Welcome to Gaia! ::

I claim this land for Illumin~

LOCATIONS:

The Pantheon - Illumin's Rooms: Illumin's chambers in the Pantheon are best summed up by this layout image. He no longer lives there, and hasn't been there in years, but the rooms remain and could be quite nice again if they were ever cleaned up.

The small storage room belongs to Panacea; though she hasn't been there for years, Illumin has preserved the room as she left it.



The Pharos Beacon: The Pharos Beacon is a large lighthouse on the coast, an hour's flight from the Edelsteine shop. It is a graceful structure, made of white stone and taller than anything else for miles around. The tower is a graceful upward spiral of ivory stone, vaguely reminiscent of the horn of a unicorn. A small and graceful hall rests at the tower's base, and the room at the pinnacle where the great lenses and lamps are kept is walled in pure glass.

Illumin lives in the Beacon now, and has taken the nearby town of Solde-on-Palecliff under his protection; he considers it his 'capital', of sorts. Though Light himself would never consider the Beacon to be a temple, no small number of mortals do...

Solde-on-Palecliff: The area around the Pharos Beacon suffered greatly during Gehenna, but it has largely recovered. The coastline has revived with Creation's return, with ample fishing and fertile rolling hills. The town of Solde-on-Palecliff has now nearly recovered to pre-Gehenna population levels; they got a good boost during Gehenna itself due to being under the direct protection of a god, and one of the only places with constant, reliable light prior to the restoration of the sky. The fishing fleet of Solde has been rebuilt, as has the town itself.

Pretty much all those living in Solde either worship Illumin openly and willingly, or at least know exactly whom they owe their prosperity to.



NPCs:

For Revei:

LOCATIONS

Revei's rooms:
Two connected rooms, a large living space and a smaller bathing room. One door leads out to the hallway; this door is the silvered, mirrorlike door that greets visitors. Another narrow door in a corner opens onto a hallway that leads to the Aiode quarters, for the convenience of Revei's three servants.

The living space is a high-ceilinged room, rectangular, but with a subtle irregularity of shape. The corners are slightly rounded. The walls and ceiling are of a white substance, hard and slightly cool to the touch; the walls are carved with long bands of near-abstract reliefs, perhaps simply decorative, perhaps representative of the history and myth of Dream. The floor is rough grey stone tile, covered almost entirely with deep, thick rugs of a vaguely Oriental style.

On one end of the room, there is a great circular window with a deep sill, large enough to sit in. Below the window is a low raised dais, like an altar; on this platform is a great tumble of featherbed, blankets, and pillows, a deep and luxurious bed. A carved screen stands on the floor below, shielding part of the platform from view for privacy. The rest of the room is sparsely furnished, with low tables and multiple bookcases, and cushions on the floor on which to sit. A couple of heavy trunks provide storage.

The bathing chamber is small and circular, with the same white walls and stone floor of the outer room, and contains a deep black-tiled tub set into the floor and clean facilities set into an alcove; while living in a still partly mortal body, one must provide for the needs of that body.

Dream - The Thrones:
In the heart of Dream, only accessible to those dreamers and beings of Dream who have been given a key, lies a blank white space, limitless and naturally silent; the sky and ground are white, indistinguishable from one another, though there is a definite sense of up and down. A sourceless light illuminates this space.

In the center of it, inasmuch as such a place can have a center, stand two thrones. They are tall and elaborately carved, in abstracts that are nearly figurative in places, suggestive of shapes and images in the way that dreams almost make sense. Once, the thrones were alive with subtle, shifting, delicate color, beautiful and imposing, hung with silks and velvets. In the absence of their masters, they have faded to grey, dead stone.

Revei's fragmented recollections of the time before the Fading suggest that the heartspace once held gatherings and revelry, courts and judgments, a central space for the lords of Dream to command their subjects.

Dream - The Mires: Beyond the Forest of the Lost and the fogbound, unnamed mountain range that contains it, the landscape of Dream flattens out into a seemingly endless moor, constantly overcast and misty, often drizzling with cold rain. Few creatures of Dream live here, and the ones that do are often touched by the hand of nightmare, twisted and cruel, or lost and desperate.

The Mires stretch forever within their dreamspace, treacherous and difficult to navigate. The higher points of the rolling land are mostly dry, overgrown with dull tangled grasses, low heathery plants, and thorned bushes. In the hollows and lowlands, however, there are dank and swampy places, mudpits, deep and deceptive pools with occasional islands of tufty, muddy grass. Here and there, dark groves of short and spindly trees grow barely higher than the reeds which tower in the watery mud.

