|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:53 pm
QU'ELLAR DEGHYM
Champions of the Forgotten Ways
5th House of Au Shinduago
Located near the Colleges and Temples District, the sheer size of House Deghym belies its authority. Made up of countless labyrinthine levels and catacombs, much of the information collected of the lifetime of UnderGaia is kept in the house proper, as to the Deghym family there is no treasure greater than knowledge.
The House is also tasked with the upkeep and smooth running of the colleges and temples of Au Shinduago. Part priest and part scholar, they run both factions of the city, and with frightening zeal and fanaticism. The House believes itself above the petty political games of the drow, and dedicates itself solely to their task as caretakers. Many mistake their apathy towards the power games of UnderGaia as weakness, and have attempted to take advantage of the Deghym.
Woe unto them.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:54 pm
PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES
PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT QU'ELLAR DEGHYM IS STILL UNDERGOING EXTENSIVE CONSTRUCTION. MORE WILL BE ADDED TO THIS POST IN TIME AS MORE OF THE HOUSE IS WORKED OUT.
The actual house where the Deghym reside is, in a word, huge. Any system to its construction was abandoned quickly, as new wings were tacked on in a hurry to house their expansive records. Disgustingly dull and unorganised, many drow look down upon the house as an oddity in their society. To avoid taking over much of the city, and spilling into the neighbouring Colleges and Temples District, great resources have gone into the excavations of the foundations of their property, and even by the standards of a subterranean culture, the Deghym are primarily deep dark dwellers.
House Proper
The house proper, where the Deghym family itself resides, is at odds with the disorganised construction of the archives and the dry, secretive nature of the house. The house opens up straight onto a needlessly oversized and extravagant entrance hall, littered with spiralling staircases leading up and down to other levels of the house. In comparison, many of the other rooms of the house seemed tiny and cramped. They keep false wealth on display, though whether it is out of ignorance or mockery is unclear; coloured glass, polished tin, gilded brass, cheap pottery, among others.
The doors leading on to the throne room are enormous, tall enough for twenty men standing on one another's shoulders to walk through comfortably, though so narrow that, even with the twin door system, two people at most would be able to walk through at a time. The throne room itself is dark, dusty, and empty, and has clearly not been used for some time. Any furniture kept inside, even the throne itself, is covered over, and it reeks of misery and death.
The Cnawlen Pytt
The archives where the treasures of the House Deghym are officially recorded as the Cnawanlechen'puteus, but the informal name, and the one more commonly spoken and scribed, is the Cnawlen Pytt, both meaning, in forms of official and slang language, the Knowledge Pit. Indeed, the Cnawlen Pytt has a pit-like quality, tumbling deeper and deeper underground in steeply carved corridors. Although it is supposedly arranged in a precariously chronological order, there seems to be little method to the sorting of the records. It is said that it is based of the maddened, twisted mind of a true Deghym drow, and so only one of the house can properly traverse the Pytt. Many sections of the Pytt have been cordoned off, left untouched for millenia, buried in a blanket of dust and time.
No one person is allowed access to all the Pytt. Each scholar is assigned a particular area, to better safeguard the secrets kept there. Much of the records are scribed in a short-hand of the Deghym's own devising, and very few are learned in it. The House is incredibly paranoid about protecting their banks of knowledge.
The Scholary
The training house of the House Deghym, where scholars worthy of handling the knowledge of the house are trained. While on official records, anyone can become a full-fledged Scholar of Deghym, only those from the immediate family of the House Matron are ever given rights to the Cwanlen Pytt, and even fewer are taught the Deghym Shorthand used in the records.
The life of an apprentice scholar is gruelling and humiliating, and said to be even more challenging than other paths, with far less reward. Only fanatics and zealots of the Deghym cause should enter into the training.
Deghym, a house that keeps secrets and births rumours, have had many stories told about their Scholary. They say that exemplary students are chosen to undergo special training, to join the fabled Army of Dust -- the frightening and secretive protectors of Deghym secrets.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:05 pm
HISTORY OF HOUSE DEGHYM
Pending.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:06 pm
DENIZENS OF DEGHYM
Matron Deghym: All information on the Matron of House Deghym is unknown -- an advantage to being a house of knowledge is that one can choose which knowledge to distribute and which knowledge to hide. Rumours abound on the facts of Matron Deghym include theories that the woman has long ben dead, but that the family has kept up the charade of her control in order to avoid the power vacuum her loss would bring, allowing their house to be attacked and/or absorbed in the current overhaul of the power structure in all UnderGaia.
Aunfryn Deghym: A lesser Daughter, though she commands respect and minor obedience for the position she holds, and the duties she carries out. She is the personal caretaker of the Matron, and spends most of her time tending to the woman, with half an hour at most for free time. She is given the minimum hours of sleep while the Matron is tended by duty nurses. Mother of Zilvvrae Deghym.
