Whither

A Town Of Questions

Whither is a melancholy town of chilly evenings and muted tones. Its populace are obsessed with questions and almost always communicate through asking questions. This, combined with the citizen's general reserved nature, has made Whither a town that is largely left alone by the wider Undersea.
Though it is accepted for outsiders to communicate normally, any resident of Whither who defies the town's questioning and starts answering is banished to the Island of Codex.

Contests of Riddles

The people of Whither view riddles as the ultimate form of the question. Conflicts are decided in Whither by a Contest of Riddles, two participants coming up with increasingly difficult riddles until one is unable to answer. Over many years, some of these riddles have reached incredible lengths and gained their own names. The Great Riddle of Irem or The Riddle of Pearls are two examples of this.

The House of the Question

North-west of Whither town, the House of the Question stands alone. Here the initiates of the House make offerings to the two gods of the deep sea, and perhaps a third, though they will laugh at you if you ask about it. It's the one place in Whither where you can sometimes get a straight answer.

"Why are there so many questions in Whither?"
"Are you asking for any particular reason? At what time of day? Is that your hat? Might it be six?"

— Admiralty Agent in conversation with Whither resident