Sigil: City of Doors

AuthorÂ’s Introduction

Well, I thought I would put this little splatter at the top to explain about this a little. While this info shouldnÂ’t be known by most IC, it might prove interesting to some bored forum trolls. As well as that, this topic will be acting as my memory, because my real one is useless and I have to make notes about nearly everything. The information here is the truth behind the many layers of lies and half truths that Nallia and my other characters have told during their time, as much for keeping me straight. Anyway, without further delays IÂ’ll jump in where it all began.

The Rise of DyÂ’ner

As most people are aware nowadays, Drow society is not a pleasant one. Layers of intrigue and outright cruelty permeate their selfish desires deeply. The cities of the Drow often fall into the familiar path of conflict, whether with surfacers, or each other, and within the cities the games grow wilder. Individual houses vie for status and domination of among their peers. Our story takes us through the journey of one such house; House DyÂ’ner, originally of the city Ched Nasad, also known as the City of Shimmering Webs. A minor House before the fall of their home, House DyÂ’ner managed to survive its collapse and make its way below the earth to ancient site somewhere deep beneath Amn.

Upon arrival at the site, the surviving members of the house built upon its seemingly fiendish ruins, naming them Nuij V’droth (originating from the phrase “fiend rest”). While their journey to the ancient site was difficult, their colonisation was treacherous. Drawn to the ruins of long forgotten evil deeds by its desecrated air, creatures of all kinds called the place home, including a lone Drow of some power. In the end it was a chance meeting with said individual that led to the clearance of those dark caverns. In a ritual of utter evil the hermit used his sizable powers to summon and bind a creature of evil to the body of the desperate Matron Mother.

With their Matron harbouring a creature of such vile power, the now-mighty-priestess and the mage led a small force to victory over the local aberrations; but the details of this victory are a story for another time. Our interest lies with the aftermath.

Having conquered the challenges before her, the young Matron Mother took the male for herself and begat a child. The birth was difficult, leading to her death by natural causes; a rare occurrence. Yet hope was not lost, the father taught his new daughter of many things, secrets, lies and truths in a web of manipulation and she grew with power unrivalled by her kin. Meanwhile, the politics of the Drow continue, sister attacking sister, each with a rule shorter lived than their predecessor. By the time her the daughter’s heritage became clear, it was already too late for her opposition, the clearly fiendish child of a mere 91 years of age quickly saw to the slaughter of her rivals and took the throne of House Dy’ner as her mother had done a century before. On gaining her new station, the father disappeared. While house historian, a close “friend” of the new matron, claimed the child’s unusual heritage was a result of her mother’s binding ritual, there is record of rumours at the time speaking of the hermit, whose name was lost in the generations since, being the source of the desecrated grounds of Nuij V’droth; a disguise utilised in the grand schemes of a being beyond mortal comprehension. What the claimed fiend desired, it seems, is still unknown.

Regardless of his plans, or perhaps lack of, House DyÂ’nerÂ’s new settlement grew through the generations to become known as the City of Haunted Dreams, with the founding house at its head.

To be continued...

The Fugitive

Our story jumps to some generations later, bypassing centuries of hatred, betrayal, debauchery and depravity; typical of the Drow. During the reign of Matron Mother Bonezia DyÂ’ner of House DyÂ’ner is where we shall focus. Specifically we look to her children, the eldest a soon-to-be priestess of Lolth, Nallia DyÂ’ner, and her younger brother Canian, whose rite of passage would prove to come earlier than expected, not to mention more difficult.

Beginning with their early years, where Nallia and her brother would discover something that would change their fates. The two made their entertainment with trips to a series of caverns below Nuij V’droth; the eldest part of the city. While relatively safe, containing little “life” but the odd shade that had managed to sneak its way in, the two would be watched over by the House Mage, Xandaar and with the intervention of chance stumbled upon a cavern of runes where they met what would appear to be a hermit living in squalor.

This unusual Drow spoke to the three, telling them of the runes surrounding them. Fascinated with the infernal scrawlings, Nallia would return often to learn certain languages from the hermit. Her trips to the place becoming more frequent, as well as her absence from her scheduled priestly lessons saw her beaten and broken many times at the hands of her motherÂ’s handmaidens. Chained and whipped, sometimes for days on end. Yet the girl was taken with the hermit and his lessons, who rather than show her cruelty, would speak of destinies to be seized by those with the will to do so, and often mentioned that he would wish such upon her.

Things rarely go as we wish however, and a simple argument between brother and sister led to mention of the hermit before Bonezia; the ensuing violence was to include orders to destroy the lone male. Lashing out with whatever was to hand, a sacrificial knife laced with the poison of a bebilith, the young Nallia managed a slice to the Matron MotherÂ’s face in a way that would scar her renowned beauty forever. Soldiers stormed into the caverns below to search and eliminate the offending teacher, while the young Drowess watched from hiding, perhaps the first tear sheÂ’d ever shed loosed for the death of her tutor.

As yet more House Guards flooded the streets of Nuij VÂ’droth in search of the offending child, so to would the scheming House Mage. Tired of mistreatment at the hands of females he whisked the child from the city with a teleportation spell and would later leave the child to draw the huntersÂ’ attentions from her, agreeing to meet years later in the famed City of Doors.

The years passed and Nallia travelled in search of a way to the city. Her travels took her from the clutches of the Underdark to the world of surface creatures and eventually beyond the prime plane to the city in which she was to meet the mage. Her travels during these years were many and hard but those tales are for another time. For now let us part ways with the words:

To be continued...