Spiritforge

The Spiritforge is the place where the magic of the wizards all began, as well as the stronghold of wizards. It's also the location of their last stand. The Spiritforge is a large, mountainous fortress situated near the eastern coast of the continent, in the world of GemCraft. The fortress was also surrounded by an extremely powerful shield and a thick layer of walls, until they were destroyed in GemCraft Chapter 2: Chasing Shadows.

History[]

The Spiritforge is an ancient source of great magic, dating back ages ago, possibly dating to the beginnings of the world of GemCraft. Its origins remain unknown. The earliest wizards discovered the Spiritforge centuries or even millennia before the events of the GemCraft series, and they constructed an enormous fortress on the mountain. The Spiritforge soon became the headquarters of the wizards, with their civilization being centered on the mountainous fortress. It is hinted that the origins of The Forgotten may be connected to the Spiritforge.

However, as the wizards grew more and more powerful, they gradually became more corrupt. A few centuries before the events of the games, most of the wizards had become corrupted, and even the leaders of the Spiritforge, the Wizard Council, had all become corrupted. The wizards used various forms of dark magic to become even more powerful, including the summoning and enslaving of demons from the Demon Realm to grow their power. The demons were summoned by an experimental Summoning Gem socketed within a set of Summoning Nodes, at a location just west of the Spiritforge, and the enslaved demons enhanced the magic of the wizards who enslaved them. The wizards also created monsters to serve as an army (and also for experimental purposes). However, as the wizards grew more greedy and corrupted, they summoned more powerful demons more often. A few wizards attempted to speak out against these dark practices; however, the corrupted Wizard Council of the Spiritforge had them hunted down and killed, using monsters and even demonic entities, such as Wizard Hunters to do so. One of the wizards targeted by the wicked wizards included the ancient wizard in GemCraft Lost Chapter: Frostborn Wrath, who attempted to speak out against the dark practices of the Wizard Council, before they attempted to kill them. However, the ancient wizard had friends in high places, and they tipped off the wizard well in advance of the Wizard Council's plans, allowing the ancient wizard to flee to the north. In response, the Wizard Council cast a powerful freezing spell, freezing the ancient wizard in place, while killing almost everything else surrounding them. However, the freezing spell wasn't perfect, so the ancient wizard survived the next few centuries in a state of stasis, but they were fully aware of the events happening in the outside world. The corrupted Wizard Council then proceeded to hunt down and kill most of their dissidents, including the friends of the ancient wizard. However, some of the dissidents managed to escape. Since the Wizard Council was largely withdrawn from the outside world, few of the younger wizards outside of the Spiritforge were aware of the full extent of their leaders' corruption.

The Wizard Council continued growing greedier and more arrogant, and so they summoned more powerful demons with each summoning ritual. Eventually, they summoned The Forgotten, an archdemon who was the ruler of the Demon Realm itself, and far beyond any demon that had ever been previously summoned. When the corrupted wizards attempted to enslave her, the Forgotten proved to be too powerful for them, even with all of their magic combined, and chaos ensued. The Forgotten went on to unleash a demonic outbreak upon the land, causing most of the surviving wizards to abandon their wizard towers and flee back into the Spiritforge, for safety. However, some wizards remained outside in order to protect the other people outside, and also to fight the Forgotten. The Forgotten attempted to attack the Spiritforge, and the wizards then realized that the Forgotten had to be stopped, or else she would take over the entire world. Some of the wizards decided to fight back against the Forgotten, and war ensued. However, some corrupted wizards decided to follow the Forgotten, forming a cult.

The Wizard Council tried to defeat the Forgotten, but they were unable to destroy her or banish her back to the Demon Realm. Then, they constructed the Labyrinth and forged the first Gem of Eternity within it, a relic of magic far more powerful than anything they had ever created before. Then, the wizards set up a trap near the Spiritforge and socketed the Gem of Eternity within it, before luring the Forgotten to the activated trap and capturing her. The Gem of Eternity and the Forgotten were both transported to The Tomb of The Forgotten, a location designed to imprison the Forgotten within the mountains near the western coast of the continent. The wizards then killed or sealed away the Shadows created by the Forgotten. (Since most wizards were unable to kill the Shadows, most of the Shadows were sealed inside of tombs.) To prevent anyone from locating and stealing the Gem of Eternity (which would unleash the Forgotten), the wizards of the Spiritforge removed all knowledge of the Gem of Eternity, and killed anyone who attempted to find out about the Gem. They also summoned five Arcane Guardians and placed them and numerous monsters around the Tomb of The Forgotten, to act as guardians for the Gem.

However, a few decades later, after the world had forgotten about the rampage of the Forgotten, a greedy, foolish wizard would steal the Gem of Eternity from the Tomb of The Forgotten, unleashing the Forgotten. The wizards would then craft a new Gem of Eternity in the Labyrinth, turning the previous Gem into a weakened replica in the process (which would then be corrupted by the Forgotten). The Wizard Council also left behind a message in the heart of the Labyrinth, instructing the future Gembearers to take the newly-crafted Gem of Eternity to the Spiritforge. The Forgotten would then make preparations for storming the Spiritforge while heading towards the mountainous fortress, including the creation of numerous Possession Obelisks and Sleeping Hives in the wilderness. The wizards then lured the Forgotten to a new trap near the Spiritforge with a newly-socketed Gem of Eternity, which they would then use to seal away the Forgotten once again. However, a few decades later, yet another greedy wizard would steal the Gem of Eternity, freeing the Forgotten once again and causing the whole cycle to repeat again. This cycle repeated a total of 6 times. During each attack, the Forgotten's attacks grew more powerful, with the Forgotten creating Spires after her fifth release, which she used to kill many wizards.