Zilvvrae Deghym: As the third born daughter of one of the lesser off-shoot families of House Deghym, she has gained advantages in her climb for power. Daughter of Aunfryn Deghym, because of who her mother is, despite being the lesser daughter of a lesser family, she was given training as a house spy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:08 pm
ALLIANCES
Qu'ellar d'Ssindossa.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:14 pm
ROLE OF HOUSE DEGHYM
House Deghym are "Keepers of Secrets" in Au Shinduago -- and in some aspects, all of UnderGaia. During the tumultuous and conflicted history of the drow of UG, they took advantage of an aspect of culture that was overlooked in the bid for power, hoping to find their own standing through this niche; they hoarded secrets and facts, recording ever facet of history, even the most seemingly inconsequential. They believe it is their sacred duty to protect their vast collection of knowledge, and that the only one allowed to know all that they have collected is the Masked Lord himself.
Further explanation pending.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:15 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:45 pm
Qu'ellar Deghym. The forgotten house, once left behind as UnderGaia was hurtled into a new age. A new world order. But that was the thing about House Deghym. They functioned differently to other houses. They understood time differently. What was the rise and fall of a few Houses over the past couple years compared to the infinite stretch of history?. Their obsession, once merely a means to an end fuelled by ambition as rich and dangerous as any drow, had set them apart. The moved quietly, step by step. They did not rush, did not play the games of the drow. Their ways and their plans were inscrutable, so far apart from the traditional drow psyche. They were zealots, which made them dangerous. Zealots are unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Zilvvrae stood in the entrance hall, her face a blank mask. It was drow custom to show as little as possible on your features. Confidence, disgust, contempt... as long as it came alone. Complication made you easier to scrutinise, to read. As a scholar of House Deghym, it was especially crucial for her to remain unreadable. She was scenery. Background. That was her role.
The foot traffic of drow coming through the entrance hall brought in the stench of rumours from all over the city. As the crux of the house proper, with doors and stairs and corridors all leading off to the other areas of the house, the entrance hall was rarely empty. A studious listener could collect all sorts of information from the room. Zilvvrae's only movements was the gliding of a short stick of pencil over a notepad, incomprehensible shorthand recording various broken shards of conversation filtering through.
The market was in riot. Qu'ellar Druu'giir had officially opened its doors in search of a new ruler. The houses would be tearing at each others throats for the power. To control Qu'ellar Druu'giir was to control all of Au Shinduago. For a wretched, lawless city such as Zilvvrae called home, it would take a special mind to truly control the pit. Matron Aleanrae was the first to make a move on the House. The expression of the young female drow didn't even flicker, her eyes glazed over with trained care. But on the inside was a smirk of contempt for the pathetically ambitious Drejan Aleanrae had expressed itself. She would have spat at the name if she could have.
Zilvvrae prayed for her failure, though in truth it would not matter to Qu'ellar Deghym who seized power in Au Shinduago. Theirs was a high calling than petty politics.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:50 am
"Zilvvrae," the soft whisper bored through her thoughts, and golden eyes turned to the generic face of her mother -- a gentle corona of white curls around a dark, severe face with slanted, dangerous red eyes, "She has called for you."
Zilvvrae inclined her head towards the woman in barest acknowledgement. Her mother was a glorified nurse, while her daughter was a full-fledged scholar and spy of the house. While none would raise a hand against the woman for her integral part in the continued running of the house, none would deign her to be worth their time. It would have left another woman embittered and even more unpleasant than your standard Drow. But you needed a special sort of mind to do what Zilvvrae's mother did, every day, all day.
Zilvvrae crossed the expansive hall, her feet almost soundless on the worn run that stretched from one end to the other. Anyone who crossed paths dipped out of her way, noting the small brooch she wore, and the purpose with which she strode towards the Throne Room.
The doors opened a crack. The room was covered in dust and black sheets, and was a depressing, gloomy sight. But it wasn't here that she was needed. Feet carrying her across the room, she stood before the covered throne, speaking directly to it. In response, the back wall of the room slowly opened up. Dead, ancient air washed over her, stinking of rot. Zilvvrae took the moment of isolation to let loose a small frown, and then righted her expression. Silently, she followed the passage deeper into the heart of Qu'ellar Deghym.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 4:21 am
Zilvvrae shuddered as the freezing damp of the Matron's lair met with the comparatively toasty upper levels of the house. Her hood was thrown down over her shoulders, and a smarting bruise was blossoming on her jaw. She pulled her veil up over her face to hide the mark.
She despised the decrepit old woman. She managed to suffocate the murderous thoughts that were occasionally aroused by the funereal stink of the house, but the seething hatred always lingered. She couldn't hide it from the old hag. Zilvvrae supposed that, to some extent, the woman reciprocated the feelings, which was why she took such joy in seeing the young drow squirm...
Deep within the catacombs of the House, spoiled in static magic on its last legs, and in the trance of the Matron, she had missed the announcement that had set the city abuzz, but with her mind enthralled by the Matron, she had learned through her. There was little the Matron did not know. It was one of the few things that could still be said about her -- but there were still some points that escaped her notice. Agents had scoured the city, but even they had failed to pick up the moment and place where it had begun.
Val'atar Druu'giir was back...
