Dead Halls
A cliff-side mausoleum and cemetery complex in the Giant Spine Mountains between the Abandoned Clans, Tuura Adam and Zhapai Karmap. Used for ages to bury important dead. Dominated by the Great Mausoleum where a statue of a seated titan with a wyrm coiled around the throne oversaw the entire complex since the First Age. In reality, those "statues" were Perkunos and Tatsuryuu, frozen in stasis by an ancient curse. The complex was the site of a major disturbance as Tzeru, driven insane by loss of duty, tried to raise an army of stolen souls in 212 AC. This was ended by the Wild Cards and the two prisoners were freed. Since then, the site has been monitored by forces from each nation, seeking to prevent another such event.
Buried here are the heroes and villains of countless civilizations; not just the jazuu and dwarves--there are aelvar, orcs, and humans in their number. The last burial here dates to the late 3rd age, near the time of the Cataclysm, when the Flower Kingdom buried the one known as Kinslayer in the outermost tier. All other information about this individual was erased--only the name and the bizarre standing coffin remain.
The area itself still feels the residue of both the age-old binding curse that imprisoned the two Ascendants as well as the aetheric devastation caused by the fallen archangel in her mad attempt to breach the veil between worlds and call the dead back to life. As a result, the mausoleum decays very slowly--there are still skeletons and corpses from the Second Age. However, the feelings of the dead and the mourners and burial parties are etched into the stone itself, like the blast shadows of people erased by a catastrophic detonation. They are not undead--there is no jotnari influence. But in such a solemn, broken place, even echoes can take physical form...and these ghosts are not happy.
As a result, the duty to tend this place has fallen to the Tattered and their Hands. These souls, as broken as the echoes they comfort, are among the few that can walk unmolested...for the most part. The Hands deal with the corporeal ghosts who refuse comfort, although their destruction does not last. The only peace comes from the Tattered themselves, as they accept the pain of ages, taking on themselves the burdens of the dead. Many only want to have their names said one more time...but many of the names have been lost. Erased from history intentionally or by centuries of weathering.
