Haunted Hollows
Muggy. Eerily quiet. Bone-chillingly still. This is the swamp that once bore the name Cypress Hollow. Blue wisps thick like rivers carve dim light throughout the thick smog of necromantic clouds, which bear an ever-flowing stream of souls from all parts of the dungeon-- and are only interrupted by brief flashes of sickly green lightning touching down into the rotten soil. The mud lumbers to life, pulling the shredded soul essence lingering like a thick mist near the ground, and creates mindless undead that roam the swamps looking for life to consume.
This is the Haunted Hollow. A singular road leads through this area, a long, winding, horrible path through the nexus of all souls in Paradisium. If you make it far enough in, you'll find the ironically lively City of Afterlife, where the streams of souls connect into a whirlpool that swirls down into a lonely tower connected to the city. Bear witness. You, too, shall join the stream one day...
Description
Phenomena
History
The Haunted Hollow has been haunted by souls and undead for a long time, as the land itself would drain the life of all who were inside it.
A woman who calls herself the Queen of Nothing decided to remedy that and fix the landscape itself. Vivian VanDamme had a group of strong adventurers to hold off waves of undead while she conducted a powerful ritual.
The "Black Parade" the ritual in question, accomplished two things. As the calling Bell was rung, and all the souls that were lost in the swamp were pulled to the bell and then transported back to their home planes.
Once this was done, the Haunted Hallow was able to be settled.
Later on Lady Scarlet Calarook, under the direction of Queen Vivian used a set of different adventurers to help her clear out locations of heavy feral undead infestation in areas that would become the Afterlife. With the destruction of these undead Scarlet was able channel the essence of the slain undead into the Vivianite crystals. These crystals focus the power of Afterlife's leylines into the city's barrier and other functions.
Notable Locations
The Bleeding Heart
The Bleeding Heart is a crimson red forest blanketed in bloody blooms and leaves. However when approached, one is immediately sickened by the stench of death and rot.
Shambling mounds and grand flowers crunch and grind the corpses of previous victims. If the stench was not enough to dissuade an explorer, then their beating heart was their death knell as the red blossoms on the ground rise and fly like a swarm of wasps to feed; Vampire Blossoms cut and feed on anything that bleeds, filling themselves up before returning to their dormant state.
As one lays dead from the blood loss, Corpse Flowers drag the carcass to assimilate and feed on, allowing them to continue propagating their deadly stench.
When the Bleeding Heart's location yields insufficient food, the vampiric blossoms pluck themselves out of the ground and fly elsewhere in search for the living and the flowers follow to reap the rewards.
The Carneval
The City of Afterlife
A radially-organized bastion of a town, now in ruins since the fall of Cypress Hollow to Vidus Vati the Lich. Currently undergoing restoration and rebuilding efforts after the brave heroes of Paradisium aided the self-appointed Queen in bringing it back to its former glory. The city is divided up into four major "rings," with two of them surrounded by a massive, thick wall and huge gate fortifications at each entrance as a means of warding off the waves of undead that used to attack around the clock. This upper defense structure is called "The Barrow" by the locals, once the remains of a massive Dwarven society who would not be bested-- and then did. Visually a late-Victorian era city, but with too much gothic architecture to be ascribed to any one aesthetic. All manner of souls from all realities reconstructed this town, so it is a myriad melting pot of visual styles, with no two buildings looking quite the same.
The Headstone
The Headstone is the highest ring of the Barrow, and is home to the meeting place of the Council and the personal chambers of the Queen herself. The Castle is staffed by the best of each ring, whether it be guards, chefs, or maids, and it is the highest honor to serve the Queen and the Council directly. The council meeting place is large enough to house all of the nobility of the city and then some, so that public decisions and changes spread quickly to all citizens. A secondary area much like the Underbelly exists beneath the Capital which is home to the Crypt. A massive complex stocked to the brim with resources, and efficiently compact enough to house the entire population of Afterlife ten times over in the event of a major catastrophy. To date, it has not seen use, but it stands ready, clean and well-kept, just in case the corpses of Afterlife face annihilation.
Despite her station, the Queen has other duties that take up much of her time; as such, the Council is responsible for managing the city proper, and often changes number of members or functions as necessary to better serve the city. The queen spends her time preparing souls and bodies for whenever she can manage the journey to the Well of Souls just a mile or so north of Afterlife, within the old lich's personal chambers deep underground. This journey is the crux of Afterlife's efforts; The Black Parade allows those that wish to move on to their home planes and actually accept their death to do so in large parades to the end. The Queen actually manages the constant influx of people into the city, manually carving bodies from stone for each soul she plucks from the Well of Souls, and sending them on to Afterlife if they are sound of mind enough to join. The rest, the beaten, the broken and the damned, are gathered in a large basin underneath to join the Black Parade one day-- Even those who have suffered the most deserve to be saved.
