Maris Fero
Riff-raff, Street Rat.
The Great Bone Orchard
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Much of the horror of the Bone Orchard is the lack of discernible landmarks, worn tracks and dried riverbeds lead a traveller deeper into the twist of trees and once you lose sight of the cliff walls the forest has a way of turning you from any path. Navigational devices cease to function, distances and directions can no longer be resolved by instrumentation.
Only a few travellers have discovered sites of interest within the Orchard and then returned to speak of it.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
It is speculated that the Bone Orchard has always existed in the Netherworld, a place of endings and stillness. Stories say that all souls eventually find their way into the heart of that place. Time in the Netherworld has elastic qualities and within the Orchard time itself seems to stand still. It is said that even the truly immortal can find an ending in the bone-trees, and speculated that the Orchard is the place souls themselves go to die.
'I don’t think anyone will ever hear this. Or, If you do hear it, I suppose you’ll be as screwed as we are - well, were. There’s just me now. We thought we could hide out in here, we thought there might be something to hunt, and shelte-'
'-ut it’s just dust, endless shifting dust, and the creaking trees, the damned trees everywhere. I don’t know how long we’ve been in here. I’ve been in here. The sky, or the light, stays the same all of the time; I’m sure it’s been days, maybe weeks even. Everything blurs into one. If you find this, get out. Head back now. Don’t stop. Don’t sleep, don’t climb the trees, and whatever you do don’t spill blood. Maker help you if you spill blood in the fore- '
'-'m tired now, I mustn’t sleep, have to keep moving, have to find water. They hide in the trees and walk on blades of glass. So tired. Must slee-.'
log terminated.
- transcript of a partially recovered data log, found hanging from a low bone-tree in the outskirts of the Great Bone Orchard.
NETHERWORLD INFORMATION
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent:To create a creepy place in the netherworld to enter into the competition, and later write there. It's basically an elephant graveyard for everyone.
- Image Credit: Original Source, Image, photograph by Hailey Toft, edited by me.
- Canon: N/A
- Links: Netherworld
- Landmark Name: The Great Bone Orchard
- Classification: Forest Canyon
- Location: The Netherworld
- Affiliation: No affiliation
- Size: Massive - Though it has a notable circumference within the geography of the Nether, the internal dimensions of the forest do not conform to the geometry of the real universe.
- Population: Insignificant
- Demographics: Various lost souls and would be explorers, trapped, lost or forgotten.
- Accessibility: Situated in basin of vast canyon, entering or leaving the Bone Orchard on foot is only practical from a few locations, the tricky descents from various cliff faces and rough tracks would prove a challenging but achievable climb. From the air, the density of the towering, needle-like trees make landing a ship successfully next to impossible.
- Description: From outside of the Bone Orchard, the land falls away at the edge of a steep cliff that seems to drop into shadow before you can make out the bottom, rising from below are the needle like trunks of vast white trees, stretching on as far as the eye can see in both directions. The trees are eternally bare of colour, their foliage of needles and bark are bleached bone white, sparse branches and limbs all curve steeply as if seeking the sky.
From down amongst the silent roots of the forest, the diffuse light from above illuminates a monochromatic world beneath the sentinel spires. Many of the white trees tower nearly a hundred meters tall; At ground level, the trunks reach a diameter of ten meters or more. Between the trunks, smaller spike like growths struggle to find the light, each around a dozen meters in height the stunted spires grow from the grey white forest floor. On closer inspection the floor seems to be utterly covered in fine grey and off white dust, bone dry, little to no moisture seems to reach the floor of the canyon. The forest floor seems to descend in a continuous slope deeper and deeper into the heart of the Bone Orchard. The further you travel the more gigantic the trees feel, and eventually even the bark seems to smooth away leaving the towering growths resembling dry withered bone rather than wood.
There are no rivers, though dried river beds offer false hope; There is no obvious wildlife. The only clear sounds are the creaking protestations of myriad trees.
Much of the horror of the Bone Orchard is the lack of discernible landmarks, worn tracks and dried riverbeds lead a traveller deeper into the twist of trees and once you lose sight of the cliff walls the forest has a way of turning you from any path. Navigational devices cease to function, distances and directions can no longer be resolved by instrumentation.
Only a few travellers have discovered sites of interest within the Orchard and then returned to speak of it.
