Locations/ManseofLiliesandFlowingWater

Manse of Lilies and Flowing Water (Hidden Manse)

From a distance, it looks like nothing more than an area of wooded land with a hill in the centre of it. As

you get close, however, it becomes obvious that it’s not just a hill, though the nature of the thing is not
immediately apparent. A stand of trees surrounds and covers said hill by a few acres and to enter the manse, one
must first find the place that the earth opens to admit you. A doorway is covered with thick vines that sport
hearty thorns that look almost… hungry. If studied closely, however, one can see a path through them that looks
like someone regularly comes through this way. Once you pass the vines, the ‘hill’ reveals itself to be a
structure of some sort. Maybe the builders were clever enough to disguise it as a hill, maybe Gaia overtook it…
but for whatever reason, this place was lost from the world. The entryway is made out of carved blocks of some
dark grey stone and down the hallway a ways there is a large fountain. The fountain runs, clear water flowing out
from… somewhere and into a deep basin in which water lilies bloom and dance in the rippling water. Fish of some
kind swim beneath their green expanse, the fish starkly white and orange against the otherwise very earthy tones
of the manse’s construction. From the fountain, there are branches of hallway leading left and right that end up 

going nowhere but to elaborately graven shrines to both Gaia and the Unconquered Sun (one in each direction). This

part of the manse is, for the most part, dark- though over the fountain is a hole in the ceiling that allows for light to come streaming down and grace the lilies with the glory of the Unconquered Sun himself. 

To get deeper into the Manse takes a little ingenuity- one must go through the fountain. The water falls at such an angle that it conceals a door to the inner sanctum. You don’t have to get wet in order to pass through, either, you can just walk behind the falling water and into the passageway that leads one to the inner chambers. As you enter this passage, the temperature rises slightly and the air is filled with the scent of damp earth and growing things, it retains this even in the depths of winter when cold grips this manse and strangles the life that bursts forth within these walls. Fifteen or twenty feet of this strange tunnel and abruptly you are in a large, open-air room. The ceiling extends out perhaps seven feet from the walls in all directions and in the centre there is a large square (15’x15’). Water encircles the base of a large tree that grows from the centre of the room, its branches all but covering the sky from where you stand. Sunlight is filtered down through those arcing boughs and dapples the floor (which is made of the same grey rock as the rest of the manse). The walls are covered in honeysuckle vines that bloom at the touch of the sunlight, their delicate flowers adding a sweet scent to the air that overlaps the deep scent of life that emanates from the very walls themselves. Along the edges of the skylight, there are boxes filled with dark earth that hold all sorts of flowers and growing things- none of which need to be tended by the touch of a gardener.

The tree is clearly the centre of the flow of Essence and if you get closer, you will see a hollow in the centre, reachable by stepping-stones that cross the ‘moat’ that surrounds it. Within that hollow is the place that the hearthstone nestles so nicely. The whole manse emanates peace and well-being, as though encouraging life from all whom enter.

The hearthstone itself is a deep and rich emerald green with golden flickers near the centre and in the sunlight, the flickers become a steady glow that could probably light a small room (though it could never be proven, considering that the stone only does this when exposed to direct sunlight.)

Template:BLOODY FECKING FORMATTING--- if someone wants to fix that, I'd be forever oblidged - -;;