Zilvvrae massaged away the ache in her head. It was something she would have enjoyed investigating. It was no secret that she had shown great interest in his associates, after all. His mysterious, otherworldly visitor, the water woman, for example. But, alas, she had been given more mundane tasks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
vVDragonVofVDarknessVv Crew
|
Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:19 pm
Given the circumstances of his return, it wasn't a big surprise that Val'atar had lost much of his fear of death. Thus, it was not a great deal to him to shadow-walk into the middle of Qu'ellar Deghym. he arrived without a sound, stepping from a darkened corner. No fanfare, no soldiers, just him striding into the midst of the hall without a care.
The first to spot Val'atar was a servant and it drew a gasp from the man as he drew back in fear. Here stood a being of unknown origin, with scaled feet and hands, black skin and fierce golden eyes. That alone would have put most drow off, but more so Val'atar was tall, so much so that he towered over the thin creature before him, his horns making the effect terrifyingly overwhelming. With a shriek, the servant flees, screaming for the guards.
Left there chuckling softly, the Ilharn of Druu'giir wanders about the room, inspecting the furnishings and decorations, while awaiting the arrival of the guards and nobles of the house.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:47 pm
It was Aunfryn Deghym, Zilvvrae's mother, who was first at the scene. Her strides were long and confident, her red eyes gaunt with weariness and narrowed in fearsome rage. Dull, off-black cloth flapped behind her dramatically as she strode down the expansive main hall, flanked by a surprisingly small force.
"Who dares to-." Her sharp tone was dropped immediately at the sight before her. A vicious, terrifying creature, indeed, but that just made him all the more obvious to recognise. Her features, one moment ago twisted into ugliness with fury, had switched so smoothly over to blank and respectful that it was impossible to pinpoint where exactly it had happened. She kept her approach, but the storm of it had subsided into an open, respectful trot. It was truly impressive how immediately and imperceptibly she had made the change.
"Ilharn Val'atar Druu'giir, it is an honour to have your presence in our lowly house." Her bow was snapped out, as stiff as her features had become. Some might have thought that the toneless manner in which she delivered the words to be a form of mocking them. It was simply the manner of the Deghym Drows, however. "We had, of course, already heard of your return, but we did not think you would bother to inspect our meagre house so soon."
If it was modesty, it was insincerely represented.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
vVDragonVofVDarknessVv Crew
|
Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:44 am
Regarding the Matron with his calculating gaze, Val'atar chuckles softly as he walks towards her. His golden irises travel over her form briefly before he steps past her, speaking from behind her.
"But of coarse you did Matron, you knew as did the others.
Your house is a corner stone to this city, false modesty or not. I've known your family for generations and while your mother was a very good lover, she was also very smart, as are her children no doubt. Thus I have little doubt that you can guess why I am here as well.
This city has been ravaged by the Aleanrae's ambitions, I am setting things straight. You house and mine will form an alliance and you will be given the rank of fifth house in the city. You can accept these things or we can enter into a more aggressive negotiation if that is your wish."
Standing just behind her, the last was whispered into her ear. Smiling ever so slightly to himself, he leans back and waits for her reply.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 7:24 pm
Aunfryn's mouth twisted into a smile, rigid and false, the closest show of her disdain for the creature who called himself master of Au Shinduago. He was right on the matter of her intelligence, however. Her eyes were kept facing straight ahead, and she resisted the urge to repel the presence of Val'atar.
"All those of the Aleanrae were fools, with more ambition than sense. We are glad for your return, Ilharn, and gladly accept your alliance."
The crispness of her words belied the twist of anxiety in her stomach. Val'atar was an unpredictable, temperamental b*****d. Deghym's inactivity in the face of the city's turmoil could have been viewed either way. They had had to deal with keeping their own affairs in order in the face of the anarchy and power vacuum that Val'atar's departure had left, but so had many other houses.
She turned her head, enough to just barely catch sight of Val'atar's face. The sincerity in her follow-up words was dangerously intense. This close, the madness that infected her brain could be glimpsed beneath her red gaze.
"Your return is an omen for the Masked Lord that Au Shinduago rill rise. You have our loyalty."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
vVDragonVofVDarknessVv Crew
|
Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:16 pm
"I will hold you to that promise. The next few months will see chaos rise and fall within the city and the houses. Your loyalty will be needed and likely tested."
Walking around her, he leans down to look directly into her eyes, his unnaturally long white hair spilling around his heavily muscled upper body as he gets within inches of the end of her delicate nose.
"If you fail or betray me Deghym, what I did to Aleanrae will seem like a gift. Your knowledge of the past no doubt means you know exactly what I have done to houses who failed me before, your own house was built on the ruins of another as your Mother is aware.
For now, I need information and aside from the thieves and spies.. your house is the best source. Search your tomes for anything about being the Chosen of a God."
He turns and walks back towards the corner he had arrived from, but pauses just before his feet enter the deepest part of the darkness. Slowly, he turns his head back, feral eyes alighting on her for a long moment.
"You will keep this last matter between us. Your much more pretty than your mother or even her mother, it would be a shame to have to ruin such a thing of beauty because you couldn't keep your luscious lips closed."
And then he steps forward and vanishes from sight, sinking into the shadows like they were a doorway. One moment he was there, the next he wasn't.. but his warning rang loudly even after he had gone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
