculus connects directly to the War Council Amphitheater below, enabling seamless transition between strategic deliberation and sovereign command.
  • Reception Antechamber: A heavily guarded vestibule leading into the throne-room itself. Visitors seeking audience must wait here under the watch of Blackblade Guard sentinels and silent droid overseers. The chamber's acoustics distort whispers into distant echoes, creating an atmosphere of unease even before one steps into Carnifex's presence.
  • Armory: Located along a reinforced structural rib of the spire, this armory stores the Dark Dyarchy's personal wargear, ceremonial armor, and specialized weapon prototypes. Magnetic racks suspend weapons in mid-air, rotating slowly as if on display. Access is restricted to a handful of trusted retainers and the Nerean Crownguard.
  • Ascending Walkway: A vertical procession corridor connecting lower spire levels to the throne-room. The walls are carved with layered Sith iconography chronicling the Citadel's transformation from One Sith sanctum to Kainate bastion. Visitors ascending this path pass through gradually narrowing architecture designed to make them feel smaller as they approach the seat of power.
  • Sentinel Gallery: An elevated observation ring staffed by elite guards and sensor technicians. From here, surveillance arrays monitor the surrounding mountain range, and defense systems can be activated manually if automated networks fail. Narrow viewports offer sweeping views of Prakith's wastelands, reinforcing the spire's role as both throne and watchtower.
  • Ashen Terrace: The Ashen Terrace clings to the outer face of the mountain like a scar carved into stone, its surface blackened by centuries of ritual fire and storm-blasted debris. Massive angular pylons frame the platform, their surfaces etched with Sith glyphwork that glows faintly during electrical storms. From here, the barren wastes of Prakith stretch endlessly outward, the jagged peaks forming a natural amphitheater around the Citadel. It serves both ceremonial and symbolic purposes - executions, proclamations, and martial oaths are often conducted beneath the open sky, where the wind carries echoes of chanting down into the valleys below.
• Surface-Level
  
  • War Council Amphitheater: The War Council Amphitheater lies just beneath the Crown Spire's upper levels, designed as a circular chamber where strategy becomes spectacle. Tiered blackstone seating descends toward a central projection floor capable of rendering full-scale tactical holographs - fleets drifting like ghosts through the air, planetary surfaces rotating beneath crimson light. Acoustic architecture funnels every word toward the center, allowing even a whisper to carry with absolute clarity. The chamber's ceiling rises into darkness, punctuated by narrow shafts of dim light that give the illusion of looking upward into an endless void. When not in use for military planning, the amphitheater remains eerily silent, its empty seats resembling a congregation waiting for judgment.
  • Obsidian Confluence: A circular chamber where natural mountain stone merges seamlessly with Sith architecture, the Obsidian Confluence acts as a nexus for the Citadel's ambient Dark Side energy. Floating meditation platforms hover inches above the polished floor, their edges glowing faintly with crimson veins. Energy conduits carved into the walls draw unseen currents toward the Crown Spire above, amplifying the will of those who meditate here. The air feels heavy, charged with quiet pressure - even non-Force-sensitives report an uneasy awareness of being watched by the mountain itself.
  • Ascension Hall: Once a doctrinal gathering space for the One Sith, the Ascension Hall has been repurposed into a proving ground for Kainate initiates. Towering ribbed pillars stretch upward into shadow, and the floor is layered with interlocking sigils that flare faintly when rituals begin. Trials conducted here are both physical and psychological, initiates walk the length of the hall under the gaze of statues carved from volcanic stone, their faces twisted into expressions of triumph or agony. The hall's acoustics magnify every footstep, reinforcing the sense that each trial is witnessed by unseen judges.
  • Canyon Gate: The Canyon Gate marks the Citadel's primary external threshold, embedded deep within a narrow ravine between towering peaks. Massive blast doors sit flush against the mountainside, blending into the rock when closed. Elevated galleries line the canyon walls, concealing heavy weapons and sniper nests that transform the approach into a lethal corridor. Wind constantly sweeps through the ravine, carrying dust that obscures movement and enhances the feeling of isolation. To outsiders, the gate appears dormant, but hidden sensors track every vibration along the stone.
• Mid-Citadel Depths
  
