Eleutheria

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"For many, this is the first they see of Eleutheria: murmuring groves, scattered ruins, a midnight sky."

Eleutheria is a dark and riotous region of the High Wilderness.

A Liberationist's Paradise[edit | edit source]

In stark contrast to other regions of the sky, Eleutheria's sun, the Halved, refuses to emit light and actively radiates darkness. As such, this kingdom has few laws other than a curious prohibition on storytelling,[1] and has become a bastion of the Liberation of Night. Distance and measure are particularly hard to gauge.

What happened to cause the kingdom to fall to ruin and Eleutheria's sun to turn to lawless night? The answers to these questions are whispered in corners that are hidden even from the dark. (Those who defy the rule against storytelling may uncover tidbits of this forbidden history by learning more about The Halved.)

The main denizens of Eleutheria are outcasts, revolutionaries, bohemians, urchins, smugglers, exiled Devils, Rubbery Men, and other characters of questionable repute.[2] While the people here may seem like a pack of criminals and rogues, many of them are refugees who wish to escape enemies of Eleutheria: the scouring light of Albion's Clockwork Sun or the harsh judgement of The Blue Kingdom. Some people simply come to meditate upon the darkness, such as cave-dwelling hermits.[3] Denizens may say that it's quiet and peaceful here, and who would want to return to the world of harsh laws?

History[edit | edit source]

"You see a blazing, golden sun, so close it fills the sky. It shudders. It dims. You watch as it draws its fires into itself, becoming sullen, crimson coals. Its surface cools, scabbing over with a black crust. Shadows flood this region of the sky."[4]

The Judgement we know as the Halved was once part of the Binary; together, this binary star governed distance and measures.[5][6] The other half of the Binary, the King who Speaks, was betrayed and murdered as it attempted to swear fealty[7] to the Prophet Exile of the would-be Solonacean Conjunction.[8] The surviving half, the King who Wars, went on a fiery rampage across Eleutheria[9][10] as it destroyed the Prophet Exile and his followers.[11] The Prophet Exile had claimed some of the Binary's servants, the devils, as his followers,[12][13] and a few devils whose remains are now scattered around Pan were likely killed in this rampage.[14][15] The Prophet himself was turned into a living story as a punishment for the murder.[16]

To prevent further rebellions, the King Who Wars forbade all storytelling in his domain.[17] However, one of the King's trusted advisors, an individual now known as the Second Storyteller, violated this law;[18] the story he told unintentionally caused the King to immediately turn dark and stop radiating light.[19] Either as a form of gratitude or punishment, the now Halved sun turned his advisor into the first of the plants known as the Heart-Catchers,[20] and granted it eternal life.[21] The darkened realm of Eleutheria became a haven for all kinds of rebels, outcasts, and anarchists, but storytelling remains forbidden in Pan as a consequence of the upheaval wrought by the First and Second Storytellers.[22]

At this point in time, the only thing preventing Eleutheria from becoming a truly cold and lawless space is the fact that the Halved still lives.

Geography[edit | edit source]

Much of Eleutheria lies in ruins; it was once home to several great libraries, but these were destroyed during a period of great upheaval.[23][24] The kingdom's central port is Pan, where its various factions gather, converse, and debate. Naturally, this place lacks a ruler, but it does have a figurehead King; the position holds little power and the seat changes frequently based on which faction is able to seize control at a certain time.[25]

The Well of Wonders serves as a prison for the being that tore Eleutheria apart. The being itself, however, finds this description rather dramatic; it would merely like to tell you a story. Other beings who violate the few rules of Eleutheria, like swearing allegiance to an enemy of the Halved, are sent to the infinite and unmappable labyrinth of Piranesi.

While Eleutheria's darkness may seem impenetrable, it has one settlement that defies the rule of night. Eagle's Empyrean was founded by adventurers from the Khanate who helped breach the Avid Horizon, beginning an exodus from the Neath. The city is lit by the Xanthous Moon,[26] which was constructed using thousands of lamps. The Khaganians, who now call themselves the Empyreal, battle to preserve their light against the Liberationist Dousers.

Eleutheria's outer regions are isolated by a perpetual black thunderstorm called the Belt of Midnight. Extinguishments — clusters of uncontrolled night — pollute the landscape and conceal unknown horrors.[27] Grievers and the Undeparted — former servants of the Halved, from when it still called itself a king — lie in wait for unwary skyfarers.

