The House of Cats

In The City of Abkar Bijan, there is a building that stands apart from the sand cakes residences surrounding it. An obelisk of a building. Red clay stonework rising from sandy streets engraved with iconography and poetry concerning one thing, the cat. No windows peering out onto the streets, only shafts near the ceiling that let the sunlight in. With the noise and eyes of cats populating the nights in those shadows unlit by the amber glass lanterns on the streets outside.

The native Ammul call the building, Bayit Alquat, The House of the Cat. All neighbors that will even speak of the building will say that it is abandoned, save for the cats that haunt the area at all hours. Yet none will enter, as though there were something there that no one can or will admit to. A dread that haunts the hearts of all that live near the edifice, and persists even onto their dreams.

Such is the unnatural glamour of the House of Cats.

Purpose / Function

From an architectural experts perspective. The building seems an opaquely designed temple. And fit for almost nothing else. Yet no one in the city and nothing written can explain the purpose of the building. A localized mystery of the east for many travelers. But a terror-tale for the local children.

Architecture

The building seems likened to the architectural stylings of The Akiiri. Slated walls and pillars. Yet the design seems to merely end with the structural existence of the building. Paying no heed to art, or the Necromancer beliefs of the Akiiri. In fact, the cat iconography and poetry, seems to be a later addition to the structure. A daring Alchemyst knocked off a sample of the buildings stonework in an attempt to determine the age of the structure. He determined an age range of nearly 8,000 years. Predating the liberation of the Ammuli and the The Obuntai by The Ellician Empire. Yet depths of mystery yet remain for the building. Such as what lay within. And who keeps the thick black wood doors locked.

The dimensions of the building add to how out of place it is among the more rural and commercial buildings surrounding it. It runs 310ft in length and 140ft wide with a rising height of 75ft. All other buildings stand at lesser measurments, humbled immediately by the structure as they are.

Tourism

The House of Cats is something of an oddity for the travelers from the west that come to visit the city. A concerning building that cannot be entered. Ever enticing with its mystique of strange suggestion and unnerving presence. More than a few stubborn children have scaled the walls and made it inside. Never to return again. Driving the local guards to deem it against the law to attempt entry into the building.

Outsiders from all over have questioned the governing officials of Abkar Bijan why they don't storm the building to find the missing children, or even demolish the building outright if it's so dangerous. A question often met with a cold silence. Or the simple yet vague answer "It has a place here." Leaving some to wonder about the cities supposed involvement in the buildings affairs. Or even its link to an unspoken guild of assassins simply named for the building. The House of Cats.

RUINED STRUCTURE
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Founding Date

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Alternative Names

Bayit Alquat

Type

Temple / Church

Parent Location

The City of Abkar Bijan

Owning Organization

The House of Cats