Spell: Hidden Fortress

Type: Ritual

Casting Time: 24 hours

Range: variable, but not more than line of sight

Components: V,S,M

A miniature model of the fortress to be created, worth at least 1000 GP

Duration: generally Permanent

The spell Hidden Fortress creates a permanent fortress as per the caster's design. This design has to be created in miniature, and requires cumulative successes to create. The larger and more complicated the fortress being created, the higher the difficulty. Likewise, there is no minimum or maximum size fortress that can be created, but again, the larger the design, the more challenging. 

A large fortress is 10,000 square feet

An average fortress is 6,000 square feet

A small fortress is 2,000 square feet

The fortress is only counting the main structure of what is normally associated with a castle. It doesn't include any walled in areas, no open courtyards, just the main keep/tower structure. The structure will have whatever amenities are included with the miniature but a great hall, armory and arsenal, kitchens, sleeping quarters, and things like defensive interior walls, arrow slits, murder holes, and defensive weaponry. 

Mundane Use

The mundane use of this spell allows for a cabal of magic users to raise a castle from the earth in a matter of days rather than the usual years it takes for these structures to be built. Practical, and boring.

Exceptional Use!!!

The Castle of the Ring

Nukkus of the Nine Steps, a powerful necromancer, made exceptional use of this spell when creating his hidden fortress. Nukkus had a ring crafted of the same mithril the miniature was created from, and when the spell was completed, his castle was created INSIDE of the stone set in the ring. Nukkus wore his citadel on his finger, and could travel in and out of his fortress by projecting his spirit into the ring. When inside the castle, guests, victims, and servants were shrunk to incredibly small size. Nukkus kept dozens of prisoners in his dungeon, as well as a staff of workers crafting arms and armor for his horde. When he destroyed the great keep at Zailah, Nukkus had his messenger and ambassador don the ring and carry it into Zailah. Once inside, the messenger opened the castle gate, and Nukkus lead his undead host into the massacre and completely sacked Zailah. After the slaughter, his undead looted the castle in it's entirety and when the castle gate was closed, Nukkus put his ring back on, cursed the land under Zailah, and departed.

The Castle Phlegma

Castle Phlegma was created by the infamously dour Magistrix Vrohan. Vrohan was a smuggler, a war profiteer, a sentient being trafficker, murderer, and overall horrible person. After years, she had a cabal of mages cast the Hidden Fortress spell on her behalf, and after creating a massive 12,000 square foot palatial style fortress, stunned the cabal be demanding that the spell be cast specifically on her. Castle Phlegma was conjured inside of Vrohan, and the 'gate' to the castle appeared as a door tattoo above her bellybutton. Vrohan could control who went into or out of the castle, and the castle eventually functioned as a safehouse, a prison, and a smuggler's den. She could transfer her consciousness into the castle, leaving her body sleeping.

Castle Phlegma erupted to full size after Vrohan was slain in an attack by raiders. The apperance of the palace released the prisoners inside, and the guards who had been inside were also released, and they were thrown into combat with the surviving raiders. The palace was covered in blood, and was quicky abandoned. It is haunted by Vrohan's ghost.

Castle Castle

Castle Castle was a large keep, with a main fortress over 25,000 square feet, three concentric rings of curtain walls and over a dozen large towers scattered through them. Armies could be sequestered within the main wall, and the middle ring was large enough to host the village of the castle workers, and servants. The lord of Sarsingherst Castle was paranoid, so had his council of mages cast the Hidden Castle spell, creating a replica of Sarsinghurt, and the placing the hidden fortress inside the original castle. Access to and from the hidden castle was through a secret door near the Lord's personal quarters, and served as a secret castle inside the castle. The first Lord was paranoid and it was a fortress scale panic room. His predecessors have alternately used the hidden castle as a den of secret pleasures, a palace dedicated to torture and imprisonment, it was forgotten for a few decades, and is currently being used as a museum and a vault of oddities.

Other castles have been created as deliberate toys, hidden in staves, hidden inside trees, where the castle grows as the tree does, and even inside things like golems, elementals, statues, mountains, or other places.