The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth, better known as the Maze of Horrors or the Winding Hell, is one of the Deep Ways that winds its way through the fabric of Creation. It is one of the most dreaded of the Deep Ways, as it is the primary means by which monsters from the Abyss escape their homeland and arrive at other realms. Furthermore, the Labyrinth is known to possess a sort of malevolent consciousness, making travel confusing and disorienting for any who venture into it, with the exception of monsters, who are actually aided by the maze.

## History

Soon after its creation, the Labyrinth was discovered by the Primordial Nyx. Curious and clever, Nyx wrested the Labyrinth from its sparse inhabitants and made it her home, residing in its center and controlling travel through its malleable pathways. However, the ephemeral connections made by the Labyrinth soon found their way to the Abyss and roused the attention of Tartarus. The Lord of the Pit sent his vast armies to conquer the Maze and wrest it from Nyx who, lacking an army of similar power, was forced to relinquish vast portions of her territory before she could successfully mount a defense with her power over darkness. To this day it remains in a stalemate between the two primordials, with Tartarus's monstrous armies unable to breach and capture the heart still held by Nyx.

## Description

The only constant of the Labyrinth is its pathways. Constantly shifting and moving, forming and breaking connections between disparate parts of itself or even other realms. Though this often leads to curious travelers entering the Labyrinth, they rarely live long enough to find their way out again. Dead ends are frequent, and the very pathways used to find such ends often stop leading anywhere once an unlucky traveler has been ensnared.

Tartarus's control over the Maze has allowed him to connect it permanently to several parts of the Abyss, and as a result the pathways are swarming with monsters. They enter through the pathways and propagate outward, to all its tunnels and highways, skulking through its ephemeral doors into other realms - indeed, it is this very mechanism that is the reason so many monsters can be found on Earth.

The terrain of the Maze is a mishmash of that found in other realms, and changes quickly with distance. Tunnels and caverns give way to paths through thick forest, which lead into bleak islands surrounded by ocean on all sides. These are not merely aesthetics, but also hold the resources of their origins - for example, the aforementioned oceans might teem with fish to feed a hungry traveler. Rare and valuable materials are abundant in the Labyrinth, possibly due to its otherworldly nature, possibly simply because nobody has taken them yet, and a foolhardy prospector might find arcane metals from Stygia in one room and healing water from the river Duat in the next, even if neither room connects to Stygia or the Duat.

Traveler, prospector, lost mortal, none of them shall exit the Labyrinth alive. But their souls might escape, finding an ephemeral pathway into one of the many underworlds. Monster souls are not so lucky - barred from mortal afterlives, they are trapped and entombed within the Maze. They become part of the Labyrinth, their anguish and torment fueling its long reach, their subsumed minds directing the corridors away from hopeful mortals and towards their brethren, trapping mortals within the Maze and leading their monstrous allies ever further. After all, there is no consciousness more malevolent than that of the spawn of Tartarus.