Improphane/ValleyOfTheDevilsTongue

(This is the Chapter on the Underworld from a piece of work called the Valley of the Devil's Tongue, a setting Northwest of the Lap and East of the Thousand. I'll post the outline at somepoint as well so you can know what the rest of it was about if unmade, hell maybe some of you will finish it for me, at least if I repost the outline from Ex Libris Nocturnis Forums.) - Improphane

Beneath the Beast

The Valley has many Gods to deal with the living and the lands within Creation, but when it comes to the dead and the Underworld Gods have little to do with the matter. In local custom the dead are laid to rest upon the river, the river that has been the center of their lives becomes the most deciding factor in their deaths. The dead are laid upon a raft with a few of their most prized belongings and a letter from their family to say who they were and what they had done in their lives. The ceremony itself is conducted in complete silence, for poorer families the body is simply put on the raft and let out, for richer families there may be more elegancy to it maybe a silent performance to remember the deceased's greatest moments. Yet whether poor or rich what happens next is more important, Taggatzu is the great consumer demon in the beliefs of the Valley and he is also the land and so to him are the lives of those who work upon him sent to be judged. Taggatzu has two choices, he either swallows the corpse and it becomes a Ghost in the Underworld, or he spits it out of his land so the soul rejoins the regular system of reincarnation and is no longer bound to Taggatzu's corpse. After the ceremony the congregation watches where the body goes, but it is the priest who tells the family where their loved one has gone, it is assumed that towards the sea means Taggatzu has rejected the life and sinking or upstream travel means that he has taken the body and the soul is making the journey through Taggatzu's corpse down to the Underworld.

While the soul makes his journey through the body of the land to which it is bound to there is said to be a God that guides them, or a God that judges them. There is no journey through the Underworld, and while they are judged it isn't by any Gods but by their fellow Ghosts. So this worship is seen as free Essence for any least God that wants it to pose as the particular god they are worshipping for a bit. Ghosts in the Valley are like all other Ghosts; they remember nothing in between dying and arriving in the Underworld.

(Sleeping With The Fishes: The burial rites of the Valley people have created a river full of Hungry Ghosts with no real tomb to keep them within. The rafts the dead are laid on are made out of cheap materials and not designed to last very long, and because the river has certain points that are more difficult to get through the rafts tend to build up along the river, meaning there are colonies of aquatic Hungry Ghosts. See the Chapter on Demon spawn for more info.)

Lands of the Dead

The world underneath the Valley (that certainly isn't a valley) is dominated by a giant First Age city known only as the Nameless City. This city is said to have been eaten by Taggatzu himself and upon his death, an event that brought Creation and the Underworld within a hair's length of each other, it tore out of his stomach into the Underworld. The Nameless City, nameless because none remember it's name (or even it's original location), is now formed like a hill in the center there are layers of buildings and all of them are tightly packed together and the further one goes the wider the spaces between buildings become until eventually you're out of the city. The Nameless City held over a million citizens in the First Age and now it struggles to reach ten thousand. All this creates an atmosphere when coming into the city, walking past countless empty buildings before coming across a few districts with sporadic habitation. Then nearer the center navigation becomes more difficult as the buildings are closer together and precariously positioned but every fourth house might be lived in. In attempt to make it easier to travel the streets start to lead on top of the buildings to the extent that there are bridges in between the buildings a this point shops start to appear. At the very center of the Nameless City there is the Inverted Palace the abode of its ruler the Forgotten Sovereign.

The Inverted Palace is an example of the interesting architecture that resulted from the unplanned moving of the city to the Underworld. The Inverted Palace is a tower that is upside down, perfectly reversed unlike many buildings that are at strange angles leaning against each other or balanced between others. Placed on top of several buildings placed on their side, the Inverted Palace and the King's Square are the only places that look reasonably normal being the only flat street that isn't on the ground and one of the only straight buildings. The Inverted Palace is also the highest point in the Nameless city, not that this is very special the whole city lying low. The King's Square is in addition to being the only perfect "rooftop" street (unless you count falling through windows an imperfection) is an Underworld Demesne and as a result some of the city's only building work has taken place there to construct a few low level Manse's, one is the courtroom where the judges are allowed to attune themselves while they are in service and another was constructed by First and Forsaken Lion's servants and is used by his Abyssals when they pass through the Nameless City.

