The Abyssal Realms #1

The currently known information about the Thirteen Abyss Realms and their Queens is as follows. (More information may be distributed or added to the wiki at a later date.)

The realms are listed in order of relations with Chaos and Amber (from positive to negative) referencing their Sovereign’s names as boundaries and territories may fluctuate.

Cybellelands 

Cybelle (aka Cymnea, former Queen of Amber)

MOST RESPECTABLE – special relationship with the Courts of Chaos, Free Trade and Alliance

Notable rocks: Phrygia, Lydia and Miletos among others are almost City States. They were part of lost provinces of the Abyss Empire.

Chaos has recognized the independence of these former territories. Swayville as the Justinian Succession – Emperor of the Abyss Empire also signed off on independence of these loose territories.

Cymnea is a daughter of King Cornelius the Younger by another marriage and is a half sibling to King Swayville, Prince Dworkin and Prince Suhuy. This was awkward when she became Oberon’s first wife. She lives most of the time in Cymneaways in Solstice, to keep an eye out for Benedict and her descendants through her dead sons. She has been relentless in her bitterness over the murder of four of her sons: Osric and Finndo, with Oberon; and later Matthias and Lucian, with Tubble Channicut.  She never got over her Divorce from Oberon some 75,000 years ago.

Cymnea’s Abyss territories are ruled actively by her daughter Myfanwy.  Myfanwy is the youngest child of Cybelle and Oberon.

CybelleLAND’S REGENT – PRINCESS MYFAnWY

The Princess Myfanwy of Amber, Regent of Cybellelands is the only surviving sibling of Benedict.

She is tall – more so than any of her sisters but is almost angular in shape. She can and does subtlety change her shape depending on her desire. She has strawberry blonde hair which is long and bound and bright green eyes. Her favoured colours are red and gold. She is extraordinarily graceful in her movements. She flows and this is evident in her fighting and dancing. Oberon’s historic treatment of women and his family disgusts her but she has responded well to approaches made by the Queen and does her damnest not to provoke the King. She has developed a faintly amused attitude towards her numerous brothers and sisters. She harbours some residual dislike of Eric. He constantly needled her until she used the banned phrase on him to start a fight which had to be broken up by siblings. This does not mean that she has chosen any sides in sibling rivalries. She does not like her Father but is careful to neither speak it nor show it.

Nephythis or Nephthys

VERY RESPECTABLE Open relations with the Courts of Chaos

Notable rocks: Diospolis Parva, Hiw, Hu, Bennu (remnants of Khem).

Sister to the late Osiris, Set and Isis. She was a moderate but sided passively with Set in their wars in primordial Abyss Khem..She is also fond of her blond half-brother Sutekh, who is frequently mistaken for redheaded Set.

Best Abyss Navigator and could also help souls navigate in abyss waters. She is one prone to not travel ironically.

Possible connections to House Geib.

On good terms with almost everyone though she has no use for the three troublemakers Not prone to wars in the Abyss. Even the three troublemaking Queens avoid picking fights with her. Feared by many powerful Abyss demonic creatures.

She loves beer. Blood-flavoured beer is good, but other Egyptian deities preferred that more than she does.

She has ability to see the hidden, can see even through the abyss and can actually navigate naturally.

She uses the Phoenix as a symbol and allowed Geibs to use the emblem which was used by Jasra’s son Rinaldo as a personal emblem though his was a male Phoenix.

She sent aid to help anyone trying to kill Caine. She was enraged at for him shooting Brand and helped others protected Brand from dying in the Abyss. She was a hidden hand in the wars against Caine and even allowed strange things to happen at the Battle of the Edgefield to thwart Caine from being resurrected from his last soul shard.

She is also protective of Corwin and his family. She alleged to have protected Corwin in many lifetimes. The Corwin road may have been a past life of Corwin instead of his own doing. And she also is very tolerant of Dara, as her naughty sister in a past life.

She condemned the murder of Aetius and curses were put upon the Troublemakers and Oberon to stop their full outcome by their actions from reaching fruition.  Her people did help save some Helgrams who fled into the Abyss.

Nyx, Queendom of Nyktelios

VERY RESPECTABLE – very good relations with the Courts of Chaos

Noteable rocks: Megara, Caria; Lost rocks – Nox Lemuria

Nyx is one of the more respectable Queens who does not practice sacrifice routinely. She is known to be kindly to visitors and those in need. She is no fool but she also has deep ties to many ancient traditions and histories and personages. She was connected to the original Archangels and Archdemons, as well as their language which some dialects are commonly known as Enochian and Dark Enochian.

She has always maintained relations with the Courts of Chaos and has had a long friendship to Swayville, Dworkin, Suhuy, Cymnea.

Way back in the depths of time, she was married to Theodosius the Clever, son of Justin the Stern. She was the mother of his sons, Valentinian and Valens, as well as a daughter, Harla, who later married Oberon.

Also mother of Nemesis.

Nyx has been a frequent visitor to Thelbane before and since the Great Abyss Superstorm. She frequently makes discreet visits to Bances, Swayville and Gramble, whom she is fond of. She did visit Tubble but found him distasteful in his open avarice. Her embassy was discreetly not identified on maps for many years, and had sort of the same mystery that the Geibs had for the Void.

