HOLY CARP THE VOID IS FRIGHTENING.
This is not Chaos, this is ENTROPY. People saying that both are the same aren't aware of the semi-cyclic, kind of spiraling movement of chaos. Undulating if you want. Entropy just rocket toward a blank state as fast as it can. Also it's irreversible. You can't do anything about it, 2nd thermodynamic law. And I hate it for that.
Anyway it was exactly what I was fearing, the voidspawn excepted. Glad we could save them. 137 seems short though. I fear many of them were lost. Interrogate them about their god, when did he died, that kind of things. If they have any clue of why or how, I'll be happy, but it's unlikely. He apparently just vanished and THIS IS FREAKING ME OUT. Local gods can't be responsible. Maher, albeit powerful, is not nearly enough so to make an established god just vanish. He wasnt a chaotic, so the empire shouldnt be responsible. All it's left is SOMETHING. Something I already fear.
DAMN YOU GM! Now I'll sleep even less...
For the castle: Uuuhh... See my image above for reference... Huge central tree? Good. Habitable, self-sustaining city around it? Good too. Layered castle in somewhat pyramidal fashion for protection? Perfect. Underside half-sphere for core magic thing making it fly and possibly room for a future superweapon? Deal!
Let's start with that and add details.
And let Krait participate in the design, as well as Uristiel. Tell him we intend to make it fly. Maybe not that we intend to make it able to level cities.
Poke around the city for feelings the gods here. Tell them you don't intend to get followers, just to set up trade and such.
Then, when we DO have the city, troops transports, armies of Stems and Saps, drop pods filled with nasty things and manarack-powered LAZ0RS of D00M, say hello to mister Maher. I'm pretty sure this baby would take whatever he could throw at it.
And if don't, it wouldnt have helped much against the Empire...