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From "Comes in the End Despondency and Madness" and "Dining on Ashes".

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This page divides into the following sections:

Click on the section headings on this page to return to this list.


THE GEOGRAPHY OF CHAOS

The Courts of Chaos have little in the way of geography. Only the central area really has a location. This holds the Citadel of Chaos, the Royal Palace of Thelbane, from where the King holds court over Chaos, and which adjoins the spire of Thelbane. Thelbane is on one side of the Plaza at the End of the World, overlooking the Abyss. Opposite Thelbane across the Plaza is the Cathedral of the Serpent, the headquarters of the Church of the Serpent.

The only other 'solid' parts of the Courts are:

Under the Courts as a whole lies the under-city, where those without Houses live in squalor.

The Ways of the Houses of Chaos are assembled from multitudes of shadow fragments, mostly by members of House Gallowglass. They are usually very secure, warded against magic and usually against Trump too. Within Ways, conditions can vary greatly from shadow fragment to shadow fragment, and can be dangerous to visitors unfamiliar with the routes through them. Those who have assayed the Logrus can usually sense where the paths between shadow fragments lie; those without it have to work by trial and error...

There are, in all of Chaos, thousands of members of the Houses of Chaos, and millions of demonic servants.


THE LOGRUS

The Logrus is basically the same as that described on my Logrus power page.

There is not one Logrus, but many, all orbiting one another in a vest cavern somewhere, which can only be reached through House Swayvil. They swirl around one another, shrinking, growing, merging and splitting, writhing, twisting and crackling with black energy. It is speculated that they represent different aspects of personality, or the Logrus itself. Whether this is true or not, each person who walks the Logrus does acquire a unique Logrus 'signature', which can be traced. There have never been any signs of the Logrus being anything other than a lifeless source of power, or of its being a sentient entity.

The floor of the cave is littered with the skeletons of those who failed to assay the Logrus successfully.

One does not walk the Logrus. One enters the cave and walks into it. One of the Logrii will grab the supplicant with one or more of its tendrils and pull them into and through itself, the journey forcing understanding and power into them, before depositing them back in the chamber in a catatonic state, while they recover. Those who cannot take the understanding and power they have been given die there.


THE NOBLE HOUSES OF CHAOS

ASHOKA


BARRABAN


CARYX


CHANICUT


GALLOWGLASS


HELGRAM


HELIBORE


HENDRAKE


JESBY


MINOBEE


SAWALL


SWAYVIL


* All houses have some skill in these areas, but these houses are pre-eminent in that field.


All houses are anti-Oberon, but opinions vary on how to deal with him. The redheads having trapped him has increased their support. Some do not object to having help to do him in (a 'plot with the redheads' faction). Others think they can do him in on their own. Some are isolationist, and want to leave things as they are. Some are neutral, divided between those who don't care and those who want to 'wait and see'.


All houses keep track of their own genealogy and heraldic status, though House Barraban also know a great deal about these matters.


It is possible for a person to move from one house to another with sufficient justification; the precise nature of this justification varies from house to house and case to case, but can include marriage (these are often arranged) and defection...


MINOR HOUSES OF CHAOS

There are minor houses in Chaos too, still noble, but which generally do not excel at anything and which are usually allied with one of the major houses. A few of the minor houses excel at certain things which the major houses want or need (e.g. brewing or distilling). However, there are some houses which are classified as minor though they are as large as any of the major houses, which excel at trade and other 'common' things. This is a bone of contention... Thus Major House status is a very subjective thing.


THE COUNCIL OF THE RIM (The Privy Council)


THELBANE

"- into the slick and gleaming interior of Thelbane's main hall at ground level, a study in black, grey, mossy green, deep red, chandeliers like stalactites, fire sculptures about the walls, scaly hides hung behind them, drifting globes of water in the middle air, creatures swimming within them."

From 'Prince of Chaos'

The Royal Palace of Thelbane is one of the most warded areas in all of the Courts, with varied, variable and powerful defences against most forms of power, and which are almost impossible to get around. Thelbane is on one side of the Plaza at the End of the World, overlooking the Abyss.

At the top of the Main Tower it opens out into a large circular Command Room. This is like an amphitheatre from where the King can view and his advisors are direct battles and other actions. In the centre of the room can be projected a three-dimensional image of the action taking place, as if a composite from things hovering high above the action.


THE CHURCH OF THE SERPENT

The official state religion of Chaos, and the only significant religion there, worshipping the creature from which all of Chaos arose. Everyone in Chaos is a member of the Church, even if only nominally. Its rites and rituals are known as the Way of the Serpent.

