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Courts and Houses of Chaos - Gazetteer Entries
Index | Time Under Chaos | Gazetteer | Chaos | Courts and Houses of Chaos
Common Areas
- Approaching the Courts: She still had a way to go, but now saw the black mount that reached high enough that she would swear that she should have seen it long before. And upon it a unfathomable shape of black, only perceptible by the negative space around it edged with flashes of light. She stared in fascination, and as time passed, each flash of light seemed to reveal something different. She could swear that she could visualize something, but what it was she could not voice. Amba and Helena: A New Arrival to Chaos
- Sword Dancing Grounds: Their corridor opened up onto a wide and long pedestrian bridge spanning a flat plain which stretched into the far distance on either side. Squares lined the plain, all divided into grids, some with ten units on a side, some fifteen or twenty. People stood in the squares, some holding weapons and some empty-handed, or off to the side watching. ... A large square, maybe sixty meters or so on a side and divided into a twenty by twenty grid, stretched out below them. Two players stood inside the grid, one on a grid square that glowed purple in color, the other on a grid square of orange. Various other grid squares also glowed purple and orange, the remainder black. Amba and Helena: A New Arrival to Chaos
- Sculpture Gardens: The Sculpture Garden on the grounds of the Hattusas Museum was one of Claudio's favorite places. True to both parts of its name, it mingled three-dimensional works of art with decorative vegetation -- sometimes both at once, as in the Flower Dial or the Topiary Maze. It also featured plazas, terraces, fountains, walks both populous and secluded, and while it was never quite the same twice running, most of its visitors had their own catalog of favorite spots.... A few minutes before the agreed-on time, Claudio arrived at the Papingo Terrace. They'd chosen it mainly because it was well lit at almost any time of day, but also because it was away from the more populous areas of the Sculpture Garden, screened from the main path by a thickly planted trellis of vines and multicolored tropical blossoms, and provided with a semicircle of comfortable benches. Sketches In Synergy
- Family Entrance: The card showed a triangle of green grass and white stone, with angular white tree-like structures beyond. ... They appeared within a diamond of grass, surrounded by a closed diamond of white stone pathway, surrounded by a grove of what could have been either strange trees, or sculptures of trees. There did not seem to be a sky overhead, but rather a gray surface that gave off a diffuse and indifferent light. This was the busiest private entrance to the Ways of a populous House, and the trees and the stone paths were a maze, littered with Veils that led to many different parts of the Ways — as well as to dead-end rooms that in peaceful times were merely difficult to get out of. ... The starting-points of both of the best routes to Irulan’s private Ways were in flames; the heat from the other side was actually beginning to melt the trees in which the Veils were set. ... The path seemed to lead to a low mound, circled with trees. For some this had always been a special haven; for others - Irulan and Delluth among them - it was a most secret backdoor to the Ways. On the Road with Delluth and Merlin
- Irulan's Private Ways: “And here’s where Lady Irulan’s private Ways begins,” he said at last, pausing to nod to the two uniformed guards standing on either side of a wide, wooden door carved in diamond-shaped panels, which opened for him without any visible reason for doing so. ... Within, the theme of carved wood continued in shoulder-high wainscoting in a long hallway, which was lighted by a row of skylights. ... The room was high-ceilinged, as was common in House Corrino, and the walls were covered in green silk striped with gold. Several chandeliers glowed with sorcerous light, which fell equally on some fifteen members of both greater and lesser Houses, standing or seated in upholstered chairs around small tables. The carpet underfoot featured a sinuous pattern of black over squares of two shades of green. On the far side of the room, open double doors led onto another room, where more people could be seen moving about. ... The doors led on to a much brighter and larger room [The Fountain Hall], paved and partly walled in white/off-white marble, washed in a bluish color from the frosted-glass ceiling high overhead. As they entered, the blue light began to give way, at their left, to a yellowish-orange, which crept across the skylight toward their right. In the center of the hall was an oval basin, in which a white marble sculpture of a nude male and female stood arm-and-arm with their feet in the water, looking upward toward the skylight and the gentle rainfall that emerged from mid-air above their heads to spatter on them and into the pool. After that, Claudio noticed that a half-dozen works of art adorned the walls, each done in shades of white that picked up the colors streaming through the skylight, just as all the marble did. Corrino Conversations
- Amba's Rooms: Helena guided her through narrow hallways, along a forest path, past a brown plain containing an open training area surrounded by barracks, over a rainbow bridge surrounded by stars, and finally into a wide hallway lined with closed doors. ... Helena stopped at the third door to her right and opened it for Amba. Inside was a small room, simple and functional in decor. Two doorways opened on either side, a bath on her left and a bedroom on her right. A window and small sitting area occupied the back wall, the window looking out onto formal gardens. Amba and Helena: A New Arrival to Chaos
