The Rotting Gate

The Rotting Gate is a layer of the Spirit World. It is one of the ten layers of the Spirit World that are "easily" accessible due to the efforts of the L’huine some innumerable millennia ago. These gates correlate to the ten Smirtohnya of L'huine and Elven religion: the Harandil Pantheon.

The Spiritual Travelers first heard of this gate on Nurend 16, 308. After destroying a group of Zombies and Death Blossoms, they had one zombie left that begged for them to hear her story. After Her’aen, The First Zombie told her story, Namina "put her to rest", and the group's attention was turned towards The Sinkhole that had opened up during their encounter. This Sinkhole spoke to them, particularly Namina and Agave, with a low, raspy voice. Whoever was on the other side of it seemed to have a strong distaste of "the Circle" and even invited the group to join it in its "hour of revelation". Its words frightened and angered Namina.

The Gate was not really mentioned by name from anyone since then, but it has constantly been on the minds of the Spiritual Travelers in their efforts to stop the plague and blight that have been driving Frode and Agave forward. Research into the gate was carried out by several of them while at the Sylvan Library. Another unexpected look into the realm came from a board game: The Gates Special Edition Chess Set.

On Daulok 21, 308, The Spiritual Travelers finally finished their preparations and entered this gate. The entrance, much like the entrance into the Spirit World, appears to be a maze. Her'aen referred to this maze as "the space between" and suggested that "sometimes it can have guardians or things of a more sinister nature." This "maze" is far more straightforward than the first one that was encountered as there were few decisions and, according to Her'aen, "The end is the same regardless of what direction you choose." At the end of the "maze" was a large room with rocks, debris, mushrooms, and both ponds and streams of toxic filth. The room had abundant amounts of both life and death as the walls were covered in vines, bushes and brambles. A Mothling not too long after they arrived, but she was a bit different as she was taller and also mostly decayed.

Her exposed limbs were all skeletal, and her wings were filled with holes and rot. These wings also had designs on them that looked like they were once eyes, but even these patterns had changed to match the environment and her undead status. Eyes that had green sclera, with eyelids partially covering them with agony. Tears dripped from them that looked like the same ooze in all the rivers and ponds. At the center of her back was a skull that looked to just be a part of the markings on her wings and body. Her face was the only part of her that still had flesh, but it was pale with bloated spots beneath leaking sores, and her lower jaw was just as skeletal as the rest of her body. Her dark, black and murky green eyes didn’t seem to be focussing on anything

After enough time had passed and enough damage was dealt to her, she deemed the Spiritual Travelers worthy of passing on to the realm beyond and opened the way out. This was met with some confusion, but everyone eventually figured it out and exited into the realm of Rot.

Geography

The Rotting Gate is a world completely covered in swamps and marshes. Regardless of if there are trees or not, the "water" that covers most of this land is incredibly foul. Smells of decay, disease, spores, and other toxins fill the air and can cause horrible illnesses to occur. The trees are mostly covered in a horrible slime, though the leaves are strangely dry. Hills and cliffs are also present with some of these hills only being a facade for some giant mushroom. Sludge and offal smelling oozes can sometimes drip from the overhanging hills or cliffs. Giant mushrooms dot the landscape as well. They range in size from that of your average human all the way up to trees or even hills. Aside from the liquid that covers most of the land, there are also deeper sections of fetid water that would be called rivers, ponds, lakes or even oceans. These bodies of water don't just have rancid liquid, they can also contain patches of garbage both manmade and natural along with corpses and skeletons. Chasms can be found throughout the swamps that are either filled with different frightening oozes or gasses. Some appear to be empty until they errupt with violent explosions that release superheated gasses or liquids.

Ecosystem

Organisms within The Rotting Gate are either designed to benefit off the decay of other organisms or are already dead and decaying. Fungi and bacteria are incredibly prevelant because of this, though there are often not enough dying or dead organisms to constitute the high levels of fungi and bacteria. The existence of these organisms is not necessarily to decay present or apparent dead, but rather as a spiritual representation of the same organisms that exist on material planes. However, they do also decay those poor few that have wandered into this realm and perished. Additionally, parasites and other corrupting presences exist to cling onto whoever would appear. Similar to the fungi and bacteria, they are not there only to invade whoever happens to appear in this realm, they also serve as representation for the same organisms or spirits that exist outside the realm. Metaphysical presences representing political or sociological corruption may take the form of a physical organism in this layer or even a more spiritual existence depending on their mood. Finally, there are those organisms that have adapted to survive or even thrive in this environment. Plants that absorb more toxic chemical than the usual carbon dioxide and ingest specific harmful chemicals found in the soil are common. Animals that don't breathe in the conventional sense, but instead have a variety of "land gills" that constantly filter compounds for use in their blood while expelling the rest. These land gills could be the usual slits on the neck that a fish might have, or it could be any other shape or configuration like a collection of circular holes on their back. These animals also have adapted to be capable of either getting their nutrients from their gills, a sort of filter feeding, or to be able to digest the rotten flesh or waste that is common in the realm.

