Desperanto

**Despernato**, also occasionally referred to as the **Other Place**, **Mirror** **World**, **Dark Realm**, **Nightmare World** or **Beyond the Veil**, is the dark and nightmarish parallel or nonparallel reality of existence created out of Dano's negative emotions and feelings through her psionic reality-warping powers after her transformation into a Pano.

## The Church and Despernato

In accordance with the Church of Panolgomates' rules, most members don’t discuss it and even outright deny its very existence, as it doesn’t exist in their eyes. Dano herself as mixed views on it. She doesn’t hate it, but neither does she like it. But it’s a place of her own creation, a place that she tries to forget. She has a connection to everything there.

## A Dark Reflection

Despernato twists itself in order to reflect the psyche of individuals and transforms the environment around them into their own personal nightmares, altered to suit the subconscious of victims. As such, the effects may appear anywhere from slightly to moderately different, depending on the individual's subconscious that it is manifesting. Essentially a darker, more disturbing reflection of the real world.

This reflection is frequently depicted as a dark, twisted universe, parallel to our own, an nightmarish fusion of familiar and strange elements. These environments are mostly based on their real world counterparts, often sites of tragedy or traumatic experiences from victims' memories.

## Resident Entities

The beings that inhabit here are created when a person's conscious, subconscious, or repressed thoughts are manifested by the power of Despernato, causing powerful and often negative emotions to be given physical forms. The most notable are the Shade, the Lost, the Scarecrow, and the Creeper.

Some are actually creations of Dano, which proved poor candidates or failures deemed unfit for muses, being imprisoned and sealed away. Others are the results of experiments conduced by members of the Red Circle.

## Hollow Mount

At a mere glance the town of Hollow Mount to be an innocuous rural town, this has brought about an unexpected darkness. A great number of eerie and odious rumors surround this mysterious town, such as it being the site of a bloody massacre, the townsfolk dying of a deadly plague and even a series of brutal murders.

Glimpses into the past, reveal the truth, Hollow Mount once played host to members of the Red Circle cult. Orchestrating their malefic endeavors in the shadows, the Red Circle had successfully infiltrated the peaceful town. Committing acts of cruelty, defilement, inhuman experimentation on unsuspecting townsfolk abducted for use as test subjects.

Such pain and terror, drew the attention of Dano herself and tagging along were several high ranking followers. A perimeter was set, charms and rituals were cast. Feelings of anger, despair and anguish coalesced by the Archbishop and her lot. Connected together, the raw emotions were made into a weapon and unleashed on the cultists as the entire town was swallowed up and lost.

### Rosen Mental Care Hospital

A facility for the depraved and psychologically ill, Rosen holds a dark history. It has accepted many patients over the years, but only a handful were able to leave the madhouse. Civilians only heard rumors of the occult, as no one knows what is really happening in the institute.

Intended to care for the psychologically disabled, or so it was originally. With the chief of staff, joining the Red Circle, the facility then existed solely as a grounds for experiments at a level closest to the outside world. The hapless patients admitted to the hospital then served only as an expandable test subjects for their twisted work.

When the town of Hollow Mount was taken, so was the hospital. The otherworldly powers of Desperanto manifested the negative emotions that saturated there. Horrific creatures were created from the minds of patients and staff alike.

### The Amusement Park

A popular tourist attraction with key activities and attractions including a rollercoaster, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, and a few other carnival rides and sideshows, which all seem to take on a threatening quality in Desperanto. The haunted house has become a true house of both horror and ceaseless laughter, vender stalls are full of rotten food, the tilt-a-whirl has fallen all but apart, the roller-coaster has become a death trap and the tunnel of love is overrun with a fleshy substance and infested with hideous beasts and other aberrations brought on by the park's tragic past.

### The Church of Holy Insight

Externally and internally, the Church of Holy Insight is built as a large and wildly intricate structure as was common for the early Church of Infinite Knowledge. The church served as the spiritual center for the townspeople of Hollow Mount. With the church's splintering, the building was soon abandoned by its original residents later housing agents of the Red Circle.

