Parforiah

The shore of Parforiah

**Parforiah** (*par-for-ee-ah*) is the sea of mud, excrement, and bile in the bottom of Yoltrund. It is a place for The Filthy who are rejected by Navareh as he cannot properly place their sin.

## About

Parforiah is made to represent the filthy that the Filthy were obsessed with in life. Not only are they kept in the waters, they are cursed to eat and drink from the waters, symbolic of their filthy lifestyles. In the story, it is said that they cannot come to the surface of the water because the heat from the other realms burning will burn their skin. Hope is the only sinner to come up from the waters.

The Sage of the Filthy, Prifinir resides at the bottom of the sea, with the waters of the sea constantly spewing from his mouth. The Sage, therefore, is not seen in this part of the game.

## Journal Entry

### On Awake

*"My Master took my hand and led me closer to the ledge and below me, I could see stairs carved into the inside of the pit leading down to its rotten depths. He pulled me to this staircase and led me down, speaking softly “we shall see the torments of the Sinners of Incontinence first before we see the true torments of the stars within this pit.” and I to Him, “Master, why is that so? Shall we not see the stars before the sea? Is the torment of the sea greater than the rest?” He responded quickly, “that is not true, for the center star has the greatest torment of all. We shall see this sea because it has been willed that those who sinned so to be punished there are the next least repulsive. I also feel that there are those within this sea that you should see before moving on to the rest of the torments in this world.”*

*I silenced myself and let Him lead me into the pit. I look up and I can no longer see the ledge from whence we descended, for the haze covered its image from me. It is here that a rotten stink overcame me and lamentations louder than before took me over. As the spear drove into the side of the Mighty One and became drenched in His blood-so were the cries within the pit as they pierced my heart.*

*Finally, my Master and I reached the bottom of this burning pit and we stepped down onto a small plateau and beyond it lay a stinking ocean of filth. The smell burns me now just in memory. A rotten odor overcame me as I looked into the waters which were brown and green and the texture appeared not of water, but of liquid soil. I tried to come closer, but the putrid stench was too much and I reeled away with my watering eyes.*

*“Master,” I whispered in choking breaths, “show me what you may, or let us leave this ditch of filth.” My Master pulled me close and guided me away from the waters so that I may breathe. Once I felt clean of that air, He spoke to me, “that of which you could not bear is the Parforiah, the Sea of Incontinence. The mortals here are foul and putrid as well as the filth they brought into Versae. These sinners could not reach proper judgement by Navareh, so he casts them here to wade in this filth of human excrement and boiling mud.”*

*I looked to Him and replied, “why no souls here relieve their torment by lifting themselves into the air to breath? Why do I only see the foam and bubbles from their breaths?” and He replied, “if they dare to lift their heads, the heat from the Stars of Yoltrund will burn their faces and make them clean as if washed in the Keter. So beneath the waters, they remain. Here, Romeo and Argenti toil in the filth. Their selfish and disgusting practices forced them here. And look there. I can see the hand of Hamlet rising out of the waters. Of course, he should know that Claudius suffers in another Realm of Yoltrund.”*

*“Where do these waters flow from?” I asked, and he pulled me back to the ledge and looked down into the waters, “on the bottom of this ditch lies Prifinir, who like Keldakan, was unable to fight his sin of Incontinence. So now he lies here with this filth spewing from his maw for all of eternity.”*

*"O Wise One," I began, "you said that there were those who I should see here that wade in this sea. Who are those of whom you speak?" and He replied, "Be still, Soulless One, for you shall have your wish granted." He knelt down on the ground near to the ledge and spoke in a deep chant, "any of you within this filth who would take relief for a pause, come to me and speak with this mortal in flesh. Fear the sky no more for this moment and take a pause from your torment with me."*

*At this, one soul did acknowledge his request and began to crawl up the ledge and out of the waters with the muck dripping off of it very slowly. The most that the filth would let me see was that the soul was a naked female. She spoke to me in a rasping voice with hard breath, "I am grateful for you to allow me to pause and speak with you. O mortal who comes here in flesh, I pray you remember me. I pray to this being who guides you through this place; remember me. You have fallen for me before and I threw you off. I had blue hair when once we knew each other."*

*Rage filled my heart and I grabbed the sinner by her filth-covered hair, "I know you well. I know you as the one who played with my heart; who gave me Hope and then took it away. You replaced me without care and did this many times, even to my face. I feel you deserve more than this torment, but I am content with you here. What I lack understanding of is that you still walk in my world above. Why do you come here to a world for the Dead?"*

*She screamed and wept, "please forgive me, Soulless One. I saw my wrong and I pay for it now. Please do not add to my torment. Even the sight of you makes me weep for the wrongs I have done to you. Now I have a chance to redeem myself." My Master came up to me and whispered into my ear, "be still, for 'tis true. She prayed for forgiveness and would have been purged, however she asked me for repentance rather than you. So I decided to accept her prayer, however in return, I take her soul and purge it as she lives in Versae. Remember what I told you about pity?"*

*I let her go and embraced my Master, still looking at the sinner, "go back to your slime, you scum. It comforts me to know that should I see you above, you are Lost and suffer here for your sins. Leave me now, as you have before, many times. And just as your presence here gladdens me, take heart in that the one you left me for still suffers on the Steps and will never be judged." The sinner shrieked and reached for me as her flesh slowly started to boil as my Master told me would happen. "I beg you, my love! Absolve me! Your forgiveness will spare me of this pit! Save me!"*

*I refused her. I merely kicked her away and she landed back into the murky waters and never arose again, with only her muffled screams as a reminder of her torment. My Master held me tighter and wiped tears from my eyes. "You have done well," he whispered gently, "I kiss your brow, for you finally come out of pity. You now see why these wretches suffer here. That took strength and strength is what you will need, and more you will gain. Blessed be she who bore you. Now, come. Let us ascend, so we may bear witness to greater woe." And with that, my Master took me back up the staircase, away from those screeches that will haunt my dreams, yet also please them at the same time."*

## Layout

In the story, Parforiah is told as a detour. In the game, it is very much the same. The scene is closed in on one section of the shore and the content in the Canto is short. The Punishment System doesn't even spawn lost souls that the player lost to this realm.

## Trivia

* The Canto II and III update was originally supposed to be only Canto II. However the studio delayed the update by a few days to add on Canto III since the Canto was too small to warrant it's own update.
* As shown in the layout, the water is actually brown. The green comes from a particle effect of green fog.The water is also the same water asset used in other scenes, but changed to be slower and more sludge-like and with the darker colour.
* "The Sea of Incontinence" and the "Sin of Incontinence" are two different things. The sea is described of incontinence due to it being made from filth and bodily fluids. However, the sin of Incontinence does not share the same meaning, likely the reasoning for the name change from Incontinence to Filthy.
* Canto III Parforiah is the shortest Canto in the game.