Free Castle

Free Castle is a settlement in the Aldovir Peninsula, located to the north of The Lunar City State of Lirgal and west of the city of Asalath. Its legal status is currently disputed, as its independance is not accepted by the Sironia which controls the territory it is located in.

Originally founded in December of 2021 as an unrecognized settlement inside the territory of the Empire of Aldovir and later Astyllea. While its inhabitants claim that the castle was destroyed and looted by Astyllean forces, Sironia maintains that the castle's former inhabitants agreed to abandon it voluntariy.

It was later found by Arkanae Morningstar, who took the task of restoring the castle.

History
The inhabitants of Free Castle claim to be a remnant settlement of the ancient Kingdom of Lóthra, an old realm which allegedly dominated the Northern Region of the Aldovir peninsula, as well as certain portions of the northern desert of Alteniquia. The veracity of these claims is disputed, as there is no historical evidence for the existence of Lóthra. It was allegedly held by nobles as a fortification against invaders and claims that it was one of the main settlements that served as a point of resistance against the rise of the Empire of Sagavir, though pushes from the North and the East reduced their land to only the marshland.

It if further claimed that the Barony of Anráce, pervailed the fall of Lóthra, being protected by the marshland and the hilly terrain that surrounded it and thereby left alone, developing a small community developing in the surrounding lands. The settlement was allegedly named Free Castle, or Kaithráce, to express the open defiance against Sironian rule. Local claims of the destruction of the settlement by Astyllean forces remain unconfirmed as the successor states of Astyllea continue to assert that the settlement was abandoned after its former inhabitants came to an agreement with Sironian authorities.