Dragged and now trapped in this realm, the surviving Red Circle cultists have taking refuge in the church, which acts as their sanctuary from the ravages of Desparanto. There are among them who have become repentant for their actions, others remain steadfast and defiant, some have gone mad and monstrous due to Dano's power, now they prey on their former comrades.

### Free Spirit Cemetery

Adjacent to the Church of Holy Insight, this cemetery was used by the churchgoers to return their deceased loved ones' remains back to the earth, so their spirits may become free. That was until the arrival of the Red Circle, who subverted control over much of the town. The dead were dug up and defiled, new graves were dug and soon began to overflow with the stench of rotting flesh from failed test subjects.

### Lakeshore Motel

Built right on the shore of a lake at the height of Hollow Mount's tourist boom in order to attract guests to visit the town. Even with the lake being an attractive destination for many tourists, several infamous but mysterious drowning accidents occurred in the lake at past times. Since then it has seen a steep decline in terms of tourist economy. Later accumulating with a devastating fire that tore through the motel.

In shift from the real world to this realm, the motel has been restored and intact, but it is nothing more than a conjured illusion.

### Silent Creek Elementary School

To students who were bullied by their teachers and classmates, attending Silent Creek Elementary School was comparable to torture. As the Red Circle 's grip on the town tightened, the school became part of their research into social experiments.

Being pulled into Dano's mental world, a transformation has occurred. The childhood trauma that took place in the building manifested itself into a twisted, nightmarish design. Memories of the tormented youth manifested into the Throng, adolescent like creatures acting under a predatory gestalt to overwhelm their victims. Yet even these are prey for something more terrifying.

## Blackthorn Farm

Spanning back several generations, the family that owned Blackthorn Farm put a lot of work into the farm, but all those blisters and sweat paid off. Mysteriously all became quiet, during a hot summer day. Produce stopped coming in, and the crops were left to rot and wither. Cornered neighbors decide to take a closer look, discovering livestock untended to and malnourished. The farm's grounds had became unkempt and were overgrown with weeds. The farmhouse was abandoned. Furniture was thrown about, pictures thrown over and broken. Rooms were utterly gutted and destroyed. Not a living soul was to be found. Instead remains were discovered in the basement. The bodies of the entire family all murdered in gruesome fashion. The culprit was never discovered and the farm was soon forgotten.

### The Blackthorn House

The centerpiece of Blackthorn Farm, the farmhouse, stood proudly over the fields of crops for years. After the horrific events of that summer, the building fell into disrepair and eventual ruin. Now nothing more than a forgotten, former home once filled with love.

Below the foundations of the house, where the blood of the murder victims has spilled. Evil festers as the horrid acts from that ghastly past give rise to new nightmarish horrors.

### Jackie's Patch

Sprawling across an untilled field, is a vast vine-strewn clearing bearing large quantities of golden ripe gourds. A pumpkin patch to most at first glance, in truth. It is home of Jackie Patch. King of the Patch. Gourdspawn. Seed of Dano.

Banished by his creator, the repugnant muse Jackie Patch has since settled into the blacken earth of his new home. Digging his roots into the soil of the rundown Blackthorn Farm. Eventually falling dormant, the unwholesome patch growing around him as his seeds sprouted. Waiting for the time of Hallows' Eve and gleefully preparing for a chance of sweet revenge.

### The Slaughterhouse

Part of the Blackthorns' alternative income, after the murders, the land was split up and sold off including the slaughterhouse. It was still in operation for many years afterward. Thousands upon thousands of animals have met their end here. The smell of blood and fear still hang heavy here.

Haunting the grounds, is a vast monster of a man with a old rag of a bag covering his face, wielding a jagged toothed knife. A thing born from the mind of a murderer merged with the corruption of this place, becoming murderousness personified. Those who find themselves at the end of his blade, are taken into the slaughterhouse, where all manner of butchery is conducted on them.

