First appearance: Into the Mirror 10 Shatter + Into the Mirror 11 Mortaurios · watch it on YouTube
Mortaurios, the City of the Dead, is reached in an unusual way. The only way in is to say its name out loud in the wasteland, and the wasteland takes you there. Behind its walls is a bustling city that seems almost ordinary: busy markets, paved streets, and people who know their place. The eerie part is who isn’t there.
Description
Mortaurios is a walled city built on a trapezoidal platform several miles across, rising out of the desert. Its streets are paved, and its bazaars are packed with crowds. A clear social hierarchy runs through the place.
For all the bustle, something is missing. There are no children anywhere in Mortaurios, and almost no wildlife. In a city of the dead, that absence may be the most telling detail of all.
History
The way to Mortaurios came as a simple instruction: “You need only speak the name in this desert, in this wasteland, and it will take you there.” Because the name itself was the key, it had to be handled carefully. Elianna gestured for it to be written down in the book rather than spoken, so that it couldn’t be said by someone who would then leave for the city alone.
Cerys wrote the name in the book and passed on the last piece of advice:
“Whisper that into the wind.”
From there, the journey carried on into the city itself. This happened in Into the Mirror 10 Shatter + Into the Mirror 11 Mortaurios (ITM session 3).
Notable Figures
- Cerys: wrote down the city’s name and told her companion to whisper it into the wind.
- Elianna: gestured for the name to be written in the book so it couldn’t be said by someone who would then leave alone.