The Gant Pole

"REJOICE, FOR THE END ALWAYS COMES."   The Gant Pole refers to both the general location East of the The Chelonate and the enormous stone heart at its center which has become a city (of sorts). This area inexplicably attracts the dead and dying of the Neath, pulling them slowly but inexorably to it from across the Undersea. The surrounding ocean is littered with the bloated corpses and bones of dead sea creatures and is dyed an inky black from their blood and liquids that calm the turbulent Undersea waters. The Chelonites worship this as a sacred place, where all things should return upon death.    The stone heart itself is said to once have beat inside the chest of a great creature slain long ago by the Chelonites' forebearers. As centuries passed and the flesh and tissue slowly petrified, priests and other souls drawn to the Pole established a small society in the ventricles of the thing. Inside, carcasses line the passages and fetid blubber drips off the innumerable bones strewn about carefully chiseled paths that wind their way about. The entire structure is partially submerged in the sea, and over time the slapping waves and salt have eaten away at the submerged portion. Dying creatures will sometimes surface within the center of the heart itself from below because of this, and are viewed as offerings to be taken by those strong enough to do so.   A place of death, such a locale lends itself to haruspicy and other rituals involving blood, bone and flesh. The Haruspex presides over an ancient order of haruspicy, and with her followers seeks answers and meaning in the flesh of the dead and dying. Old Sailors, as they are called, also call the stone heart their home. These elderly and surprisingly spry beings seek only to consume, driven by a deep hunger for the flesh of the dying and recently dead. Most are centuries old, and spend the majority of their time in trances about the gant pools within the heart. These pools are an intriguing phenomena unto themselves, capable of stealing the souls of unwary visitors who peer into them too closely. Whether something in them speaks to the Old Sailors, or whether they simply see something others do not within, is still unclear. The silvery brine and gant shine of the pools promise a respite from your troubles, if you would only stay a moment and meditate beside them. Or in them. A short swim couldn't do any harm, could it?   When dying beasts appear in the Gant Pole, it is a race between the Haruspicers and Old Sailors to see who reaches the hapless creature first. If the Haruspex arrive first a divination will undoubtedly be performed; if the Old Sailors arrive first, the thing will be torn apart and consumed. Those who are dying would do best to avoid this place, if they can resist its call, despite the secrets and knowledge of death it promises.