### The Blighted Fields

Long before even the tragedy befell the Blackthorn Farm, the cornfields were the subject of much controversy and strange tales. Livestock mutilations, mysterious disappearances and animal attacks. Now it lies abandoned and yet, the corn stalks still stand tall, despite being afflicted by a blight.

## The Wilderness

Past Blackthorn Farm, the woods become thick, dark, dreary, and overgrown. The trees have a certain deformed appearance, as if frighten to their very core by some unspeakable act. Threatening shadows and the lurking fog that creeps throughout the woods adds a sense of uncertainty.

### Caulsend Estate

The Caulsend Estate was once the ancestral home of the Caulsend family. Devoid of all its former glory, it is now littered with nothing more than horrid memories of past brutality. Lord Caulsend, the patriarch of the family had his life invested in the trappings of the UVF's bygone days of powerful aristocracy. With the Voltzian Civil War and the transition from the Consulary of Voltz, to where the government officially became the Democratic Federation of Voltz. The Caulsends lost much of their influence and their finances were left in dire straights.

The stress got to Lord Caulsend and finally one day he snapped, pushed over the edge by Dano's and Ps' influence during their rampage. He was driven insane, by prodding and mysterious whispers coming out from the walls. Drawing on his sword, he cut down his wife, in a rage. Then proceed to kill his own children and servants one after another. Some time later. His remains were later found by authorities. A corpse with a taunting grin. The estate was left in ruins.

### Herb's Gas Paradise

Catering to those passing through the backcountry wilderness. Dark rumors surrounded the gas station, cars and trucks always break down, the phones never worked, and people had a peculiar habit of vanishing without a trace.

### Dark Lodge

A rundown log cabin. Engulfed by nature, lying nearly completely deteriorated and forgotten. The inside lacks care and has fared better. Rotting stench and stains provide proof of all the deaths that have taken place here.

### The Burnt Church

The burnt out shell of a structure, the apparent aftermath of a fire. Once a place of refuge and solace, but was touched by the horrors that occurred here from a troubled time and now lies ruined. Echoes from the past haunt this place, two struggling to exist. One is the manifestation of a member of the Infinite Knowledge Church. A follower of the late Candypops, he like Jonathan the Apostle became disillusioned by the controversial polices of the church. He and some other like minded individuals gathered together and left to found their own church, in hopes of continuing the true teachings laid down to them by the Gipsen Ones. Their hopes were slashed with the Great Chaos, when the entire congregation fell into madness, turning on one another in a fit of animalistic bloodlust. Smoke arose, a spark had been lit and the entire church was set ablaze. No one soul was spared. The poor man's memory became trapped between man and the beast, he lingers coherent and other times, he is feral. He prostrates before the altar hoping to retain what little remains of the person he was once.

The other is all that remains of an Blazing Eyes cultist, who openly embraced the nihilistic dogma of the cult. He was richly rewarded for his devotion to the cause along with the rest, when their efforts were successfully and they summoned Sirius. He and the rest were granted mercy, by oblivion. A memory of this lingers here. A figure in a black slim cloak, its skin is shriveled and grey. A dark power that emits from it, seeking to envelop and turn everything into nothing.

### Hell's Maw Mine

Slightly obscured by growth, there is an entrance where miners used to haul the earth's riches to the surface. The land was purchased by a unscrupulous businessman and the mine was opened up to tap into mineral and ore deposits lying beneath the ground. Those he employed endured harsh conditions, long grueling hours and little pay to show for their hard labor. The mine's tunnels were precipitous, the many twisting angles, inclines and declines had hazardous, and often even deadly turns. This along with several unfortunate accidents and bad luck, led to poor morale among the miners. It all came to the breaking point when the mine foreman and a dozen other workers seemly vanished in the mines without a trace. Soon the mine was closed. No one bothered to search as they feared whatever might be found inside. Instead it was left to be forgotten.

