Throne of Blood
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
The Throne of Blood is the profane sanctum of Cain. Neither citadel nor palace in the traditional sense, this realm is a nightmarish labyrinth of echoing vaults, bone-laced spires, and blood-slicked halls carved directly into a vein of petrified crimson iron. The entire fortress pulses faintly, as though alive and remembering every murder ever committed in its name.
Within the sanctum sits Cain on his throne, made from the bones, ligaments and tendons of his brother Abel, his skin sewn and stuffed with Abel's flesh and cartilage.
Geography
The Throne of Blood defies natural geometry. Its passageways loop in maddening spirals, leading assassins, pilgrims, and supplicants deeper into a state of dread and reverence. No light is natural within the Throne; it emanates from bloodfires, sacrificial pyres of soul-imbued flame that cast long, dancing shadows shaped like those the worshippers have slain. The air is suffused with the scent of copper, ash, and old incense.
Every surface bears some memory of death: walls carved with murder-scenes, floors layered with cracked bone tiles, and doors that groan open only to those whose hands are wet with a fresh kill. The Mark of Cain appears throughout, sometimes branded into the architecture itself, sometimes bleeding faintly from the stone. In the central sanctum lies the throne itself, an ornate construct of fused daggers, skeletal remains, and blood-crystal, upon which Cain rarely sits but which all Cainnites dream of seeing in their final death.
Its proximity to the River Styx allows the god to intercept souls fleeing death to judge them himself. Many claim that those who betray Cain or break his tenets are dragged into the Throne to be judged eternally, murdered again and again in endless agony, never permitted the release of true death.
Defenses
The Throne is guarded not by armies, but by a shifting host of Restless Dead, Cowled Deaths, and Blood Shades, spirits of assassins too faithful or too cursed to ever pass beyond. Some of them serve as guides; others lie in wait, judging the worth of intruders by their past killings. Any who enter without bearing the Mark of Cain are swiftly torn apart. Cain’s own divine essence permeates the realm, and his will is ever-present. Those who lie in his sanctuary feel an overwhelming urge to confess their murders, even against their will. Those who do so falsely find their tongues torn from their mouths in spectral silence.History
Some Cainnite scholars claim the Throne was not built, but rather formed when Cain first arrived in Gehenna, drawn from the coagulated blood of his countless victims. Others believe it was once the site of a forgotten celestial fortress, corrupted by Cain into its current profane form.
Trait Type |
Description |
|---|---|
| Gravity | Directional (angled 45° down-slope) |
| Time | Normal, though it feels torturously slow to outsiders. |
| Shape & Size | Infinite |
| Morphic Traits | Divinely Morphic (Only deities, or demigods can alter terrain) |
| Elemental Energy | None Dominant |
| Alignment | Lawful Evil |
| Magic | Death spells focusing on murder and killing are enhanced. |
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