The House of Shoulders
The House of Shoulders is the solemn heart of The Weight, one of Awarth’s oldest institutions. Built in the years after the Big Boil, it has stood longer than most structures in the city—not as a just as a temple, but as a shelter for the grieving and the broken. It is where names are remembered and burdens are shared. The House offers no miracles, only silence, stone, and the steady work of remembrance. It is the place people bring what hurts too much to carry alone, and leave knowing they were not the first to share these burdens.
Alterations
The House has grown organically over two centuries, absorbing materials and memory. Entire rooms have been built from the remnants of ruined factories and wrecked ships. Every renovation is marked—not erased—so the architecture is layered like scar tissue.
Architecture
Built from reclaimed industrial stone, scrap girders, and salvaged floorplates, the structure is squat, broad, and designed to bear massive weight without ornament. Its interior is dim, with low ceilings, heavy beams, and hollow spaces where sound travels slowly.
History
Founded in the Smoldering, the House of Shoulders was erected by survivors of the Big Boil—dockworkers, midwives, and scavengers who refused to let their dead go unnamed. It predates the Council of Anchors, and during the city’s earliest rebuildings, Its Bearers documented the burdens of many of those lost in the Big Boil and preserved the names of entire lineages.
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