### The Greenhouse

A gem swathed in nature, the preserved remains of a greenhouse. The exterior largely remains undamaged with its transparent glass shell dimmed from a buildup of moisture. Venturing in visitors are welcomed by an earthy smell that pervades the air, the wilderness' vegetation runs rampant. Knotted vines hang like ropes, shrubby and towering thorny hedges grow everywhere. Flowers and herbs sprout from not only the ground but from pots, boxes, trenches in the floor, and from planters hanging from the ceiling.

### The Institute

Originally a hospital, but was turned into an insane asylum to house some of the most violent and depraved minds ever to exist. A place riddled with tall tales that aren't even close to the dark truth hidden within. In truth, it served as a research facility for the purpose of influencing, shaping and controlling the minds of others, turning them into unpleasant and broken things. Even to this day, the events that lead to the closing of the Institute and what happened to the staff and patients is shrouded under a veil of mystery.

Nowadays the facility is abandoned. Dirty tools and other equipment can be found lying on the floor. Torn documents and bits of paper are scattered everywhere. What remains of of it is nothing but a shell surrounded by woods.

### The Snow Petal

The Snow Petal, an ancient steamer in the middle of a sucking swamp, held captive of the stagnant mud*.* The ghosts of its former passengers and crew are said to still linger here, the creatures of this accursed realm dare not venture here for fear of displeasing the ghostly residents.

### Copse Hollow Tavern

At first glance, the Copse Hollow Tavern is a welcomed relief for weary travelers, secluded deep within the dark backwoods of the countryside. Providing a place of warmth and comfort for those on the road. The tavern has an eerie feeling surrounding it. Flickering candles can sometimes be seen through the windows. The inside lacks the care that once was.

### The Fishing Hamlet

Once a small prosperous fishing village, surrounded by dense forest and known for its beautiful lake scenery. Suddenly all of the villagers disappeared overnight, with no sign of them moving away or trace of where they all went. The village was utterly abandoned.

### The Owl's Hollow

Nesting in the hollows of a now-decrepit husk of the great tree, is the dreaded Owl. Being banished here by its creator has not curbed its cruel nature, or its hunger and in fact, it has grown increasingly ravenous. It stalks the surrounding area, constantly on the prowl for prey.

## The City

As it name suggests, it is a city, though distorted in manner. It is seemly forever gloomy and shrouded by a dense fog. The city itself is but a reflection of the Amalgomate State's capital, but twisted and ravaged by Dano's will through her connection to this dark world. Garbage litters the streets, doors and windows are boarded up or broken, buildings are in a derelict state, infested by monsters and other horrors.

### The Hollow Underground

A vast labyrinth of sewer disposal system and half constructed monorail runs through much of the city. Beneath, is a sprawling mesh of connecting tunnels, passageways, pylon platforms, tracks, interchanges and a handful of stations.

Drawn into this dark realm, it didn't appear outwardly transformed, but obviously had suffered immense structural damage, the integrity has nearly collapsed or beginning to in other places. An mysterious and illusive predator has transformed a portion of this into its own personal nest and hunting ground.

Further down in the deeper levels, flood safety controls have been damaged, flooding tunnels with a backup of waste water and excrement. These dark flooded tunnels are now the home to all manner of repulsive things. Creatures spawned from the fears and hopelessness of maintenance workers finding themselves trapped.

### Grand Archive Library

The Grand Archive Library is the largest of its kind in the Amalgomate State. Commissioned by the Archbishop, the library was constructed to collect and study whatever material it can about all sorts of knowledge from philosophical traditions to the science of Memetics. The library staff welcome all who come with a genuine wish to learn, but will ask for a donation towards the upkeep of the building and generally it is expected for visitors to give something.

Unfortunately, the library suffered a scandal and was promptly closed to the public. But within Desperanto, it has remained open but with a twist. Row upon row of shelves of scrolls, books and documents form a never ending maze of corridors and passageways. Impossible rooms that defy logic filled with spirals of stacked books.