Despite its dire and forbidding aspect, a few of the sentient Dream-creatures have made their homes here. Some live in low sod houses or primitive stone huts cut into the hillsides. Others make their homes among the sodden islands in the swamps.

Three of its denizens have True Names; all three are extremely dangerous.

Dream - The Hall of Mirrors: not yet introduced ICly, highlight to read if you don't mind spoilers
In Pickman's City, there is a carnival on the outskirts, cloaked in perpetual night. If one is brave enough to venture into the midway, one of the attractions that dreamers or Dream-creatures may enter is the hall of Mirrors, a constantly shifting maze, in which every mirror reflects a different and distorted view of the observer. A Dream-creature is relatively safe in this attraction, though it may be lost for hours. A dreamer will be lucky to escape, unless he or she awakens first.

But the Hall of Mirrors has another hidden purpose. If one of the two lords of Dream enters the Hall, he sees his own reflection truly; and some mirrors also reflect the panoramas of other worlds. The lords of Dream may step through these mirrors to travel to the worlds reflected in them. To return to Dream, the traveler must step through the same mirror from which he exited; other routes are longer and more dangerous, even for gods. The Hall is still a confusing place in which is is easy to be lost, but it was constructed to give Dream's masters an easy means of travel.

Pandora - The City: not yet introduced ICly, highlight to read if you don't mind spoilers
The City is ancient, tired, run-down and broken and dirty; yet It still holds a thousand thousand wonders in Its depths. It rises from the surface of Pandora and burrows beneath it, level upon level upon level of city, covering the entire planet. Once there were names for the City, but that was long ago, before It absorbed all the lesser cities into Its huge body. Now It has no name other than the one that describes It in Its distilled essence.

The City's economy depends very heavily upon the interstellar luxury market, and wonders of all kinds are produced by Its artisans and geniuses. But this dependence creates a sharp split in the standard of living. In many places, the City is crumbling, dirty, and ill-kept, simply because Its people can't afford to repair It and keep It clean. Parts of the City are better maintained, the ones whose inhabitants can afford to keep it cleaner and better built. Most of the materials for the City's maintenance come from Its own factories and foundries, but the planet Pandora's resources are long exhausted, and raw materials must be bought from offworld merchants or mined from the asteroid belt that lurks in the far reaches of Pandora's solar system.

The staple foodstuffs of the City come from the huge hydroponic farms and crate warrens beneath Pandora's surface, in the depths ofthe City. Farm work is dreay, exhausting drudgery; the most basic of foodstuffs, like the algaes and tank-grown proteins, can be tended by the City's drones, but anything more delicate or valuable must be tended and maintained by human hands. Some of the City's fragmentary personalities resent this fact.

The truly wealthy class of Pandora does not live in the City. Instead, they spend their lives in the skyhook palaces and the Rim, the ring station that orbits Pandora, made from the moons that the planet once had.

Pandora - Across the Rim (Skyhook 5X-0.772): not yet introduced ICly, highlight to read if you don't mind spoilers
Skyhook 5X-0.772 is the home of one of the richest families of Pandora, Old Money in all the senses of the term. House Avin controls the series of chambers and caverns that produces the fruits and spices necessary for the production of Pandora mistwine, as well as the hidden and guarded locations of the cellars in which this precious commodity ages. Pandora mistwine is known across the galaxy as one of the rarest and finest wines available, its hallucinogenic properties prized by wealthy connoisseurs of rare experiences and by several religious sects. Since before the City, House Avin has guarded the secret of mistwine's production, and over thousands of years it has risen to a position of extreme wealth and secret power.

Skyhook 5X-0.772 has no name, unlike some of the other floating palaces. Within it is a garden paradise that cradles luxurious residences. House Avin permits some of its satellite families to live here as well, as a privilege and not-so-subtle reminder that they depend upon the whims of its generosity.

The central complex of residences is built like a small village, the houses and structures built in spare, simple lines, but of the finest materials available. Beneath the apparent simplicity of the natural materials used in the houses and the temple lies the most advanced technology House Avin can get its hands on, as well as a sophisticated automated security system.

Pandora - The Emperor's Collection: not yet introduced ICly, highlight to read if you don't mind spoilers
Hidden in one of the lower levels of the City, there is a labryinthine museum that contains the Emperor's favorite treasures. The Ageless Emperor has been alive for longer than anyone can remember, and beyond his facade of impartial benevolence lies a coldly calculating and avaricious soul. Over the long years of his artificially extended life, he has collected treasures and curiosities from every corner of the galaxy. This museum contains his collection. Very few outsiders have ever been permitted into the twisting corridors and bizarrely constructed rooms of the Collection, and it is rumored that the workers who built the structure vanished quietly and mysteriously after it was completed. The Emperor walks the halls of his private museum alone when he wants to be undisturbed.