Death in the Big City

The reasons to pass through the Nameless City with its aggravating geography and accidental architecture are many. One is because of the city's space many Ghosts have come to the city in order to set up shop and so many craftsmen and merchants are slowly filling up the remaining houses in the Nameless City and trade is steadily blooming. Another reason for Abyssals (and other servants of First and Forsaken) to come is to recruit forces, inside many of the buildings the Forgotten Sovereign keeps zombies and Hungry Ghosts leftover from the many corpses consumed by Taggatzu when the city was originally destroyed, not that First and Forsaken Lion settles for mindless drones he taxes the Forgotten King a few newly dead Ghosts each year to be taken off by the Legion and sometimes his servants resort to less diplomatic methods of recruiting. Inside all the First Age buildings there are also many artifacts and materials now considered rare and so the Forgotten King always has men searching through the rubble to find something interesting which is then sold on in markets, not that some treasure hunters don't jump in themselves, but they quickly learn to plan trips inside the Nameless City's many empty buildings very carefully.

The last and most important reason to venture through the unreadable borders of the Nameless City is because of the top floor of the Inverted Palace itself is a Shadowland. Known as the 13th Floor because of its location in the Underworld on the Inverted Palace's roof (just above the 12th floor) and its location in Creation in the elevator shaft on the 13th step of Kilubu's other tower. Like many things about the Nameless City none can remember what tragedy happened to create this small but concealed Shadowland in the middle of the Valley. Nevertheless it is one of the only Shadowlands for thousands of miles around and this makes it useful for the Forgotten King, because he can charge anyone to travel through to Creation and has many defensives set up to prevent unauthorized travel in the other direction, although one breach happened which is mentioned in more detail below.

The Lost Tenets are supposedly the ancient laws of the city that have remained in place since the city stood in Creation, except none remember including the Forgotten Sovereign. This might mean that the authorities could do anything they want, but the King of the Dead is a reasonable ruler and only chooses judges who are sensible in what they penalize for and if they aren't he can easily dismiss them and the law enforcement agencies will only arrest who their superiors tell them to. On the edges of the city where the buildings are far apart the Ghosts gather themselves into small districts usually ruled by the strongest or richest Ghost in the gathering, these can be horrible tyrannies or easy going communities but sometimes the districts compete against each other to the extent of full scale fighting. This makes the outskirts of the Nameless City dangerous for travelers who don't wish to be caught up in the petty rivalries. Another danger of the newcomer is that the Forsaken Justice may capture him and either sent off to slave away at the Thousand or put into the mining teams searching for useful artifacts in the unexplored reaches of the Nameless City.

(All the King's Men: The Forgotten Sovereign maintains that every citizen should obey the laws of the city as it was in the First Age, known as the Lost Tenets because none of the current citizens could possibly remember them except the King and it gives him power to make up a law on the spot and call it ancient. So to keep order in the city and to uphold the Lost Tenets the Forgotten King created several agencies. These all have offices in the main circle and are known to the citizens.

Forsaken Justice; Part police force, part militia they scour the streets watching for new Ghosts and any crimes on the part of the current citizens. The new Ghosts are taken to the Judgment where the older and most experienced Ghosts decide their destinies, as are those who defy the Lost Tenets judged by their peers. Those are their official tasks, they are also responsible for maintaining the buildings containing the city's defensive mechanism, which consists of releasing thousands of Hungry Ghosts and Zombies that have been locked up since the Forbidden King first took the throne. The headquarters of Justice is directly behind the Inverted Palace and is leaning backwards if you look at it from the Palace; it is leaning upon a smaller building leaning in the other direction.

Forlorn Judgment: The judges of the Nameless city are responsible for interpreting the Lost Tenets. At any time there are only ever nine judges, the city needs no more for its undersized population. Each one is chosen from the city's richest and oldest Ghosts (between which there are many rivalries), and it is considered a great honour to be chosen as one of the judges a choice that only happens every fifty years unless one of the current judges should become unable to do his job. When the new Ghosts are brought before a judge the judge makes a simple decision based on how many ancestors and grave goods the Ghost has as well as his specific abilities and usefulness on were in the city he should be put. Particularly useful but not very rich Ghosts are either given to the Forsaken Justice and Forbidden Sight or to a craft master to learn the ghostly skills. Ghosts with nothing are either given over as tax to the First and Forsaken or put on the expeditions through the city's unused buildings searching for First Age artifacts. Ghosts with a lot are allowed free reign of were they choose to go. The courts are in one of the few new buildings in the City, a mausoleum that functions as a Manse which all judges are allowed to attune to but then loose this attunement after their term.

