Lore [Isekai Hell] The Redacted Lore

[Clyvelle]

Disclaimer: The following is a compilation of canon and non-canon lore within the Isekai Hell world pertaining to characters of my making. Isekai Hell has requirements for canonizing lore, and, until those requirements are met, this is simply my headcanon.

Table of Contents
Characters
Story thus far
Lore​

 

[Clyvelle]

Characters

PC


NPC
Duchy, Pavilion

Name: Amelia
A rarely seen harpy resident of the Pavilion.

Name: Bay
Bay is involved in business that goes on without the Pavilion's walls. He commonly serves as a guide through the surrounding forests, most recently leading a party into the Cotton Top Forest north of the Pavilion. Though gruff and seemingly lacking in tact, it cannot be denied that he knows his way around the forest and does his best to keep those he guides out of harm's way.

Name: Duran
The eternally smoke-scented tour guide of the Pavilion. You can be assured this catkin always has his pipe on him or is attached at the mouth to a hookah. His love of the flavored smokes offered in the Pavilion borders on an unsafe obsession at times. Despite this, those who know him cannot deny Duran's well-meaning, albeit vacuous, nature. He is wed to Pantra, owner of the Pavilion's number one smokeshop Numa Numa. His niece, Katrina, lives in a beast village further west.
For reasons unknown, he has a borderline hostile relationship with Xerxes the harpy and is largely ignored by a vast majority of the catkin within the Pavilion aside from Ostis Mot, the Pavilion Coordinator.

Name: Ghedd'un
Properly known as the "Druidess of the Web", Ghedd'un rules the eastern half of Cotton Top Forest, which lies north of the Pavilion. As her name implies, she controls the spider nest there, but, compared to spiders from other territories, her spiders are relatively young and small. That said, her population is roughly 12 inches in length.

Name: Glyde
The enigmatic ruler of the Pavilion, Glyde rarely ventures outside his palace. He has coughing fits now and again that debilitate him. Though he commands the respect of the harpies, his relationship with Xerxes, captain of his guard, seems strained. Glyde entrusts most of the administration of affairs to Ostis Mot, Pavilion Coordinator.

Name: Katrina
Duran's niece, Katrina visits the Pavilion occasionally. This particular visit was to let Pantra and Duran see the new kits, just a few weeks old.

Name: Keesa
A timid young female, Keesa is a peculiarity even among the harpies of the Pavilion. Whereas the other harpies all have natural feathering and appendages, the clearly visible stitching binding Keesa's wings to her body suggest that her present state was not an act of nature.

Name: Nat & Olka
Olka came to the Pavilion with his daughter Nat after fleeing from a war in their home country. Olka continued to work with animals, seeing that they distracted Nat from other more depressing matters. Together they run their store, which was proudly named by Nat: Nat & Olka's Fluffies and Scalies.

Name: Ostis Mot
Some call him the "pulse of the Pavilion", but this tigerkin always responds modestly to such praise, crediting the people of the Pavilion for being "the true gems of this city". Ostis works tirelessly on behalf of Glyde to ensure the Pavilion runs smoothly. He maintains a good relationship with the citizens, checks off on shipments coming and going, and occasionally treats the people to special guest performances to liven up the night life. The catkin of the Pavilion especially adore him as their personal advocate for fair treatment, which occasionally puts him at odds with the harpies of the palace.

Name: Pantra
Owner of the smokeshop Numa Numa, Pantra did not come easily by her renown as the owner of the best hookah bar in the Pavilion. When she isn't busy minding the store, you can bet she's scolding Duran, her mate, for shirking his duties. Known in the Pavilion for her talent with the lyre, she occasionally plays in the shows put on by Ostis Mot.

Name: Xerxes
Captain of the guard for Glyde's palace, Xerxes is perhaps the most martially gifted harpy under Glyde. Favoring his twin khopeshes, Xerxes doesn't shy away from melee fighting despite being a gifted flier. Perhaps his knack for combat stems from his hot temper, which is not even tamed even while addressing Glyde.














Empire, Northern Desert

Name: Albedo
One of the few creatures of flesh that serve the Sceptre. Albedo is in charge of the cryptic research being performed on the floating island that houses their facility.

Name: The Sceptre
The ruler of the floating island fortress. "Sceptre" is presumably a self-given title. Always appearing in full gown and helmet, his physical features remain hidden. What is known is that he wields immense power to have confined the abberation housed in the facility.

















