Shoalsbridge Cradle

Overview

The Shoalsbridge Cradle, standing in the shadow of Starigrad's storied Shoalsbridge, is a structure marred by a bleak legacy. Originally a sanctuary for the city's orphans, its walls now echo with a history steeped in tragedy. Tales of pestilence, insanity, and unexplained demise swirl around its abandoned halls, earning it notoriety as a cursed edifice. Its doors are sealed, surrendered to the specters that are said to prowl its corridors, forcing even the fearless Red Inquisition to retreat and cordon it off from the public eye. Its forsaken state, amidst the bustle of the capital, whispers of the terrors that lurk within.

Appearance

Outside

The Shoalsbridge Cradle's exterior unfurls into a courtyard once brimming with the laughter of children, now a desolate expanse enclosed by a tall brick wall that was initially a boundary against intruders but later transformed into a barrier sealing its occupants within. The vibrant greenery that adorned the garden has succumbed to neglect, morphing into a chilling, untamed labyrinth. At its heart, a silent fountain stands as a monument to abandonment. The complex's facade, battered by the years and untouched for nearly a decade, presents a stark contrast to the life of the city that buzzes beyond its walls, a silent sentinel harboring a foreboding stillness, a prelude to the shadows that dwell within.

Inside

Passing through the grand double doors of the Shoalsbridge Cradle, one steps into a vast reception hall, the nexus from which countless corridors branch into the residential, educational, and staff wings. The interior is a labyrinth, with its many corridors lined by rows of bedrooms and classrooms. Even on the brightest days, a pervasive gloom clings to the air, the result of persistent mists that cloak the interior and windows dulled by years of accumulated dust.

The state of disarray suggests a riotous departure, furniture upturned, belongings scattered, a stark contrast to the absence of any recorded upheaval. The most unnerving features are the heavy iron doors and barred windows, more befitting a prison than a refuge for the innocent. Fortifications segment the building, safetly checkpoints where guards once stood, a stark testament to its darker days as an asylum.
Whispers and debates murmur through Starigrad about the Cradle's descent into madness, whether the building itself is the malevolent force or merely a crucible for the afflicted souls brought within its walls. Many believe the building's very essence is corrupted, forever entwining the spirits of those who suffered from neglect, the Shoalsbridge fire, or worse fates within its cursed confines.
These spirits, it is said, remain tethered to the Cradle, manifesting their presence through intense hauntings. The specters of mistreated souls, the echoes of their agony, ensure that the halls of the Shoalsbridge Cradle remain forsaken, a monument to sorrow where no living soul dares to trespass, fearing the wrath of the phantoms that linger in relentless vigil.

History

Founding

The Shoalsbridge Cradle was erected amidst the aftermath of a brutal civil war that left Ardechia's streets swarmed with orphans. This institution rose as a beacon of hope, commissioned by a victorious royal decree to shepherd the parentless into a nurturing fold. It stood as a testament to the central state’s resolve, to mend a society fractured by conflict.
At its inception, the Cradle was lauded for plucking destitute children from the streets, granting them sanctuary and the promise of education. The crown and the clergy saw in these halls an opportunity to mold new adherents from the malleable minds of the young. However, fear lurked in the shadows of this refuge, for the land decreed the merest hint of magical talent a crime worthy of death. The Inquisition's shadow loomed heavy, as children found with arcane sparks were swiftly segregated, their fates sealed away from prying eyes. This grim reality, leveraged as a disciplinary tale by the staff to inspire good behaviour, sowed an undercurrent of dread among the innocent, tainting the Cradle’s hallowed beginnings.

The Fire

The darkest chapter in the history of the Shoalsbridge Cradle was written when a child, deeply attuned to the arcane and the spectral, was discovered. A child capable of conjuring fires, communicating telepathically, and finding company in animate toys. These phenomenons led to them being deemed the Devil Child. In terror, the staff secluded the child, who wailed in dread as the day of inquisitorial reckoning drew near. It was during this tense vigil that an ill-fated rescue ignited chaos. An inferno burst forth, swallowing the complex and bleeding into the district in a calamity known as the Shoalsbridge Fire. 

The blaze claimed countless lives, sparing few, and the Devil Child vanished, with his fate, like the identity of his would-be saviors, shrouded in mystery. But from the ruinous ashes emerged a man, a survivor, one scroched twice over, to whom this event was the final catalyst to pick up arms and swear to mercilessly extinguish the threat that is magic... the now infamous Sindrik Korzha - The Scorched.

Insanity

The ashes of the Shoalsbridge Fire gave way to a restoration of the orphanage, yet the Cradle's revival was marred from the outset by an oppressive gloom. It seemed the building mourned its lost innocents, with corridors echoing cries of the past. Whispers among the townsfolk spoke of the Devil Child's undying rage haunting the premises, fueling an omnipresent dread.
This atmosphere of fear proved fertile ground for madness. Children began to unravel, their minds fraying in the presence of unseen horrors. The staff, once caretakers, spiraled into despair and hysteria, their grip on reality loosening day by harrowing day. As the line between caretaker and inmate blurred, parts of the orphanage morphed into a makeshift asylum. It became a repository for the realm's damned, a place where madness bred madness.
Over time, the Cradle's walls bore witness to ever-escalating atrocities. The 'treatment' of the disturbed became a parade of horrors, with experimental procedures more akin to torture than healing, yielding a death toll as silent as it was vast. Orderly halls devolved into madness, necessitating an armed presence and transforming the once-nurturing haven into a fortress.

The end came not with a bang but a hollow surrender to the malevolent forces that had seeped into the very foundation of the place. Declaring the land blighted and the air cursed, authorities sealed the Cradle, leaving it as a mausoleum to the lost and the mad. Even now, it is said that to walk past the Shoalsbridge Cradle is to hear the echoes of despair, as screams pierce the night, and Starigrad bears the scar of this monument to Human frailty and the darkness of the untamed mind.

Type

Orphanage

Parent Location

Capital City - Starigrad