NPCs:

This post is Kawagiri/Auriga's. Huzzah!

Here will be information on places, such as Kawa's new room...

NPCs:



very much TBC... once homework and sleep get done.

Last update: Feb 19th, 2010 - Stuff copied over 'as is' from Nerg's journal. I wonder how much more until I hit the character limit? o.0

F A M I L Y _ T I E S :


Echo: The Goddess of Music, his wife-to-be and mother to his children. Unbeknownst to him, she harbored a fondness for him even long ago, in the ages before The Fading. Nergal himself has always been fond of Music, the goddess as well the art she represents. Yet never allowed himself to view her that way, knowing there'd been a Queen at is side in ages past. Even without memory of her or his feelings for her, he would remain stubbornly faithful. However, once he came to know his Queen had been but an aoide, and long since dead and gone now …

Echo is outgoing when Nergal would be reserved, emotional when he would remain stolid and unmoving – cold, as some would say. Thus, they balance out each other almost perfectly. What they share are their uncertainties, in this new life and their past one, leading them to be impulsive or hesitant at the wrong time. Yet they keep learning from each other, to balance out their weaknesses.

Ankou: The Spirit Guide, and – as far as known – the only one to be related to Nergal in blood, his younger brother. Even though their blood relation has been nilled due to their respective rebirths, they remain close, and their mana mingles easily. Each of them has lent strength to the other, in this new age. They seem very alike in some regards (though one has to wonder how much of it has to be attributed to Nergal's strict demands in the past), and completely different in others. Such are brothers. Ankou is one of the very few selected ones Nergal would confide in openly, dropping most of his behavioural defenses.

Sotiris: Underworld's firstborn in this age, the Guardian deity, and a constant test to Underworld's patience. They are quite alike (though both of them would fervently deny it) – and thus clash constantly, both of them believing to be in their right. Though he would never say so, Nergal is actually immensely proud of his first born's strength, and perhaps a little envious of his freedom he enjoys as a child. Sotiris is given quite some leeway by his father – even though it might not seem like that at first glance – but Nergal makes sure he's trailed by aoidei, ghosts, or another sort of caretaker at all times to keep him out of any real trouble.

Lacrymosa: His only daughter, Grief. Seemingly frail, and born without sight (without eyes, in fact), he's naturally very protective of her. Yet, though they should be close in nature, the child seems to be the complete antithesis of him. Social, emotional, craving for physical contact. He's a little upset at time, that she seems to prefer her mother's presence over his. He's cold, she claims, and she doesn't like him meddling with her hair.

Akakios: His youngest son, and being Lament, he appears to be the true union between Underworld and Music. Withdrawn and quit, he seems closest to his father, and of the children he seems the only one able to perceive the dead – he can hear them at least, albeit not see them.


T H O S E _ W H O _ S E R V E :


Ishum: Beast master, stable master to Underworld. Always happy to share what's new on the rumor mill, his loquaciousness has become his downfall at least once in his past. Not one keen on having his realm's secrets revealed, Nergal once had his lips sewn shut to make a point – tiny scars still bear proof of it. Still, it doesn't seem like Ishum has learned his lesson … Jittery at first, thanks to his master's strict rule in the past, he's become more brave and outgoing as it became obvious Nergal's become a little more forgiving to the small mistakes one might make. His lean, almost fragile appearance make this aoide seem unfit for battle, but he's used to wrestling down the Cerberus, hydras, and countless other beasts. Agile and lightning-quick, he's quite deadly in hand-to-hand combat.

Priya: A new aoide, as it seems, as Nergal doesn't remember the least bit about her, and herself not the least bit about having any kind of a past. She's Nergal's self appointed guardian and bodyguard, having failed him repeatedly in that regard, though. However, she's proved to be a valuable tracker and huntress. Currently she ends up having to watch Nergal's children most of the time, with Soto being her nemesis due to his constant escapes. She has a slight crush on Endiovar, the God of Silence.

Endenis: Servant to Funeral once, Endenis remains one of the few precious links to the past. She and her sisters were among those sent out to find Aristogeiton's soul. Of the Weavers of tapestries and shrouds for the dead, only she remains, called back into being by Underworld's growing strength. She handed the scepter of Arrostos – and thus the responsibility to find the Consort's soul – back to Nergal, and remains faithful to him.

Anekbah: Nergal faintly remembers the demoness, just barely enough to know she's been around his court in the past, but her heritage makes it hard for him to actually trust her. She served in the Halls of Embalming, 'prettying up the dead' as she puts it. She does not feed of souls, but rather of the mortals' emotions and sins – 'vanity' has been Nergal's guess, and Anekbah was smart enough to neither confirm nor deny. She has chosen to room with Falcata, the human Death Knight from Mot, and the two women generally seem to get along well.


