- "There is a great deal of difference between what we think is real, and what actually is." — Ganfan Tiaon, First K'haogun of the Mkikeff'lorisaz (Coalescent Efflux) District of Oexra'numsaz
The universe of the Elder Scrolls is home to numerous planes of existence in both its official and unofficial lore. The Uutak Mythos doesn't stray too far from the material and immaterial realms discussed in the official canon of the series, although it does create some new ones while also expanding on a few of the more older and forgotten ones discussed in the earlier installments of the franchise. The realms of existence integral to the Uutak Mythos are discussed below. If one would like to understand how these planes relate to the gods and spirits exclusive to the Uutak Mythos, or check out the book this information comes from, please check out the religion page and Realms Beyond the Veil: An Accounting of the Multiversal Instances.
Note: As of 10/03/2020, this page will be under constant renovation until all relevant texts are added and it reaches its completion. This process should only take a few months at minimum.
Realms of Existence within the Uutak MythosEdit
There are twelve main realms acknowledged by the Echmer and other racial members of the Yneslean Directorate, although they also realize that the universe is vast and that each of these realms contain subregions and sub-subregions of their own. They are as follows:
The VoidEdit
The Old Chaos. Perpetual Dissonance. The Great Nothingness That Surrounds Creation. Also known by the cultural names of the Black-Welkin (A'zast-Omae) and the House Before All Others in Echmeri spirituality. It is where the First Being, the All-Goddess known as P'hanoikhei, originated from (for something must always come from nothing) and is also the place where she returned upon her conscious-death after the birthing of the last of the Original Spirits/Gods (ateda) ― the Birth/Old-Gods. It is often considered misleading to refer to the Void as a finite or infinite plane of existence, for in reality it "exists" on a nearly impossible to think about level of absolute unbeing; it's place in the multiverse is critical, metaphorical, literal, and none of these at all times. Travel to and from the Void, while possible, is considered suicidal for all existential beings due to the existential threat of being sensorially unraveled.
Nevertheless, those few immortal and mortal minds that can stomach such a paradoxical mindset can learn to invoke great power from the Void by plundering its secrets; for example, silence magic (a 'school' of magic that includes difficult anti-magic techniques) has long been believed to have descended from primordial research of the Void. It is also hypothesized in Echmeri theological scripture that the un-stars of the heavens are actually void-leaks in reality's canvas and that the un-star constellations themselves contain the energies of foreign, alien powers trying to reach into our world. For if the Void acts as a barrier around the universe, who can say there isn't another universe on the other 'side' of it?
The souls of Bat Elves were permanently enchanted by the hero-goddess Hrahndeyl to be consumed and therefore erased by the Void upon death long ago in their Second Era, in the greatest documented showing of the cataclysmic power of Void magic.
The AuribexEdit
Creation. The First House and the Union of Order and Chaos. Known in the West as the Aurbis, the Eternal Mixture of the Light and the Dark. It was built by the hands of Zziuth'al (the God of Kinesis) and Avki'tel (the God of Stasis), the Eldest of the Original Spirits and the Resolute Pillars of Reality, who realized that their younger siblings being birthed by their mother P'hanoikhei would need their own rooms and privacy to better grow and mature.
Originally the Auribex was unusual in its simplicity: everything had a definite space for itself, for where it truly belonged. It wasn't until the actions of the god Laorghatu for the sake of N'urnani that the Auribex was changed forever; nearly collapsing into an incomprehensible mess and birthing the concept of complexity into the House. What was once miniscule and calculated equations of individualized separations became a conjoined diaspora of massive realms filled with infinite lands barely held together by thin and constantly shifting boundaries.
Nearly every being within the multiverse exists within the mystical confines of the Auribex House, which sets the standard for the logic of existence itself. The recognizable exceptions to this fact are the conscious corpse of P'hanoikhei and her twin-sons Avki'tel and Zziuth'al (who traveled to the Edge of the Void to await the Last Performance at the End of All Things), the god Lyednharh (whose nature as the god of silence grants him unique privileges), and the enigmatic deity known as the Tenebrous God and Its Harbingers, the Preying-Gods of the Seven Un-Star Constellations (a pantheon of insect deities worshipped long ago by the Kítapoe who are rumored to be alien entities hoping to devour our fragile, maturing world by superstitious folk).
