The Gates Of Dolor

There is no light, indeed there is none. Black anguish envelops all that can be experienced by both mind and body. Endless descent into voids long suppressed, for emotions run wild in this ceaseless abyss. Lungs are filled, yet life remains. Hearts beat onward even as sharp aches pressure the soul into ever-increasing heights and depths of madness. Shapes to dim to decern with any mortal eye move just beyond your drowning form. Black upon black, they watch and wait, these shapeless forms that know no rest as they wonder the depths of depraved sorrow, never to know the light they once so easily basked in. Deeper and deeper the heart shall go, for all seems so lost now. Beyond all hope are the pleasures of light that once overwhelmed all matters of sensual indulgence that now seem but distant sparks of watered out fire perverted by time. Longing, terrible longing for all that deemed unfit for creatures that would dare consider themselves moral and just. How the wandering eyes shape realities in the darkest places into false lights of perpetual numbness amidst despair. Why do the lungs not burn with the water that fills them? It is not physical pain experienced here, but something far worse instead. Though cuts and bruises may leave their mark, what of those dreadful wounds that dwell beyond our physical forms? How shall such injuries be treated if one cannot see what consumes them in the first place? Something embraces you as you descend to who knows where. Perhaps you are rising, for how could you know in a place such as this? Suffering, at last, feels like solid ground as massive wings from an unknown creature carry you off to places unacknowledged by many. Just when the light seems but a distant memory, flickers of light shimmer all around you. Waves of seemingly random sparks soon solidify into torches forged of bones and vines entangled in a disturbingly beautiful union. These lights emit a wonderful array of colors. It is as if dull rainbows are refracting a strange landscape that now at long last appears to have been all around you this entire time. Caves of wonder and ruin, of tragedy and folly, despair and love. They are all around you, these gates of deepest mourning. The Gates Of Dolor beckon you to see that which is hidden from countless worlds. Inscribed upon each gate sits a single phrase, Avoria...

Geography

Rocks that are worn away by ancient forces clash with sharp stones that seem to shimmer in their needle-like points. So sharp and dull are the hearts that desire more than what is revealed to them. Festering darkness runs thick with want and disparity as vast networks of caves hide untold pleasures and horrors within their mysterious bowels. Drowning depths of dissatisfaction bridge the gaps between fleeting happiness and everlasting joy. Endless searching for a way to cross the perilous paths of desire inevitably end here, despite all the illusions of choice that played out over the course of a cruel jest known as life. The pits are filled, yet are never full. Caves stretch on into everlasting darkness, yet eternity remains elusive. Perfect pleasure is soon regarded as nothing more than a fleeting end. Restless wonder is replaced with melancholy as shards of countless realms fall into the depths of one's own shattered experiences. How the stone bleeds, yet finds no comfort. Distant screams fall silent within the vast abyss that seemingly dwells both above and below Avoria. A strange question looms as one stands before each cave. If no one can hear a scream lash out into the night, does it truly exist within what we may call reality?

Ecosystem Cycles

Shifting tides give way to crumbling stone that always seems to be fading away, yet somehow those shattered rocks remain. Why must pain always be cured instead of being experienced? Endless cycles of water move all around Avoria, though these water waters can only be heard. Blackness hides their currents, yet they are felt so deeply and intensely. Rise and fall, break and mend. Ancient wounds from worlds apart converge on the source of all suffering. Only the dim lights, so easily forgotten twinkle in the depths, those vines of bone and marrow that echo with promises given. Around and around the water flows, for such is a desire that cannot be filled. Such is Avoria...

Localized Phenomena

Across the dark, so vast and hidden. Great wings usher forth, for a black sun has risen. Eyes upon each feather, seeing all the want. Three heads can provide any dream, yet desire is shattered one by one. Just out of view, a wonderous force persists. Hearts are viewed and examined, though to one's own eyes there is nothing but pointless mist.

Fauna & Flora

Strange shadows lurk around every corner as seemingly living stone splinters into an endless night that holds no cures. Faceless and looming, nameless and untold, how they move quietly in the waters of perpetual sorrow. What they were matters not, for pain is all they know now. As one tries to decern the nature of what could be considered the living creatures of Avoria, the splintering stone seems to move at times as if blown about by an unseen wind. Like a cold grass frozen by the season of its time is the stone that tries to find its way through the darkness of its own despair. Both flora and fauna reflect one another in the waters that carry no reflections.

Natural Resources

Amidst the stones and shards of Avoria, one may see gems and metals of various kinds. So much material has been dumped onto the abyss of Avoria, yet only the dimmest light reveals their barely shimmering presence. How bright were those gems in their time before being displaced and forgotten? Metals once so valuable to gather by both sweat and brow now remain unmined and unused. So much potential now lies dormant all around those hearts that now fall silent to the despair of their own realities.

History

One heart experiences a labyrinth of caves and tunnels that emerge within its own spaciousness. Yet each heart is unique, for no one experiences the same pains as another when they arrive in Avoria's darkness. All are different, like branches on a dying tree, yet all suffer on the same trunk of unfulfilled dreams that will never be. What wonders have fallen away within such a place as this?

Tourism

Worlds of light glimmer in their perfection while darker desires and emotions are driven into deeper places of Eternus. One creature's paradise is another miserable plane, thus reality splits and wails under the currents of perpetual want and misery. There are things in the deep, things too terrifying to know or describe, yet the mind knows of them in some strange way. As many seek the light, so there are those to crave darkness, for many desires can be fulfilled when all the lights go out...

Alternative Name(s)

Avoria

Type

Cave System