Quartz 5

House of Horrors

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House of Horrors

The House of Horrors is an island stronghold off the shore of the Holy Theocracy of Olympus - once a refuge for hunted horrors, now an independent power left to its own machinations. It takes its name from the beings who sheltered there.

History & Lore

The island began as a sanctuary. Ma’ar, the first horror - created as a desperate experiment by the Holy Theocracy of Olympus to fight off an invasion - rebelled after the war. Traveling the world, he gathered others like him, freeing them from their shackles and killing the creators who had abused them for power. Branded monsters and fiends, they were pursued by the heroes of the world, and at last retreated to an island off the shore of the very theocracy that had made Ma’ar, hoping to live in peace.

Their absence only emboldened the kingdoms to continue their experiments. When the volcano in Jaknia erupted and destroyed The University, a girl without a name stepped from the wreckage clad in a storm of fire. Ma’ar took her into his house on the island - and the world, in fear and indignation, raised its armies and laid siege to what was now called The House of Horrors.

When Ma’ar passed from the world during the thirty-year siege, the House crossed a line it had never imagined approaching. Turning to the same dark arts that had created them, they scoured the occult and the burned remains of stolen research until the girl without a name found the power they sought: the House gained the ability to create more horrors, and so to win the war for their lives. The armies of the world retreated, and the House was left to its own machinations on the small island off the shore of the theocracy. And so, its story begins.

The House has guarded the secret of the Horrors’ making ever since.

The Horrors

A horror is a humanoid who, through terrible dark rituals, has been fused with a fiendish entity to create a living weapon. Unlike an ordinary pact, the horror does not serve a separate patron - the warlock becomes the horror, and the horror is the warlock; the fiendish side is not truly separate, and has no intelligence of its own. A horror grows in power by learning to wield more of that fiendish side.

Game mechanics omitted

The mechanical “Horror” warlock subclass (from editions/5e-2014/subclasses/warlock-the-horror-patron.md) is intentionally not reproduced on this worldbuilding wiki.

General Information

Etymology

The island was named the House of Horrors by the outside world during the siege, after the horrors who took refuge there. What the inhabitants call it among themselves is not recorded.

Demography

The settlement is populated by horrors - humanoids fused with fiendish entities - originally refugees freed by Ma’ar, and later those created by the House itself.

Rulership

The House was founded and led by Ma’ar. After his death during the siege, leadership passed to the House collectively, with the Girl Without a Name central to its survival and its newfound power to create horrors.

Guards, Laws and Military Presence

The island withstood a thirty-year siege by the combined armies of the world’s kingdoms - an ordeal it survived only by acquiring the power to create new horrors. It now stands independent and unconquered.

Organizations

The House of Horrors functions not only as a place but as a faction of horrors. (It is also listed among the factions of Thelemar in the Organizations index.)

Religion

The House turned to forbidden occult arts - the same dark rituals that created the first horrors - to secure its survival.

Points of Interest

  • Ma’ar’s house - the original dwelling on the island that gave the settlement its name.

Important People

  • Ma’ar - the first horror; founder of the House. Deceased.
  • The Girl Without a Name - the fire-clad survivor of The University’s destruction, who found the power to create new horrors.

Appendix

Notes

  • The University destroyed by the Jaknian eruption may be the Great University of Nature and Magic (GUNAM) in Jaknia; this identification should be confirmed against the wider timeline.
  • The Organizations navbox already lists House of Horrors as a faction; this page is the canonical place/settlement that link resolves to.

Sources & Attribution

  • Primary lore: editions/5e-2014/class-lore/warlock-the-horror.md (Traveler’s Guide, heading chain Classes & Subclasses → Warlock → The Horror), author TrueMichato.
  • Mechanics (excluded): editions/5e-2014/subclasses/warlock-the-horror-patron.md.

Settlements

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