07-05-2018, 05:41 AM
⋆Tŷ'r Marwolaeth⋆
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At one time, humans and hellhounds were equals. At one time, humans were equals with every magickal species. But that all changed. How? Something turned corrupt in the human, and it spread to all of its companions. Humans and mortals used to have a lot of magick, like the others, but when they became corrupt, the species decided to lock away the magicks of humankind that were totally corrupted and to work on curing the corruption. When humanity turned on their neighbours and friends, something had to be done, and so a war occurred, pitting both the magickal and humans against one another. In that war, many races of the magickal were extinguished and destroyed. At the end of the war, the magickal gave up, succumbing to humanity, watching as everything they worked to save was destroyed. During the last moments of war, it was decided by the survivors that the hellhounds, the race with the least loss, should be the race to take on the responsibility of treating the magicks that had been taken from the humans. The hellhounds agreed to this dire situation, knowing that this was the only way to save what had been lost, and to prevent worse damage.
At the end of the ages-long war, the last of the humans' magicks had been sucked from them, and the humans retaliated by destroying every stronghold that the magickal races had in the mortal reality. With the loss of these anchors into the mortal reality, the magickal had no place to call home, no place to recover or heal. Since the responsibility of curing the corruption fell to the hellhounds, so did the survival of the remaining magickal races. The leader of the hellhounds, called Tyr at the time, was held responsible for creating a safe haven for all of the magickal species that survived the war. And so with the last of his life-force, he created Tŷ'r Marwolaeth, also known as House of Death (HoD), the home of all magickal beings. The control of Tŷ'r Marwolaeth was passed down to his daughter and her children, the rank of Brenin falling to the current leader, otherwise known as Jikai 'To' Horrel.
What is "Tŷ'r Marwolaeth" really? This is the House of Death, the home of all magcikal races but provided and cared for by hellhounds. This is what Tyr's sacrifice made after the war. This is where they are safest. But where is House of Death and how does it work? Is there an outside entry to House of Death? What does House of Death look like? Why can't it be found by magick-lacking humans?
Tŷ'r Marwolaeth is found between the mortal realm and well, dead-space I suppose. There is not really a place to find HoD as it always seems to move to better keep it protected. House of Death can only be accessed by the magickal races, and primarily the hellhounds, and occasionally very powerful humans. House of Death in its pocket of space is described as a very bland and lifeless seeming place as it is seen as a colourless piece of rock floating in nothingness. Inside of HoD, there is a lot of life, and the outward look is only meant to discourage enemies, and to turn away attempts at overtaking such an inhospitable looking place. Inside of HoD is a great forest that extends for what is assumed as forever. A whole world or two could fit into it's being, so that there is always room for those that need it.
Within HoD there are five sections geographically. Within these sections are what are described as "voids", what used to be and might still be entry-ways into the mortal realms and other realms that the magickal races haven't bothered to explore or better get to know yet. There are mountains, active volcanoes, ice-bergs, forests, and jovial glades. The voids are described as areas that move around their sections, places that feel unbearably empty for lack of better description. These areas are where the gate-ways used to be, and may be once more. In the forest section of HoD, there is the Court, where the Brenin and all other high ranking officials stay, and where the research is taking place into curing the corrupted magicks of the humans. The Court lives within the largest network of trees in the forests, and is nestled in the bark of these trees, giving those who work there a safe way to store what they need to. The Court was sung from the forest by the Brenin, and is maintained by his or her blood annually and is celebrated in a big feast and competition.
There is one void in HoD that doesn't feel as empty as the others, partially to the amount of use it receives daily, and secondly, due to the amount of work put into restoring the gateway on both sides of the gateway. This void is secretive in its hiding places, but is easily tracked down by any hellhound, for they were the ones to so heavily enchant it to minimize risk of human invasion while all the races recovered from the war. This gateway is found in the section where the glades are normally found, and is called the Byw Gate, the "Living Gate", as it connects to the human realm, and works both ways. On the mortal side of Byw Gate, the void is being repaired by both humans and those that come through Byw Gate. It was built by and created with tremendous amounts of power, power that the magickal have in such things as horns, hair, nail clippings, even in dead skin, blood, bones and teeth. Because of high-magickal levels in these such items, the magickal species that cross Byw Gate are often hunted down and have these items removed from them, if the victim isn't killed by the hunter. If they are killed, the entire body is put to some use, the meat given to the magickally inclined, and the rest used in fixing the Gate in order to retrieve the stolen magicks.
The Court
Byw 'Living' Gate X Marwolaeth 'Death' Gate (fire) X
Canolfan 'Centre' Gate (ice) X Gwag 'Empty' Gate
Byw 'Living' Gate X Marwolaeth 'Death' Gate (fire) X
Canolfan 'Centre' Gate (ice) X Gwag 'Empty' Gate
Time works different from the four layers of reality, specifically the most from the mortal realm. Every year in the living reality is a month in House of Death. According to this time difference, the length of pregnancies among magickals, hellhounds and other species are required to be spent in the House of Death, or else the bearer carries their offspring for say instead of 9 months, for 9 years. The magickals and all that live within House of Death are granted long lives, but are not immortal and can still be killed by mortal means. (hence the massive bloodshed that was the war that devastated everything)
The Brenin may be challenged for his or her position, but the battle must be either forfeited, or decided by the death of one of the participants, and the title of Brenin is given to the victor. Not many challenges are taken upon, leaving the current Brenin in control for a long, long time. There is no secondary position, for the very fact that the Brenin is the total controller, provider, and protector of House of Death and only requires input from advisers and counsellors to ease those that live in HoD. The power of the Brenin is quite significant and not handled lightly.
The first Brenin granted a place of safety to the magickal races, mainly his people, the hellhounds, and as he did so, granted them a physical body from that of their "other" or "demon". The Brenin was a human at one time, and knew the longing of the magickal for a human form they didn't need to possess or lose often. The denizens of House of Death are allowed to the other layers of reality, but have secret places throughout the layers, but the most frequented reality layer is the reality of the living.