It should be noted that Invighna, the exiled God of Magic, does not live within the Void like some diocesans and suffragans believe in In'eslae; that line of reasoning originated from numerous archaic transcription errors. He does however exist within the transitional zone known as the Weir (see below), alongside a few other celestial bodies and entities.
UioanEdit
When Laorghatu, the Third-Born of Existence and the First God of Space and Time, first began his renovations of the Auribex House, his first decision was to merge the rooms of the younger siblings who had refused his call for aid (for he had been the eldest at that time, and thus his word was to be heeded). In a magnificent showing of cunning and strength that only the Maned-Dragon could perform, he demolished and reformatted this section of the House without these siblings even noticing he was there and transformed it into the first of the new realities that provides substantial evidence towards the multiversal nature of mortal reality.
While in the West we call this strange grouping of realms Oblivion, the Echmer instead recognize it as Uioan, the Realm of Ignorance (the word uioan itself means unawareness, which is why modern bat elves simply refer to this collection of realms as Oblivious: to subtly mock the selfish nature of the gods that dwell within it). Oblivious is home to the Chaos-Gods, a loose pantheon of ateda and numeda (new spirits) who deal with their eternal boredom by constantly involving themselves in the affairs of everything that resides within the Auribex House (especially the Mundex (see below)). Some of these Chaos Gods also make up the Testing-Gods/Keeping-Gods for the Echmer: deities who find their culture and race especially enticing and involve themselves frequently in their affairs.
While many would consider them evil, the Echmer are adamant that the Chaos Gods of Oblivious transcend traditional mortallic morality, and believe that their fluctuatious natures balances out the Auribex House as selfishness breeds passion and passion breeds inspiration. The Echmer do not recognize the Daedric Princes as a collection of deities like the West does, but do recognize those particular entities as ateda or numeda of truly significant primordial agency.
EithentEdit
Considering that the word's literal translation means blistering heavens, the Eithent's comparison and relation to the Western Aetherius is extremely noticeable to many scholars. Like many other spiritual regions, knowledge of Aetherius was passed down to the Echmer from their Dwemer progenitors, and this knowledge was then bolstered through exposure to more Eastern methodologies. Eithent is sometimes referred to as the Highest Heaven or the Realm of Light in more poetic texts in In'eslae as well.
It was the Second of the Multiversal Planes formed through the actions of Laorghatu, who either convinced or tricked (the exact means is subjective to the story being told and its personal message) several of his younger siblings into vacating their rooms so that he could combine them into an enormous room held high in the rafters of reality. Whereas Uioan exists within the Auribex House but both 'below' and to the side of the Mundex (its inherent Darkness shining through the Weir to become the night-time sky), Eithent exists both 'above' and to Mundex's other side (with its inherent Light shining through the Weir to become the day-time sky). These two planar ecosystems, being comprised of opposing―chaotic vs pneumatic―divine creatia, flow into and out of one another while saturating the realm of mortals in an equal mixture of both.
If Uioan can be considered the Egg of Inspiration, then Eithent can be considered the Egg of Calculation; its inhabitants, while extremely selfless, are also beings of pure logic and methodological thought. Those that dwell within Eithent are known as the Star-Gods to the bat elves, who are comprised of two distinct orders: the Torch-Gods (ateda who bring light to the outer cosmos so banished Invighna can find comfort and peace; they are akin to the mysterious Magne Ge) and the Sign-Gods (numeda accidentally born from the power of the first stars and star groupings; in short, the Constellations). The stars themselves are said to be torches set ablaze by the magical white flames of the upper heavens (gifted to Eithent by Aryus the Fire God), that burn so fiercely they shine eternal through all the windows and cracks in the Auribex House.
The MundexEdit
Ah, yes; the Mundex. The Material Realms, the Mortallic Theater, and the Sole Limitation Upon Eternity's Shackles. When translated from Ek'hi it either means reality's prison or life's paradox, and in the West we know this plane of existence as the Mundus.
Interestingly enough, the Echmer have never seen much of a reason to separate the Mundex (the mortal realms) from Nirn (the mortal planet) and probably never will; in their eyes the two are one and the same, and Nirn (known simply as N'uan to them, which means stage) is just the largest and most important area within the Mundex. It is also the centermost room of the Auribex House, built purely out of love for P'hanoikhei's last child and youngest daughter N'urnani (Goddess of the World and Stories) by her elder brother Laorghatu before his demise. Sure, the other elder gods and spirits might interfere with the lives of mortals constantly, but everything we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell inside this small instance of reality's performance belongs to N'urnani and N'urnani only. She may not be as active as other deities, but she is constantly watching.