The Church has a great deal of political power, and can excommunicate people and houses (though the latter is very rare; the last time it was done was to House Barimen, long, long ago). This puts them entirely outside of the law and society of Chaos.

There is an Inquisition.

Involved in the coronation of the King of Chaos, and the accession of figures of importance in the Houses of Chaos. The High Priest acts as a interim ruler of Chaos if the monarch is dead or otherwise incapacitated.

Often a route by which those of non-noble or minor house birth can gain political power. Their vows bar them from secular power.

The Logrus is the gift of the Serpent, and as such House Swayvil are especially blessed. Both the powers of Logrus and Shapeshifting are considered the Holy Powers of the Serpent. Members of the Church tend to have snake-like demon forms.

There are six levels in the hierarchy of the Church:

  1. Novice
  2. Priest
  3. Hierophant
  4. Bishop
  5. Exarch
  6. High Priest

Many members of the Major Houses go into and out of the Church over the turnings. However, there are also 'lifers' who join the Church permanently. Only these 'lifers' can rise to the highest ranks of the Church (Exarch and High Priest).

The Church has its own (lifer) spies, warriors, mages and so on. Its elite guards are the Guardians of Purity.


THE CATHEDRAL OF THE SERPENT

"We made our way slowly across the Plaza, toward the massive pile of black stone at the very edge of the Pit, its gate an archway to frozen flame, as was its downward stair, each tread and riser time-bound fire, each railing the same. The rough amphitheatre below was also fire-furnished, self-illumed, facing the black block at the end of everything, no wall behind it, but the open emptiness of the Pit and its singularity whence all things came."

From 'Prince of Chaos'

The Cathedral of the Serpent is situated at the outer edge of the Plaza at the End of the World, exactly at the Rim, opened to the Pit (the Abyss) itself. Inside it is decorated with statues and glowing mosaics of solid flame worked into the walls. At the far end, close to the Abyss, is the main altar with, upon it, the Chalice of the Serpent. Behind the altar is a huge free-standing stained-glass window depicting the Serpent Hung upon the Tree of Matter. To one side of the altar is a lectern upon which sits the original copy of the Book of the Serpent Hung upon the Tree of Matter. When this is read from, by the High Priest or whoever, their voice is carried to every corner of the Cathedral - it has very good acoustics.

There are wardings around the lectern and altar area which both raise the alarm and act against people without the Mark of the Serpent who try to go through them. They are ancient, powerful, and almost impossible to get round.

Under the amphitheatre-like seating in the Cathedral lie storeroom, offices and so on all belonging to the Church. It is here that Lord Bances has his main office and living quarters.


THE MARK OF THE SERPENT

A power granted to members of the Church by the Great Serpent Itself, in a ceremony carried out in a special Serpent Chapel, the Chapel of Ascension, hanging out over the Abyss at the furthest edge of Chaos. It grants the priest the ability to draw power from the Serpent to assist in their Holy Duties. Further initiations are carried out as a priest rises up in the Church from mere priest to High Priest, granting a greater link to the Serpent (Novices have no Mark, Priests one level, up to five levels for the High Priest). Likewise, if someone is demoted or leaves the Church, then they link to the Serpent is reduced or removed entirely. The Mark can be detected by others with the Mark, and also by those with the first part of Advanced Logrus.

The Mark also makes magics cast by the initiate Realer, and thus harder to ward against, stop, or dispel, than those of a normal mage, more so the more initiated the person with the Mark is.

[In game terms, each level of the Mark costs 5 points, and allows the initiate to raise their effective rank, for any task, by three, once per day (e.g. Psyche by three ranks for one action, Warfare by three ranks for one action, and so on). A brief prayer to the Serpent is required beforehand, and longer prayer and meditation afterwards. The ranks added are cumulative, so that someone with three levels of the Mark could raise one thing by nine ranks, three things by three ranks or one thing by six ranks and one thing by three ranks.]


DUELLING

Duelling is entirely legal within the Courts, to varying degrees (first blood, unconsciousness, death etc.). Within their own Ways, a houses own rules apply. However, there are Royal laws that apply everywhere, even inside the Ways of a House - the Chaos Code duello.

Duels can involve physical combat, magic, shapeshifting, Logrus, or even less obvious things such as music, dance, poetry or athletic prowess, as long as both sides agree to the means used to decide the matter. The most common duelling weapons are the laser-like Trisp, the Trisliver and the defensive Fandon.


Go to the "Comes in the End Despondency and Madness" page or the "Dining on Ashes" page.

An interesting page on Chaos and Chaos Etiquette.

Or go back to My Amber Page.