- Exterior: An enormous fortress imposed itself in front of her, its walls reaching to the horizon on her left and her right, its massive gate like an open maw and guarded by men in black and red livery. People lived and worked outside these walls - there was an open market nearby selling fresh food, by the smells wafting past Amba on the breeze, strange music and the chattering of people filled her ears, and the bright colors of exotic textiles assaulted her eyes. Amba and Helena: A New Arrival to Chaos
- A Salle: So here she was. It was featureless - the room, that is - plain, amorphous, white. The walls and floors had a spongy feeling to them - all the better to absorb impacts, she’d supposed. ... [S]he began to go through another exercise, wishing that she had some sort of weapon to practice with. As the thought went through her mind, her hand passed through the surface unexpectedly, throwing her off-balance. As she pulled her hand forth, she noticed that some of the wall came with it - a bit of amorphous fluff that reminded her of nothing so much as cotton candy. Even before her eyes, the fluff began to elongate, the surface taking on the appearance of wood as it became a quite useable staff. Amba and Helena: A New Arrival to Chaos
- Hospital Facilities: ... [A] bevy of small, anxious demons had taken Helena and set her on the top of the work bench which seemed to be covered with some sort of purple moss ... Amba and Helena: Healing Wounds
- Other Interiors:
- She passed through great book-lined studies, rooms of imposing learning. By and by she saw through a long, diamond-paned window a small green garden, with a dove cote where white doves were roosting. Standing in the middle of the grass was a lady, dressed in green, her long red hair looped back with a single gold thread. ... As Amba took note of the window, she approached, and saw that further along the wall, near a table where an old man was reading, there seemed to be a door open to the garden. Facing the Gallows
- Fiona had turned and was walking with her along a garden path that suddenly seemed to stretch far longer than the length of the garden itself. ... Somehow they were walking in a cave now, with slick grey walls, and the atmosphere was becoming a little steamy. ... She moved forward and Amba could see, through the steam, that they were approaching an area of pools and small waterfalls, with exotic blooms all around. The only unusual thing about this idyll was that the water was steaming. Facing the Gallows
- Torren's Laboratory: Torren led the way through the shifting corridors of his House until he pushed open one uncompromisingly unchangeable door, looking rather like the bulkhead door on an ocean-going vessel. Inside was a long, high ceiling room that seemed constructed entirely from brushed pale grey metal - and looking like nothing so much as the inside of a great nautilus shell. "Follow me," said Torren, and he began to lead the way down a central path, past demons working industriously on laboratory benches set with arcane equipment to either side. The path curved, and then began to rise, following the line of the shell, the ridges making steps that they slowly began to ascend. Gravity seemed irrelevant here, for soon they were climbing almost vertically, while more demons continued to work at work benches seemingly attached to the walls and curved ceiling at every conceivable angle. ... Slowly they progressed through the whorls of the shell until they found themselves in the final room accessible to the human form - which was furnished, seemingly, as a small prep room, with a great many books and flimsies in shelves against the wall. There were stools to sit on - Torren motioned to both girls to take seats before going to a cupboard and beginning to remove some sterilized equipment including a centrifuge, a rack of test-tubes and a hypodermic. Teatime and Genetics
- Torren's Study: [Torren's] image came swiftly to life - he appeared to be in his private study, a room Helena knew well, one that was redolent of rich spices and mellow alcohol. Teatime and Genetics
House Barimen - a minor, independent House
- An Exterior [After stepping through a Trump connection] They found themselves in an enclosed garden under slanting golden afternoon light. Ivy and more delicate flowering plants twined over rough grey stone walls. The air hummed with bees passing to and from an ancient, gnarled apple tree covered with pink and white blossom.... [They passed through the] trellised arch starred with white flowers ... onto a path of herringbone brick overarched by trees, their trunks bronzed by the slanting light and their green leaves whispering. From there, grey stone steps led up to a wide verandah. A tea tray was already set out on a wicker table, within easy reach of the sofa and chairs arranged around it. [A] row of French windows ... gave on to the verandah. Patterns In Practice
- Claudio's Studio The domed ceiling of his studio was something Claudio's sister Lovisa had found for him out in Shadow and transported to the Ways of Barimen. Made of psychosensitive material, it could shift its tint and polarization from complete transparency to opacity, or any stage in between, in response to mental commands.... Under the domed ceiling, the studio was perfectly round -- at least, as far as one could tell, since the walls were completely covered with hangings of various colors and patterns. The floor, of a dull, neutral color with a finish that obviously had easy cleaning rather than aesthetics in mind, was similarly brightened with throw rugs of various sizes. Painting Jerusha
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