Ryke, Eastern Frontier

Name: Mhu'ati
A humble herbalist living in eastern Ryke. Mhu'ati is well-known in the region as a kind healer willing to take in the sick. She recently discovered a satchel of peculiar mushrooms outside her front door. She spends a lot of time studying this as of yet unknown fungi.





















Name: Masaruma
A deity hidden away in a forest in eastern Ryke. He was discovered in a magical spacial loop that trapped anything that entered it. Ciu'nan was following a herd of deer when she and her companions became trapped in this space. Masaruma guided them out by summoning a spectral deer.

Name: Unknown, "Pilgrim"
A stranger who appeared in the basement beneath what was once a temple where Ciu'nan was taking shelter one rainy evening. His speech was vague, but he neither did not said anything openly hostile to his hosts. Even so, Ciu'nan was overcome by fear at the sight of the stranger. He left as quickly as he appeared.














Ryke, Ryken

Name: Audry Antoinette Delarue
Known around Ryken as Lady Delarue, Audry Delarue is the matriarch of the Delarue nobility. She has carefully molded her family into a political powerhouse within Ryken. Lady Delarue blames Jareth for an unknown misfortune that has befallen her grandson, and she openly threatens him when he delivers her spectacles.

Name: Boris
Jareth's elderly neighbor in Ryken for more than a decade, Boris has taken a liking to the young artisan for reasons unknown. One of the few people to actually spend extensive amounts of time with the young man despite his status as an "omen child". He doesn't appear to work, being found in or around his cottage smoking his pipe more often than not.











Name: Nolan Isthmus
A master eyeglass artisan of Ryken locale, Nolan Isthmus runs his shop with Jareth as his assistant. He saw potential in Jareth as a child and took him under his wing. Being a master in his craft, Nolan's work is sought by everyone from lowborn commoners to highborn nobility, most notably as of late being Lady Delarue.

Name: Osman
Osman is one of the "omen children". Somehow early on during his stay at the orphanage, he managed to convince the other children that Jareth was somehow responsible for the misfortune surrounding them. He inspired and initiated the mistreatment that would follow Jareth to present day. Regardless of what everyone else thinks, Osman harbors a deep grudge against Jareth in particular. All of the omen children have manifested some abnormality. Osman's skin is particularly brittle and the slightest friction can cause him injury. Due to this, he's constantly wrapped in bandages and rarely experiences a day without pain. Somewhere along the way, he became convinced that if he kills Jareth, his own suffering, and that of the rest of the omen children as well, would end.

 

[Clyvelle]

Story thus far

Phase I: Affliction of Body

Chapter 1: A distant grotto
An anomalous herd of deer is tailed by a fae at the request of some local townships. What was presumed to be a short endeavor unfolds into ever branching paths. An evil is unknowingly unleashed in the eastern regions of Ryke.

Orson's Feast IV
An illness breaks out during a week-long feast. The mountain town of Kruhrin is beset from within and without by malevolent forces.

Orson's Feast V (TBA)

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Phase 2: Affliction of Mind

TBA
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Phase 3: Affliction of Spirit

Chapter 1: Metamorphose
Awakening in a foreign place, there was no alternative left to the boy but to await death's embrace. When the opportunity came, however, Death did not receive him. Another revelation occurs, leaving the boy to seek answers.​

 

[Clyvelle]

Lore
It was bound to happen in a world so old, ages upon ages stacked one on top of the other then lost to time. New foundations were laid upon the crumbling predecessors and now...a festering wound opens beneath our very feet....

It was never about blaming any particular nation or people. There is corruption in the ground beneath our feet. It is in the air that we breathe. Existence in this world has been irrevocably intertwined with an insidious malaise that sprouted a creeping vine long ago which produces all manner of poisonous fruits throughout all time. Sometimes the fruit is some demon or dark entity holed away in some secluded place patiently gathering its power, but more often than not, the evil which people fail to seek out and slay is that which lies within: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and slothfulness. Left unpruned within the hearts of every creature, these branches of the malaise grow and raise another oppressor more wicked than the last. When these oppressors inevitably come, creatures of the time foolishly champion the cause to slay or otherwise stop this creature, wrongly labeled as the source of all that is wrong in the world, denying the truth that this very darkness was spawned from the shadow cast by the light of their self-righteous campaign.

And so, a new age begins and with it the seeds sewn in the last apocalypse begin to break through to the surface. Beginnings are such muddled things though. What is a child's beginning? At birth? At conception? Or must we go further yet, down through his lineage until we find his very first ancestor? Even then, is the beginning there with the ancestor or is it with that which created the ancestor? Primordial ooze, a whim of the fates, or perhaps even a god...? I know not. A decision was made at a point in time that a beginning was to be there, and that one decision has caused many decisions to be made since that have brought us to this point.

