The Cleft of the Spider
Original art by the Brothers Hilderbrandt
"The whole city was falling back into a dark brooding shade, and silence. Yet still it was filled with watchfulness."
- The Stairs of Cirith Ungol, The Two Towers
Cirith Ungol is a place of creeping dread, a dead citadel in a haunted pass. Originally build by Gondor after the War of the Last Alliance as a guard against the forces of Mordor as a part of the defenses of Ithilien, the watch tower hides horrible secrets that fill men and orc alike with terror. The original fortress was abandoned by Gondor as it was forced to look within its own borders in TA 1640 and the ever-enterprising legions of orcs and goblins seized the fortress for their own purposes, turning it from a defensive guard to an offensive outpost. The cleft is high and difficult to reach, those the tower of Cirith Ungol is sparse in its amenities, a true frontier fortification. There is a garrison of orcs stationed there, ready to leap at the call of their masters, but that is not what make the pass so terrible.
Cirith Ungol means the Pass of the Spider. Within the immeasurable tunnels that delve in and out of the Ephel Dúath, sits a great spider, the last child of Ungoliant, Shelob. The uruks may be the ones to command the tower, but it is her that commands the pass, and she suffers no fools within her realm save by her leave, and that she does not give often. She is ancient and filled with a hungry malice. No creature that steps within her web-choked tunnels is safe. She is an all-knowing mistress and is always eager to for the hunt. It is perilous to enter the domain of the great arachnid monster, even if she should forget the meals she wraps within her dreadful, eldritch silks, none dare to interfere with Her Ladyship’s affairs. Shelob and Sauron have a somewhat symbiotic relationship, a mutually beneficial deal, but such a thing must never be mistaken for an alliance. Shelob is a child of the unlight and remembers the betrayal of her mother by the Morgoth Bauglir and nurses a thirst for revenge. She is patient and she is unkind. She is wise and she is hungry.
The Tower of Cirith Ungol stood against the eastern mountain face of the Ephel Dúath, looking down between the Ephel Dúath and the Morgai and on the plateau of Gorgoroth. The turret was supported by three great tiers with pointed bastions that stood on a shelf in the mountain-wall far below and looked north-east and south-east into Mordor. The lowest tier was encircled by a thirty feet high wall with overhanging battlements that enclosed a narrow-paved courtyard. The main gate on the south-eastern side of the wall opened to a road that ran along a southward bend and down to join the road that came over the Morgul Pass while a narrower path led down from Cirith Ungol by steep stairs to meet the road at the gate. In the gate were the Two Watchers, monstrous sculptures housing malevolently vigilant spirts. At the end of a passage was a great arched door that was the inner side of the Undergate, on its was a winding stairway that led to the upper levels of the tower. The top of the stairs was covered by a domed chamber leading out onto the flat roof of the third tier of the tower. On the western side of the roof stood the turret of the tower whose top rose high above the crest of the hills behind the tower, visible from below on the western side of the mountains. Another winding stairway inside the turret led up to the first and second story of the turret. In the ceiling of the passage a trapdoor led to the middle of the floor of a large round chamber at the top of the tower.
Outside, in the courtyard is a deep well fed by an artesian spring, a weapon storeroom, a guardroom, stables for the horses or goats or whatever manner of steed, and a training ground for new recruits. Within the fortress are myriad storerooms, kept under lock and key, and barracks for the rank and fill orcs with mess halls, smokehouses, granaries, and kitchens. Within the first tier are the remnants of a Gondorian bath house fed by hot springs. The hot springs have dried up, but the bath houses are still in use by the Uruk officers and honored guests of the fortress. The second tier holds barracks and quarters for the officers and higher up officials or those given special permission. At the very top of the second tier is an old chapel, built by the Gondorians to remind them why they were there, despoiled, desecrated, and ransacked by the orcs and replaced with crude figures (both literally and figuratively) of their masters as a sign of their devotion.
The day-to-day administrations and running of the fortress are handled by Shagrat an ancient and capable uruk, but it was one of the Nine, the one known only as Dawndeath, that held the nominal title of Lord of Cirith Ungol and took credit for the successes.
[A list of locales (with descriptions) within the Tower of Cirith Ungol and the Pass itself will be added as they are imagined/plotted]
Torech Ungol - Endless and myriad, the Tunnels of the Spider contains unspeakable and unknown horrors. It's not known how deep into the mountain they go or how many there are, all anyone knows is that they are covered in spider webs and a haunting fear. Occasionally troops of orcs are sent into the tunnels to retrieve the fallen items of their comrades or to give prisoners as gifts to their arachnid overlord
The High Stairs - Dangerous and steep, the High Stairs are the pass by which all trade or messages are sent from Cirith Ungol to Imlad Morgul, many lives have been lost due to slippery rocks or a well timed shove
The Training Grounds - where many of the uruks, goblins, and trolls are trained to be able to use a sword, spear, or axe; along the walls are the skulls of those that failed to impress their commander and were punished accordingly
The Bathhouses - built by the absconded Gondorians, the bathhouses are where many informal meetings take place between leaders, or where many plots are hatched by the lower ranking officers, enlisted are not allowed inside
The Cells - a prison cut into the lower levels, each cell has a hole cut into the wall that leads to Torech Ungol, many prisoners disappear with only a trace of cobweb
The Storerooms - the place where all the dry goods are kept, along with secret stores of alcohol, the guards can be bought for the right place, either to hide contraband or sell it
The Barracks - where all the enlisted orcs and snaga are forced to live, cramped, uncomfortable and virtually without privacy, they are packed in like sardines in a can
The Scriptorium - a little used place where orcish propaganda and religious texts are copied and disseminated, also the records of each commander is kept here
The Commander's Chambers - Shagrat's personal quarters, complete with its own storeroom, kitchen, latrine, and library
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