A L L I E S _ A N D _ A D V E R S A R I E S :


Poltros: Better known, perhaps, as Charon. He used to dwell at Underworld's borders, ferrying the souls across the Grand River – if they had been buried properly. Though he certainly wasn't disinclined towards the occasional bribe. He remains a faithful servant to Underworld, for reasons Nergal cannot fathom. Or, rather – he cannot remember.

Poltros used to be a MageKing, a powerful Necromancer and faithful servant to War once, bringing down a great many of Kingdoms with his undead hordes. He joined the ranks of the Undying by removing his heart, and hiding it in a supposedly save place. However, he crossed Underworld one time to many, causing the Judge of the Dead to claim that man for his own, much to War's chagrin. He hid Poltros'/Charon's heart in an unknown place, and as long as the warlock doesn't know where it is, he remains at Nergal's mercy.

His own body has long since withered to dust, so he claims host body after host body – but they rot so quickly …

Poltros was lover to Trickery once, and she even tried to steal his heart from Underworld's treasury for him.

Kishara: The embodiement of Life, complementing/balancing Underworld's weaknesses in so many ways, and vice versa.

…

If only it was like that.

In fact their relationship turned sour early, by Kishara being overly fond of Nergal's host, and Nergal taking her over at the most impropriate time, without a warning, without a chance for goodbyes. Their encounters since then, so far, have left him being somewhat paranoid of all plant life, expecting it to act hostile towards him.

He had given up on it, but now that he rests against her roots for stability, he's starting to contemplate again – it has to be possible to mend their relationship somehow?

Sesostris: Demon Lord, one of the few to actually deserve that title. He is old, old enough to have seen at least some gods be born long before the Fading, and certainly old enough to see the lot of them wither and die. He is cynical, resourceful, and will serve no one but his own agenda. He is Patriarch to a clan of shadow demons, though their ancestor may have come from Darkness itself. Powerful enough to have no fear of gods that have not yet been fully reborn (up to and including youth stage), he takes delight in teasing them, playing with them, and using them for his own purposes.

Once of high rank in Hell, he used to serve as an ambassador, and mediator, and has offered these services to Underworld again.

He is also called „Sesostris of the Broken Wings“. He once crossed the gods, and what remains from that folly are his wings being in a constant state of decay, while his body strives to regenerate them – this curse eats quite a lot of his strength and seals some of the powers he would otherwise have. The Sight came as a part of the curse, allowing Sesostris to foresee future events to some degree. However, the weeks of the Apocalypse seem to have liberated him of that. His wings, however, keep decaying.

Luthenep: Demon Prince, one of Sesostris' remaining grandchildren. His favorite, and his named heir, and thus being given a lot of leeway. Too much, perhaps. He used to be in love infatuated with Underworld's host, Aislin. He saved her life once by binding her soul and body to himself through a blood pact, causing her to be unable to die, even if she wanted to. Nevermind he brought about the situation which caused her near-death in the first place, albeit it certainly was in the best intentions. The road to Hell is paved with them …

Until the very last he's tried to 'save' Aislin, and getting rid of that deity who'd taken her over.

Now that all of it has failed, the demon child has withdrawn, licking his wounds, his loathing of Underworld growing ever stronger.

Both, Sesostris and Luthenep, are of a rare breed of demons to possess souls of their own.

Xingyuan: A mortal from the city of Koiso, one of the handful to survive the initial flood and the calamities which followed. Down to the earth and practical, she comes from a family of fishermen. In a classic Cinderella story, a succesful businessman fell in love with her, asking her to marry him. However, even long before the flood, their marriage was on paper only, leaving Xing and her husband enstranged to each other. Happily Ever After was naught but a fairy tale after all …

Their only daughter died in the flood.

Xing's husband saved himself when the city was evacuated, but Xing stubbornly remained behind. She hasn't heard from him since. Her considerable organizational skills quickly made her the leader among the remainder of her people, and recently got her promoted to High Priestess Temple Manager.

Miles: He came from Koiso with Xing and her small group, but is no native to the harbor town. A miner and construction worker, he came to Koiso for a chance to board one of the massive freighters shipping mining supplies and workforce to the mines down south.

Rajivini: She too came from Koiso. Her husband owned a store for plants and gardening supplies at the outskirts of town, whereas she would run a small flower shop as a part of it, selling bouquets, wreaths and flower arrangements.