### Royal Heights Hotel

Built in the early days of the Amalgomate State, by a promising young entrepreneur. It quickly earned five stars in reviews and became one of the most famous and prestigious hotels. Though in later years, its charm faded and its fame dimmed, as a inordinate number of guests and staff have met untimely ends due to strange accidents and sometimes foul play. The worst of which was the murders committed by a serial killer. Afterwards, the Royal Heights Hotel permanently closed for good.

The blend of psychological trauma, death and suffering that has permeate throughout the hotel over its long history, has culminated in several dangerous entities and other creatures that lay claim to one or more of the hotels many corridors, suites, ballrooms, and service areas.

### Paragon Restaurant

The Paragon Restaurant was a well known, high class establishment, where the city's wealthy upper class could go to enjoy fine dining in a relaxing environment. Famous for its diverse menu, live music, luxurious décor, and for hosting various parties, galas, and events for only the wealthiest of clientele.

Its chief chef was on the verge of becoming world-famous. Though he had an up and coming rival who threatened his path to fortune, in order to rid himself of the competition, the chef who's own jealously and intense paranoia were intensified by Dano's influence, murdered him. He hid the body the only way he knew how to, though, and it found its way into the main course dinner the following evening. The entire staff, were soon to follow and died horrible and painful deaths as the chef spiraled further into madness.

### Ophelia's Deluxe Lounge

A lavish nightclub with its high ceilings, large windows, ornate design, and VIP booths for high-end customers, the lounge was a very popular destination for high rollers looking for an evening of fine liquor, classy music, and entertainment. The lounge would also scene the tragic demise of a beloved singer.

The lounge's eponymous proprietress, was a talented singer who's performances of haunting beauty or frightening timbre that leave her audiences moved. But like all things, her popularly came to a gradual end. Yearning for one last spot in the spotlight, she hosted a grand solo at her lounge. With all her strength, she preformed a tearful lament, tears fell and hearts throbbed. At the end, so did Ophelia's own heart which suddenly stopped.

A eerie atmosphere hangs over the lounge. The manifestation of the late singer haunts it. Singing out to empty tables of a silent audience, basking in her own sorrow and bitterness.

### The Lavish Aesthetic Clinic

A cosmetic surgery facility that catered to some of the most wealthy clientele providing them all the latest treatments and greatest care possible. One of the highest ranking staff was an cosmetic surgeon who was known to be a perfectionist in his work. So obsessed in "perfecting" his skills, he started conducting illegal procedures on cadavers.

His obsession became darker as he started using his own patients as subjects in strange experiments. As a result, several of them became riddled with grotesque side effects and died. He was then captured and prosecuted by the authorities. He later died of unknown causes while incarcerated in prison.

Inside the distorted realm, the restless souls became tainted and were reborn. The patients' desire to escape boredom and seeing nothing but the flaws and ugliness of their own being, they have become amalgamations of organic and porcelain body parts stitched together. While the one who preformed all these operations, became known as the Surgeon. Now he haunts the clinic and continues his experiments.

### The Groaning Warehouse

Here lies the remains of what appears to be a wear-down warehouse. Dwarfing its surroundings, the massive storehouse can often be heard creaking and groaning as if it were crying out with the anguish of the laborers that once toiled their lives away here.

### The Cathedral

The Cathedral of the High Archbishop is the center of the Church of the Amalgomates. It is the seat of the Archbishop. The cathedral's measure captures the magnificence and dominates the surrounding city, serving as a symbol that demonstrates to all citizens for miles around the awesome power of the church, of the memes, and of the UVF.

Now within Desperanto, the cathedral has fallen like the rest of the city to its dark power. Dano's own resentment of losing her country and people, her feelings of being betrayed and loss have corrupted it. It now stands as a monument to all the suffering and emotional trauma.

Within the cathedral, a ghostly choir is forever trapped in a state between life and death. They are the souls of Amalgomates cursed by their former mistress. But there are worst terrors and things that lurk through the corridors.