The Arcane Ring
The Arcane Ring is located on the middle layer of the Barrow. Because of the untold countless different realities from which its citizens hail, the vast accumulation of knowledge has taken up an entire ring of the city's organization. Though it is named the Arcane quarter, it is not merely a place of magical knowledge; history, fighting styles, crafting methods, technology, magical secrets and so much more are recorded and stored in the tall, sprawling Animonculary, located in the heart of the of the Arcane Quarter. The Afterlife Animonculary, shortened to T Double A, or Tah sometimes, is a sprawling complex home to more of the collaborative research projects and facilities, but there is no centralized method of education for the city. Instead, hundreds of smaller scholastic institutions call this place their home, and are often ran by single members of a specific craft who are more than willing to share their knowledge to anyone with the curiosity to learn. Outside of these areas, The Arcane Ring houses a lot of the more personal and localized laboratories, along with smaller schools that take only a few students at a time.
The Arcane Ring is home to most of Afterlife's best and brightest, anyone with the willingness to put their knowledge and efforts to use for the City's benefit is granted the space to perform their research here with little restriction, and the funding to make such happen. The Afterlife Animonculary works as the nexus of all of these efforts, where people may publish their research and hold showcases of new innovations to the public as ways to earn prestige and funding for even better inventions. It also is the site where all of this knowledge is collected, using memory extraction on the souls that are willing to have their lives copied and recorded and interpreted for the use of all. Archivists are a common job here, and often those finding themselves with a lack of drive to do much else but organize or sort find their home here. A small side effect is the existence of a public newspaper within the Arcane Ring, publishing findings and recent events as inscribed by the Archivists that roam the city in search of any errant bits of knowledge to record.
The Aegis Ring
The Aegis Ring is the first and lowest part of the Barrow, and is a dense nexus of Afterlife's population. It is mostly taken up by overflowing residential housing and guard barracks that offer a purpose to all of those whose lives were consumed by war before they died. There is little central authority as to how the guard operates other than answering to the Councilor that handles it. Many of the barracks located here are ran by previous captains of guards or military leaders who have the experience to lead, and have found themselves in a position where leadership is necessary. Many different regiments operate completely different from one another, and it is likely that no two regiments are actually the same in terms of combat style or protection methods, which further increases the city's versatility in its protection. Despite the perceived chaos, the standing military of Afterlife is massive, easily taking a "quantity over quality" approach-- if only almost every single soldier weren't an expert in their given field of combat. The arguments between guardsmen are often legendary, and duels are settled amiably; most tensions are settled in the Arena for the spectacle of the entire city to enjoy.
This ring is the source of the most secret passages of any, but most of it is to facilitate travel between different rings. All walls around the entire city, Barrow and otherwise, are staffed at all times with overlapping watches, and the insides of the walls house guards that rotate in and out for maximum efficiency. The outer wall of this ring is where most of the cramped but comfortable housing is located, and the inner, higher part is where many of the nobles of the city have their estates. Besides just guards, the Aegis Quarter is home to most of the public services of the city. Firefighting, emergency healers, a constabulary, all of these positions are volunteer and are staffed exclusively by those passionate enough to dedicate their time and effort to keeping the city safe; the reward, however, is that many of the citizens and shops of other districts allow servants of the Aegis Ring free entry or lowered or eliminated prices at many of the establishments. It is an honor to devote your afterlife to the protection of the space for others, after all. Training grounds are often seen dotting the landscape, with the sound of swords clashing and spells evoking at all times of day, sometimes to the chagrin of the nearby residential areas, but it is a commonly sought after job to serve the Afterlife Aegis.
The Underbelly
The Underbelly is located underneath the Barrow, and is home to much of the more illicit activities of the city of Afterlife. There is no way to prevent crime and drugs from spreading in any location larger than fifty people, and as such, much of it is publicly sanctioned as long as it stays within the Underbelly, out of sight of the rest of the city. The queen often visits here herself to see the goings on, and idly threatens to lower the entirety of the Barrow down onto the Underbelly should things ever start harming the citizens of Afterlife en masse. Many dark dealings are located here, but it is not the only thing that happens. The Underbelly was originally the city works of the old fortress city, but much of the infrastructure has been reworked to operate better what with such a myriad of knowledge available. The city operates just a few mechanical needs of processing waste here, and water treatment is second to none within Paradisium. All sorts of underground activities take place, but as long as it never becomes the city's problem, you may find whatever you wish deep in the Underbelly.