Hoht'hose: A native of the desert country of Mot, a distinguished necromancer as well as an architect and engineer of considerable skill. He also is very short, and no one ever seems capable of remembering his name or to pronounce it properly.

Falcata: A Death Knight from the desert country of Mot. She is quite young and a little inexperienced still. To accompany one of her Elders as his guard on his quest to find out more about the possible rebirth of the God of the Dead was the first real mission given to her.

Allysia: Half-elf, enfant terible and architecture wunderkind, many of Koiso's buildings and bridges were designed on her drafting board. She serves Echo now, and has had her hand in a great many of project seeking to rebuild what has been destroyed, as well as restoring and securing the underground tunnels of the catacombs. Her most current project is the Necromanteion – Nergal's new temple.

Shima: A shapeshifter who played a crucial role in Nergal having been captured by the Demon Lord Bael. Her imitation of Echo was pulled off with enough skill to fool Nergal for just long enough, and afterwards her skills were used again to further torment him, tricking him into thinking Echo had been captured as well.

She quickly recognized her folly however, having been tricked by Bael herself and cruelly tortured as well to make her cooperate further. She's lost her voice in the process, and part of her shifting abilities are now lost to her. She's aided Nergal to the best of her abilities during his captivity, risking her own life and wellbeing in the process, and in the end was the one to free him of the collar that bound his powers.

She showed up at the Pantheon a few months after Nergal's return, and repeated her oath of fealty towards Nergal, determined to make up for the wrong she did to him. Nergal accepted it, trusting Shima enough to allow her to become his firstborn's constant companion and guardian. Or, rather, his 'puppy', as Sotiris puts it.

Jessica: A mortal woman, and mother of two children who was taken in by Lien/Cosine after the crashlanding of her plane. She came to Nergal to seek advice when her other two children, who died years ago, started haunting her little family. The Lord of the Dead is very fond of her, her word is sound, and she's told him about the Day of the Dead. Her oldest daughter, Grace, can see dead and has been gifted a feather from Nergal's wings, to protect her from the more vicious poltergeists.

Julstecca III: Queen of Brilsworth, a monarchy on one of the planets on the plane referred to as Wellhaven by world-walkers and plane-striders. About year ago, small group of peculiar strangers appeared in her queendom, claiming to be gods. A deal was struck, when the claim was proven to be true, as Brilsworth was in dire need of godly intervention at the time. The Kingdom of Irisun threatened to conquer her realm, their Speakers (note: highly skilled and powerful telepaths of sorts) already having killed her lover (and Brilsworth's only Speaker) and their two children. In turn for the gods' help in defending her Queendom against the overwhelming forces of Irisun, they would be granted free passage and given any assistance needed in looking for those relics they were searching so desperately: Two of the soul-fragments of Aristogeiton.

Julstecca is calculating, well versed in political intrigue and used to keep her thoughts guarded at all times. She is well loved by her subjects, and vice versa, wants but the best for them. As a result, she has little qualm about using the gods' intervention to her full advantage. News of the truly miraculous rescue of her Queendom spread quickly throughout the worlds of the Alliance, and now her council is in negotiation with several ambassadors to forge new alliances, and – as the Queen lost both lover and children to Irisun's ploys – a worthy husband as well. Despite the gods' blessing, the Queen would rather rely on a Speaker's power to protect her realm, and she would prefer to have her own children inherit the throne rather than the distant relatives that remain.

During the week of Plague, she fell gravely ill. She remains weakened, but is on the way to recovery.


D E A D _ A N D _ G O N E ( ? ) :


Aislin: Nergal's host. She took on the gem to herself willingly, having lived centuries past the time alotted to her, due to a bloodpact with a demon. She only wanted to survive back then, when she agreed to the pact, but she was unaware it would not allow her to die at all. In the short time left to her, however, she found new joy in life, and managed to touch upon Gaia's heart. When Nergal took over, she was put to sleep, just as she had wished for, fearing she would be unable to bear the fact of her body not being her own anymore. However, she rose for one last hurrah when Nergal was abducted by the Demon Lord Bael, and unable to keep her contained. Experienced in dealing with demonkind, she took much of the pain for him, and they alternated in bearing the torture put upon their joined body. In the end she was devoured completely, when Nergal grew in power and purged the last of his mortality. He himself remains unaware of how, when, and what happened exactly.

Kore: In ancient times, she was the woman at Nergal's side, his chosen Queen. He remembers little of her, not even her face, so it came as a surprise to him that she was no goddess herself, but of the ranks of the aoidei. According to Ishum, she's been graceful, elegant, witty and wise, and Nergal seems to have treated her as his equal. Echo used to refer to her as her dear sister. According to Destruction she is Gone now, and even if her soul were to be found, it is likely she would not remember.