  • Subterranean Hangers: Carved into vast natural caverns beneath the surface, the hangars are illuminated by low crimson luminescence reflecting off sheer rock walls. Magnetic gantries suspend shuttles and atmospheric fighters above bottomless chasms, and retractable apertures allow vessels to launch without revealing the Citadel's silhouette from orbit. Maintenance crews move along narrow catwalks high above the floor, dwarfed by the scale of the cavern. The distant rumble of engines echoes endlessly through the stone, giving the hangars the feel of a living heart deep within the mountain.
  • Sepulcher Galleries: These quiet corridors serve as a memorial to conquest and loss, lined with statues of fallen Sith, defeated enemies, and shattered relics reclaimed from battlefields. Torch-like energy sconces cast flickering light across the walls, causing shadows to stretch unnaturally long. Some statues remain intact from the One Sith era, while others bear signs of deliberate alteration - broken faces replaced with angular masks, inscriptions rewritten to reflect Kainate supremacy. Many acolytes avoid lingering here, claiming the silence presses heavily on the mind.
  • Alchemical Laboratories: Hidden deeper within the mountain's operational layers, the laboratories hum with controlled instability. Suspended crucibles glow with dim crimson fire, and pressor-field platforms hold volatile materials in mid-air during experimentation. The smell of scorched metal and ozone lingers constantly. Graug war-ritualists and Kainate alchemists work side by side here, crafting relic weapons and refining experimental augmentations. Mechanical arms and droid overseers assist in processes too dangerous for organic hands, while alchemical wards ripple faintly along the walls.
  • Lesser Reliquary Vault: A heavily secured storage chamber positioned between operational zones and deeper sanctums. Rotating shield emitters create layered containment fields around confiscated artifacts and experimental technology. Unlike the deeper reliquaries, this vault is accessed regularly by trusted personnel retrieving tools or relics for active campaigns. The chamber's lighting remains intentionally dim, forcing visitors to rely on narrow beams of crimson illumination that reflect off the metal pylons anchoring the vault to bedrock.
  • Transportation Network: An industrial corridor of moving platforms, lift-shafts, and cargo elevators descending endlessly into the mountain. Massive chain-driven mechanisms - remnants of One Sith engineering - carry supplies between vault tiers. The rhythmic grinding of metal echoes like distant thunder, and servitor droids move along the rails like insects.
• Deep Vault Tier
  
  • Kraytian Archives: An immense archive complex preserved from the One Sith era, filled with fragmented teachings, sealed holocrons, and ancient doctrinal texts. Corridors wind endlessly through the darkness, some sections still bearing signs of collapse from the Order's fall decades earlier. Carnifex's archivists have restored portions of the collection, but entire wings remain sealed behind alchemical locks. The air here feels unnaturally still, as though the echoes of Krayt's followers linger in silent observation.
  • The Descent: A spiraling passage carved directly into the mountain's core, connecting higher ceremonial halls to the abyssal depths below. The walls narrow gradually as one descends, creating a subtle claustrophobic pressure. Low crimson lights pulse at regular intervals, guiding travelers downward like a heartbeat. Initiates walking the Descent often report hearing faint whispers carried through the stone - whether remnants of ancient rituals or simply the echo of their own thoughts magnified by the architecture.
  • Null Cells: Located far enough beneath the surface to isolate prisoners from the Citadel's ambient Dark Side resonance, the Null Cells are constructed from alchemically treated alloys that dampen Force sensitivity. Each chamber floats slightly above the floor within containment fields, preventing physical contact with the surrounding structure. Sound is heavily muted, creating an oppressive silence broken only by the distant hum of generators. Prisoners held here often lose all sense of time.
  • Kyber Nursery: A strange subterranean cavern where Sith crystals are cultivated through alchemical means. Jagged red crystals grow from the rock like invasive roots, emitting faint pulses of energy that interfere with electronics.
• Abyssal Core
  
