Places
The Maw
The Maw is the name given to the tunnel-ways that run beneath The Far Country, a system of passages, shafts, and peculiar hollows whose mouths have been recorded throughout the world.
Description
The system runs impossible lengths. It begins its sprawl from and reaches out across The Far Country, breaking the surface in many mouths. It does not hold one form. Parties who enter together leave at odds over what they passed, and the walls appear to shift. It does not seem dug out by the hands of men; rather it runs like a vein, or some hollow root. It carries the smell of burnt loam, and those who go deep speak of a presence.
Effects
The breath of the Maw, which seems to seep out of the rock that lines the walls, interferes with one's constitution. It disorders the senses: the reckoning of time and place goes first, then come the visions and whispers that bid one to go deeper. Without proper preparation the system slowly erodes one's sanity.
Traversal
The of are the only ones who know how to traverse the Maw. After generations of deliberation they found that the seeds of the flower , called pearls, bring on a hallucinatory state when ingested, provided they are treated correctly. Careful dosing, combined with the right rituals and incantations, equalises the effects of the tunnels. The process is delicate, volatile and highly dangerous.
My skull, wroth and numb from the flower. Another draught.
Gartua
Within the Maw, appearing in pockets, lies a place, an entity named Gartua. It is held to be perilous, and most of its nature is contested among the . Against the presence they wear a Hawthorn wreath.
Gartua, with its worm's tongue, finally whispered my name. Through the hollow earth, and down Heather's Crown. The reek of its breath, burnt loam.
The Maw is not yet known to its ends. Still the walk it, setting down what they find. For beneath its mysteries the system keeps a hidden order, and that order has yielded safe ways to the wide reaches of The Far Country.