The Labyrinth

When she did leave the Labyrinth, great Kallia did rest at the Temple of Kythara, where she gave a scale, given in gift by the Guardian, unto the safekeeping of the temple's master.

The master addressed her. “most revered one, forgive my impudence.”

Kallia bade him speak. “Sainted Tharena awaits. Your hand might bring victory where it has long eluded us. Why do you wait here?”

Kallia bowed low before the many-winged statue of the Guardian before responding. “I have been in Her presence. Let this day pass in rest and reverance, for too frail is my soul to bear the impurity of this world. Tomorrow, we shall rise, and bring with us the new order that She did command.”

— Excerpt from the High Saint-Book of Kallia and the Companions, Chapter IX.

The known history of the Labyrinth is all but inseparable from the history of the Tharenan Empire, which has long held prominence on the isle where the Labyrinth rests and all the lands around it. Likewise, the history of Tharena is hard to pare apart from the history of the Two Continents. The Empress Kallia Vere founded the empire 1,100 years ago, and she and her heirs oversaw the transformation of Tharena from a prominent city-state to a continent-spanning empire.

Such power does not last forever. 800 years ago, the traitorous princess Varia Kalliana stole the empire's greatest magical relic, the Crown of Horns, on the eve of her elder brother's coronation. With the gift once given to Kallia by the empire's goddess in hand, she fled to the sacred Labyrinth. In response to her heresy, the Labyrinth closed around her, swallowing up the princess, the towns and communities that had made the Labyrinth their home, and the imperial legion that had been sent to pursue her. The Labyrinth then sank beneath the surface of the world, where it rested dormant until a few short months ago.

Without the Crown of Horns, the empire could not maintain control over its provinces. In time, it split in two: The Southern Empire, still calling itself the Empire of Tharena, is ruled to this day by Kallia's heirs. The Northern Empire, now called the Divine Empire of Tharena, retained control over the old empire's capital. To this day, both halves hope to reclaim the crown, and with it, the right to rule the empire in its entirety.

With the re-emergence of the Labyrinth, that day seems closer than ever.

The impromptu base camp at the Labyrinth's entrance has quickly become a small town — caravans come and go from the port of Anneia, and palisade walls stand around various crowds of tents. The rival imperial expeditions each consist of hundreds of tents — artisans, men-at-arms, and supply workers to support the adventurers planning to venture into the Labyrinth proper, while the smaller expeditions from other nations lie in their periphery. At the centre of the camp is a sort of 'market street', where savvy tradesfolk from all expeditions group together on the makeshift dirt road connecting the highway to the Labyrinth's unsuspecting entrance — an old, abandoned church, whose basement's floor planks have rotted and given way to a shallow cave below.

The isle of Kythara, home to the Labyrinth both in ancient times and today, is governed by a Holy Order known as the Word-Keepers, more formally the Most Eminent and Reverent Order of Word-Keepers of the Temple of the Scale of the Guardian. The Word-Keepers are the wealthiest and most prominent Holy Order in the Church of the Guardian. It is led by a grandmaster who serves for life and is elected from amongst the order's membership. With the sudden arrival of the expeditions, the Word-Keepers have made their authority known, taking on a role as peacekeepers at the base camp. The Word-Keepers patrol the market street and other public areas outside the individual camps, ensuring that conflict — at least above the ground — does not escalate past the exchange of pointed words.

A short five-minute descent through the caves beneath the old church leads one to another cave-mouth, where one might think they had mistakenly returned to the world above. The grass is green, the sun lights up the sky, and creatures roam across well-kept pasture.

Still, the town ahead is not Anneia, and the geography itself is strange. Cliffs fall into a dense fog below rather than water or rocks, and some parts surrounding them seem to be fully detached mesas as if they were standing atop clouds. Ladders and makeshift lifts of wood and rope go down the sides of cliffs, leading into the abyss below. To date, none have travelled further.

Before the Labyrinth's submersion, tales were told of monstrous creatures — some quite alike their overworld counterparts, and some unrecognisable as any creature from the world above. The only people who know more about the Labyrinth's structure or its fauna are the peoples who made their home within the Labyrinth before its descent eight centuries prior.