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The Chancel of Alakh-Mu is known as "Storm's Eye." It
is a realm where if you don't like the scenery, wait
five minutes. The weather you're kind of stuck with.
It has always been in the center of an immense
maelstrom. It has been, for the last five years or so,
a mountain. The storm licks the edges of the base of
the mountain, and the top of the mountain is not as high
as the top of the storm cone. At the top of the
mountain one can see a clear circle of sky, but nowhere
else.
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The regions of the mountain are varied. Many powerful
Lords have shaped The Eye of the Storm, and so many
different regions and climates have developed. Also,
time passes as it does in the mythic reality, not in the
dull, plodding manner of prosaic time. More on this
later.
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At the base, a vast marketplace sprawls, connected to
all marketplaces of the worlds, at all times. It is
relatively easy to get into the marketplace, and nearly
impossible to get back where you came from without
magickal aid. Therefore, the average daily population
of The Eye of Storm is roughly 10 million souls. This
is where Percy, the Marquis of Need, chooses not to
rule. Which is to say, as long as it doesn't bother
HIM, you can get it here. The maelstrom licks at the
edges of the marketplaces, periodically destroying bits
and pieces of it, which are quickly and shoddily
rebuilt.
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Above the marketplace, which rings the entire base, are
the "urban redevelopment centers." This area can be
fairly dangerous, if you wander into the wrong area, but
is full of interesting, exotic "neighborhoods."
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The next layer up is cozy and quiet, a suburban
paradise. Barrie, the Viscountess of Home, is the
beloved leader of the gentle people here. Word of her
kind and generous ways is so widespread that people come
up from the projects and down from the farmlands just to
seek her judgment. People live their everyday,
wonderful, terrible lives here in the suburbs, although
many of them also work in the marketplace.
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Above this is the arable farmlands of the Eye. There
are many small farms, and they are small community
centers, with blacksmiths, barn-risings, and the like.
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Past the farmlands is the barren, windblown
heath. Wakadja, the Thunderbird is sometimes seen on the
heath, for there is a waterfall there that he
enjoys. Despite the occasional gothic mansion, gloomy
chateau, muttering hermit, abandoned mission, or inbred
feuding clans, it is fairly desolate and sparsely
populated.
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Some of the inhabitants of the heath believe that the
heath is indeed the top of the mountain, because of the
dense cloud wall that forms a nearly impassable barrier
to the summit above. However, no one really knows what
lies within the cloud barrier. Many who try to pass
through it never return.
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Above the cloud barrier, there is the temple of Cycles,
which Angel, the Viscount of Cycles keeps as a haven for
repentant sinners and wayward blondes. Angel built the
temple from her vast experience with martial arts
movies. It is peaceful and mossy, and gentle strains of
"Every Rose Has its Thorn" and other "power" ballads
played on sitar and gong are constantly just barely
audible.
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The very peak of the mountain is frozen and desolate.
It is not habitable for normal mortals, but deep trances
or high aspect can make it an excellent place for
solitude and meditation.
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The interior of the mountain is hollow, and contains
many secrets. The worst-kept of these is Angel's
"rehabilitation center," where the guilty are taken to
be punished, and the wealthy pay through the nose to be
punished. Sinners enter through the "highway to hell,"
which is the common name for the myriad entrances to the
center. Some of these are fronted by ticket booths,
others are guarded by Angel's thugs, who force those in
need of repenting through, and some are disguised as
hotbeds of sin and degradation, with such enticing signs
as "Arsonists! Flammable fun right through here!"
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Although it is Angel's pet project, the rehabilitation
center is overseen by Aurelia Primus, the Duchess of
Sensation. Her minions determine the appropriate
punishment for the sinner, and detain them until they
repent. Sometimes Aurelia herself will administer the
healing absolution.
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When the sinners have been redeemed, they are released
at the top of the mountain through the "Stairway to
Heaven" into Angel's temple. From there, they can live
in ascetic harmony with the other converts, or return to
the Marketplace, a short and pleasant walk down the
"yellow brick road." This is one of the ways in which
the non-linear nature of time in the Eye of the Storm
makes itself most obvious. To climb the outside of the
mountain takes "a long time." To go from the temple to
the marketplace along the Yellow Brick Road is a "short
walk." The quickest way to get from the Marketplace to
the temple is through the "rehabilitation center."
There is a two-way doorway between Percy's apartment and
Angel's temple that allows immediate transportation
between the peak and the base, but the change in air
pressure is a doozy.
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There are other Lords in the realm. There is the
Paragon Dragon, pawn of Evolution, who is the leader of
the guard in the Marketplace, and also has a mysterious
lair, somewhere on the mountain. There is the Emperor,
Duke of Unity, who has a business tower in the
marketplace, near the Wall Street and Toyko gates. One
hears rumours of the mysterious Poreus, Duke of the
Liminal, who seems to dwell in no one place. It is a
realm rich in myth, adventure, and spicy salsa. This is
Storm's Eye.
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