The Mundex is the great stage, the melodramatic auditorium, for every being, every action, every promise, and every regret that has ever happened and will happened throughout time and its various alternate routes. It is also (of course) the sole plane of existence that naturally births mortal life and hums with plentiful amounts of raw soul energy due to the existence of the Lullaboros (see below) in its heart. While Laorghatu may have been the original god of space and time, it is actually N'urnani who decides the beginning and end of each new timeline―of each new world―that graces the material realms as she is the Storyteller of Creation as dictated by the First Being. This is an idea fully embraced in bat elf culture despite their disfavoring of active worship of gods in present times, as they view existence as nothing more than a grand stage play and mortals as nothing but puppets performing their destined parts before their role in the story ends.
Mundex is home to mortals and the grouping of ateda and numeda known collectively as the Nature-Gods due to their ties and influence over the physical lands of the material realm. It is also often the origination point of the strange order of deities referred to as the Outsider-Gods (gods who were either once mortal and apotheosized or gods that traveled backwards/forwards through time) and some Wraith-Gods (mortals who leeched the power of a dead or dying god to ascend or deities born from the corpse of a god).
The most powerful entities that prevail in the Mundex however are the Effigy-Gods (sometimes referred to as Idol-Gods or Soul-Dolls), deities that have no true individual thought or personality; they are instead mantles of incredible power that serve as avatars of a mortal culture's inherent power, belief, and collective existence. They are fleeting, usually only manifesting during periods of great strife or as the result of prophecy, which they are victim to. The most powerful of these divinities are Zaer'roh (the mechanical-god forged by Dwemeri hubris that will one day break existence permanently) and the twin-effigies Prakhr and Shakht (who transcend everything within the Auribex House when it comes to the full extent of their power due to being created by the All-Goddess herself, and representing the two sides of her greatest gift to the multiverse: possibility; constantly at odds, their mutual existence and eternal conflict over ultimate liberation vs ultimate subjugation will one day fulfill the Last Prophecy and decide the Fate of All Things at the End).
The WeirEdit
The Weir was never meant to be part of the Auribex House, but when the House nearly collapsed completely due to Laorghatu's ancient folly it caused the creation of an ominous cloud of partly magical, partly divine energy to permeate the universe. This odd mixture of substances was born through the accidental mixture of godly blood, chaotic creatia, pneumatic creatia, and vestigial residue, resulting in it growing hemorrhagic and then metamorphizing into something new; eventually this almost-invisible energy attached itself to the liminal boundaries of every realm in the multiverse, strengthening them but also connecting them through itself.
Coalescing into a strange, puzzle-like place that could be used as a system for fast but incredibly unruly and unsafe mystical travel, the Weir was born into the Auribex as the fourth and last planes of existence created through the actions of the Maned-Dragon. Weir itself is actually an Akaviri word that the Echmer picked up in a forgotten war ages ago, which came to become a natural part of their tongue that means interstice; in Tamriel, the word weir simply means portal. It is a subconscious plane that constantly adds and removes bits and pieces of other realms across time and space to/from itself: a strange labyrinthine land of doors and shortcuts shrouded in perpetual, translucent mist.
Not many entities can exist naturally in the Weir, but there are several celestial objects, mortals, and gods that meek out an incomprehensible living there. The 'Ruler' of the Weir for example is Fieo-lai, the Echmeri Goddess of Doors, Teleportation, Passages, and Boundaries. Invighna, God of Magic, also resides within the Weir; his only companion, the First Torch touched by newborn Aryus' strongest flame (the Sun), is constantly by his side and brings light to the material realms until the flame begins to incinerate the wood of the torch at night (thankfully his mistress Noyx constantly brings him a new torch to relight at Dawn).
The moons, which were built as memorials for the dead-gods Laorghatu and his wife Yra'fenna by Aryus and N'urnani, also exist within the Weir. They are attended to by the numeda that share their names with the moons themselves: Shoen and Shien, the Twin-Gods of Cremation and Burials, respectively. Other celestial bodies like the Aedric Planets are recognized by the Echmer as being permanent thresholds existing in the Weir that lead to the domains of powerful ateda that dwell within Eithent, Uioan, and Har-Gaun (the Underworld (see below)), as they do not believe in the concept of the Aedra or the Nine Divines of the Imperial Faith as most Westerners do. Baan Dar, the realm of the Rogue God, can be likened to Aryus' Comet (see below).
