Ariké, the Empire of Regret, is a Heart's Realm in the Dreaming.
Overview[]
Whatever you have lost is here. The friends and lovers you will not see again, the roads you will never walk, the moments you would pay much to live again... all are here. This is Ariké, where dreams of what was and what could have been are born.
One of the most heartbreakingly beautiful of all the Deep Countries, Ariké has lapsed into a damp and sullen malaise. It rains constantly here... a cold, incessant drizzle that drowns the evergreen forests and swells the rivers to overflowing. The fields have long since been washed away in the rain, but there are few chimera remaining to care. All who still dwell here are primarily creatures of sorrow and memory or outland interlopers come to loot the ageless treasures of the realm. All others have fallen into a troubled and dreamless sleep, a dream of forgotten dreams.
Above the drowning land, locked in a spiral tower without windows, the twin heirs to the realm wander as prisoners. According to old legends and new gossip, they were once true fae who were captured and jailed in Ariké for their own protection, to keep them safe from the agonies of time and Banality. Now, the Dreaming might crumble and die, but the twins will live on, safe and sad forever.
It is said by Kithain who should know better that Ariké is the hidden secret of all that has gone wrong with the faerie World fo Wonders to turn it into World of Darkness. At some point now lost, the Dreaming and the Earth went astray, and the heart of Ariké was broken. The beautiful world weeps and locks itself away form the painful future. The rightful rulers are bewitched by their guardians and kept in isolation from their realm. The land is laid waste and all suffer.
The Glass Highnesses[]
Reshiam and Erikelle are their names, and their hearts have been removed for safekeeping by the oldest and most trustworthy henchman of their father, the king. They are among the most beautiful things of the Dreaming: pale and soulful, with the haunted look of fine porcelain dolls.
Perhaps they were once sidhe of Arcadia; they do not remember anything but their imprisonment in the Nautilus Tower. They are chimerical creatures now, fully caught in the Dream. Having lost their hearts, their bodies have transformed into fragile glass, and were they ever to laugh, it would sound like celestes or other glassy bells.
They are further bewitched in their imprisonment. Magic has taken the ability to speak from Reshiam; unless the curse is broken, he will never speak with his own voice again. Erikelle cannot touch food without growing deathly ill. The thought of food saddens her, but no matter how hungry she grows, she must subsist on clear juices and peanuts. Because their glass selves are so fragile, both are forbidden to engage in strenuous exercise or even walk more than a few steps. The Tower's staff is afraid the one or both of the heirs to the throne will fall and shatter, dooming Ariké to an even bleaker state of affairs.
Once, early in the highnesses' imprisonment, many heroes came to the tower to rescue them and their realm. All failed and now the dead time between heroes stretches almost unbearably. To ease the boredom, both Reshiam and Erikelle spend their days staring into mirrors and pretending that they are, in fact, gazing through windows at the world outside their tower.
According to some gossip, they would dearly love to be true fae again. According to others, they were never fae in the first place, but would like to be, if only they had the strength and opportunity to try. In either case, the cure for their condition is the old one: True Love overcoming all obstacles.
The Minor Colonel[]
Until such time as the curse on the twins is broken, the Minor Colonel serves as regent of Ariké. He is the real power of the realm, with the ability to control its watery magic and marshal what demoralized troops still remain loyal. The Five Tame Birds of Ariké patrol the borders of the realm for dangerous intruders, although not without reservations. The Ramshackle Battalion and the secret agents of the Brain Trust scour the sodden houses and schools to enforce obedience, interrogating any who appear disloyal to the Colonel's policies.
None of which should come as any surprise, because it was the Colonel who bewitched the twins and stole their hearts in the first place. He claims (with typical chimerical logic) that he acted only in their best interest, to keep them safe from the dangers and heartache of the world outside the Dreaming. He says he is only trying to protect the children for his friend, the late king, their father.
The Minor Colonel is a chimerical personage made out of newsprint and corrugated cardstock in the shape of a large, strong man. To combat drafts and molder, he wears a suit of armor at all times. He is quite proud of his elaborate mustaches, has forgotten his name (if he ever had one), and should probably be considered quite mad.
The Nautilus Tower[]
Spiraling gracefully out of a hill at the center of the realm, the Nautilus Tower has no doors or windows, save for an aperture at the very tip, many hundreds of feet above the ground. What little necessary communication the Colonel allows is done by the Tame Birds and the Colonel's own allies, the Bee-Folk, who bring supplies in through the aperture and carry the Colonel's edicts back out.
Within the smooth halls and empty ballrooms of the Tower, melancholy Dreamers wander and brood, or else huddle in the corners and weep for the past. Otherwise, the Tower sleeps, stirring only for the passage of the prince or princess, as the constantly search for escape. The musical instruments and telephones are silent; the only sound is rain falling.
Because the idiosyncratic structure of the Tower causes it to leak in the constant rain, the Colonel must keep moving his court higher and higher levels as the lower floors flood. In an unending effort to prevent the water from rising, his servants have taken to walling up unused rooms and nailing doors shut. Hundred of rooms, including an important percentage of the legendary Archive of the Tower, have been sealed behind thick layers of wax and tar. Other rooms become haphazard repositories for the magical standards and insignia of the realm, which are buried in plus of trash and abandoned in the rising water. It is said that the Colonel is particularly careful to leave the records of the old king to the waters, perhaps because the memory of his old friend saddens him beyond bearing.
The wise say that the Nautilus Tower is the horn of the father of all unicorns, who lies buried under the realm. Ariké, according to legends, was built on his back, but one day he will rise to reassert his power. When that happens, perhaps the land will be destroyed, or healed, or both.
The Barbarians[]
In the introspective chaos of the realm, even the Colonel's irrational fears have found an outlet. From all over the Dreaming, strange and selfish creatures have come to Ariké to feed on the unguarded and forgotten treasures of the realm. Creeping through the pine bushes that formerly kept intruders out, these greedy chimera feast on the rotting crops and rifle through the abandoned cottages. Those few decent folk who remain have grown wary and do not speak openly to outsiders, fearing that they are either barbarian looters or (worse) agents of the Colonel and his secret police.
As the land is bled white by the interlopers, the story of Ariké loses its splendor, despite being (if anything) truer than it ever was in the Golden Age of the Dreaming. As the gap between the old World of Wonders and the new World of Darkness continues to widen, Ariké continues to wash away with the rain, melting lie a dream of sugar. Meanwhile, the hearts of the Dreamers who sustain the realm grow increasingly numb and glassy. Few dare to hope any longer for the coming of heroes or true love; the idea seems juvenile and overly idealistic. And so the young prince and princess continue to forget the world they have never seen and Winter grows closer.
Snail Graveyards[]
See the Article Snail Graveyards
References[]
- CTD. Dreams and Nightmares, pp. 83-84.