The Lonely Retreat

Realm of Sotark

All who enter here must find emotion in music, feeling drawn from the muses. For if one does not, they may find themselves drowned in the melancholy echo of a symphony played for no one.

— Inscription Above the Door of the Temple of Music in the Southern Library

Winds echo across hill and dale, ringing through the air like a cacophony of instruments tucked away amongst the flowers and grasses. Leaves and plants rustle and sway, adding their own voice to the mix, a sweet melody of nature, one only created by the world breathing and living. It is here the God of Music makes his home, calling upon the inspiration of the land to feed his creations.
The Lonely Retreat is one of the many endless Celestial Realms, serving as home to the natural music of the world and the landscapes that create it. Here, the god Sotark uses the land for inspiration, creating masterpieces on the musical staffs engraved into his temples and homes. The life of a composer is quiet and solitary, the only companion being the unquiet of the world.

Localized Phenomena

Many places throughout Isekai are subject to a near-constant wind throughout the year, but the Lonely Retreat is subject to a soft breeze all the time. This was one requirement that Sotark put in place as it allowed the landscape to sing to him, creating melodies as the wind crossed the plains and changed direction.
Everything about this realm was created to be the perfect muse for those that wished to compose a variety of art. While Sotark is the God of Music, he is often associated with the arts in general. Many artists eventually chose the Lonely Retreat as a final resting place, as long as they are judged well by Sotark.

Climate

Over Hill and Dale

Green and Purple Land by Sean Paul Kinnear on Unsplash

Much of the Lonely Retreat is made up of rolling hills and reaching valleys that serve to create natural music as the wind rushes across the plains. The landscape has been created to make the perfect music without the use of an instrument.

Much of the Lonely Retreat is classified as a temperate grassland with a large variety of flora and fauna that call the rolling plains home. The creatures that live here have been carefully curated by Sotark, with the aid of Lycana and the Huntress, to add to the cacophony that sounds across the realm. Every part of this realm is meant to serve as a muse to the Great Composer.
Various parts of the realm have been changed to other biomes so that large swathes of trees and arid plain exist, creating different sounds when the constant wind of the realm rushes across them. While these areas are fairly small and scattered, they play an important role in the composition process.
Sotark chooses to keep the temperature and much of the weather constant within the realm, allowing for light breezes and warm fall air to fill the world with music and majesty. This is one of the few realms where things do not change on the whim of the god, but instead stays constant for a specific reason.
That being said, the flora and fauna that call the Lonely Retreat home were chosen for their ability to live under these specific conditions. Centuries passed as Lycana and the Huntress chose creatures from their own realms to live in Sotark's realm.

Temple of the Grand Muses

Temple of the Grand Muses by Image via Midjourney, created by Riverfang

Known as the Temple of the Grand Muses, this structure is one of many areas of composition utilized by Sotark. This temple also serves as the gateway between this realm and the Southern Library.
Marked with a large musical staff in granite in the interior, this temple is befitting of the God of Music.

Type

Magical Realm

Location under

Celestial Realms

Owner/Ruler

Sotark

Owning Organization

Pantheons of Isekai