Painted World

The **Painted World** is an otherwordly dimension created by Aromir as a safe haven for lost, tainted and trapped souls. Its doorway takes the form of a living painting that spontaneously appears in random places, drawing in memories of those places and "painting" them inside the world. Over the centuries it has degenerated and turned rotten, causing pieces of it to violently erupt into the mortal world.

In 8:459, it was visited by young wardens Tuny and Dun, who encountered the twisted inhabitants and briefly the Painter himself. Years later, Tuny, now known as MacDuff, revisited the painting to cleanse it forever and free the souls of those trapped within.

## History

### Caer Blygoch

#### The Young Wolf

In 8:459, a piece of the Painted World, a castle that had disappeared from the mortal world centuries before, erupted in the forests of the Hertch Peaks, a day's ride away from the warden keep of Caer Blygoch. With the keep's mistress of sorceries Elżbieta of Lŷr unable to identify the magical anomaly caused by the eruption, the keep's master Esken St. Raivan dispatched two young wardens, Tuny and Dun, to investigate and report back.

The two wardens reached the forest to find it scorched by the magical eruption; at the epicenter they were stunned to find the ruins of a castle, partly burned and collapsed. Drawing their steel swords, they headed inside to investigate further; they found yellowed, partially burnt texts, tomes and several paintings, including one that was completely untouched. Dun was unwittingly dragged into the painting, forcing Tuny to follow and rescue him.

The two young wardens found themselves in an artificial world, a pocket within their own. Every surface seemed real and natural, only to disappear into flakes of paint when touched. The air was stagnant and cold, and inhabited by twisted and tainted creatures from untold times in history. The creatures worshipped what they called the Painter, creator and master of the realm, and sought to use the warden's blood to renew the painting. Using nothing but their steel swords and fighting skill, the young wardens were able to battle their way to freedom and hid in a crumbling mansion.

Realizing that they were trapped in the Painted World, Tuny and Dun sought a way to communicate with the outside world; failing that, they decided to confront the Painter himself. In a bizarre move, Tuny sheathed his weapon and presented himself to the painting's inhabitants, who carried him away for an audience with the Painter; Dun followed in the shadows.

The Painter turned out to be Aromir, the first warden ever created. He offered Tuny a place in the Painting; Tuny accepted and allowed his palm to be cut. The inhabitants recoiled in horror when they discovered that Tuny's blood was cursed; the impurity of his blood caused the paint it touched to decay. With the inhabitants distracted, Tuny dipped his hand in Aromir's paint mix, tainting it; the Painted World destabilised, causing another rift to open. Tuny and Dun barely managed to flee through the rift, arriving back in the halls of Caer Blygoch. Esken explained that the painting had suddenly appeared in the fortress mere hours ago, and now displayed the gathered inhabitants surrounding the husk of Aromir, lamenting over his blackened paint mix.

Over the years, it became apparent that the painting had many forms, one of which was now bound to Caer Blygoch. In 9:0, when MacDuff brought Minerva an Kett to the fortress, she inquired about the painting, now blank and bare; after some convincing, MacDuff revealed that he had "cleansed" it some time ago.