A grand white stone citadel with classical architecture, statues, and golden-domed temples, bustling with robed figures under a twilight sky.

Those with enormous value or with repercussions across an entire territory were discussed here, in the private rooms of their homes, amid marble colonnades and under the gaze of ancestral statues. Here too, smaller temples stood among the houses, beacons of devotion in the circle of the wealthy. Many of the priests who officiated in these temples, however, returned in the evening to the Citadel, the true heart of the city. The third wall, called the White Walls, was the innermost wall and the oldest, the most sacred. Built of a white stone that seemed to capture the light itself, this wall was low, only ten men high, but impenetrable on a symbolic and physical level. It was the barrier that separated the political and religious power from the rest of the city. This place was called the Citadel. There were two entrances to the Citadel, and each was a test. The Western Gate was a passage under a massive tower, a white stone arch so perfect it seemed natural. On either side of the entrance, two pure white marble statues, representing the city's Founders, stood eternally vigil. Their eyeless gaze was more intimidating than any soldier's. The second, smaller gate was to the east, located within a similar tower but always sealed. No one knew why it was closed; it was a mystery, a potential gateway to something only the Council spoke of in hushed tones. Access to the Citadel could only be obtained after requesting and obtaining permission from the City Council, the Regent, or the Ver mais