Valinhall
"...there is one rule in this house, above all others: what you want, you must earn." ― Kai[[[1]|[source]]]
Valinhall is the Territory of the protagonist Simon in the Traveler's Gate Trilogy.
Referred to as the "House of Blades", it is the newest of the known Territories in Amalgam, having been discovered and founded by Valin some 60 years before the events in Traveler's Gate.
All Valinhall Travelers are armed with absurdly long, indestructible swords known as Dragon's Fangs which act as the Traveler's primary weapon and key to entering Valinhall.
Construction
Valinhall is comprised of a single massive house, with no true outside to speak of. Most of the doors between rooms are locked, except to those who prove themselves worthy.
The entryway is where all Valinhall Gates open to. It is large and contains a variety of furniture as well as mirrors on the walls. There are racks for the Dragon Fangs on the wall. Connected to the entryway is a single hallway which has doors to each full Traveler's bedroom and the bath.
The bath room is reminiscent of a cave, with a smooth stone floor. It has a large mirror taking up most of one of the walls. In the center of the room is the bath itself, very large and containing heated water and flower-scented soap.[2]
Deep in the house, there is a room used as containment for horrific spectral fish that fly through the air.[3]
The house has toilets in the form of bottomless pits in bathrooms that are in some way haunted.[4]
As Valinhall is a new territory, it is still in the process of growing and being formed.[5] The edges of the House have unstable and dangerous rooms.[6]
Ecology
The Nye
The Nye are sapient creatures made up only of their black cloaks, chains, and a shadowy essence. They are central to the house. They clean up after residents, make repairs, and generally manage the goings-on. They also regularly strangle residents with chains as a method of testing their abilities. The Nye have a leader in the form of the Eldest who was there when the Territory was formed.
The Nye vary in their abilities. At least one Nye is an expert tracker, capable of finding a target with essentially no background information. They are capable of leaving the house briefly, but rarely do so and never for long. The residents theorize they are incapable of doing so due to being thoroughly bound to the house.[7]
The Nye are seemingly immortal but do have children. They were part of the Fragment which formed the base of Valinhall when Valin found it.[8]
The Nye are social in a similar manner to humans. Young Nye play a variety of games similar to human children's games, while some of the older children take risks by competing to retrieve pieces from the edge of the house. Older Nye will spend their free time with each other in social gatherings and often place bets with each other.[6]
The Bath
A variety of strange and monstrous creatures live within the bath. Foremost is the imps, small humanoid creatures. They have red eyes, their skin is similar to moss-covered tree bark, and they have metallic spikes on their head and sharp teeth. The imps pull down anyone who leaves the bath after staying long enough, trying to drown them and bring them to the worse creatures in the deep. Staying long enough after being attacked by imps will attract large sea serpents.[2] Most of the creatures and plants in the bath are unknown, but it has a fully-fledged ecosystem which also helps to clean and drain it.[9]
General
There are large beetles that feed on rusty metal in the house, kept to a manageable population by the Nye.[10]
Powers
Valinhall Travelers receive internal powers that they can call upon in the Unnamed World. To receive a power, the Traveler has to defeat a specific trial.
- Dragon Fang
- Steel
- Nye Essence
- Ice
- Stone
- Smoke
- Healing
- Wind
- Ghost Armor
- Steel Bow
- Iron Scroll
- Mask
- Frozen Horn
- Glass Bell
- Diamond
- Tablet
- White Flame
- Bronze Key
- Black Gauntlet