Locations[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ The Hour of Veracity, Sunless Skies Twice, Eleutheria has been turned upside-down by storytellers. Now, the profession is prohibited in Pan.
  2. ↑ King's Idyll Station, Sunless Skies As exuberant as an old pirate-den of the Caribbean, Pan's station teems with thieves and merchants, smugglers and evangelicals of inventive new cults.
  3. ↑ Blind Hermitages, Sunless Skies A cave ahead. Hermits and mystics often retreat to places like this.
  4. ↑ Drink from the bitter waters, Sunless Skies
  5. ↑ I. A Prologue, Sunless Skies ""[...] Where the Twin Kings of Measure and Distance reigned [...]""
  6. ↑ Consider Eleutheria's black sun, Sunless Skies ""My Lord. The Halved. Once-Judgement of Measures and Distance." Mr Barleycorn bows to it."
  7. ↑ The Prophet took the King Who Speaks' Fealty, Sunless Skies "THE KING WHO SPEAKS: You have my sword. You have my pledge. You have my service. From now until my darkening."
  8. ↑ The Ballad of the Solonacean Conjunction: Act V. A Night Of Transfiguration, Sunless Skies "The PRINCES OF LIGHT and the PROPHET EXILE welcome their latest Disciple — the KING WHO SPEAKS. [...] At their Prophet's signal, the Princes drew their knives! They stabbed the King's unprotected soul."
  9. ↑ VI. The King In Mourning, Sunless Skies "The obsidian throne of the King of Light has crumbled. The hall shakes with the KING WHO WARS' fury. Burning marble rains down from the ceiling, exposing a blood red sky."
  10. ↑ The King Who Wars mounted his chariot, Sunless Skies "The King Who Wars' chariot thundered through the sky / The night burned crimson, the forests became ash / This was how a King fought, with fire and light [...]"
  11. ↑ The King Who Wars mounted his chariot, Sunless Skies "This was how a King fought, with fire and light / And the Princes learned the folly of their youth. [...] THE KING WHO WARS: Scream not for the comfort of oblivion / Such mercy is not for traitors to know / As you burn forever in my palace / In the flames of anger you have ignited."
  12. ↑ Listen to the lecture on 'the Binary', Sunless Skies "The Supplicant speaks of devils in the Binary's service, responsible for preparing a raiment of killing light for one of their masters before he went to war, and a mantle of merciful radiances when the other went to parley. "But they betrayed their master," she says."
  13. ↑ The Prophet Exile spoke to the Princes of Light, Sunless Skies "My Apostle. The first to shield me from the light that burned away my existence. The light of the arrogant Kings. Their Princes were not willing to languish in service in the hope of a glory that the Kings would never offer them. Ah, but wrapped up in stories of inevitable victory and cowering bravely behind my figurehead, their resentment became my serrated blade."
  14. ↑ Find the tomb of the Mantle-bearer, Sunless Skies "Somewhere in Winter's Reside lies the corpse of the armourer-saint, once squire-sommelier to the Binary, the twin kings of Eleutheria."
  15. ↑ Sanctify the corpse of the Chorister Saint, Sunless Skies "You daub its lips with some of the vial of souls, and anoint its armour as it would have done when it accompanied the suns to war."
  16. ↑ The Ballad of the Solonacean Conjunction: Act VII. Fall of a Prophet, Sunless Skies "Let Justice be done, and all gathered bear witness / As we cast this outsider into their final rest / Let their flesh rot till all that's left is a cry / That shall never escape this echoing place / A story to rage in the darkness, never to be told [...]"
  17. ↑ Dramatis Personae#II. The Forest Of Burning Twilight, Sunless Skies "And so the Conjunction was ended, and the King made the decree That all stories be forbidden in Eleutheria's domain To prevent further treason, or call for revolution."
  18. ↑ Today's Lecture, Sunless Skies
  19. ↑ Today's Lecture, Sunless Skies "You see a blazing, golden sun, so close it fills the sky. It shudders. It dims. [...] When you wake, the head's eyes – grey as ghosts – are watching you. "The story you tell might not be the one that others hear," it says. Its eyes close again."
  20. ↑ The Second Storyteller, Sunless Skies "The oldest of the Heart-Catchers is a crooked tree, roofed with rattling leaves. [...] All but one of its heads has grown huge, grown old, and died. Now they are great, grinning skulls. The last living head rests on an altar."
  21. ↑ Eavesdrop as it slumbers, Sunless Skies "As you are preparing to leave, its eyes snap open. "The first storyteller began a war and was cast into a well," it says. "The second turned a sun to night and was cursed to live. What will the third do, and how will they end?""
  22. ↑ The Hour of Veracity, Sunless Skies "Twice, Eleutheria has been turned upside-down by storytellers. Now, the profession is prohibited in Pan. During the Hour of Veracity the Word-Eaters bare their feet, cover their faces with ash, and roam the city, confiscating stories."
  23. ↑ Crossroads, Sunless Skies Broken stones ahead signal this was once one of the great roads of Eleutheria.
  24. ↑ Scrap of Ancient Knowledge, Sunless Skies "A sliver of hidden learning, recovered from one of the many ruined libraries that dot Eleutheria like bonfires on a beach."
  25. ↑ Visit the Cypress King, Sunless Skies Pan has no ruler, but it does have a King. The position is not a powerful one, nor secure.
  26. ↑ Spectacles, Sunless Skies The Empyrean have built a homemade moon to light their corner of the sky; its steel frame festooned with lamps.
  27. ↑ Extinguishments, Sunless Skies Extinguishments plague Eleutheria: eruptions of clotted night.
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