Nyx was not fond of Oberon but was fond with many of his Queens including Cymnea and Clarissa, as well as Paulette and Dybele. She helped Helgrams get out of Amber during the Rilga persecutions, when that particular queen was burning them at the stake. Nyx was able to negociate with Oberon, despite her distaste for him, to avoid doing certain actions. She tried to convince Oberon to spare Aetius and not rip up his soul, but was unsuccessful.

Nyx is always kindly to travellers in her parts of the Abyss and reportedly has ties to the Archangel Enoch.

Nyx helped Bleys plan the elimination of the YHVH in Solstice and has consulted with him and Queen Mother Clarissa on the arrival of the Aurellius YHVH.

Hecate

RESPECTABLE – open relations with the Courts of Chaos.

Notable home rocks: Lagina, Aigina, Titane

Also uses black dogs and pole cats.

Close allies, and has a deep friendship, with Hecuba.

Powerful at moonless nights and all eclipses.

Deep ancient Chthonic ritual – prefers certain female blood as sacred but trades in anything.

Fights with twin torches of black fire.

Hecate’s wheel is very powerful and a symbol.

She was an educator to the first Jesby women and there are ties to them as well as the Justin and Marcelline lines.

She was a maternal cousin to Apollo and Artemis and loves to tease them but was protective of them too. She had ties with Helios and Ra at different times too. She mediated when Helios and Apollo bickered. She had Roman ties to Janus who was two gods in one.

A number of other plants (often poisonous, medicinal and/or psychoactive) are associated with Hecate.These include: yew, aconite (also called hecateis), belladonna, dittany, and mandrake. It has been suggested that the use of dogs for digging up mandrake is further corroboration of the association of this plant with Hecate; indeed, since at least as early as the 1st century AD, there are a number of attestations to the apparently widespread practice of using dogs to dig up plants associated with magic.

One known rite has been performed and recorded: by Oberon to placate Hecate after the murders of Finndo/Osric and later Aetius. The performer bathes  at midnight in a stream of flowing water, dressed in dark robes. They then dig a round pit and cut the throat of an ewe over it, sacrificing it and then burning it whole on a pyre next to a Chthonic sanctified pit . The offering is then sweetened with a libation of holy honey, with a few barrels of the performer’s blood. The performer should then retreat from the site without looking back, even if they hear footsteps or barking dogs. The site where Oberon performed this ceremony later became the Fortress of Avernus. Bleys was never told about this being the place of Oberon’s purging of the sin of murdering his own children. Clarissa did not know either.

Another frequent rite by those seeking her favour is to drape wreathes of yew around the necks of black bulls, which are slaughtered in her honor, and yew boughs burned on funeral pyres.

Hecuba

RESPECTABLE – open relations with the Courts of Chaos

Notable home rocks: Sangarius, Attus, Metope, Nana

Widow of Priam of Troy / Illium – the Prime that reflects on every earth. She had 50 children at least.Her sympathies are with Olympians who sided with Troy, and has issues with those who fought to destroy Troy.

Can turn into a black large dog. She mourns her husband and children. Her last son was Ilios, who still haunts her memories.

Her descendants reach into the bloodlines of the Royal Justin/Constantius lines, and hence the Great Houses of Chaos, and even the Marcelline line.

Swayville is polite to her, even thought she protected Oberon from Swayville’s wrath at the murder of Osric and Finndo.

She has a lot to do with the culture of Family avoiding to kill Family.

She has a fondness for Art Baker though they have not met this lifetime.

Nemesis

RESPECTABLE Open relations with the Courts of Chaos

Notable rock: Rhamnous

Mother is Nyx

Possible ancestor of Sand and Delwin’s mother – Harla. Tends to have a lot of deals with Sand/Delwin’s territory, despite their questionable morality.

Punishes (Hellenistic) crimes in the Abyss even high bloods. Has no jurisdiction in Creations but has influence and gets even from time to time. Controls the Furies and other nasty retaliatory enforcers.

Oberon was on her list a lot, because his actions spilled over into the Abyss. He had to get Hecate to intervene with Nemesis on his behalf at times. She destroyed many of his Abyss holdings with different tools

Related to Cymnea, but it is unclear how. She took the murder of Osric, Finndo, Lucian and Matthias VERY hard. She also spent a great deal of time with Benedict, working out details for him and helping her with vengeance without crossing the line of patricide or disloyalty to Oberon.

Good relations with Chaos and the Amblerash Creed practitioners who somewhat conform to her standards

She pronounced the doom on Marcelinus, for his violence to his own family and that of Justin’s.

Lilith

DUBIOUSLY RESPECTABLE Open relations with the Courts of Chaos but viewed with suspicion.

Notable rocks: Pizna, a fortress palace in the Abyss

She is known to be involved in a lot of scandals in Chaos, but her embassy frequently helps many who seek her favours in romance-based issues. She is the dark goddess of love according to Bances, who discouraged people from from consulting her but has not banned it.

Lilith is expert at wielding soft power and influence far and wide. She is very capable and strategic. She is also a bad girl who has access to succubus and incubus demons who are not native to Solstice.

She has good relations with those who ask for it. She helps everyone but usually it means Chthonic relationships just happen.

Nasty rumours suggest that Dara, and her mother, Princess Darlene Helgram, have studied in her territories.