Choices. So many infinitesimally small, seemingly inconsequential choices of the everyday man, and even beasts, that causes a series of events to fall just so. I suppose, however one goes about defining the beginning, it cannot be denied that there were two individuals, along with those they surrounded themselves with, whose paths through this world brought about a series of events and awoke the Affliction anew.

Phase 1: Affliction of Body
The world has been rife with pestilence from conception. The frailty of its inhabitants gives an avenue to that which lingers in the air and coalesces on the skin, or, as it was with the Affliction of Body, what the unsuspecting victims would fill their bellies with.

Along the old trade route running north and south on Ryke's eastern frontier, there was a cabin situated between two towns. Mhu'ati, the herbalist who owned the cabin, found a bushel of mushrooms on her doorstep and immediately began studying the fungal novelty. It came about that the herbalist, being more curious than cautious, sampled the mushroom. Rather than Mhu'ati consuming the fungus, however, it was the fungus that consumed Mhu'ati.


3 bringers of affliction
? Obelisks of power​

 

[Clyvelle]

It was a balmy night in the Republic of Kuridan. Summer's end was approaching in a day or two, which would instigate feverish preparations for the harvest. That was for another time however. For now, the stars shown brilliantly and a comfortable breeze stirred the grass on a nearby hillside.

One young rabbitkin, Beni, who had escaped the stuffy pile in which her many siblings were somehow sleeping, was sprawled on the grass atop the hill, happily munching on a peach plucked from a nearby tree. As she enjoyed her delicacy, she stared up at the stars twinkling overhead and whimsically thought that rabbits must be fallen stars due to how numerous they both were.

The wind suddenly gusted as a large shadow drifted overhead, obscuring the night sky. Beni sat up, following the eclipsing form as it glided towards her village. It took its time as it flew around the perimeter; all the while a sinking feeling developed in the young kit's stomach, spoiling the sweetness of her peach.

The children of this village were familiar with a handful of monstrous creatures, and their respective tales spoken from the mouths of parents trying to scare them into obedience. The closest match was a dragon, but Beni could tell this was no dragon. Though it commanded the skies and its wingspan covered nearly a third of the village, its form was too fluffy to be draconic. There were tendrils that trailed behind it like fur of some kind or perhaps tattered fabric, like an old cloak frayed at the hem where its drug along the ground too much. What's more, the front was too pointy, like an arrowhead, or, better yet, a spear.

Beni's blood froze in her veins as the spearhead turned in her direction while lazily passing in front of her hill during its survey of the village. The wind gusted once more as the enormous creature flapped its wings only once in order to divert its course to glide straight towards the rabbit's location. Legs seemingly materialized from the lower half of the shadowy form, their talons poised to likely take Beni along with the whole top of the hill as well. The peach fell to the ground as the young kit slumped backwards unable to do anything but watch death itself descend upon her.

For as large as the creature was, its landing was surprisingly quiet. A stillness had fallen over the hill, perhaps even the entire world, as this embodiment of night bore down on the helpless rabbit. Rising several stories taller than Beni could ever dream of being, the spearhead pointed directly at her. On either side, narrowed white eyes observed her every move. Now Beni could see this creature was some sort of monstrous bird. The fluffiness she had perceived was massive, raggedy feathers. The spearhead, a beak.

"Tell me, little morsel," a voice suddenly spoke, "do you want to be my meal tonight?"

The voice seemed to emanate from everywhere. It squawked and whispered and vocalized from the wispy darkness of the avian's form. Its tone taunted Beni as it posed the rhetorical question. She remained frozen as an involuntary shiver washed over her.

"Hm? Quivering with fright? A steady chant of 'Woe is me' filling your head? What a selfish speck you are! Consider how unfortunate I am, morsel. I'll have barely tasted you before you slide down my throat and make nary a ripple in my belly! So I ask you: who is truly the unfortunate one here, hm?"

The feathers bristled as the creature's tone conveyed its offense. Beni closed her eyes wishing with all her might she might wake up from this nightmarish encounter. She wouldn't even mind to be smothered in the warm pile of her siblings once more. Anywhere but here.

"I know!" The multitude of voices suddenly exclaimed. "What if I gave you...a choice, my savory little kit?"

For a moment, Beni's shaking stopped as she chanced a peek at the monster towering over her. What good choice could it possibly offer her?

"W...What k-kind of choice?" She stammered.

The spearhead beak opened as a malicious crone filled the air.