The Trade Ring
The Trade Ring is mostly located around the wall of the Bastion, further in from the Revelry ring; despite this, it also has many connections to the walls of the Hollow, where the thickest and deepest of the waters that suffuse the murky swamp surrounding the place become a river wide enough for travel by barges. Most trade in and out of the city is done by these vessels, taking crafted goods out and receiving raw materials from caravans at the water's edge. Because of the volatility of the area surrounding the Hollow, there is little in the way of natural resources to be produced, and as such they must trade for most of the raw materials needed to actually operate a city. Crafted exports are their main source of income from other entities within Paradisium, and supply the city's economy with a steady flow of Dezzies alongside the Revelry Ring.
It's also home to most of the manufacturing and basic necessities, such as smiths, ironworks, grocery and the like, all operated within huge craftsman's guilds to regulate prices and ensure fair compensation for work for all. The places where these endeavors are most effective and tightly grouped are occasionally seen as somewhat dirty because of the raw amount of work that gets done here, but the public chips in to make sure that things are clean and safe for everyone that devotes their time and energy to making sure the city runs well.
The Trade Ring is also home to many of the artisan guilds' headquarters, and often the noble houses that run them. All of the more refined crafting takes place here, from alchemy to enchanting to fine clothing, turning the processed raw materials into fine goods for sale within the city's walls or export to other regions. The Trade Ring is kept mostly out of sight of the visitors of the city, but only geographically-- it is here where most, if not all of the shops of Afterlife hold open markets and sell their goods at fair prices for all. There is nothing you cannot find within the Trade Quarter, as the raw amount of varied experience from alternate realities coalesces into a beautiful network of traditional craft and innovative artifice.
The Revelry Ring
Revelry is on floor level, and is where most of the lower class of the city resides, with compact housing stacked high and buildings arranged vertically. Signs stack one over the other here to indicate the numerous levels of attractions at various stops along the many stairwells. Bridges to and from the different buildings crisscross overhead and make traversal much easier, and a frequent method of transportation are enchanted, floating gondolas that rise and fall to ferry citizens for free all over the town. Open areas are rare but not unseen, with places like parks, public gathering areas, market squares and the like spaced out enough to make the city not feel as cramped as it looks. Many buildings go underneath the ground, or into the walls of the Bastion to add more space, with an entire hollowed out city works and public infrastructure setup underneath the inner ring to manage the city's water supply and sewer networks. This area is colloquially referred to as the Underbelly, or the Gullyworks.
Revelry tends to be where most of the visitors stay, as it is home to a wide variety of inns. The Revelry quarter is easily the biggest region of the city, at least twice as large as the others, and is home to all manner of leisure and pleasure activities. From brothels, restaurants, sports fields, public parks, theatres, even rudimentary gamehouses and casinos exist, though betting is strictly regulated with maximum caps. The outskirts houses most of the cheaper inns and dive-er bars, with the more... 'refined' establishments located in futher near the Trade Ring. A huge part of the Revelry Ring is defined by its openness to kink, with the mantra of "Mind your exposure" to allow those that do not consent for protection from more of the deviant debauchery that goes on here. Clubs, brothels, and warehouses are often devoted in service to a single kink or a variety of them, and open kink practice is welcomed for the citizens of Afterlife. Many of their lives are marked by repression and denial of their nature, and in death, the corpses dance to their own beat regardless of who can see them. Restaurants are a particular specialty of the Revelry Ring regardless of the somewhat disorganized area they're located in; cultural fusions of cuisine from all realities blend and mix to create vibrant splashes of food that couldn't be created any other way. Dwarf and Orc barbecue, Elven vegetarian meals, high cuisine from those who served royalty in the past, and all sorts of others exist within this ring.
The highlight of the area is, of course, the massive Arena. Monthly events run at all times, with tournaments and competitions being the talk of the town. Everyone in Afterlife has some amount of knowledge about the goings on of the Arena, whether or not they actually go to see the events. Everything is recorded and passed around so that the highlights can be shared in mutual joy of the fantastic displays of martial prowess, magical skill or athletic or intellectual competition. The Queen herself always attends, and shoutcasts the events in a manner much unbefitting of her station, but it inspires the crowds to the utmost. The rumblings of the roar of the Arena can be heard from miles away. A running rivalry between the Aegis Ring and the Arcane Ring has the citizens of Afterlife riveted to their seats as the guardians of the city and the harbingers of knowledge take things to the personal level in tournament brackets. All visitors are encouraged to at least visit the Arena once during their stay, if only to become part of the most lively event this city of corpses has.