Following her sixth release, as depicted at the end of GemCraft Chapter 0: Gem of Eternity, the Forgotten headed for the Spiritforge once again. She killed the corrupted wizard who had set her free (who was under her possession), and she possessed the main wizard from the series at the end of GemCraft Chapter 1: The Forgotten, commanding him to take her eastward to the Spiritforge. However, a few months later, the wizard was freed from the Forgotten's possession by the Scythe Gate, sending him back to his original wizard tower. The Forgotten continued towards the Spiritforge, proceeding with her preparations for an eventual assault on the stronghold, and surrounding the Spiritforge with Possession Obelisks and Sleeping Hives, while also freeing as many Shadows as she could. She then encountered the Gembearer (the wizard from GemCraft: Labyrinth) near the Spiritforge and killed them, taking the true Gem of Eternity while leaving behind a corrupted replica for the main wizard to collect. The Forgotten placed the other five replicas around the perimeter of the Spiritforge's shield, within cages, as part of her plan. Eventually, the main wizard picked up the replica and carried it all the way to the entrance of the Spiritforge, socketing it within a new trap and charging the Ensnaring Nodes. However, this activated the corrupted replica, which then drew power from the other five Gem of Eternity replicas and unleashed a powerful blast of energy, destroying both the shield and the gates of the Spiritforge. With this, a massive army of monsters and Shadows poured into the Spiritforge, to conquer the final stronghold of the wizards. When the Spiritforge's defenses were broken, the Forgotten suddenly dropped the true Gem of Eternity within a cave, near the eastern coast, and sped off to attack the Spiritforge. The main wizard soon found the true Gem of Eternity, and entered the Spiritforge with the Gem.

However, the Forgotten didn't immediately enter the Spiritforge, and continued making some final preparations. Around the same time, the ancient wizard from centuries ago thawed out in the north and also headed towards the Spiritforge, with this wizard witnessing the destruction of the Spiritforge's defenses. The Forgotten then erected two Possession Obelisks at the entrance of the Spiritforge and created the Gatekeeper, a massive, powerful demon, in order to guard the entrance and prevent anyone else from coming to the aid of the besieged wizards. The Forgotten then entered the Spiritforge herself and slowly headed for the summit, in order to corrupt it. However, the ancient wizard soon arrived and killed the Gatekeeper, before proceeding to enter the Spiritforge, carrying with them the blueprints for enhancing the Gem of Eternity.

Properties[]

The Spiritforge is a large fortress built into a high mountain. It is implied from some of the Journey Notes in Gemcraft: Labyrinth that the mountain may be volcanic in nature. The entire perimeter of the fortress is surrounded by a layer of thick, formidable walls. Additionally, the entire mountain mass and the walls were formerly protected by a powerful shield. This shield was impervious to all demonic assaults in the past, including attacks by The Forgotten herself. However, the combined power of six corrupted Gems of Eternity is enough to destroy the shield of the Spiritforge, as seen at the end of Field X5 in GemCraft Chapter 2. The walls of the Spiritforge is also outfitted with gems in some areas, which are controlled from within the Spiritforge. There are also towers in some nearby areas with gems that are controlled from inside of the Spiritforge. At the summit of the mountain is the Forge of the Spiritforge, a powerful nexus of magic that is the source of the Spiritforge's magic. This is also where powerful relics of magic are created.

The Spiritforge possesses an immense amount of magic, being the most powerful source of magic on the planet. As a result of its unique properties, the Spiritforge was the place where wizardry began. The mountain possess enough magic that the Spiritforge remained the headquarters of the wizards for centuries, which also played a major role in the decision of most wizards to retreat into the Spiritforge when the Forgotten was unleashed for the first time. It is believed that should the Forgotten successfully corrupt the Spiritforge, she would have access to enough magic to create an infinite number of Shadows, which in turn would grant her omnipotence and god-like powers.

In-Game[]

Spiritforge towers[]

Starting with GemCraft Chapter 2: Chasing Shadows, some fields have towers "controlled from inside the Spiritforge". These have gems in them that cannot be removed, duplicated, replaced, or upgraded by the player, although they do respond to manually selecting monsters or structures to override their targeting priority. The gems follow a preset upgrade schedule based on the wave number. A specter can steal a gem from a Spiritforge tower, but any gems stolen from a Spiritforge tower cannot be replaced.

Often, the Spiritforge towers are helpful, providing extra firepower if the player routes monsters close to them. Some trial fields specifically require this by not allowing the player to build offensive structures. On the other hand, they can also be a hindrance: they might be placed next to a tomb or barricade, and will destroy the structure over time, which forces the player to plan and deal with the consequences. Some ways to deal with this issues include calling waves early to give the gem less time, as well as selecting monsters in range to distract the gem from the building in question.

Map[]

In GemCraft Chapter 2: Chasing Shadows, the Spiritforge occupies Hextile S, although no playable levels exist. In GemCraft Lost Chapter, Frostborn Wrath, Tile A ends at the entrance to the Spiritforge. It is likely that GemCraft Chapter 3 will take place inside of the Spiritforge itself.