Forbidden Sight: Few know of the spies that the Forgotten Sovereign employs, chosen from the most skilled dead (without much money) and trained even further. They are within all other powers in the South (in addition to Stygia), especially the Thousand, but they watch the Varang with much curiosity. It is therefore attributed to them the King's knowledge of those that enter his city and how he greets them, for he sees them but not with his eyes but with the Sight. When they do spend time in the city they are rarely on duty, but their headquarters is in a small building suspended between two others and requires all their grace and skill to get to. They also have several other buildings on the outskirts of the city used to relay information back to HQ without the spy having to return to the city proper and for training exercises)

The Nameless Court

Hardly a proper court meeting whenever it wants or needs to inside the Inverted Palace, anyone with a reason for being here can come, but rarely is anyone the King does not want let it allowed in. The usual attendants are judges, crafts masters, and heads of the agencies, district rulers and the occasional traveling Abyssal. The court is as tense as the matters discussed which range from gentleman's club discussions about the lower classes, talk between crafts masters to real matters of state like war.

The King of the Dead was the only citizen of the Nameless City to survive while Taggatzu ate it; he spent weeks in the gut of the great behemoth. Dying when he was crushed by the falling city, the poor slave boy rose as Ghost to become the ruler of the city that once oppressed him. According to the stories the new Gods of the Valley traveled down through Taggatzu and requested to the Lonely Monarch that he would look after the souls bound to live upon the Demon's hide and he accepted in return for a position upon the higher pantheon and they granted his request. In reality he has met but a few of the Gods and never attends the Spirit Court even he would be accepted. This does mean that he has a massive cult in Creation feeding him Essence all the time, in addition to the adoration of the citizens of the Nameless City giving him even more Essence. So as the oldest and most powerful spiritual being of the Valley, together with a ghostly army he is a formidable opponent capable of defeating even a Solar Exalt if the Exalt is not careful. For thousands of years this God-King has been content to rule the Underworld, he watched the brief rule of the Solars as the Valley was just being born at the end of the First Age, and saw the coming of the Dragon-Bloods and then he witnessed the terrible plan of the Deathlords when his city was flooded by Contagion dead. Now after countless years being worshiped as the Lonely Monarch he wishes to use his Shadowland to go to the land of the living and take part in the Alliance's festival, if not join the Alliance outright. Few know why the Forgotten Sovereign has changed his mind, and those that do are afraid.

In the Nameless City's court there is a new face, a living face at that. Dubbed the Foreboding Jester by the worried courtiers his arrival was an accident, he had lived as a tramp for a time in the dangerous upper reaches of the other tower in Kilubu, he managed to stay in the elevator shaft on step 13 when one night somehow he got through the guards and fell through the ground to land at the Forgotten Sovereign's feet. Lucky for him the King of the Dead didn't order him killed, and now he remains as His Majesty's honoured guest and so for the first time in the Underworld real food has been brought into the Inverted Palace. The Jester has told his new King many tales of the upper world and far more accurately and up to date than the old Ghosts of his court, and what interests the King the most are his tales of the Alliance. So now the King of the Dead wishes to join an Alliance of the living and cease to be the Lonely Monarch but join his fellow royals in their courts. He wishes to send his own group of storytellers, actors, gymnasts and craftsmen to represent the Nameless City the Festival of Descending Fire, he wishes to send his armies to help the Alliance against their enemies within the Valley and perhaps against the Realm, but in the minds of his courtiers his wishes will only bring destruction to the Nameless City. So the Foreboding Jester is in a precarious position indeed, and he seems unnaturally adept at the workings of court life and copes easily with covert assassination attempts and his wit is sharpened to a fine enough edge that beings that have been courtiers for hundreds of years are struggling to find comebacks. Not all of the Nameless City's court are entirely against him, some believe him an amusing Jester indeed and believe that the Forgotten Sovereign is joking about the incursion to the skin lands, and there are a few youngsters in the court who longingly listen to the plans and hope everyday for them to start while keeping on a cynical mask so that their fellows not think them mad.