- The Crystal Nest - several distant areas deep within the forest, were the trees of bone are encrusted with outcrops of crystalline growths, the white crystals gathered here seem heavy in the hand and steal warmth from around them, the properties of such crystals are unclear but the tales say that they whisper if one listens close enough. Collecting the crystals is not without risk though, for the edges are razor sharp, and the trees from which they grow are guarded.
- The Maw of Oblivion.- It is said that if one was to ever reach the true centre of the Bone Orchard they would come upon a deep chasm, a fracture of black stone edges that seep forth black shadow and bleed icy gusts of wind from somewhere deep below. Only echoes from above can be heard below, and none who have entered the Maw have returned from that path.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
It is speculated that the Bone Orchard has always existed in the Netherworld, a place of endings and stillness. Stories say that all souls eventually find their way into the heart of that place. Time in the Netherworld has elastic qualities and within the Orchard time itself seems to stand still. It is said that even the truly immortal can find an ending in the bone-trees, and speculated that the Orchard is the place souls themselves go to die.
'I don’t think anyone will ever hear this. Or, If you do hear it, I suppose you’ll be as screwed as we are - well, were. There’s just me now. We thought we could hide out in here, we thought there might be something to hunt, and shelte-'
'-ut it’s just dust, endless shifting dust, and the creaking trees, the damned trees everywhere. I don’t know how long we’ve been in here. I’ve been in here. The sky, or the light, stays the same all of the time; I’m sure it’s been days, maybe weeks even. Everything blurs into one. If you find this, get out. Head back now. Don’t stop. Don’t sleep, don’t climb the trees, and whatever you do don’t spill blood. Maker help you if you spill blood in the fore- '
'-'m tired now, I mustn’t sleep, have to keep moving, have to find water. They hide in the trees and walk on blades of glass. So tired. Must slee-.'
log terminated.
- transcript of a partially recovered data log, found hanging from a low bone-tree in the outskirts of the Great Bone Orchard.
NETHERWORLD INFORMATION
- Gate: The Maw of Oblivion - This is a gate to elsewhere, though what is beyond it none have returned to say. [meant to allow it to attach to another place if necessary.]
Lucidity: Lucidity rapidly decreases the further from the canyon walls you travel. Distance and time become irrelevant and changeable, what could have taken minutes to walk kilometres might takes weeks to retrace the same steps. The deeper one travels the less the trees look like trees and the more they look like eruptions of pure bone.
Intrusive thoughts of apathy plague the mind, the will to continue moving is tested and the urge to remain in place and simply exist increases. The air seems to dry the skin, the lips and the mouth, thirst is constant, but there is no fresh liquid to be found. Despite your thirst the forest will never allow you do die from lack of water.
As you continue to travel the strange diffuse light starts to bleach the pigment from everything around you, clothes, equipment, hair, eventually even the colour from a travellers irises will slowly fade out to white.
As noted before the passage of real time is inconsequential in the bone orchard, no matter what time of day you entered the sky eventually reaches a perpetual twilight. Those who succumb to the forest simply stop, calcified in place eventually to be replaced with the same bone trees that stretch up beyond the boundaries of sight.
Hostility:
The Crystal Spinners - The Crystal Nests are home to the sole indigenous creatures within the Bone Orchard. Crystal Spinners infest some of the largest trees in the Orchard, harvesting the white crystals that grow from the oldest bone-trees. Larger than an average humanoid, these arthropods bodies appear to be made from transparent crystal-like chitin that make them close to indistinguishable whilst still, they have a stinger that injects a paralysing toxin, and sharp claws that can easily pierce uncovered flesh. They are aggressive if disturbed, or if others try to harvest the crystals they covet.
The Hungry Earth - A single drop of blood is all that it takes. The Bone Orchard thirst. A drop of blood exposed to the soil or to the bark of a bone tree causes an immediate reaction, sudden violent growth of razor sharp bone spikes burst from the ground, impaling anything in its path. This inevitably spills more blood, starting a chain reaction as the forest seeks to devour the vitae to fuel its own growth. When the burst of violence ceases the Orchard falls silent once again, and the red stains are slowly drained away deep within the roots of the tall trees.
The Quiet Promise - To a weak or desperate mind, the whispered urge of the forest to simply stop and give up is a deadly trap.
