The Writhing River

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> The Writhing River
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> Fecund and poisonous, a place where serpents clog the waterways.
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> ### Location
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> Parabola
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> ### Alias
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> the Wanting Way
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> ### Affiliation
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> Fingerkings
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> ### Notable Figures
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> Poisoned Oracle
> The Oracle of Glaziers
> Yearning Custodian
> Satrap of Shallows
> Countess Palatine
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> *"Fecund and poisonous, where serpents clog the waterways and the Wanting Way plunges through regions of untrammelled terror."*
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**The Writhing River** is a great river of poisonous serpents that flows through Parabola.

## The Pilgrim Road

> *"Between hither and there, however, are many insidious marches. This is disputed land, and in Parabola, everyone has a claim. The Writhing River courses thick with serpents, a much-contested section of the great Parabolan road: the Wanting Way."*
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The Writhing River is the largest and most well known branch of the **Wanting Way,** the great Parabolan pilgrim road. It is said that anyone that travels through dreams with a driving need will find themselves along the River eventually. The venom produced by the serpents that form the River creates clouds of toxic vapors that hang in the air around it, and can prove dangerous to anyone without suitable protection. Being directly injected with the venom can also cause addictive sensations and show visions of jaundiced cities, lit by multiple red suns.

As other great rivers do, the Writhing River has its own tributaries. Some of these lesser rivers can be found quite close to the real world; one flows near the cellars of Hunter's Keep.

## Notable Landmarks

> *"The Writhing River is the largest branch of the great pilgrim route: the Wanting Way. It is a broad river of running serpents, clouded in envenomed mists. Oracles, mountebanks, pilgrims, traveller's inns, false saints and sundered shrines speckle both sides of its banks."*
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As it lies along the Wanting Way, the banks and towheads of the Writhing River are filled with many shrines, oracles and other travel destinations, for instance:

* The **Entanglement of Glass**, where the Fingerkings torture and tempt captured cats.
* The **Enshrinement of Waters**, a red-stone temple dedicated to the Satrap of Shallows.
* The **Labyrinth of Cathedrals**, where the Gregorian cries of the tatterdemalion bats can always be heard.
* The **Frowning Sepulchres**, where the Tomb-Colonists dream of their ancestral tombs.
* The **Menhir-Bridge**, built from coruscating menhirs inscribed from the inside with Correspondence sigils.
* The **Temple of the Outflung Rose**, where rose petals fall like rain in honor of a certain bloody power.
* The **Poisoned Oracle**, a master in the arts of war and poisons, who lives in a reflection of the Sere Palace.
* The **Oracle of Glaziers**, who lives deep beneath the Wanting Way within in a labyrinth of stained glass. She is an expert on the matter of dream-reflections.
* The **Place that was White and Gold**, a great lake that holds the final moments of the Fourth City within its depths.
* The **Root of Need**, a system of caves located deep beneath the **Mountains of the Mind**, and known as the source of the Writhing River. The **Yearning Custodian**, the first winner of the **Marvellous,** can also be found here, willing to consecrate the cards of any new players arriving at his humble abode.

## References

2. ↑ Along the Writhing River, *Fallen London*
3. ↑ Consider the Writhing River, *Fallen London*
4. ↑ Ambition: Prepare to Travel the Wanting Way, *Fallen London*
5. ↑ Sail the Wanting-Way, *Fallen London*
6. ↑ The Court of Cats (Story), *Fallen London* *"On the return journey, we turned towards the Writhing River, where she and her staff stopped to bathe. They said I should join them; that the venoms granted sensations unknown in our world."*
7. ↑ The Court of Cats (Story), *Fallen London* *"Later, you loll among venom-visions of jaundiced cities, silent beneath a black sky. Their night is set with old, red suns."*
8. ↑ Visit the cellar, *Sunless Sea*
9. ↑ Consider the Writhing River, *Fallen London*
10. ↑ The Entanglement of Glass, *Fallen London*
11. ↑ The Court of Cats (Story), *Fallen London* *"The Viscountess was once a hostage of the Conjugation of Miseries. They kept her for years in the Entanglement of Glass. I would never question her loyalty, of course. I'm sure she weathered her imprisonment stolidly. But an experience like that – could any of us emerge unchanged?"*
12. ↑ Enter the Enshrinement of Waters, *Fallen London*
13. ↑ Approach the fountain, *Fallen London*
14. ↑ Sail the Wanting-Way, *Fallen London*
15. ↑ Sail the Wanting-Way, *Fallen London*
16. ↑ Launch a naval assault, *Fallen London*
17. ↑ Find the Temple of the Outflung Rose, *Fallen London*
18. ↑ Consult a Poisoned Oracle, *Fallen London*
19. ↑ Consult the Oracle of Glaziers, *Fallen London*
20. ↑ Reach the Place that was White and Gold, *Fallen London*
21. ↑ The Fall of the Fourth, *Fallen London*
22. ↑ Recover the Countess Palatine, *Fallen London*
23. ↑ Consider your current store of Parabolan geography, *Fallen London*
24. ↑ The Root of Need, *Fallen London*