CrownedSun/EyeRegion

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the Domain of the Eye =

the Shadowland of Bonetree

Much can be said of the Shadowland of Bonetree. A tall knoll overlooking the eastern heartland of Kirighast, it is here that the Deathlord Eye and Seven Despairs makes his stronghold against the living world -- one foot in the Underworld, the other in the World of the Living. A dense but unnatural forest, filled with gnarled skeletal trees that constantly drip blood from their pale crimson blossoms...lending the ground a deep reddish color, filling the air with the sound of rusting iron, and soiling the infrequent rains with red. Even the feel of the place is wrong; a quiet forboding that builds as you near the Cold House.

Free ghosts wander this shadowland, or even in the underworld nearby. Most that die this close to Cold House find themselves irresistably drawn there, an obsession from which they never return. Instead, the forests are quiet and almost peaceful -- only the howls of the barghests and the skittering of the spiders cause any sound, and these seldom bother the infrequent travellers. Indeed, it is almost safe in the shadowland -- other than the will-drianing disquiet that fills ones soul. Mortals can wander for weeks with little danger, but most that linger too long find themselves standing before the front gates of Cold House.

A single trail leads into the forested knoll to Cold House itself, from one of the many passes through the mountains. It is well-maintained, despite the fact that it is only rarely travelled, and provides a beautiful view of the countryside below. Near the borders of the shadowland, the trail branches into two directions. One of those directions leads into the mountains, and the small town of Kant, while the other leads down a steep mountain path that deposits the traveller in Eastern Harbourhead near the small guild-run town of False Pearl.

Kant
The mountains east of Harbourhead are rugged and strong, and only a few passes run through them. The way passes far far up into the mountains, the going is slow and dangerous, and the path itself leads far too close to the cursed shadowland and its dark house for anyones comfort. Thus, this path is quite unpopular. The Guild usually avoids it, taking a pass some 100 miles to the North, but some travellers from the Eastern-Slope Kingdoms of Ajule and Obsidian (see below) travel through this path.

More importantly, however, especially to servants of the Eye and Seven Despairs...is the small village of Kant, a tiny mining outpost located high up in the mountains, a ways above the pass. The village is only home to a hundred or so people, a population that is steadily shrinking due to it's close proximity to the Shadowland (and to Cold House; every few years, someone wanders off never to return, a victim of the Houses' pull). Stillbirths, mysterious deaths, and even worse; all these things sap at the resolve of the people of Kant, but they remain. The village lives largely off it's prosperous silver mine, and through facilitating what little trade comes across the pass. Home to some of the best Mountaineers in the South, the people of Kant are a proud and resourceful folk, and fear little.

This is what led them to make a deal, long ago, with the Eye and Seven Despairs. A secret long hidden by the people (for the revelation of this would be quite damning to their relations with the rest of the world), the people of Kant are pawns of the Deathlord, even if unwitting ones. Many high servants of Cold House can trace their existance to the small town of Kant, and the village itself pays a small tithe every year of silver and various items crafted by it's best smiths. In return, the Deathlord and his servants leave the town be, and provide occasional assistance to its sons and daughters.

False Pearl
A small trading down along the prosperous South-Scavenger Land route (that ends at the Lap), the small town of False Pearl belongs to the guild in full and exists largely to cater to it's customers and it's caravans. The town had it's origins some 100 years ago, when the sale of drugs was forbidden in Harbourhead by order of the king, and the city of False Pearl was set up just outside the borders of the kingdom to allow the citizens of Kirighast and other major Harbourhead cities to sample the various exotic luxuries made available by the Guild. While the town still maintains it's nature as a place of drug-induced relaxation and pleasure, it has grown significantly in those days.

The main thrust of the town, along the trade road, consists of opium dens, taverns, houses of ill repute and other such places for travellers and the men working on caravans to relax and rest (and spend their pay, funneling it back to the Guild). Most Caravan's passing through the town pay their workers at least partially in ale, whores and drugs. Off the trail, of course, the town becomes a bit more normal. There are homes for the families that live and work here, warehouses for tradegoods, marketplaces (small though they might be) for those who wish to get both their trade goods and their pleasure in the same place, and a number of offices and buildings dedicated to the Guild itself.