"Oh, it's quite an easy choice, really. All you have to decide is whether or not you'd like to be eaten. So...what will you decide: to let me eat you or to save yourself?"

Beni thought for a moment. The choice was perplexingly simple, obvious even. She may be young but she wasn't that gullible. What was the catch?

"How do I know you won't just eat me anyway?" She demanded.

The avian straightened its posture and puffed out its chest.

"My dear morsel, I am bound by the deal we make. I have given you the choice and am obligated to agree to whatever you decide. It may not seem like it due to my monstrous nature, but death is one thing I take very seriously."

Beni was taken aback by the monster's sudden change in character, attempting to paint itself as something honorable. It still terrified her being so close to it, especially its ravenous beak, but as far as she could tell, there was only one clear answer.

"I don't want to be eaten," she said, her voice sounding more confident.

"And so it shall be," said the dark avian. With a flourish of its feathers, the monster turned from her. Beni breathed a sigh of relief as she melted into the ground. From over its shoulder, she heard it speak a final chilling message. "You are spared this night...but not your village."

Beni would be blown off the backside of the hill as the monstrous bird flapped its wings to take off. Over the top of the hill she would hear a shrill, inhuman roar followed by the sounds of destruction. Screams would be heard before being suddenly silenced. By the time Beni scrambled back to the top of her hill, half the town had been leveled.

A few fires had been started from shattered lanterns. Their glow would perfectly outline the creature responsible. All Beni could do was watch as everything she knew and loved was destroyed in a single night. The creature took flight just before dawn, appearing as a great black dot against the lightening skyline.

Beni waited until she could no longer see the blackened silhouette in the sky before timidly making her way back into the village. She would sit silently next to the wreckage of her home until morning. At some point a caravan of bearkin passed through and found her. They took her in without a second thought.

 

[Clyvelle]

I was a little girl once. I mean, of course I was! This childhood I remember is not from this world though. I don't remember what world it was...or if I ever knew in the first place. Moreso than the people or places, I remember the dread that came with living there.

I remember being a little girl, only four or five. My parents spoiled me a lot. I don't recall being told 'no' very often, at least, at home, that is. The dresses! I was absolutely in love with the dresses my parents bought for me. The fabric was SO soft, and the cuffs and hems sparkled. There was a window in my room that I'd stand in when the sun was shining bright. I had put a full length mirror nearby so I could watch myself, and I would just twirl and twirl and twirl in that sunshine, watching the light reflect off my pretty dresses. I felt like a princess.

Like I said, I really don't remember much, but there was this one memory I have...it scares me. Or scared me, I guess. The details are fuzzy, but I do know we were going somewhere important. It was something to do with mother, I think. She was particularly fussy that day. The outfit she wore was for special occasions, I recall. There was this green ribbon she had to wear on her left arm. It signified her...status...in society, I believe. I think she was trying to get some kind of promotion, and this particular day was a meeting to decide that outcome.

So mom was beside herself, dressed in her special outfit, and on top of the obvious stress she was under, she had to take me along for some reason. I too had a special outfit, but mine was very plain compared to my mother's, which was adorned with various stripes and emblems along with her green armband. Mine was a simple black dress with an uncomfortable collar that fit tightly against my neck. I, too, had an armband but mine was solid white. The entire ensemble was incredibly boring and ugly compared to my other dresses, so I gave no small protest on the very rare occasion that I had to wear it.

Naturally there was no getting out of it. I had my fit, and mom was particularly stern this time. Gravely so, in fact. Her grip on my arm as she took me to the carriage was painful--she practically yanked me into the cab. As I sat next to her quietly crying about the ordeal, I stared out the window, refusing to look at her. Buildings passed. Streetcorners. Vague shapes of people and carriages along the way. A busy world, it seemed, that probably would have been immensely fascinating to the young girl in that carriage if not for the traumatic start to the journey.

In any case, we arrived. All I remember was that the structure was large, and the process of entering was not simple. Checkpoints and gates everywhere along the way. Soldiers. I do remember the soldiers: strange bird-faced men. Not actually, of course. They were just masks fashioned into a uniform bird-like visage. Could you imagine being guarded by a bunch of men wearing bird masks? The idea was funny to my younger self, but to see them up close, combined with my mother's anxiety, really made them rather terrifying. Thankfully, the guards weren't escorting us, though you could always see one or two literally everywhere in this place. They were even stationed outside the restrooms. Can you believe that?

Anyway, like I said, they weren't our guide this day. A stern-looking woman a decade or two older than my mom came to greet us. She was...decently cordial with my mother, like a professional peer or something. After greeting my mom, and giving me a not-so-subtle disapproving, judgmental stare down, she leads us further into this awful place.


