The Windy Road: Locus Akraisel

Places in Locus Akraisel

Alec's Hangouts

Alec has a modest flat toward the middle of the City.

Most of the strangness will be in the routes that one will actually need to take to get there -- the route will never be the same twice. Otherwise it will be rather sparsely accoutered.

Most of where he holds court, i.e. meet with chancel folk or other powers, are in public or semi-public places. Such as a teahouse or the back room at a speakeasy, respectively.

The Palace of Desire

Desire's personal citadel is a tower lying in the shadow of Akraisel's grander tower. At the base of Nezha's tower are two gates, one of brass and one of iron. Those who wish their desires to be fulfilled must enter through the gate of brass, and those who wish to overcome them must pass through the gate of iron.

Once they enter, they find themselves in a maze, which tests those who enter for the strength of their desires. The failures will be devoured by the weird cybernetic/magical constructs that haunt the paths of the maze -- robotic gargoyles with thermographic eyes, hungry panthers with electrified teeth and carbon-fiber skin, and so on -- and turned into ghosts that fly through the maze wailing and bemoaning their fate.

Those who succeed at the tests will then be brought into the Garden of Earthly Delights at the top of the tower, where they may wait for Nezha to hold court. The Garden is itself the last test -- to appear before her they must willingly depart the Garden and its pleasures to enter her hall. There they will see her upon her throne (a living thing, woven from nervous fiber and arteries, with eyes that watch everyone who enters), and she will hear their requests and grant them, if she can.

Merlin's Cathedral

Merlin has supervised the construction of his abode, which he also designed in his unique style (using a level 6 aspect miracle, for 4 mps). It is a gigantic library of gray stone that reminds viewers of the greatest of castles and cathedrals. It sports an angular and twisting shape where no two walls are parallel; spires reach high into the sky; stain-glass portray creation and apocolyptic myths of many diverse cultures. Inside is a grand library administered by an army of librarians. Merlin himself resides at the top of one of the towers. He holds council in a grand chamber at the ground level.

One of the central elements of the Palace is a balcony looking over a large square. This balcony is extremely impressive, and with the right special effects, can range from glorious to terrible. It is supported by arches and butresses that have been specially designed to magnify the voice of an orator. Sculptures adorn this construct, illustrating the entire familia, and telling the story of the powers' glorious arrival to the chancel.

He also used a lesser change of realm (2 mps) to cause the amplification to be perfect enough so that anyone within a mile or so can hear a mundane speaker (Aspect miracles in combination with the miraculous amplification may reach the whole chancel).

The Institute for Applied Ontology

After collecting all the most obsessive scientists, magicians and theologians she can get ahold of, Nezha has designed and built a library and laboratory complex for her collection of scholars. She has made use of the psychogeography Weird Science of Locus Akraisel, and then spent all her Aspect miracle points to design a structure that is literally supernaturally ideal for doing metaphysical research in.

It is a bizarre structure, in which bizarre juxtapositions of science and mysticism squat side-by-side: a particle accelerator might be found within a sweat lodge, and certain theological texts can be found in the library only after a vision quest is performed to find the proof of some obscure mathematical theorem. The researchers, however, all swear that it is indeed ideal: the architecture of the place reflects and leads to the conceptual recombination that breakthroughs require.

The Plaza de Gaudí

The Erus, Antonio Gaudí is currently engrossed in constructing a large plaza/public space bordered by a series of construction of undisclosed purpose. This large public space is being built near the central Tower of Babel.

The Order of the Fallen

The Order of the Fallen, Votaries of the Failed, the Lost, and the Forgotten was created by Tess to help celebrate the Festival of the Stars. They are a quasi-religious Order, who bow to the whims of the Powers and Akrasiel. Their duties are to succor the failed, restore the lost, and remember the forgotten. They accomplish these both symbolically, through various holidays dedicated to specific fallen stars (something like saints' days), and practically, through creating schools, halfway houses and support networks for the chancel. The Order is also involved in some branches of sorcery and academia, most notably the study of astrology.

Members of the Order are expected to keep celibate and to live on as simple a diet as possible, although they do encourage the use of substances that may aid in a more visionary experience of daily life. Votaries have few personal possessions, and vows of silence are common, though optional. They commonly dress in white and silver, and veils and head scarves are the usual accessories.

The Order has a strictly organized heirarchy, based mostly on astrological examination of the votary's worth to the Order. The small (seven members) circle of the Brothers and Sisters of the Heavenly Flame which loosely governs the Order charts each applicant and places him/her in a position according to the results.

In addition to the many smaller festivals the Order sponsors during the year to mark specific fallen stars, they are responsible for directing the ceremonies associated with the Festival of Stars, and its opposing holiday, the Night of the Void.

The Festival of Stars

The Festival of Stars is a day marked with solemnity, remembrance, and mourning. The Chancel rises to hear Merlin's story of the acts of the fallen stars, and then stops all normal activities -- including eating and speaking -- to hear Akrasiel's recitation of the names of all the stars that have fallen, which lasts through to the next of Merlin's stories. It is a day to spend quietly with family, friends and loved ones, being thankful for all that is not yet lost.

The Order, which has recorded in its libraries a list of all of the fallen stars and their histories, keeps the holiday in a similar fashion. Many grieve and tear their clothes, and some fast for up to a week before hand to purify themselves for the occasion. Each year a few votaries are chosen to participate in a ritual which culminates in setting themselves alight with Heavenly Flame -- a bright silver mystical fire which burns but does not consume, causing physical torment but no actual damage. Those chosen train extensively in pain management techniques as they are expected to last the twenty-four hours without making a sound. The chosen are forever marked afterwards by their silver hair and their deep understanding of cosmic mysteries.

The Night of the Void

The Night of the Void is a celebration of all that we lack, and all that we normally suppress. It is the worship of the space left behind by the falling of the stars, and as such an acknowledgment of faults and frailty, as well as an inquiry into the blackest mysteries of emptiness and the void. Something of a fool's holiday, the Night of the Void is a time of pranks, of overindulgence, of bad humor and riotous impulsiveness. During the day this is mostly harmless silliness, but after the children have gone to bed the cities of the Chancel are dangerous and wild, with adults giving in to their baser natures for one night of the year. The Order for this one day suspends its usually strict rules and its votaries get it on hardcore. The indulgences of this one day make up for a year of privation, and drive home exactly what they have given up to be a worshipper of the stars and of Lady Akrasiel. Children who are conceived on this night are thought to be powerfully spiritual beings.