The Cairn of Sorrow

Hope, despair, joy, anger, happiness, and sadness. All of these emotions and more surround the Cairn of Sorrow, due to what it is. Cairns are traditionally small mounds of stone erected as memorials to people or events.

Originally constructed by a team from now DoL comprised of their Master Planesmith (whose name still proves to be an enigma in itself) and several of her apprentices to create the first extension to Mt. Illapse, as was called for by the City Planners. The Eight Planes had already been constructed, with each group of Dreamers having purview over their own set. Like the other planes, a Freespirit, Morgan of Donatis, (non-aligned) was also granted access to the process in order to confirm that the Plane would not exceed the limits set upon it by the Planners.
The plan called for a Plane where Dreamers could go to remember past persons and events. Having seen the Harrow Glades constructed, a few amendments were made including changes to it’s circular structure and the addition of separate rooms for meditating and quiet contemplation. Three major themes would be incorporated, temples, for the worship according to differing beliefs for those that passed on, and interconnected rooms of two types. These consisted of simple hallways and the Cairn hallways themselves. The Cairn hallways are widened rooms accessible through two or three entrances which made them focal points of the plane. The plane itself was split into two sections Cairn stretching between Mt. Illapse and the Far West Passage, and Lower Cairn stretching from The Mt Illapse Entrance and generator room to the Edgeward Entrance. The many temples and halls would allow all groups to use it’s areas without clamoring for more space, and the temples would provide for all manner of religious study and worship without conflict.

[At the time, both the group which would found DoL, and many others had "extremist" wings which advocated violence as a means of hammering their points home. The inclusion of Lower Cairn passing underneath Cairn of Sorrow would allow people to avoid each other and thus minimize violent confrontations.]
Having the blessings of the Master Planesmiths for their project, DoL was permitted the use of a Planar Generator; a technology still under development but one which had shown much promise in the creation of the Glades (the first recorded use). Unfortunately, the major failing of the Generator would soon be laid to bear.

From the scarce records there are, it is only possible to discern the effect and guess at the manner of which the Plane was shaped into the form it now holds. While the Cairn holds a subtle beauty, it is not shaped to original specifications, mainly due to the presumed interference of Morgan with the process. Both he and possibly even a few apprentice Planesmiths who wished to make their unique mark on the City overpowered the Master early in the process of Geoplanar formation. They were not happy that DoL would get to determine the final look of the plane and decided to contest it.

This disruption’s major effect was to cause them to lower the Generators power while arguments ensued between Morgan and his group and the group of DoL Panesmiths. The contention was over how the now finished walls and support columns would be covered, Morgan and his group wanted one look for the final Cairn of Sorrow and the group with DoL already had their artists working on the decorations for the walls and rooms

It was during these arguments, while the not quite finished plane stood there between Mt. Illapse and Edgeward that the Craft Fairs started. Some Panesmiths were walking through the plane discussing the proposals for finishing up the walls when they came across a lone dreamer in one of the cairn passageways. This dreamer, not waiting for the cairns to be named in remembrance for specific people or events like those in Trinity, had placed a small, inscribed candle upon the mound and was standing in quiet contemplation. The candles soft, wavering glow filled the room and the Panesmiths picked up and read it. It is presumed the candle was dedicated to a lost friend or loved one but no one recorded what was inscribed on the candle. Each of the Panesmiths were immediately reminded of someone lost to them and each placed their own candle next to that one on the mound. Others walking through the plane were stopped by the brightening light in this one hall and many stopped, placed candles, and engaged in quiet conversation with the others gathered there. Eventually the bards started to get out their instruments and play music for the gathered dreamers and word spread of an event in the new plane. It was decided that, with or without permission of anyone, this gathering would be held annually at Cairn to remember those that had passed on from the Dream. This started the second year when, while people were placing their candles and enjoying the music, some young and not very powerful dreamsmiths were quietly forging away in the Decorative Hall making, not powerful talismans as they hadn’t the ability yet, but finely creative trinkets. Each was trying to outdo the other and the objects were strewn about them on the floor. They found that visitors were eagerly picking up these items very excitedly and the workmanship or inscriptions on the items enthralled many. The following year the Master Dreamsmiths took over the Decorative Hall and the gathering was renamed to the City Craft Fair some time after that. Here the established guilds and Masters would both display and sell their wares. It was not uncommon for this fair to expand beyond the reaches of the Hall, but the finest wares were to be found there; in addition to the best entertainment!

Many questioned holding a happy event in such a place and the procedure of starting it by placing candles on the cairns to remember lost friends and loved ones. They were always reminded that the lost friends would want them to be happy in the remembrance and by holding it in Cairn, they felt that their lost companions were present with them.

The Red Temple, licensed at one point by the secretive Scyrthen Cabal was often a place for horror stories. DoL continued to license it presumably because even if odd things occurred there, it was preferable to have them occur in a remote location than wherever the Cabal chose. At these Fairs the secretive Cabal would come out in force entertaining all with their tales of monsters and demons worse than any nightmare. Many a child would come from the fair unable to sleep for days. The Cabal members would be seen retiring to the two wings off the Red Temple after the Fair with many noting it as the only time they’d ever see them smiling almost happily.

The argument between the Planesmiths behind the scenes caused the Plane never to be finished. The bare, discolored rock walls save for a disturbing face that can be seen in some of the walls and the metal supports remained the look of the plane. This face looks to be the same one on some walls in other planes like Totality. The Generator continued to run at the low power to maintain the plane structurally until such time as it would be completed then the Rifts came. First Dorsal, blowing through Cairn from a distance from the generator and causing some damage but it likely remained mostly intact since there are no recordings of major damage to Cairn from those that entered the dream between the two Rifts. With the opening of Caudal, however, Cairn fared far worse. The wave of Chaos was likely funneled through the narrow caves of Illapse, concentrating it as it moved toward Cairn. It struck the generator at full force causing it to fail then proceeded through the Plane causing some of the heaviest destruction anywhere in the dream. Most of Lower Cairn was lost completely as some of the hallways twisted and collapsed, the generator no longer helping stabilize them under the weight. The halls and rooms that once ran from Emigang’s Temple to the Far West Passage were lost completely to the Chaos.

This heavy damage was a fault of the Generators, which their creators did not live to see; the shortcuts it takes to make planar formation easier and more effective are not as resistant to Chaos as their handcrafted siblings. It’s likely that only the fact that the Harrow generator was kept running at full power prevented that plane from being as damaged as Cairn.

Finally, in one particular room you will be able to locate twin rivers, one deep black, the other rather pure white. It is said that the two rivers were once one but were colored by the blood of the sisters who fought there.

Goril imprisoned his daughter, Anelinde in Anelinde's prison so she couldn't get away from him, and she starved herself to death. His reasons are veiled in history. Perhaps he was hiding her from a lover. Goril was so distraught and guilt ridden at his daughter's death and what he had done to her that he died of hearthbreak. Their blood flows through the twin rivers, symbolic of the heartbreak of possessive love.

 

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