The Mistress of the Labyrinth - An Ever Changing Place
A "spirit" that lives in a mystical Labyrinth within Var Nexa. While the location of the Labyrinth is alway shifting, it can be tracked by finding the location of "The Crown" constellation as it always sits under it.
The Labyrinth is a "testing ground" according to its mistress. While it always forms a pattern of crossing halls, these are never the same and adapt themselves to a person when they enter.
The Mistress is open about the Labyrinth's challenge, meeting any who enter shortly after they begin exploring. In her own words, it's only fair for her to explain the challenge, after all how could she truly test her challengers if they don't know what to do.
The Mistress is fascinated by people, and her Labyrinth reflects this. Her ability draws on the person and morphs the maze to them, usually drawing on fears, what would challenge their character, and the people in their lives. The maze embodies its guests, in what the Mistress refers to as their "World."
Recordings of the Labyrinth's different forms are rare, as most who try to explore them have either died, or are still lost within. However from the few that have returned, it seems like its potential forms are limitless.
One citing said the Labyrinth resembled an eerily empty city, with tall buildings reaching to the clouds, lights only found in the capital, and maze like nameless streets. While people were absent, creatures were said to follow everywhere.
Another case abandoned realism all together, with the Labyrinth becoming a land of cakes and baked goods. Walls were covered in icing, doorways made of wafer, and some room filled with pools of syrup that trapped visitors within.
The Mistress of the Labyrinth:
The most consistent feature of the Labyrinth is the Mistress who roams it. She is, from all known records, the only feature of the Labyrinth to speak to her visitors.
Often appearing shortly after visitors enter, the Mistress is cordial to her guests, welcoming them to her home and explaining the basic rules of the Labyrinth .
The key rules are simple, they are to solve the Labyrinth while surviving its tests. They can act however they want to do so, however she advises against purposefully, and cruelly, damaging the Labyrinth. As those who've done so have learnt, this isn't due to any inherent feature of the Labyrinth, but how it will incur the wrath of the Mistress herself.
She appeared without any of us noticing, sat on top of the Labyrinth's wall, legs swaying in rhythm as she looked down. She was a bizarre mix of plain and beautiful, her curiosity clear on her face. She introduced herself as "The Mistress," and asked our names.
She moved, though none of us saw how, appearing behind us, hopping between tiles in the floor.
It was hard to tell her form. In one moment she was small and blonde, but as we approached it was as if she'd grown, towering over even our tallest. Her hair had become dark brown, not suddenly but through a gradual shift.
She has seemed trustworthy, for now, due to her fairness. However when I've met her eyes, the only part that never seems to change, I see a history more expansive than everyone I've ever met combined. That is by far the most striking feature she possesses.
Geography
The Labyrinth is always changing locations, never staying in one place for too long. It follows a cycle of movement, travelling through six phases and appearing at six different locations.
These locations appear, relatively, near each of the human areas on the Outer Plateaus on the mountain tops closest to the Plateaus in height. These areas are usually flat, though leave no mark of the Labyrinth's presence once gone.
Ecosystem
The Labyrinth is home to a type of Denizen that can alter their appearance. They do this to match the "world" a visitor brings into the Labyrinth, and feed on the visitor's "vision" of what they'd see.
While their form can change, their core being cannot. A predator will be a predator, a plant a plant, and a chair a chair, regardless of the visitor. However how they achieve this varies.
For example, records from one escaping visitor noted how their "world" was one of cakes, buns and other baked goods. In their case a cake tried to eat them, opening up its centre like a giant mouth, with teeth of icing, candles for eyes, and marshmallow gums.
Another case, where the visitor's world resembled a city scape, they found food and water could be found in shops and stalls that lined the streets. However they were pursued by what they described as "living" darkness, something they could only see from the corner of their eye skulking just out of the light, but attacked ferociously enough to take the visitors leg.
Ecosystem Cycles
The Labyrinth moves between six locations, based on the phase of the "Crown" constellation. It appears to fade out of existence from one location, appearing at the next a short time later (this is relative to the age of the Labyrinth, varying from as little as a week to as long as months between appearances). However as it follows the "Crown" it typically completes a full rotation of the locations annually.
It is currently unknown if this could be used to transport a person, as it has never knowingly moved with a live person inside, however the denizens of the Labyrinth move with it, suggesting it's possible.
Localized Phenomena
Changing "worlds": The Labyrinth is known to change for each visitor who enters, described by its Mistress as being that person's "world." As such, no one has seen what the inside of the Labyrinth looks like when no one is present. The layout also changes alongside this, so maps of the Labyrinth haven't been made.
History
The Labyrinth is one of the oldest known locations in Var Nexa, though not recorded through human history. Evidence for its age comes from its Mistress. The Lady often appears to converse with her visitors, and has shared history on her home.
She claims it to be as old as Var Nexa itself, though the oldest points she's mentioned to visitors date back to between 10,000 - 15,000 years of age. The Mistress also openly admits that it is difficult for her to place, as her only method of tracking time is when visitors appear. However the date provided comes from her identifying Heiliop, one of the few known from that age.
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