FrivYeti/IvorySilk
Contents
The Courts of Ivory and Silk
Far to the Southeast, lying amongst the jungles and ruins, you might find yourself passing through a graveyard in which elephant bones still stir to attack intruders to their holy lair. As you pass through the graveyard, you find two paths leading onwards, one down into the bones, and another through them. If you try to retreat to the safe paths you left, you will find that the bones form walls, trapping you in this land of the dead. If you travel into its depths, you will be ensnared by the Freehold of Ivory, never to return.
If you are fortunate, you will find your way through the graveyard, and approach a flowing gate, forged out of the bones. Through the gates lies what appears to be a beautiful garden, with a sun hanging in the sky, the sky absurdly blue, and plants and animals frolicking happily. A second inspection will discover that everything, even the sun, is a simple silk replica, although they will act as though they are real. The Freehold of Silk covers many waypoints, whose positions shift around one another as the Lord changes his opinions of how they should interact. The waypoints themselves also change, but some remain constant.
The Freehold of Ivory
The Freehold of Ivory has only 5 waypoints, arranged curving west of the Freehold of Silk. Westwards from the freehold of Ivory, the Wyld dissolves into strange jungles and Creation.
The Freehold is ruled by the reclusive Lady Kanar, a raksha noblewoman who is fascinated by life and death, and has formed two assumptions with which to take sides. Her mood can usually be determined by the progress of the Eastern Fields, and by how much the vines and briars have infiltrated her main hold.
The Central Hall: The central 'tower' of the Freehold of Ivory usually more or less forms a great hall beneath the bones of the graveyard, with bones of all manner of creatures building all of its monuments, and vines and briars twisting to form its carpets and tapestries. The bones shift and move when no one is looking, and the great hall never looks quite the same twice. A cold blue flame burns in front of the throne, holding the freehold's heart.
The Western Fields: The two waypoints furthest-west of the Freehold are broad expanses of bone, which occasionally rise to battle one another or to meander aimlessly after some normal object of the living, finding it unreachable. Futility and despair suffuse the western fields, and the bones here are always slowly moving towards the east, with new bones seeming to grow right out of the ground on the western edges. The bones here act to push anyone in these waypoints to the east.
The Tunnel: From one of the Western waypoints, a tunnel of bone is found. Elephant skeletons will mobilize to do battle with anything that enters the tunnels, unless they bear a pennant from the freehold itself. The tunnel seems to stretch on endlessly, with the bones growing and transforming into a strange maze.
The Eastern Fields: The eastern waypoint of the freehold is still deep with bone, but here they are often covered with ivy or briars. It is difficult to travel, having to find safe bone paths among the nettles and thorns, as life grows up to cover the bones. Sometimes, the bones struggle to life again, and the plants mobilize to destroy them in vast wars as the bones form armies and try to rebuild, while the briars tear them apart and reduce them to dust. Anyone caught between this will be fodder for both sides.
The Freehold of Silk
The Freehold of Silk is the much larger of the two Freeholds, containing eight waypoints, and Lord Nisharas, its master, clearly knows it. He has had many minor shaping duels with the Freehold of Ivory, but if they have resulted in burdens or impositions, neither Freehold's master speaks of them. Lord Nisharas is always searching for something new to enjoy, but spends much of his life in a very fashionable state of ennui; this is usually reflected by the dull caverns below the freehold, which change and fill when he has something new to occupy his time.
The Great Hall: An imposing ballroom, the Great Hall is marked by a floating chandelier containing the Heart of the Freehold in its hundred flames. Within the Great Hall, all of existance is a great dance, where all its residents show their battles and wiles through their intricate steps and often change partners. The Lord himself, when he is present, joins in the dance, as do the dozens of shadows and commoners that are often here.
The Silk Garden: The Garden is almost always the waypoint that connects to the Freehold of Ivory. Within the Garden, violence is not allowed, as it is a place of quiet repose; any shaping here must consider that fact, or else deal with the fury of Lord Nisharas. Anyone that enters here finds themselves taking on the concept of silk as well. Within the Garden, everything is made of silk, but is still perfectly real; the lord considers the contrast to be amusing.
The Antechambers: The waypoint that connects most of the Freehold, the Antechambers connect to the Silk Garden, the Low Caverns, the Dungeons, the Growing Fields, and the Great Hall. The Chambers themselves are a place of waiting, where life is defined in the space between moments, and every conversation has a second meaning layered beneath its first.
The Lord's Domain: The waypoint of Lord Nisharas himself, the Lord's Domain is forbidden to others to enter without permission - doing so is considered to be an attack by the lord. Lord Nisharas resides here most of the time, among flowers that sing his virtues and humans and commoners that live only to follow his whims. Within this waypoint, anyone who enters is a lord, and is praised, even the empty air whistling their virtues. The Lord's Domain can normally only be reached from the Great Hall, but Lord Nisharas sometimes forges new connections to the Caverns from it.
The Growing Fields: Within these fields, mortals labour endlessly to grow plants that never change. Every day is like the next, with the events of the fields repeating perfectly and endlessly until the workers expire from the sheer boredom. Very rarely, the plants will suddenly grow, and when they do, they never reverse their progress. Currently, they are in midsummer growth; it is said that they were in late spring when Nisharas first arrived in the freehold, and no one knows what may happened when harvest time comes. Directly affecting the Fields is an excellent way to arouse the hatred of Nisharas, who is said to be crafting something great here.
The Lower Caverns: The stairs in the Antechamber lead down into a great, almost featureless set of caverns. This cavern is most often used for shaping duels, but the Lord allows any shaping to be done here unimpeded.
The Dungeons: Screams of pain and fear echo quietly throughout the muffled stone of the Dungeons. Here, no mundane pain is allowed, but instead it is a place of true terror for its inhabitants, as the evils that can be committed here have no limit of form or function. Within these walls are those who are punished merely for hate, and those unlucky enough to be relegated here live out their remaining days in pain, a twisted mirror even of a mortal dungeon. Time in the Dungeons moves more fluidly, changing from fast to slow as is hoped for. The Dungeons connect to a building in the Growing Fields as well as leading up to the Antechamber.
The Cloudy Dome: High above the Freehold lies the Dome, where the clouds are walked and eternal joy reigns. Anyone who enters this realm, by climbing a staircase of light from the Growing Fields or the Silk Garden, finds their spirits lift, and they want nothing more than to remain forever. Many forms of joy and ecstacy can be found here, for the fortunate few mortals and commoners who made it here, and nobles walk amongst it, drinking it in.
A Waypoint Map of the Courts
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v365/Friv/IvorySilkMap.gif