Bael: A self proclaimed Demon Lord, he was powerful and resourceful enough to hold Underworld captive for months, treating the still vulnerable godling as his pet and toy. However, it is folly to imprison a God, especially one who's powers are still growing, if ever so slowly, and cannot be permanently supressed. In the end, Nergal managed to break free, aided by the effects of the near-apocalypse and those among his captors who realized their wrongs; and by his own growth in power.

Nergal killed Bael himself, driven half-insane at the time, and bound his soul to the shards of the collar that was used to bind his powers.

Nergal still refuses to speak of his ordeal during that time, and probably never will. It certainly hasn't helped his loathing of demons.

Annie: This little changeling was a pet/possession of Bael herself, and about the only one who genuinely cared about Nergal during his captivity. She's paid dearly for it, and been buried alive for having chosen a master other than Bael. She's the only mortal Nergal has ever allowed himself to become attached to, and the only one whose death he ever grieved. She is very dear to him, viewed as a daughter, and he continues to keep her close, even after her death.

Randolph: A mortal who befriended Nergal when he was stranded in Aislin's homeworld. Having lost wife and son in a car accident years ago, it seemed the gentle and humorous graveyard gardener would be an ideal follower. Nergal couldn't have been more wrong about that. In the end, Randolph died at Underworld's own hands, and his severe crimes and betrayal remain yet to be judged.

T H E _ U N D E R W O R L D :


Sheol, Hades, the Realm of the Dead ... made anew from Underworld's own flesh and bones.

He is the realm now.

Though, at last, he is no longer stuck in this form. He is able to manifest in human form (or any other, though he hasn't quite figured that out yet) within his realm at will now. To do so beyond his own borders takes considerably more effort, and is a constant, massive drain on his powers, so he never stays in the living realms for long. The experience of being in two places at once – being a place, and walking about in another – still tends to be somewhat confusing for him, though much less so than it seems for others.

The Underworld is comparatively small in size still – only the dead present on the world he'd come from would heed Nergal's initial call, and now he finds that his ability to reach beyond the borders of his new form is extremely limited. Nonetheless, more dead keep trickling in, finding the way on their own or sent by his brother. To them, the Underworld's mere existence is like the pull of gravity. Most of the time it is only a small but steady influx, but occasionally it will become somewhat of a flash flood whenever Nergal manages to align himself to a world.

Whenever a certain limit of souls is hit, the Underworld grows in a sudden, painful spurt to make room for even more – it is something Nergal has little control of, so for the most part he simply bears it the best he can. Unfortunately this also causes his borders to shift quite often, and connections to the living world tend to be unreliable and unstable as a result.

Some stability has been gained, however, by Nergal … having rolled (flipped! like a pancake!! n_n/ *silly*) over and now resting with his 'back' against Yggdrasil's roots.¹

In other words, the Underworld is upside down.

Other than that, the new realm still remains largely unshaped – there are plains of withered grass, twisted trees which bear neither leaf nor fruit, small rivers, the chilly waters of which Nergal has borrowed from the living world's subterranean streams. He is mostly messing around still, trying to get the hang of making – and it seems to be impossible for him to produce anything which does not look like it died a long time ago. As a result, there is little landscape to speak of as of yet, and the majority of the realm remains unmade, featureless and hidden underneath the thick fog that seems to be present everywhere.


However, there is a mountain range arching up in the far distance, marking the borders. The bone-white formation of rocks strongly resembles the ribcage of an impossibly huge fallen beast. Actually it is the ribcage of a certain death god.

The stone which contained his essence, and enabled his rebirth, is still there – buried in the ground quite close to the site of Echo's crash landing. Good luck finding it.

The River of Souls – the souls of the dead made visible, and their faint glow enhanced by crystals and prisms set into the Underworld's ceiling, as they flow into the realm. It is a spectacular sight to behold, even now. It strongly resembles an aurora borealis.


Nergal has tentatively picked up holding court again, but for the most part focuses on the growth of his realm and containing the dead, hopefully taking some strain off Creation and Gaia as a result. The souls of the children, however, considered pure and innocent by him, are sent on immediately, to the best of his abilities, so that they may be reborn as soon as possible. He just hopes he's doing it right.

Up to now, the only means to reach the realm is by either dying (duh) or following Yggdrasil's roots to the Greatest Depths. There may be the occasional place where the Underworld and the Lands of the Living overlap, but these would flicker on and off. Someone might stumble upon them by accident. Underworld's borders used to be heavily guarded, but currently that's obviously not the case. However, there's at least one guardian beast still on the lose in the depths of Yggdrasil's roots, though after its encounter with Echo it's likely to be completely deaf now. And it probably was old and senile to begin with, for it didn't recognize her for who/what she was … <<;;;

¹ He sincerely hopes Gaia wont be pissed at him yet again for giving her cold feet ...


