The House of The Undying

"Lewyn woke to drawn out moans and the wet, racking coughs of the dusters who shared this space with him. Five hundred and seventy-one days of this had made him familiar with every little sound of his fellow dead men, so much so that he could name them by the slow exhalations of air that was all that remained of most of them. Wake up, eat, listen to the dying breaths of his former friends and loved ones, sleep, repeat. He sometimes wondered if he should have let them toss him to the world below.

After death ceased in Skyhaven, her people were left with the question of what to do with those aged beyond a normal lifespan, to the point that they could no longer lift a limb to help themselves. The House of The Undying, referred to by most as The House of Dust, was founded to help those who could no longer help themselves. Here, priests of the death god Kharte tend to men who in any sane world would have long since passed, men who crumble to dust at a touch. The priests feed them, bathe them, clothe them. There was a time they could do more, when the touch of their god was still upon them, but from the moment death left the world Kharte's power slowly left his priests. As the farms produce less and less, some more industrious members of the house of dust have taken the opportunity for extra coin, selling the oldest dusters to the black butchers, who make their living providing an alternative source of sustenance. As the consumption of human flesh has been found to leave the mind twisted, the mad are often brought back to the house of dust to be studied by the priests.

Purpose / Function

The House of Dust is currently used for the care of The Undying, those too far aged to care for themselves. Here they are fed, bathed, and clothed by the former death priests of Kharte. They also keep those twisted by the madness which takes cannibals, seeking a way to reverse whatever force it is that corrupts their minds.

Alterations

In the days when death still lived, these were his temples. Grand ceremonies were held in his name in the temple proper, while the dead were buried in the catacombs below, but now both have been repurposed for the storage and care of The Undying.

Architecture

The halls of these great temples are most often built into hillsides, hollowed out to contain the stone catacombs now used to house The Undying. The exposed part of the building is made primarily of dark wood on a foundation of stone. Outside the walls, the stone visages of the death god's Wraiths, cloaked beings which once gathered the souls of the damned to bring to his halls, stand guard, farming implements in hand.

History

The first House of The Undying was converted in Dumorne in the year 768 by Dallis Lewyn, for the care of the great general Garen Tarth and his family. Currently only one temple, the temple of Innidrid, remains unconverted, it's followers believing that Kharte does not wish for The Undying to pass and that this in death is a punishment for humanity's sins. In recent years they have begun the burning of the other temples, claiming they are an affront against Kharte and should be purged from the land.

Alternative Names

The House of Dust

Type

Temple / Church