Many eastern and western scholars upon examination of the Weir often liken the 'realm' to ancient pollution that was brought about by multiversal calamity. However, without its existence, the idea, birth, and importance of portal and conjuration magic would not exist as we know it. The Weir Gate that leads to the Battlespire Academy gets its name from this realm.
Aryus' CometEdit
Aryus, the twin-brother of N'urnani and the youngest of the male ateda, has no true realm of his own within the Auribex House. In truth, he does not feel the need for one, as he is the First Flames of Existence given conscious form and his essence is to be everywhere. As the Primordial God of Fire he encompasses the element in all of its potential (its ability to bring life, its ability to destroy, its ability to frighten, its ability to calm, its ability to warm one's self, its ability to burn the soul, and so much more), and shares his power with his older siblings and children without regret (which is why his worship faded in the West; other gods were given the moniker of 'fire god' despite the mistake of this claim). Some Tamrielics, however, may have heard of Aryus under his western guise of Arius in their youth.
The closest thing to a realm Aryus has is his great and wondrous sky-vessel―a magnificent flying city-ship of forges and hearths―that soars through the multiverse at speeds mortals wish they could replicate. This ship, the Gi'yeir (a word that means Burnscar), is perceived by mortallic senses as a great and erratic comet that burns through the heavens infrequently throughout the year. It is most noticeable within the Mundex during the month of Sun's Height, which is popularized in ancient Echmeri beliefs as the month the Fire God was born. It is rumored that those who observe Aryus' Comet three times in their life will be magically transported to speak with Old Hammer & Tongs himself, who will grant them one wish within his power before returning them to whence they came.
Ienathin'falinEdit
Deep within the core of Nirn/N'uan, far below the dust and dirt and bone we mortals rarely ever see, exists a great machine built by the gods. Unwieldy cogs rotate underneath the world as iridescent pistons hum and infernal engines radiate with ancient, otherworldly power that transcends magic as we know it. Built by Axar'k (the God of Life and Death) and his wife Reimeloi (the Goddess of Water and Memory), the Ienathin'falin (a High Ek'hi word that translates into a word that doesn't exist within Tamrielic languages: Lullaboros) is the artificial realm of soul and soul recycling. It is where new souls are born and where souls return to after death, where they are stripped of their individuality and transformed back into the raw energy that so mimics the divine vestiges of the ateda and the numeda.
The Lullaboros is usually barren of living life, whether it be mortal or immortal. Occasionally Axar'k and Reimeloi perform their godly duties in the artificial realm, but myth more often places them to reside within the Eithent alongside other gods. A pretty notable exception is the Ticking Mechanicus, an adjacent-place severed from Ienathin'falin by the wraith-god Seitusal (one of three living-gods Hrahndeyl met as a mortal during her travels in Ta'dastan (their word for Tamriel); it is commonly believed that Seitusal is no other than the mysterious Sotha Sil, and the Ticking Mechanicus is actually the Clockwork City of infamy and legend. Unfortunately, it is not explained how Seitusal was able to steal a part of the Lullaboros to manipulate and control as he wishes.
In some additional Echmeri myths and legends it is believed that the god of undeath Magomak, who appears in the Weir as a rotting moon during his 'holy' days, also resides in the realm of souls to satisfy his perversion of them. His former master Gralmoghal also studies the soul of the great Dreaming Sleeve for his own experiments, and sometimes the venerants (bat elven ancestor spirits who have ascended into 'demigod'-like status) are said to frequent the gears of the artificial realm when they are not wandering the Mundus to protect mortals from evil entities.
The Eltheric and Padomaic SeasEdit
The Seas, which encompasses all of the streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, gulfs, straits, and oceans of N'uan/Nirn, is also considered a plane of existence within the Auribex House despite being a part of the Mundex (at least in some Echmeri traditions; the ascetic, nomadic group of bat elves known as the A'zukyii are still god-fearing enough to speak of the seas in a fervent way).