One other common sight are animals that don't need to eat or breathe at all: The Undead. Nothing truly dies in this realm since The Necromancer began her ritual, and when animals do expire they continue on immediately after. Those effected by Božena's magic are incapable of death while in this realm or near an entrance to it. Even if they were completely destroyed, the bits and pieces would be reassembled to the best of the magic's ability. These creatures don't necessarily interract with their environment unless they choose to sleep for some reason, but the environment does interact with them to some degree. These interactions include a variety of different organisms that eat them either slowly, over time, or with larger bites. The pieces that are consumed are digested, but they eventually return if a fair bit slower. This cycle of nutrients and restoration of pieces is an ironic cycle as Božena notoriously despises the Cycle, though it could be that this "pure" form that maintains memory is more up her alley. Some evidence of decay that occurs over immense periods of time can sometimes not be replaced as seen with Her'aen and other L'huine zombies from long, long ago.

Climate

The Rotting Gate is almost entirely the same climate. The vast majority of the realm is consistently humid and hot resulting in a level of unpleasant mugginess that only adds to the indescribeable smells and tactile feeling of the realm. The heat causes the wretched water to evaporate and linger in the air, meaning that the humidity is not purely water sticking to skin but also a collection of unwholesome particulates. There are portions of this layer of the Spirit World that are not hot and humid, but they serve only to be homes for corruption that is more fitting in those climates. This includes a variety of different meanings for the word, but the colder areas often appear completely barren despite housing a multitude of mircroorganisms and spirits.

History

Skorumpovaný, the Smrtohnya of Rot, Corruption, Decay and anything pertaining to that existed long before the gate to this layer of the Spirit World did. The layer itself has always existed so long as these concepts have existed, and certain L'huine had a particular connection to those concepts. Ancient L’huine worshipped the ten Smrtohnya (spirits of nature) that they believe governed their world. Most L'huine didn't just pray to one Smrtohnya, they believed and embraced each as they come up in their daily lives. Skorumpovaný was often "prayed" to or thought of when it came to healing illnesses, storing or preserving food, cleansing areas of corruption, rooting out unsavory political leaders, and other generally positive sides of the whole deal. It was rare for someone to want to follow Skorumpovaný and do harm, and the use of the undead for practical purposes was a common sight. The fact of the matter was, and still is, that rot and everything Skorumpovaný represents is just a part of life and death. Amongst these L'huine were masked and ambitious religious leaders that were devoted to one Smrtohnya above all the others. The leader of those that found some solace in the Rot, in Skorumpovaný, was known as The Necromancer. Meta Knowledge, kinda

This Necromancer, also known as Božena, saw something different within Skorumpovaný. She understood that the Cycle as it was known was corrupted. She knew that this corruption either came from Skorumpovaný or could be healed by them or both. When the City that The Psychic had designed was finally built, she knew that she would finally be able to accomplish her goals of fixing this cycle so that her and her bretheren would truly live forever, maintain their memories in their future lives, and prevent the stars from going out.

Her ritual has been in progress for indeterminate millenia. It has caused plagues, blights, mass extinctions, and the only thing that has been shown for it so far is the unfortunate form of immortality forced on her followers. One of her zombie followers has managed to beg for a group of adventurers to end The Necromancer's ritual early, and these adventurers, the Spiritual Travelers, have finally entered The Rotting Gate.

Information on this Gate was first gained from a zombie, Her’aen. She begged for death and for The Necromancer to be stopped. Some themes in the story would later come up when Hysteria told the history of The Oni. Zombie Story

"Please, save me. Not just me, but all that are like me. The pain of life is too much to bear. The pain of existence, the weight of eons, there is one that must be stopped before my brethren and I can rest or, hopefully, be reborn someday. I wouldn’t expect you to go right away, I’m sure you’re busy and wouldn’t want to impose, but I just wanted you to hear my story. Long ago, during the reign of Ki’ur, The First King-and-Queen, then known simply as King Uilan, we were given explicit instructions by The Psychic to build an impressive city. She said she had heard the cry of a distant god desperate for company, and as the construction continued and talk of the new realm we would visit spread… well, other ideals began to rise as well. The Necromancer began preaching the woes of each passing cycle. She would proclaim to all who walked in the streets that they are missing memories, that each life is more pointless than the last, that we should remember all of our lives or what’s the point in living them? She had many persuasive thoughts and promises, and one of the most tantalizing to the majority of us was the promise of immortality. That death would never again claim us, that we would carry with us the weight of all L’huine knowledge for all time … it was too much to resist. I had curiosity and a crippling fear of what might lay beyond this life, if I were reincarnated without my memory well then, what’s the point of even living in the first place? We finished the city and when we passed through to this Spirit World for the first time we all traveled here, to this swamp, and with the help of Božena we opened a gate to the land of rot using special mushrooms of her own creation, and as we chatted amongst each other a gate formed which we walked through to find our destiny. Božena’s promises were supposed to be realized in this new Rotting Gate, and I still do not doubt her desire to break the Circle, but her desire for power was something that couldn’t be ignored. She channeled the energies of that gate to corrupt us, to spread horrific blights and plagues, and the immortality that was promised did not prevent our bodies from rotting as time passed. Our existence is pain, each moment is suffering, and she is still in that gate channeling the magics for millennia ever on the edge of greatness."