The Sim

The Sim is a river that runs through Melusine in Marathat and lies beneath the Virtu. 
It is a location in Melusine, The Virtu, and The Mirador. Felix visits it through oneiromancy in Corambis. 
== Description ==
It has been variously described as sinuous, wide, black and oozing. It has been compared to ichor and tar, possessing a bitter or metallic reek, associated with rot, corruption and death. Bodies are regularly fished out of it by professionals known as cade-skiffs. Beneath the Virtu, it becomes a beautiful water garden, though very few know of this. The heart of the Sim is channelled into a mandala of water (as a symbol of balance) directly beneath the Virtu. 
It is sometimes considered the Seventh Gate in Melusine, however The Virtu makes it clear that there are officially only Six Gates recognised.
The Mortisgate leads to the Sim.
== Simside ==
An impoverished and crime-ridden part of Melusine both beside and on top of the Sim, where Felix Harrowgate was raised into prostitution by his Keeper. The Simside accent is coarse. The Paladin Whorehouses in Simside, which is where Felix gained the permanent and brutal scars on his back as a child.
== Significance ==
Felix was regularly drowned by his Keeper in the Sim as a child, five times nearly to death, and many more times besides, which has left him with a profound fear of running water, drowning, the ocean, being on boats and the Sim itself. 
It was a place where the White-Eyed Lady was worshipped in her kinder form. Beneath the Virtu, the Sim becomes an elaborate water garden laid out in a labyrinth, obedient to the magic that structured it. Even Felix, despite his fears of the Sim, finds this water garden beautiful. 
== Other ==
As a child, Felix Harrowgate had a Simside accent - as he grew up over and beside the Sim, in Simside - which was considered more crude and rough than Mildmay's at its worst. Felix will sometimes revisit this accent during profound flashbacks or trauma, but was otherwise trained out of it by Malkar Gennadion. 
Category:Locations
Category:Marathat
Category:Mélusine