According to the A'zukyii and the Didacts of Mustikos'arcere, the Bat Elves learned from the Akaviri (who learned from the gods long, long ago) that water―specifically saltwater―is actually mortal memory given physical form, which is constantly pumped up to the surface of the material realm by the great machine Ienathin'falin below. At the beginning of time, which comes again at the start of another of N'urnani's stories, there was no water in the Mundex; it was only until the first mortallic wars graced the coil that men, elf, and beast died and their souls were recycled as mnemonic residue bubbled up from the dirt and gave birth to the first oceans.
The purification of water and salt, and their use against supernatural forces while also providing healing aid, is a valued tradition amongst the Echmer and incredibly symbolic of bat elf culture as a whole: to seek penance, to glorify the ancestor, to obey the law, to find humor in the dark, and to absolve one's sins. These themes are also reflective in the gods and lesser spirits collectively known as the Sea-Gods: deities who share no real importance in the mythic, being more 'idealist' in their ways of representing the aspects of civilization and cultural change.
Har-GaunEdit
The Bat Elves do not often speak of or linger on Har-Gaun, a plane of existence that should be avoided at all costs and feared. While there are several realms within Uioan and Eithent that can be considered to be overly cruel and disfavorable to mortal life, the Echmer believe that it can be safely said that the ateda and numeda who rule over these realms create these environments to better shape and adjust mortals to hardship and pain. Har-Gaun, on the other hand, exists for the sake of causing pain to everything within the Auribex House without any speck of guilt or remorse.
In the various variants of the Echmeri tongue, Har-Gaun has meant many things. In High Ek'hi, it translates into 'First Hell'. In Low Ek'hi, it means 'Underworld' or 'Evil Underneath'. And in Modern Ek'hi, it is generally common to use the word to mean 'Nether Realms' in conversation. It is safe to say that all of these translations are applicable to other cultural audiences. The word hell itself originates from the East (possibly in Akavir or the arguable lands beyond it), meaning utter corruption and/or pain.
The Underworld was born into existence in the same moment of Laorghatu's death. His meddling and attempted reconstruction of the Auribex House had gone too far, and when it collapsed it did so on top of the Maned-Dragon and several other original spirits. In the throes of their suffering did these ateda curse and swear vengeance on the House that refused to help them, only pity them, and Laorghatu's voice was the loudest of them all. Thus, did their bodies come to rot for eternity underneath the House, infecting everything with necrotic creatia slowly over time. Using the Weir as a means of persistence into other realms, portals to Har-Gaun are known as whelms and often take the form of physically destructive, chaotic, and disturbing landmarks (like the demonic sink-hole of Portentous Whelm underneath In'eslae in the Dweech, and the mountainous Cathexis Whelm that can be found in Vel'dayn (Morrowind)).
Unfortunately for all of existence, the greatest 'concentration' of Har-Gaun can be found within Ienathin'falin, the Realm of Souls. Like a sickness it slowly corrupts and transforms the inner workings of the infinite artificial realm built by the gods, turning deific metal and oil into horrific machines comprised of coagulated blood, rotting flesh, and ravenous bone that screams at the world. Pools of ancient, spoiled ythan (or gala, which means god blood) sizzle and pop constantly, with mucus-like bubbles bursting out terrifying daemons born from the souls Har-Guan steals from the Lullaboros and devours in order to sustain itself.
Only two deities choose to persist in the Underworld―Akkrahz (the Dragon-God of Time) and Seiru'udac (the Ghost-God of Space), who were born of Laorghatu's corpse (for so strong had been his sadness and rage). Akkrahz is the father of all dragon-kind who had once been Laorghatu's heart, and ate himself out of his 'father's' body to exact vengeance on his divine family. Seiru'udac, on the other hand, is the patron deity of ghosts and other specters who works through overly complicated schemes that ripped himself out of Laorghatu's soul.
The Echmer pride themselves on being the only civilized race that takes the threat of the Nether Realm seriously, which is why the Deepseekers―an ancient order of paladins―man Portentous Whelm and invades it on a semi-regular basis to keep it under control.
Tan Na ShaiEdit
Tan Na Shai is a strange collection of realms that not even the Echmer, in their wonderfully comprehensive and detailed view of cosmology, know too much about. Its existence seems to have sprung up as an afterthought (or perhaps byproduct) of the existence of mortal life within the Auribex House―with each action a mortal takes, countless possible outcomes are released into existence as tangible ideas. And N'urnani, despite her masterful storytelling, cannot possibly choose all of these narratives at once and therefore must choose the 'correct' one; this is a simplified metaphor for fate and its malleable nature.
