Inside the castle walls are a marketplace and a series of meeting areas where people sit in groups debating or in stone-tiered theaters listening to lectures. A ramp angles out from the main level of the island and drops past the pillars to meet the water well away from the deadly waterfall. The waterfall protects both the castle and the mirror and thus makes it impossible to attack Vantress by boat. Around the pillars and the mantle of rock they rest on, which is a hollow ridge of mountains rising beneath the lake, the water pours away into a massive hole. The mists clinging to the pillars that support the castle come from the churn rising off a vast circular waterfall. The constant movement gives the impression of a place that can never be still, much like the questing minds of its loremages, riddleseekers, and chroniclers. Spire-like towers and roofs are draped with pennants and flags and banners that flutter in a wind lifting from beneath. Pillars shore up the outer rim of the castle, wrapped by mist and spray. The castle itself rises as an island above the gloomy waters of the Lochmere. Patches of fog drift along the surface of the lake, which is cut here and there by rocky islets like a giant's stepping stones tossed across into the wide expanse. The water of Lochmere is opaque, not silty but impenetrable, as if it devours all light. A walled and warded compound stands on the shore, with an inn, a barracks, a substantial stable, and warehouses for goods waiting to be ferried over to the castle.
The castle itself sits at the center of the lake Lochmere, in which live undines who ferry travelers across, making it almost impossible for an intruder to make it into castle grounds. The highlands of Vantress are riddled with murky swamps and noisome bogs. Vantress wizards (often called loremages, chroniclers, or riddleseekers) seek out the lore of the Wilds and dig into the secrets of the convoluted magic of the fair folk. Still, taking the orders of a sentient magical object that spends most of its time underwater can be quite a challenge, so most of the day-to-day responsibilities are tended to by the archmage, currently Gadwick, the Wizened. Instead, the people of Vantress are led by the Magic Mirror itself. The elite knights of Vantress use owl- griffins as steeds. To the knights of Vantress, knowledge must serve a practical application the mere compulsive hoarding of trivia, as practiced by the wild merfolk of Eldraine, is anathema to them. Many of them strive to help those who are in need of knowledge. Once that gift is bestowed, the blue/grey knights of Vantress continue to seek out new secrets for the Mirror, but they also venture out into the world and the Wilds to put their knowledge to use. To become a knight, an aspirant must tell the Magic Mirror a secret it did not already know, and even then, the gift of knighthood is bestowed at the Mirror's inscrutable discretion. In Vantress, knighthood is knowledge applied to the challenges of the world. The court exemplifies the virtue of Knowledge and is home to Indrelon, the Magic Mirror.
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