T H E _ T E M P L E :


A location has been decided upon, the site of a ruined cathedral in quite some distance to the town's center and the Pantheon. The festivities of the Day of the Dead were held here the past two years, and underneath lies a vast network of tunnels – the Catacombs. Part ancient crypt and ossuary, part abandoned mines, part service and subway tunnels, part natural caves.

By now the last remains of the cathedral walls have been torn down, and a new building will be erected upon its foundations. The true temple, however, will be deep underground, within a large natural cavern.



A _ T E M P O R A R Y _ A B O D E :





Within the Pantheon, one may now find Nergal's dwelling behind a door of supplicants, arms raised in song as they move along winding paths to find the lands of the dead. However, the Judge of the Dead will no doubt be rarely present himself, now that he has resumed his responsibilities.

However, as these rooms are shared with Music, their children Guardian, Lament and Grief, and their faithful aoidei … there should at least be someone present to leave a message with at all times.


The whole floorplan is based on the typical layout of houses in ancient Rome. The "Garden" is a Zen style rock garden (though it's slowly being converted to a more traditional garden, it seems). The skylight above is open to the sky and weather, not covered by glass or anything. When it rains it rains. When it pours it pours. When the garden turns into a swamp due to bad weather, the kids are happy and full of glee.

The large double door leading from the commons to the atrium/garden are mostly for effect. Even if closed, you easily can get to the gardens and the back of the apartments via the hallway. Usually they remain wide open, closed only to darken the common rooms whenever Nergal is holding court (at the same time representing a symbol of his realm); or to shut out the weather when it gets just too uncomfortable for even deities to bear.

In the common room the mood is set by silken curtains hanging from the ceiling. They are billowing in the slightest breeze, and their color may change according to which deity is holding court. Vibrant colors for Echo, muted grays and blues for Nergal. There also are myriads of lanterns and candles hanging from the ceiling and set in the alcoves. They may be lit by candles or magic. If Nergal is around, the light is provided by the will o' the wisps that accompany him.

There are a number of sitting accommodations and tables in the commons room, allowing for feasting, discussion and lounging. The largest seat, looking not quite unlike a throne, is in front of the double door leading to the atrium and reserved for Nergal's/Echo's use. Which doesn't keep their children from taking a nap on it occasionally.

There are no doors from the Commons and the Atrium/Garden towards the hallway, these are open doorways which may only be "closed" by curtains. Almost every wall is covered with murals.

Nergal and Echo each have their own "private" room for whenever they feel the need for recluse. Nergal has his library/study, Echo has her music room.

Yes, their bedroom is HUGE. Its ceiling is painted with the image of a starry sky.

Yes, the bathroom is HUGE as well. It contains a small indoor pool rather than a bath tub.

Koiso: This once grand and vibrant city has now been abandoned by even the most stubborn survivors, and remains true ghost town. Xingyuan and her little group were determined to hold out until the very last, but when the Avalon's nuclear reactor showed first signs of leakage during the Week of Decay, they were left with no choice but to leave. Now the waters that claimed the town are slowly receeding, leaving behind naught but ruins, and inumerable rotting corpses. It is unlikely that the city will ever be reclaimed by humans, considering the level contamination, and the hazard brought about by too many buildings close to collapse.

Brilsworth/Wellhaven: Brilsworth is not on the same plane as the shop setting. Planestriders call the Plane itself Wellhaven. Wellhaven is not technologically advanced, nor magically inclined. The societies of the planets in the Alliance of Worlds should be considered Tudor. They do, however, have contact between the planets of their universe, through people called Speakers. Speakers are trained from children showing natural aptitude to the abilities, something like telepathy.

The abilities themselves are common in the peoples of Wellhaven, but usually not more then empathy or surface reading of unguarded minds. The Speakers, however, are trained to reach long across the lightyears to touch other Speakers. They are loved and feared.

Growing with such a caste of people, the societies of the Wellhaven plane prize mental astuteness. Socializing, politicing, intrigue and deceit are very, very prevalent. People are guarded from each other, trying to think fast and avoid having their minds and motives read by others. It is a sign of close friendship to spend time with a friend sleeping....that is when the mind is most unguarded.

Mot: A land-locked desert country, bordered by a high mountain range to one side. Of renown even worlds beyond, for their skill in preserving the bodies of the dead, and their powerful necromancy. Their necropolises are famous, cities of the dead far greater than those of the living. A great many of rulers and nobles strive to be buried there – and do pay considerably well for the honor – as the burial sites of Mot are never violated, and never robbed.

