The town of Samhain

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ripvanwormer's picture
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The town of Samhain

Samhain is a town built next to the gate between the Unseelie Court and the world of the dead.

It is difficult to say for certain where in the multiverse Samhain lies. Some say it is in Pandemonium between the realm of the Unseelie Court and Tuonela, the afterlife of the Finns, though tales whispered by escaped souls claim the labyrinthine tunnels beyond the Death Gate lead to every land of the dead that ever was.

Once a year, on October 31 (or the local equivalent), the gate opens. The Dark Faeries come in. The souls of the dead come in. And a third gate opens to the mortal world, and on this one night the dark faeries and the unquiet dead can mingle among the living and no god or power can stop them.

The rest of the year, Samhain is a purgatory of sorts in which those faeries who for whatever reason find no welcome among their kin in the Unseelie Court live among those unquiet souls who have managed to temporarily escape the wardens of the dead. There are also a few mortal witches and shamans strong enough to live in Samhain without being stolen away by one faction or the other.

No one knows who created the gates. They look like crude archways made of massive stones. The locals call the builders the Old Ones and believe when they set the gates in place they also set in place laws that no spirit, faerie, or god can disobey.

The Mortal Gate leads to countless mortal worlds. The Death Gate leads to countless realms of the dead. And the Unseelie Gate leads to countless dark faerie realms, from Svartalfheim to the Unseelie Court to the wicked realms of the fomorian kings to the realm of Cegilune, queen of the hags to the Court of the Shadow Fey.

Besides the Death Gate and the Mortal Gate and the Unseelie Gate there is a fourth gate that leads up a narrow, winding path carved into the roots of the World Ash Yggdrasil. At the end of the path is Yule, a small town in Vanaheim inhabited by liosalfar, the Light Elves whose race mostly inhabit the neighboring realm of Alfheim. The light elves are all Ringivers, generous to a fault to lost travelers, but they are fierce warriors keen to defend themselves from dark elves who may try to ambush them through the Yule Gate in Samhain and keen to raid Samhain to avenge any slights they may feel they are owed. Some say they serve the spirit of Winter or the North Wind, while others say they serve Odin or his son Baldur. A gate in their own town opens to the mortal world on December 24, when their master rides out on unguessable missions. In Samhain, some have speculate that he pays tribute to Hell on that day, meeting with agents of the archdevils on a crossroads to gift them with treasures created by the light elves during the year.

Mostly the light elves are too fierce for the people of Samhain to use that gate. The gate has sealed off from the Samhain side in recent centuries and avoided for the most part except on one rare occasion. When a god dies and returns to life, first his shade passes through the Death Gate to Samhain, and must reside in the town with massively reduced power until the gate to Vanaheim opens up. Only then he walk the narrow path up the World Ash and emerge in the light, covered in power and glory.

The mayor of Samhain is Jack, a tall, skeletal figure in a fine white suit. Some say he was a former consort of the Queen of Air and Darkness who got on the queen's bad side. Others say he's a son of the god of the dead and the goddess of autumn, disinherited by both of his parents. He rules uneasily, striving to keep a balance between the ghouls, boggarts, witches, ghosts, goblins, necromancers, dark elves, and scarecrows who make up the town's population.

Unsung's picture
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Re: The town of Samhain

Ahh, a place for all the long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night. A good idea. They're probably a little underrepresented in Planescape. Nice use of the Ringgivers, too. I suppose Valentines Day Town (or Easter Town, now) would be next, but honestly I'd be more curious about Thanksgiving Town.

Much appreciated.

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Re: The town of Samhain

Good work, ripvanwormer.

I adore that movie. I am glad it has a home in Planescape.d

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Re: The town of Samhain

Excellent.

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Re: The town of Samhain

Interesting place. Especially the Old Ones.

We've visited a similar site once, except the ruler was a bard called The Boney King of Nowhere.

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Re: The town of Samhain

Kate is a stitched-together, ragdoll-like woman who works as a healer in the town of Samhain. Few remember how old she is; she has been in the town for centuries, tending to the sick and the injured. Rumors have it she was a dead soul granted a crude new physical shell by a shaman-surgeon. Others say she sewed together herself, patching herself bit by bit as parts of her grew old and fell off.

What no one remembers, except perhaps the Krampus, is that Kate once had another name: Kiputytto, the Finnish goddess of plague. Around 1400 years ago she was slain by the goddess Talona and her shade passed to the home of her parents, Tuonetar and Tuoni. To grim Tuonela she passed, across the scarlet river Manela, to dwell with the listless dead for ever. The Nycoptic Manuscripts tell the tale of Kiputytto's sister Loviatar descending to the realm of their parents to plead for her release. According to the myth, Tuonetar and Tuoni agreed to release their daughter, but only for six months of the year. Loviatar escorted the shade of Kiputytto through the gates of Tuonela, through the winding tunnels to the gates of Samhain.

And Kiputytto refused to go any further. "All my life I've been nothing but contagion and suffering," she complained. "At last I find rest, and you want to drag me back?"

Loviatar was shocked. "The worlds need suffering," she protested. "You should never have been killed, not by that Jhaamdathan bitch. The worlds starve for your maladies."

"Then let them starve," said Kiputytto. "I will feed them no longer." Loviatar screamed and tried to drag her toward the Yule Gate by force. With both goddesses weakened by their time in the underworld, the battle between them destroyed but a few dozen local buildings. Loviatar was immune to pain, but Kiputytto cared nothing for her ectoplasmic body. At last, bleeding from a hundred spectral wounds, the Maiden of Agony gave up. "You'll come out eventually," she foretold. "It is your nature to spread out as far as possible. You cannot remain quarantined forever."

"Your imagination is limited," said Kiputytto. "You can imagine only eternal pain. But I embody countless multitudes." Fourteen hundred years later she has not yet ended her quarantine, not yet passed through the Yule Gate and resumed her divine glory. She serves her self-appointed penance quietly, not answering the demands of any gods, not even the god inside herself to whom every clear breath, every unblemished skin, every steady limb is anathema.

The Krampus: Rumored to be a minor son of Hel and grandson of Loki, the Krampus once ruled as a lord of Yule, an assistant to that town's mysterious ruler. Some unforgivable crime led to his banishment and now he lurks in the shadows of Samhain, endlessly plotting his return to power. The Krampus is a black-furred humanoid with goat hooves, a long tongue, and great curving horns. He is a trouble-maker, a spy, an information broker, a mercenary, and a continual thorn in the mayor's side, yet he remains just useful enough for everyone to tolerate. The Krampus seems to know something about everyone, even on far-off planes, but he only knows their sins, not their virtues. As a consequence of this he can be surprised when people exceed his cynical expectations. The Krampus dwells in a cave on the edge of town but he can often be found in the mayor's office, whispering secrets into his skull-like head.

michel andre's picture
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Re: The town of Samhain

WOW!

Good job again, ripvanwormer.

cromlich's picture
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Re: The town of Samhain

I guess then that Talona's power grew after the fall of Jhaamdath

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Re: The town of Samhain

They're probably a little underrepresented in Planescape. Nice use of the Ringgivers, too. I suppose Valentines Day Town (or Easter Town, now) would be next, but honestly I'd be more curious about

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