Castle Devaneaux

The last citadel of the evil Artimus Devaneaux, Castle Devaneaux was an Imperial fortress on Reydovan Prime, located about 75 miles north of the capital city of Montagne Noire. Built by order of Kiran Joshmaul in 2301 and taken over by the Devaneaux family in 2324, it had been abandoned since 2370 and left in disrepair. However, in 2372 it was used as a stockpile for some of the sick experiments created by the demented warlord. It was destroyed in 2376.

Karazhan, the tower of Medivh from the Warcraft universe, is used as the design for Castle Devaneaux. Joshua Underwood himself took the screenshot in World of Warcraft, seen here.

Origins[]

Following the end of the war with the Federation, Emperor Kiran Joshmaul I ordered the contruction of a solitary tower and fortress in the Deadwood Valley, in the northern part of Reydovan Prime's southwestern continent. It was designed by Aurelian Devaneaux, the grandfather of the future Defiler of Worlds, who was a member of the Reydovan nobility. It became the home of Joshmaul's extensive libraries on genetic engineering and cybernetics, as well as his laboratory. Both libraries were moved to the new Imperial citadel in Montagne Noire and the industrial tower in Icecrown, respectively, in 2324, and the tower was given to the Devaneaux family, now led by Lucian, Artimus' father. In 2370, Artimus abandoned the tower when he ordered the construction of Shadowgarde Castle, near his adopted hometown of New Valley Forge. It was left in disrepair, and damaged somewhat in 2371.

Stockpile of Evil[]

In 2372, Artimus Devaneaux moved all of his bioweapons and Joshmaul's Omega research to the abandoned tower, and hid here alone three years later when he was defeated by Imperial loyalists, while giving the Imperials and the Federation the impression that he was on the run onboard his flagship, the Hand of Artimus. From here, he continued working on his bioweapons and Omega research, out of the eyes of the unsuspecting public. Not even Joshmaul would think that Artimus would set up shop there. That lack of knowledge was Joshmaul's greatest mistake...

Ambushed![]

On December 29, 2375, Artimus kidnapped the Admiral on Deep Space Nine, while he was visiting Captain Jasmine Blade, the station's commander - who had, at Joshmaul's request, overthrew Artimus' regime along with General David Highland. Blade was in the station infirmary due to an assassination attempt, orchestrated by terrorists loyal to Artimus and to the leader of the Maquis, Charles Leyton. Because the station infirmary was locked down tight by the chief medical officer, Lieutenant Commander Geoffry D'Arcy - so much so that not even Joshmaul himself would have been able to break in - Artimus decided that Blade would be dealt with later. Donning his hooded cloak, with the ominous white hand symbol on its back, Artimus laid in wait until Joshmaul prepared to return to his ship, then made his move, clouting him in the head and dragging him to his waiting shuttle - in front of about four hundred witnesses in the Promenade.

Joshmaul, along with about 220 other prisoners, were kept imprisoned in the lowest dungeons of Castle Devaneaux, adjacent to Artimus' weapons laboratory. The Federation attempted to send a rescue mission to aid them before Artimus either decided to execute them or move them to a more secure location...

Rescue Attempts[]

President Mikhail Britanov met with Chancellor Underwood on Earth with the polls looking very badly in Britanov's favor. "I want at least one triumph in my all-too-short presidency," Britanov explained. "I don't want Joshmaul's death to happen while I am in this office." Underwood agreed wholeheartedly, and inquired what should be done. Britanov replied that the move should be made, and it should be made now. With Britanov about to be defeated in the elections, Underwood knew the chances of finding Joshmaul, Charity and the other prisoners alive would be close to impossible by the time the new President, Scott Matson, took office. He gave instructions to his informant, acting as Artimus' chief of security at Castle Devaneaux. It was the most fateful order he had ever given, and it consisted of only one word: "Proceed."

Jailbreak![]

On January 16, 2376, the security leader went to Joshmaul's cell and explained that the Chancellor had given orders to get them out of there, and that the Federation would provide the rescue effort. Joshmaul's flagship, the Admiral Graf Spee, waited in the Korolev Expanse for the one order that would have to come from Joshmaul himself: the order for retrieval. Freeing Captain Taylor and Charity Lazarus next, Joshmaul gave explicit instructions to Taylor to defend the girl long enough for help to arrive. Taylor vowed to do his best, and set to work.

Led by the security chief and four of his loyal troops, Joshmaul was taken to the comm room in Castle Devaneaux when the alarms began ringing: Taylor had been spotted, and every Artimus-loyal guard in the castle would bear down on them. With his two expert-crafted disruptor pistols, crafted for him at Underwood's request, Joshmaul led the way as the Separatist and Imperial guards began opening fire on each other. By the time the confrontation ended, the security chief and all four of the guards were dead and Joshmaul himself seriously wounded, hit in the right arm. Before dying, the chief pleaded for the venerable Admiral to kill Artimus and end the civil war that threatened to tear the Empire apart. Joshmaul vowed that he would, even if it meant his own death. Making his way into the comm room, Joshmaul managed to make the connection to the Graf Spee. Captain T.J. Underwood, Joshmaul's chief of staff (and the un-augmented son of the Imperial Chancellor), immediately received the news and ordered an emergency warp jump to Reydovan Prime. But Artimus had found out too, and with his flagship, the Hand of Artimus, he attempted to intercept the Graf Spee before it could escape from Reydovan Prime. But Artimus made the mistake of underestimating the speed of the Graf Spee; it was based on the Sovereign class, the fastest ships in Starfleet after Starfleet One. The vessel escaped just as Artimus entered orbit.

The Fall of Castle Devaneaux[]

On March 16, 2376, a combined Starfleet-Imperial force invaded Reydovan Prime, destroyed the Separatist defense fleet, and overran the armies in Montagne Noire. With the planet secure, Kiran Joshmaul led a group of Starfleet Marines into the fortress' Omega reactor chamber, set the reactor to remote destabilization, and beamed out before Artimus' guards could intercept them. Then Joshmaul, along with Underwood and the new Emperor, Artimus' son Kieran, beamed into the Defiler's inner sanctum at the top of the tower and confronted him. The battle was long but in the end, Kieran struck the fatal blow that ended Artimus' reign...along with his life.

Below them, an internal explosion ripped through the "opera house" at the bottom of the castle, set off by zealots trying to trap them. In addition, radiation levels from the Omega reactor rose enough to interfere with transporting. The Marine command ship Shenandoah, along with the starship Prestigious, linked their targeting scanners to beam the three men aboard, along with Lady Anastasia Devaneaux, the former wife of Artimus and mother of Kieran. Joshmaul, the last to beam out, activated the remote destabilization, starting the fifteen-second countdown to the containment field's collapse. Then, just as the timer reached zero, Joshmaul was beamed away, and Castle Devaneaux consumed by the fury of Omega. Joshmaul had set the destabilzation just enough to destroy the tower, the surrounding terrain, and whatever remained of Artimus' forces, before the reactor fizzled out. That was enough.

Shortly afterwards, Chancellor Underwood designated the ruins of Castle Devaneaux and all of the Deadwood Valley around it as a no-fly zone; radiation levels have risen so high there that sensors, communications and, in some places, engines are rendered inoperable.