There are three main groups among the populace: The Bendii, small people who live deep in the mountains, mining ores and minerals. Their weapons, jewelry and gems are among the finest, and highly treasured by nobility and merchants. The Linth, nomadic tribes that dwell in the desert, often serving as guides and escorts for the merchant caravans. And the Mot, descendants of Bendii who migrated into the desert to tend to the cities of the dead. They are the ones who constructed the massive 'fortresses', huge black pyramids which reach as far underground as they do above, large enough to house a small city, and covered over and over with the trademark ornamental reliefs of the Bendii. Visitors always marvel at how the massive fortresses have been built. The answer, the same as how a small country like this would be able to defend itself against its much larger and more powerful neighbors, lies hidden underneath the sand …

The Silent Forest: An old forest a hundred miles from the Pantheon. Within, there exist the remains of an ancient procession road, and a Mausoleum in which one of the soul fragments of Aristogeiton was found. The mausoleum is old. It was well built in a grotesque mode of architecture involving a great many twisted and writhing relief scultpures of the sufferings and damnations of the underworld. There are no positive depictions. Much of the stonework is overgrown and blackened, chipped and worn by age.

The forest itself gains its name from being eerily silent. No birdsong can be heard within, no rodents' rustle in the undergrowth. It once was Silence's. Time may or may not tell if he'll reclaim it, and if he and Underworld will become the allies once more they've apparently been in the past.

The Catacombs: A vast network of underground rooms, halls and tunnels, which can be accessed through the crypts of the former St. Kore cathedral, to the far east of the town's center. It is very old, and its origins remain unknown, though it is at least partially made up of natural caves, especially on the deeper levels. The section right underneath St. Kore's crypts serves as an ossuary and columbarium.

The Underground structure suffered a great deal in the Weeks that preceeded the possible Apocalypse, great portions of it having collapsed, and – in some occasions – even causing sinkholes to open on the surface, swallowing whole buildings.. The numerous ladders and rope bridges which crossed the underground chasms have all but decayed and fallen apart.

At its greatest depths, there is a Sanctuary which was once dedicated to the Underworld – a small, octagonal room, containing an altar at one end, and the mural of a massive Gate at the other. The mural is so skillfully executed, that – in the dim light – it easily fools the eyes, leading one to think they may in fact be real. They are, but so far, they've refused to open for anyone but Underworld Himself.

When Echo attempted to make it to the Gates, after she had heard nothing of her lover for too long once he'd left to restore his realm, it was the joint venture of her own and Nergal's followers that cleared and secured much of the catacombs – at the price of several lifes due to accidents.

The entrance through St. Kore's crypts is the one best known, but by far not the only access to the ancient tunnels.

NPCs






Places

Same as Ea's.

For Silence//Colin

LOCATIONS

Colin's Apartment: 1121 Portola Street (cross streets: Portola & Brickwell) Anyplace, USA. Colin lives in a one-bedroom apartment located on the top (second) floor, left side of the staircase in his building. It's a small but neatly kept place with a tattered couch and loveseat that he purchased second-hand from a thrift-store down the street, a scarred formica table in the "dining area" and a very narrow but servicable kitchen. His bedroom is nearly as large as the rest of the place and contains his futon, a banged-up chest-of-drawers, a computer desk (with ancient [read: 4year old] computer) and a large closet that he uses mostly for storing his dance equiment.

His walls are decorated with billing posters from the productions he's been a part of, framed nicely (gifts) and nothing more. Early spartan or late monk, perhaps?

After Endiovar came into his life: Colin's apartment was upgraded slightly to contain things his new "roommate" (Illario) would need, including a desktop replacement laptop as well as a smaller one. Unfortunately, after Silence morphed, Illario moved out. The apartment has been leased in Colin's name for at least 6 months, but it seems unlikely that Endiovar will stay there.

One Way Town Dance Studio: A rather spacious dance studio that resides in a brick building with oak doors; fairly near Colin's apartment. The outer building is weather-worn and in need of some repair (though not badly yet).

Inside, once one gets past the modest reception area, the studio comes equipped with a with a more than adequate gym set up, a small pool, hot tub and sauna, a large room with mirrors for dance lessons and several small, private rooms for massage therapy, lockers etc.

Pantheon: Nothing personal, as of yet

Silent Forest: --Processing--

Sephulchre: --Processing, name etc may change -- X_x;;

NPCs:

As Endiovar:







As Colin:

For Zhijian

Places:









NPCs:
[The majority of these probably won't come back into play, but Seppa knew them all, so here they go.]