Doors and Keys

*'Every choice closes a door... and the Mansus has only seven.'*
 *'Chilly Lessons with a Maid-in-the-Mirror'*

The **Doors** are the seven gates into the House of the Sun. Though there are many entrances into the Mansus that adepts may employ, the true potential of the Seven Doors is locked and can only be accessed with one of the **Keys**. A number of them have been employed in the ascension of various beings to Namehood and even Hourhood, and some may have other applications as well. According to a Law that dates back to the gods-from-Stone, the Keys cannot be held or owned… and for this reason, those outside the law such as Alukites may hold and own them. And so it is that each of the Keys is held by a member of the Ligeia Club.However, even Ligeians cannot keep them. In addition, a Key is no more physical than a spirit, but as spirits it may be housed in physical body and touched.[1]

It should be noted that some of the Keys open multiple doors, and not all such doors lead to the Mansus proper. This makes identifying which doors are counted among the seven "Doors" difficult. Identifying the Seven Keys is much simpler in comparison.

The seven Keys and their respective doors are as follows:

* **The Key of Days** is held by Kleidouchos, though she has known all the keys at some point. It opens the **Tricuspid Gate** outwards to the Glory. It has been used by all the gods-from-Light. It is housed in green chalcedony.

* **The Key of Night** was once held by the Great Hooded Princes, and now by their daughter, Sulochana Amavasya. It opens the **Spider Door**, but sometimes it opens that door the other way. It is likely housed in amethyst

* **The Forest Key** is held by Medusa, the oldest of the Ligeians alive, though she is dead. It opens the **Stag Door** as well as the **Door in the Wood**, hidden within the Well. It is described as a pale Key, twisting like a fanged worm.

* **The Key of David** is held by Morgen, and opens the **White Door** when housed in ivory, and the **Summit Gate** to the House of the Moon when in black sapphire. Supposedly the Key has often fled Morgen, and so she guards it jealously. It is also called St. David's Key.

* **The Flaying Key** is held by Marinette, who at the Grail's behest devoured whoever held it when the Moth arose. It opens the **Kingskin Gate**, and has been present at the birth of every god-from-blood. It is described as a red Key that might be a bloody knife or a ruby wound.

* **The Biting Key** is held by Echidna, and found only in the presence of monsters. It opens the **Savage Door** and was used by the gods-from-stone, and perhaps others before even them.

* **The Mare's Key**, which is held by Rowena. It opens door(s) to Nowhere, though never the same door twice. It can only be used with the best of intentions, and at times Rowena has lent it unwisely. It is assumed by the name that is has some association with the Mare-in-the-Tree, one of the perilous gods-from-Nowhere. It is likely housed in scolecite, sometimes known as worm-stone

## Other Notes

* The **Peacock Door** is the only door into the Mansus which does not have a corresponding Key. This may be because it is a door torn open by mortals when they first forced their entry into the House.

* Considering that the actual amount of the notable Doors is nine (or ten, if you count the Door to Nowhere), it's not clear whether the "Seven Doors" is something more than just a turn of phrase. Is there a subset of seven specific Doors that hold a particular significance? Are some Doors not the "Doors of the House"? Or are some Doors, in fact, the same Door?

* The Keys are among the weapons and prizes in the conflict between the Birds of a Feather and Worms of a Scale, Long who respectively support and oppose the reign of the Hours.

* There is a single mention of "lesser keys", along with the fact of them having names, but no details are known.

## Sources

1. ↑ Read 'The Gospel of Zacchaeus', Chilly Lessons #spirit\_winterd\_edge
2. ↑ Enigma I - Phase XI Solution
3. ↑ Enigma I - Phase X Solution
4. ↑ Ashes Above
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Eva's Treasury
6. ↑ Dream Moth Victory
7. ↑ Dream Mensicate Victory
8. ↑ Dream Heart Victory
9. ↑ THE DAWN
10. ↑ The Vision of the Peacock
11. ↑ Enigma I - Phase V Solution
12. ↑  A City