The House of Fame

There were arched halls, almost like the courts of Hen Eibar, but set with the gold of the richest houses of Maer, and draped with intricately woven Tekhayan silks. Out of an infinity of fragmented windows, sea and sky echoed each other forever, as in the bright southernmost seas of Bahlong.

On the face of it, there seemed to be a profound stillness in those grand halls. But when I stopped and listened properly, it felt as though the wild horse of words and wind was always passing through.

—the fire-tale of an aged traveller, having returned to his morkhu in the Steppe to tell of his adventures.

The House of Fame cannot be found on any map of Untir. It is only reachable by dream.

Although nothing has been widely recorded of it, there are whispered fragments of tales everywhere for those who look. Myths of impossible, unnavigable palaces. Of places visited in the half-remembered confusion of dreams. Of unfamiliar people met in those places, seen once then never again. And, at the centre of it all, a strange woman, and a stranger shadow.

The House of Fame follows the inexplicable logic of dream. Everyone in this tangled temple of glass and gold seems to speak your tongue. The convoluted halls beyond the grand chamber you wake in are often hard to comprehend, let alone traverse. Trying to do anything here as it might be done in waking life does not always result in achieving it.

The mistress of this House calls herself Fame, and by all accounts, that is exactly who she is. Of the few things that are solidly known about her, the chiefest of them is this: she loves a good story.

The House of Fame is a house of the living, but it is also a House of Echoes. Walking the halls are the vestiges of those who are dead but yet known and told of.

The Dreamers are living visitors to the House of Fame. No one can be entirely sure why certain people dream the dream of the House of Fame. The tide of Dreamers is ever-shifting, and each person feels that they are present for a different reason.

What remains true is that the House is a place of convergence for people who might never have otherwise met. Stories are shared. New inspirations are found. Bonds are formed, for good or ill.

Perhaps most significantly, Dreamers have the unique opportunity to beseech Fame herself for her favour.

In general, Uptime 1 will mark player characters’ first visit to the House of Fame.