All of these alternate paths, these hypothetical chapters in an individual's story, were discarded by N'urnani like trash into a bin and this heap of coincidental rubbish eventually transformed into Tan Na Shai (Ek'hi for 'Speculative Abyss'), or what Tamrielics call the Shadow Realms (for shadows and reflections are nothing more than copies of the prime self, which eventually start to distort the more light and mirrors are placed upon them, creating increasingly variational copies infinite in scope). Travel to and from the Speculative Abyss is definitely possible, but the trick is that you'll never reach the exact alternate universe you wish to see; the traveling itself creates new variables, resulting in a never-ending game of hide and seek.
The Shadow-Gods are ateda and numeda that reside within Tan Na Shai; sometimes they are reflections of the gods and spirits of the Mundus, and sometimes they are gods-that-could-have-been. The legendary Elder Scrolls are known as the dairoto-b'a (which means 'shards of prophecy') to the Echmer, and are believed to be large splinters of the Shadow Realms that 'evolved' into apocalyptic writings that whisper the eldest secrets of time and space. The outsider-god Raemoh is also believed to be a being akin to a dairoto-b'a, due to the most popular myth concerning his true origin revolves around the idea that he was formed from a group of alternate world-stories that were tossed away by N'urnani that accidentally gained divine sapience in the Void.
Some of the outer planes within the Shadow Realms are often believed to be the adjacent-places mortals sometimes wander into through the Mundex, which may or may not be true. shadow magic and mirror magic originated from Tan Na Shai and its strange inhabitants, but these categories of magic are considered on par with silence magic by the bat elves in regards to their hazardous and corruptible power towards the environment and one's personal safety.
Y'orgnueiEdit
The last of the planes of existences acknowledged by the Echmer to make up the aurbic multiverse is Y'orgunei (a High Ek'hi word that means Tribulation), a facet of reality that is wholly unique to their people. It is the domain of Lyednharh, the god of silence, who came into existence at the same time Hrahndeyl achieved godhood. There are several rumors and theories about Lyednharh's actual origins: the A'zukyii believe that he was the only man that Hrahndeyl ever loved, who followed her into godhood to spite her for eternity; the Exul (traditional, more outsider-friendly surface dwelling bat elves) simply think that Lyednharh is the manifestation of all of Hrahndeyl's sins given life through her apotheosis; and the Omali (the subterranean, reclusive bat elves) often think he is a daemon of the Shadow Realms that decided to live in the prime reality of the Mundex.
No one knows exactly which one of these is true, as Hrahndeyl personally refuses to acknowledge Lyednharh as an entity outside of the few occasions his antics come under her protective notice, and Lyednharh himself is not forthcoming about his past. What we do know is that the two have an uneasy truce and represent the two sides of Echmeri philosophy (the adventurous, sarcastic life of discovery that sound influences and the cold, unforgiving life of contemplation that silence encourages) in most mythohistorical scrutinization. Lyednharh himself is not considered exactly evil―he may be cruel, tempting, brutally honest, and sadistic, but his role is that of the Judge. No one else but him may examine every bat life that has ever been and will ever be and deem them worthy of spiritual salvation or damnation.
The existence of Y'orgunei is the biggest credit to this role of the Silent God. When Hrahndeyl removed her peoples' souls from the natural cycle of life and death, several ateda and numeda were outraged; they believed that it was (somewhat justly) unfair for Hrahndeyl to make the Echmer exempt from every divine claim other than hers and challenged her on this decision. But it was Lyednharh who devised the solution to this problem: he would create a realm of his own, a realm where every bat elf that dies must pass several trials to determine whether they deserve the Black-Welkin or will have their spirits forfeited to and gambled by the other gods.
Begrudgingly agreeing to the Silent God's plan, Hrahndeyl and these testing-gods allowed the construction of Y'orgunei in an area of the Auribex House that only Lyednharh can find. It is a place of dead winds and white shadows, of cracked statues and towers composed of thousands of kneeling statues buckling under each other's weight. Lyednharh sits at the center of this disturbing place on a giant throne of salted ivory within a lake of ice, counting souls within his ledger and devising personalized tests for every Echmer that crosses through the Immaculate Gates.