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The Great Stronghold of Anhelm

A mighty city, carved over thousands of years from a single enormous stone, once a part of Blee-that-was, later the single city of the Kingdom of Bron. Located in the foothills some distance south of the Colossus (not the Giant) of Blee. It is not known how the massive, unbroken stone arrived to tower over these hills, nor is it known who first began to carve it into a stronghold. Theories abound, of course; some maintain it was a failed attempt at creating the Eldersbane, while others think the stone fell from the sky like a Giant Meteoric Cow.

Regardless, the city carved in the stone was home to many races and many famous people over the ages. Petago Kerrik is known to have studied under Harbinger Portent in Anhelm, and Nallah Simuth as well. It has been home to Men and Gouth and Giants and perhaps even the Hierarchs themselves. It has been carved into by Dwarves and Trolls and, well, who can say? It's not big enough to be a mountain, it's just this enormous, anomalous stone surrounded by dusty hills. But it is still a really, inconceivably big stone and its covered with buildings hewn right into the face of the rock! That's a lot of carving.

Perhaps the most prodigious period in the construction of the fortress came under the direction of the foreman mayor Kasashi, who directed the Trolls and Giants who had come to make up the bulk of the citizenry.

At any rate, as strongholds go this one was nigh impenetrable. But it was completely destroyed in the Siege of Anhelm during the Great War of Magiks and Things when S'yrf'yl the Immortal led the combined armies of Parsonya, Morlond's Field, Shadia, Mardath and Gerge'a into Blee-that-was. The siege lasted long and many Epic deeds were done, but in the end it was the Dwarves who carved a tremendous symbol of power into the earth around Anhelm. The Witch-Elves knew a way, in theory, to change the size of any object, so long as the object was one discrete entity comprised entirely of air. The Dwarves attempted to adapt this completely useless magic to affect stone rather than air, knowing that the stronghold was indeed a single stone. The attempt to shrink the stronghold, thus crushing everyone inside to death, did not go as planned, and instead Anhelm more or less exploded all over the hills. The casualties were significant but victory belonged to S'yrf'yl's band.

Somewhat humorously, Brothic Gandlebar misinterpreted the massive Dwarvish carving as a rune of destruction, and so protected his other strongholds against such magic, though of course no other stronghold--being as they were all constructed of multiple pieces rather than hewn from a single unified piece--would have fallen prey to the ploy.

In the end, some of the pieces of Anhelm scattered across the hills were still large enough and ornately-carved enough to qualify as suitable lairs for villainous doings. It is in one such lair that Lord Quintak Hoch makes his seat of power in the ElemenstorLance novel, The Forgotten Faction.