The Court of the Thegn is level L07 of the Ardis Vala Mega-Dungeon, formerly the domain of the Varumani under Varboka, First Thegn, with the Troll Market and the Engine Room of the Beacon. Since the hiatus it is a zone in flux.
| Type | Place (dungeon level L07) |
| Setting | Ardis Vala |
| Ruler | Varboka, First Thegn (deposed) |
| Spanish entry | Corte del Thegn |
Description
The Varumani were a people in decline: only about 100 true varumani, some 170 lesser varumani and an unknown number of bestial varumani survived. The thegn sought to activate the Beacon to restore his people. Visitors with a troll thegn’s passport entered the court and the Troll Market in peace; those without one met immediate armed resistance.
Four architectural traditions share the level: Heqeti (Upper Temple), Rudishva (technical corridors, floating islands, Engine Room), Archontean (chapels, administrative chambers) and Varumani (central domain).
Regions
- Domain of the Varumani. The center, behind defended chokepoints (the troll lift and two passes): Varboka’s throne, ritual baths and private chambers, between which he rotates unpredictably; his housecarls; the court; the Troll Market of strange goods; and the bestial varumani caves to the west. Public rituals: Moot, Audience, Cleansing of Sorrows, Victor’s Right.
- Heqeti Upper Temple. A small recent restoration under Caudatssa the Tongue, with a minor ziggurat, precursor of the Ziggurat of Kauket, and a dark consecration. If the varumani discover it, conflict follows.
- Domain of the Vampire. The ancient vampire Cinna Minux secretly rules old Archontean chapels with a “court” of lesser vampires and charmed mortals, avoiding the Knights of the Sun’s Scar. Only the bestial varumani sense him (“it’s haunted”).
Notable figures
- Varboka, First Thegn; Vimela the Record Keeper.
- Clan chiefs: Hraskaya (Rudigaya), Vedraya One-Eye (Vanaraya), Gavra the Easy-Going (Pendaya), Igrippa the Unruly (Druvaya).
- Ashoka, court sorcerer; Glif, lesser varumani, first adept.
- Trijax, vice-overseer of the Troll Lifts, at the lift base.
Varboka put a bounty of 100 gold pieces per fang on the Kaliyani, the varumani’s ancestral enemies.
After the hiatus
The Defeat of the Varumani during the fifteen-year hiatus destroyed the court: Varboka was overthrown, the court abandoned or reoccupied, the market closed or taken over, passports voided, chokepoints and Engine Room left unguarded. Cinna Minux, Caudatssa and Pope Alejandro Sixto (from the Castle of the Prism) possibly expanded their reach.
Connections
- The Great Abyss links the Howling Caves above and the Lower Confines below; other routes reach the Forum of Set, the Obsidian Gates, the Troll Lifts and the Abyss floor (via the Dread Risers), plus Rudishva teleport nodes and a Thothian ring.
- The heqeti teleport well of the Upper Temple leads to the Ziggurat of Kauket.
- Sublevels: Goblin Warrens, Lizardfolk Caves, Flooded Canyon, Flooded Vaults, Pits of Kaliyani, Lost Chambers of Arden.