The association between the Guild in False Pearl and the Eye and Seven Despairs goes fairly far back, and has yet avoided notice. One standing on the main road in False Pearl, looking up toward the east, can see the knoll where Cold House rests -- and on a clear day, even dimly make out the ancient structure itself. When the village first got it's start, the occasional opium addict would find himself drawn to the house irresistably -- walking the several miles it took, driven far after the rush from the drugs had worn off. Most such folk fell to ruffians and bandits, but several managed to make it all the way into the House, and thus it was that the Deathlord noticed the Guild. Exactly what happened next is not commonly known, but it didn't take long for the two groups to reach an agreement.

Rarely, these days, do those in the employ of the Guild find themselves drawn to Cold House (other visitors to False Pearl occasionally still do, but most remain securely inside during their trips, which keeps such incidents to a minimum). Moreover, the occasional caravan diverts a few wagons worth of goods (of various natures; often corpses of various kinds, including the occasional soul-dead victim of the fae) to a small side-road, where they are intercepted by servants of the Deathlord and brought up to Cold House. What else the Guild gets from this association is known only to the Deathlord and perhaps Gaeron, the Guild Factor of False Pearl.

the East-Slope Villages

The Eastern Border of Harbourhead is bounded by the Greatpeak Mountains, ancient and mighty mountains, unweathered by the erosion of time. These can be quite an impediment to travel, despite the number of passes (natural and dating back to the First Age) through them. Over the course of the Second Age, some passes have collapsed while many more have become dangerous to travel through. The passage near Kant is avoided due the it's closeness to Cold House, and other passes suffer similar threats (one pass, called "Quell's Folly" for reasons lost to time since the Great Contagion, is now controlled by the Fae) keep most other passes closed.

Many demesnes and quite a few manses dot the mountain range as well, though few are totally abandoned. The greatest of these are contested between the Eye and Seven Despairs, Lord Asilur (the Fae Lord of Quell's Folly), the the Great Peak Ministry (the local Spirit Court), and the Father of Darkness. The most contested manses include Sevidin (5), a great spire of the First Age now in the hands of the Eye and Seven Despairs, Diamondhearth (5), a hidden and secret manse that serves as the stronghold of the local Spirit Court, and Quell's Hold (4), a Shogunate Manse where Lord Asilur lairs.

Along the eastern slopes of those mountains there was once a great kingdom, Palitae, which was wiped out utterly at the turn of the age. Many of it's great cities lay in ruins along the slopes of the mountains or swallowed by the encroaching jungles. A few of the kingdoms people survived the Contagion, however, and they remain in the lands of their ancestors -- clustered together in a number of small villages. These survivors intrigue the Eye and Seven Despairs, who has gathered small amounts of influence in these villages over the centuries. The Cult of the Ancestors is strong in these villages, and some who have come to serve the Eye linger among their denizens.

What follows are some of the towns that the Eye and Seven Despairs has the most interest in:
Brinjin
The small village of Brinjin is ruled over by a hereditary leader called the Shonai and his small family. While the village is situated in some of the most fertile land of the Southeast, the Shonai and his family do no farming and raise no cattle. Instead, the leader of Brinjin and all his line spend all day training in the art of personal combat or engaged in religious devotions. No member of the ruling line is spared this responcibility, from the youngest daughter to the elder of the family. A Shonai unable to defend his people is expected to take his own life, passing into the halls of his honored ancestors.

Those ancestors are the focus of much of the religious life of Brinjin, for the cult of the Ancestor is strong here. A little bit of food is set aside for the honored dead at every meal, burnt offerings are constant and grow especially profuse during the frequent religious festivals. The people of Brinjin, and especially those of the Shonai's line, strive to live up to the deeds and expectations of their ancestors, who are said to have been brave heroes and men of war -- the elite soldiers of a fallen kingdom.

Most of the people of Brinjin are not warriors, however, though all of them spend as much free time as they are able drilling with weapons and practicing with their favored martial art. They are farmers, ranchers, and people of the Earth. Some of what they produce is given to the Shonai and his family, it being the honor of the village to feed and house their protectors. Much of what is left is given to the ancestors, or honored local gods, but each family has more than enough to survive hard times. For these folk, bringing honor to ones line comes not through death in battle but in quiet honor, humility, and service to the Shonai in hard times.

After the fall of Thorns to the Mask of Winters, the people of Brinjin have been approached by the servants Eye and Seven Despairs. The advice of their ancestors is that hard times are coming, and that the Deathlords' aid will be invaluable in these times. In return, the Deathlord asks only for prayer and the service of one of the Shonai's line.

Naran's Falls
more to come later...