Lair of the Quiet Ones.
I dunno. Did like they say - left out a cloth. In the morning it had a pouch of grain. Never saw no one or heard nothing. The Quiet Ones they say. They say lots of things. Like they say the rats chew on the Lords' plans all the time.
Overheard Citizen at an ale room
Purpose / Function
The Quiet Ones run a variety of enterprises as well as opposition to the Lords and The Harrower. The Lair was built under the city in the tunnels excavated by the Wererats or ratkin ( Tesso ). These tunnels extend into permafrost and outward over the countryside for many miles. Connected to the Tesso tunnels are hidden and secret chambers where the Elder God of Nauhiltepec has dominion. One contains a sunlit field where food is grown - and excess is spread and sold in the city above. Barracks and smithies, storage room and supplies. Guards and traps also protect the Lair.
Sensory & Appearance
The tunnels are dark and cold, deep in the permafrost. The Lair has torches and lanterns in inhabited zones deeper in, and the chambers of the Field and the Great Mound have both heat and sunlight provided by the God. Smithies are worked with peat and coal fire with venting cunningly worked out into the great chimneys that exit the city wall with the smoke of smithies and greater ovens of the city.
Denizens
The Quiet Ones still contain a number of Ratkin members. Though they share the Harrower's goal of pulling down the barrier between the realms, they are enemies of the undead and the other goals of the Harrower. There is an order of Priests who are inhabited by the God and wield the Dragon-Line Magic - human and Tesso. Likewise the leader, Mazatl, the Skinchanger called The Commander or Great Bear, for the silvery coated bear it has appeared as. Then there are officers and the thieves order. Lastly there is the Elder God which has awareness across all of the Lair and outer tunnels and has been persuaded by the Commander to form alliances with other Elder Gods across the Land in hidden places.
Wererats or Ratkin ( Tesso )
by Toriyama Sekien, circa 1781. public domain
Parent Location
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