From here the details get even more unclear--there's really not much left that I remember. This woman and my mother talk for a while in a room, then my mother is taken away for some...evaluation, I think? I was left in the room alone. I waited and waited and waited AND WAITED AND WAITED. It felt like an eternity had passed and mother had not returned. Eventually I had to...go...so...I left. Began wandering the halls looking for a restroom. I think...someone found me? Or I found the restroom? I really don't remember anything else after that.

+---Memory End---+
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+---Searching for Signal---+
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+---Postmortem Portal Found---+
+---Accessing New Memory---+
+---Rendering---+

[Ciu'nan] quietly exited the room she had been left to wait. Peeking out of the door, she looked right then left but saw no one. The avian-faced guards which were stationed everywhere had vanished. She thought she had seen a lavatory not too far from where she had been waiting, so she decided to make a run for it and return to the room before her mother and that woman did.

The halls were labyrinthine in this building. Every corner turned revealed yet another hallway with royal blue carpet, wood paneling, and an arched ceiling stained some off-white color and etched with winged imagery. Each intersection of two hallways had a matching emblem with a world surrounded by four wings. Without the woman guiding them, this place seemed impossible to navigate.

[Ciu'nan] continued on. She was sure the restroom had been close, but her need was growing more urgent as was her anxiety over being gone for so long. As if that weren't bad enough, she thought she heard footsteps behind her. They were about to step into the intersection she had just left behind. Ducking behind the far side of a couch conveniently perched in this hallway, she heard the footsteps stop at the intersection. A long moment of silence ensued. [Ciu'nan] tried to silence her breathing, listening intently as she hoped the footsteps would move away from her. Then a footstep sounded in her direction. Then another. Then the sound of a door closing further away. A shuffling noise could be heard as the feet about-faced and began marching away. Seeing her chance, [Ciu'nan] dashed from her hiding place down the hall away from there.

Restroom. Restroom. WHY WAS IT SO HARD TO FIND ONE WHEN YOU NEED IT SO BADLY?! Dashing through another intersection, the girl's desire for caution was quickly waning as her biological need escalated to madness inducing urgency. If she can't find a restroom, then any room would do. She'd just pop in, relieve herself, and return to wait for her mother. There was no way she was peeing on herself! No one would ever know it was her!

The hallway came to a T up ahead. Left or right. First room she came to would do fine. Charging into the intersection, her head darted left: more of the same. A single doorway on the left further down the hall. Her head flashed to the right...A moment of pause ensued.

This hallway was new. From floor to ceiling, the entire thing was comprised of an ornate gray-white stone, probably marble--a far cry from the mundane blue, brown, and white combo of the hallways up til now. Decorative columns were spaced evenly down the length of the hall, supporting vaulted ceilings. There at the end of the hall was a pitch-black doorway enclosed by a frame comprised of many sets of wings.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening behind her caused her to turn around: from the single door down the opposite hall emerged one of those bird mask wearing guards. [Ciu'nan] about voided her bladder right then, but something urged her to run. She needed to escape this guard. Not to avoid getting in trouble. Not just to keep him from seeing her possibly wet herself. No, more than anything else, she had to get to that doorway. So she ran.

The next several seconds passed in a dream-like fashion. In this dream a monster of some kind is chasing you. Your only option is to run, but the laws of the dream prohibit you from running at full speed or any kind of sufficient speed to put distance between you and your pursuer. The gate was ahead. [Ciu'nan's] arms were outstretched towards it. The guard was moving impossibly fast behind her, quickly closing in. The vaulted ceiling passed like a countdown. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2--The little girl was suddenly painfully wrenched backward as the guard's hand grasped onto her hair.

All at once, the walls on either side of the hallway lifted up, revealing several more guards arrayed in their formations. From beyond the pitch-black doorway at the end of the hall emerged the sour-faced woman and her mother, who was in tears.

"[Ciu'nan]," called the older woman, "has failed her Test of Ascension. The Four Wings cannot embrace you, so we return you to the air that you might be born anew. May you pass the winged gate and earn your feathers in your next hatching."

The guard holding her hair throws her to the ground as the guard formations on either side of the hallway snap their heads towards her. A clicking sound is heard behind her. She glances over her shoulder to see the guard who caught her brandishing a collapsible baton. Several more clicks are heard all around her as the other guards brandish batons of their own. Warmth is felt between her legs as she is no longer able to control her bodily function. [Ciu'nan] is afraid.