  • Greater Reliquary Vault: The deepest known chamber within Sanctum Kraytaris, sealed behind multiple layers of alchemical wards and biometric locks. Massive pylons anchor the vault into the mountain's bedrock, and rotating containment rings surround relics deemed too dangerous for any other level of the Citadel. The chamber's architecture is markedly older than the rest of the fortress, most of it predating even the One Sith's occupation. A faint crimson glow permeates the air, and those who enter often describe the sensation of being watched by something older than the mountain itself.
  • Geothermal Energy Zone: A colossal geothermal power chamber built around a natural magma vent deep within the mountain. Ancient One Sith reactor pylons still channel raw planetary heat into the Citadel's systems, but Carnifex's engineers have layered modern Kainate energy matrices over the original structure. The air trembles with constant vibration, and molten light reflects off cathedral-sized turbines turning in slow, ominous rhythm.
  • First Excavation: Deep beneath Sanctum Kraytaris lies a jagged natural fissure first uncovered during the One Sith's initial excavation of the mountain, its rough-hewn tunnels still bearing faded markings and abandoned tools left where they fell decades ago. Narrow walkways and crude support struts cling to the stone walls, bridging a vast chasm from which cold Dark Side energy seeps upward like drifting vapor. The air within these depths feels unnaturally heavy, as though the mountain itself resists intrusion, and many passages remain only partially stabilized since their discovery.
  • The Ossuary: At the deepest reachable point of the First Excavation rests a cyclopean ritual chamber carved long before the rise of most known Sith civilizations, its architecture formed from seamless black stone untouched by modern tools. Ancient sigils - older and more austere than One Sith glyphwork - spiral across the floor toward a sunken dais believed to have been used by Darth Andeddu during rites of preservation and forbidden study. The chamber emits a low, suffocating pressure in the Force, as though time itself has slowed within its boundaries, and even seasoned adepts report visions when standing near the central altar. Carnifex has allowed only minimal restoration here, sealing much of the structure behind layered wards so that its primordial presence remains undisturbed, a relic not merely of Sith history, but of something older and more patient than any empire that followed.

• Maximum - Sanctum Kraytaris exists in a state of perpetual vigilance, its readiness woven seamlessly into the rhythm of daily life rather than reserved for moments of crisis. Security is not an overlay applied during threat; it is the Citadel's natural posture. From the Crown Spire to the lowest vaults, every corridor, chamber, and threshold reflects an assumption that power must be guarded constantly.
  
  The approach to the Citadel is intentionally austere and controlled. Transit routes are narrow, deliberate, and observable from multiple vantage points, reinforcing the understanding that entry is a privilege granted, not a right assumed. Personnel movements are monitored through layered verification systems that combine technological oversight with Force attunement, ensuring that presence alone is never sufficient - identity must be confirmed in body, code, and essence. Even routine arrivals carry an undertone of scrutiny, subtle but unmistakable.
  
  Within the structure, security manifests as disciplined compartmentalization rather than visible fortification. Access between tiers is structured through hierarchical clearance, with sensitive sectors naturally insulated by both physical separation and doctrinal restriction. No one moves freely without purpose. Elevation within the Citadel - physically and politically - corresponds to trust, rank, and demonstrated loyalty. The architecture reinforces this hierarchy: the deeper one descends, the narrower and more deliberate the passageways become, as though the mountain itself is filtering those who pass through it.
  
  Operational areas maintain a steady, controlled efficiency. Hangars, laboratories, archives, and reliquaries function under continuous oversight, their activity recorded and reviewed without fanfare. Safeguards are built into infrastructure quietly - redundant power sources, containment protocols, sealed conduits - not as emergency measures but as standard design. The Citadel's systems hum with restrained energy, neither hurried nor dormant, embodying a readiness that does not require alarm to justify itself.
  
  This vigilance is given form in the living presence of its defenders. Blackblade Guards move through the corridors in disciplined rotations, their augmented silhouettes as much a part of the architecture as the ribbed pillars and obsidian walls. They are not stationed merely at doors; they inhabit the Citadel's arteries, appearing where authority must be reinforced without spectacle. In higher tiers, Dread Sentinels stand in silent watch over thresholds too important for routine patrols - their stillness itself a deterrent, their presence a reminder that certain boundaries are inviolate. Deeper still, where light thins and stone grows older, the Var'Qess specters drift through the vault levels in near-imperceptible circuits. Whether perceived as cloaked operatives or something more intangible, their role is constant observation, ensuring that no chamber - however remote - exists beyond scrutiny.
  
  In the deeper tiers, security takes on a more reverent tone. Ancient chambers and relic vaults are not merely protected; they are approached with ritualized caution. Access is rare and deliberate, often requiring layered authorization that blends administrative clearance with personal sanction. The preservation of knowledge and artifact is treated as a sacred obligation, and the measures surrounding them reflect a belief that some powers must remain contained by default, not in response to threat.

