Location from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams
The nail-fort — Josua's stronghold at the foot of the Wealdhelm, surrounded by iron spikes the Sithi can't bear to touch, destroyed in the war's first great catastrophe.
Naglimund was built over a thousand years ago on former Sithi lands by the Nabbanai architect Dendinis — the iron nails were his answer to the Sithi threat, and the name stuck: 'Nail-fort.' The Sithi call it 'The Snare That Traps the Hunter' and 'House of a Thousand Nails,' which suggests they don't find the name endearing. Under Josua it became a place of learning and relative tolerance — Father Strangyeard's library was one of the finest in Osten Ard. When the Storm King's war broke, Naglimund was the first major fortress to fall — Elias summoned Norn forces, and the combined assault of Norns, Bukken, and the Red Hand overwhelmed its defenders. The town and castle were put to the torch. Everyone inside was murdered. Its fall is the moment the war becomes real — the shock that galvanizes the scattered resistance into actual organized opposition.
Lines of high walls surrounded by a ditch, with several tall square towers with narrow windows. Two major gates: one toward the town, and the Eastern Gate connecting to the Stile — an ancient road through a cavern in the Wealdhelm. The fortress is ringed by iron nails driven into the ground, a ward against the Sithi from which it takes its name. The library is legendary; the banner is a grey swan.
Also known as: Naglimund, The Nail-Fort, Ujin e-d'a Sikhunae