The Sere Palace

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"Are you quite sure you want to know this?"

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"The island, beset by poisoned fogs, rises barely a few feet above the water. Brackish puddles, noxious to the touch, lurk amidst creeping vines."[1]

"A stone causeway picks its way across the island towards the looming shadow of the ruin. The sandstone is shattered in parts, the broken rocks submerged in acidic waters."[2]

The Sere Palace is a structure located within the waterways of the Hinterlands.

Hazardous Environments[edit | edit source]

"It is forbidden! Never go there again. Its master is not to be disturbed."[3]

A stone tablet.
A relic from the Second City.

The Sere Palace is a ancient sandstone[4] structure that dates back to the Second City.[5] It is located in a nexus of waterways in the Hinterlands, and the surrounding area is suffused with poisons,[6] keeping away any travelers from the Guild of Gondoliers or Hell.[7]

The Second City originally built the Palace to improve and harness the canals constructed by Hell.[8][9] Within the Palace are mosaics depicting female Ancient Egyptian rulers, all of whom wear feathered headwear.[10] These mosaics also act as a guide and illustration of the Hinterlands' waterways.[11][12]

The Lotus Pool[edit | edit source]

"At the heart of the palace is a pond the size of a cathedral dome. Lotuses and lilies float upon its surface, though its serenity is disturbed by the roiling, black and purple waters below."[13]

"And then, in the depths of the pool, you see her. A woman, crowned and robed in flickering weeds. Her crown is formed of reeds; her skin like leather. Her eyes are black as she speaks in a language you do not understand."[14]

A shadowy figure overlooking a poisonous river.
The Poisoned Priestess

The Lotus Pool is a massive pool at the center of the Sere Palace.[15] It is not filled with water; rather a multicolored mixture of poisons.[16][17] Plant life floats atop its surface,[18] but the fish within it struggle to survive.[19] The Pool can be used to control the Hinterlands' canals, either by draining or refilling them on command.[20][21]

The Lotus Pool is inhabited by the Poisoned Priestess,[22] the source of the Palace's poisons.[23][24] Once the eldest of the Sisters,[25][26] she was likely the Palace's original owner, possibly along with her sisters.[27][28] After her death and transfiguration,[29][30] the Lotus Pool became the center of her new fiefdom,[31] one which she rules in solitary perpetuity.[32][33]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ The Sere Palace, Fallen London
  2. ↑ The Sere Palace, Fallen London
  3. ↑ Give him a report on the Sere Palace, Fallen London
  4. ↑ Request passage to the Sere Palace, Fallen London "[...] You travel [...] a sandstone structure: a fortified palace."
  5. ↑ Request passage to the Sere Palace 2, Fallen London "He leaps from the craft [...] and races into the [...] Second City ruin."
  6. ↑ A Conversation with the Wandering Gondolier, Fallen London "There is a nexus of [...] tributaries west of Jericho [...] at their heart the waters course with venom. That is where this ruined palace is."
  7. ↑ A Conversation with the Wandering Gondolier, Fallen London "The poison keeps the Guild away; even Hell's own merchants avoid it."
  8. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "A footnote suggests that though Hell constructed the canals, they were expanded [...] during the era of the Second City."
  9. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "[...] some palaces in the Second City under royal control were altered to permit a profusion of water features."
  10. ↑ The Lotus Pool, Fallen London "[...] colours daub the walls, [...] they depict women pharaohs marked by feathered crowns."
  11. ↑ Look deep into the pool, Fallen London "[...] a ring of mosaics [...] depict floods and waterfalls, fountains and rivers. Alongside each body of water is a woman in a feathered crown. In some the woman [...] smiles, in others [...] fury. In a select few, [...] laughing."
  12. ↑ The Lotus Pool 2, Fallen London "These mosaics – I am certain that they correspond to the waterways here."
  13. ↑ The Lotus Pool, Fallen London
  14. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London
  15. ↑ The Lotus Pool, Fallen London "At the heart of the palace is a pond the size of a cathedral dome."
  16. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "[...] the depths of the Lotus Pool. [...] not truly water but a potent cocktail of poisons [...]"
  17. ↑ Look deep into the pool, Fallen London "The shade of the poison changes."
  18. ↑ The Lotus Pool, Fallen London "Lotuses and lilies float upon its surface [...]"
  19. ↑ Look deep into the pool, Fallen London "[...] fish swim in the poison gloom. Some appear to be dying [...]"
  20. ↑ The Lotus Pool 2, Fallen London "[...] mosaics [...] they correspond to the waterways here. [...] an old trench off the canals. Dry now. [...] If [...] I fill this pool [...] it will open a gate that will flood one of the old routes."
  21. ↑ Advise the Gondolier to take the empty canal, Fallen London "He [...] pours the flask into the pool, [...] Deep within the pool, metal groans. [...] the pool roils. [...] dead fish rise to the surface, [...]"
  22. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "The Poisoned Priestess [...] She begins to sink back into the Lotus Pool, until the searing green waters cover all [...]"
  23. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "The poison is produced from the Palace itself... [...]"
  24. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "[...] the Poisoned Priestess, the poison at the heart of the Sere Palace."
  25. ↑ Dig a little distance from the river 2, Fallen London "You pull out six tiny clay women, [...] One carries a mirror, one an ankh, one a cat, one a rose. One is snapped in half, [...] The last holds [...] perfume or of poison."
  26. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "The Duchess [...] The woman in the Lotus Pool bears a family resemblance to one you know."
  27. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "[...] the poison that floods the waters around the palace. [...] the hazards of travel in that place, particularly around the palaces of [...] 'the Sisters.'"
  28. ↑ The Lotus Pool, Fallen London "[...] you see [...] women pharaohs marked by feathered crowns. They are in a procession."
  29. ↑ The Attendants, Fallen London "[...] hieroglyphs show a woman at the head of six, walking alone into a dark temple, [...] The youngest of us perished [...] the eldest in the House of the Feather."
  30. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "The Poisoned Priestess nods. "Both of us were transfigured to trick another's bargain. [...]"
  31. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "The Poisoned Priestess [...] gestures to the Lotus Pool [...] within which she makes her queendom."
  32. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "Nor can I die. [...] The Poisoned Priestess gazes [...]"
  33. ↑ The Poisoner's Library, Fallen London "[...] he could read men well, [...] In my loneliness, I allowed a substitution."
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