During the height of the One Sith's resurgence, Darth Sortis identified Prakith as an ideal staging world for covert expansion into the Deep Core and Core Worlds. Isolated, difficult to navigate, and masked by erratic stellar phenomena, the system allowed for fleet mustering and doctrinal consolidation beyond the Republic's scrutiny. The mountain that would become Sanctum Kraytaris was selected not for grandeur but for concealment. Excavation began in secrecy, its upper spire rising slowly from the peaks while vast subterranean chambers were hollowed into the stone. Under Sortis' direction, the fortress functioned as a forward command node - a place where fleets assembled, strike vectors were plotted, and infiltration cells were dispatched in coordinated, rapid offensives designed to destabilize entire sectors before the Republic could respond.

From Prakith, the One Sith executed a campaign of calculated shock and momentum. Task forces launched in swift succession, striking Deep Core assets, severing communications, and crippling supply corridors in a pattern that resembled a spreading fracture across the galactic map. Sanctum Kraytaris served as the silent nerve center of this effort - not a capital, but a war engine buried within stone. Initiates were indoctrinated in the Ascension Hall, fleets were briefed within the upper chambers, and captured intelligence was analyzed within what would later become the Kraytian Archives. The fortress embodied the One Sith philosophy: unity, secrecy, and overwhelming coordinated force.

The Republic eventually discerned the pattern following the Fall of Coruscant and the Sack of Alderaan.

A counter-offensive was mounted once reconnaissance confirmed unusual traffic within Prakith's orbital shadow. Though the Citadel's concealment architecture blunted early attempts at direct assault, Republic forces probed the system repeatedly, testing defensive thresholds and isolating supply lines. Sanctum Kraytaris endured bombardment, sabotage attempts, and infiltration operations, weathering the assault not through open confrontation but through attrition and strategic withdrawal. The mountain absorbed impacts; outer installations were abandoned and later reclaimed; and the Citadel sealed itself in layered defense when necessary. While it was never fully breached, the Republic's pressure disrupted its role as an aggressive staging ground. Sortis' blitzkrieg slowed, and strategic focus shifted elsewhere.

As the One Sith's cohesion began to fracture in later years, Sanctum Kraytaris gradually lost its primacy. Resources were diverted to more visible theaters. Command elements relocated. What had once been a crucible of expansion became a secondary redoubt, then a guarded archive, and finally a relic of a doctrine that no longer commanded unity. When the One Sith ultimately dissolved, the fortress was not ceremonially abandoned - it was simply left behind. Systems powered down. Corridors darkened. Maintenance ceased. Dust gathered along blackstone floors where once war councils had convened. The Hollow Fault and deeper chambers remained sealed, their secrets entombed beneath neglect.

For decades, the Citadel endured in silence.

Fifty years later, its stillness was broken by a figure who knew its halls intimately. Darth Carnifex - once a member of the One Sith under the name Darth Vornskr - returned not as subordinate, but as sovereign. He had walked the Ascension Hall in his youth. He had studied in the shadowed corridors of the Archives. He understood the fortress not as myth, but as lived memory. Where others saw a ruin, Carnifex saw unfinished architecture.

Restoration began with brutal efficiency. Structural fractures were reinforced with Kainate engineering. Ancient systems were reactivated and layered with modern war infrastructure. The Crown Spire was not merely repaired - it was recontextualized as a seat of power. Carnifex did not erase the One Sith imprint; he subsumed it. Krayt's legacy became foundation rather than rival claim. Chambers left broken were deliberately preserved as reminders of dissolution, while deeper sanctums were fortified and expanded. Sanctum Kraytaris ceased to be a staging ground for another's war and became instead a sovereign bastion within the growing Kainate dominion.

Under Carnifex, the fortress transformed from hidden war engine to enduring citadel. Its purpose shifted from blitzkrieg command to layered resilience and ideological inheritance. The mountain no longer sheltered an order seeking sudden ascendance; it now houses a Dark Lord who seeks further dominion over the center of the galaxy. Sanctum Kraytaris stands not as a remnant of the One Sith, but as proof that even failed empires can be reforged - provided someone strong enough returns to claim them.