Deep of Carved Stone
Rating: ••• Aspect: Earth. Hearthstone: Bearer: Ragara Thannak-Tyros. Attuned: Ragara Jintao, Ragara Haifeng, Ragara Tibarek, Ragara Koizua, Ragara Thannak-Tyros, ?.
The Deep of Carved Stone, located in the Scarlet Prefecture between Juche and the Imperial City, is a holding of House Ragara currently allocated to Ragara Thannak-Tyros.
From a distance, the Deep appears unassuming. The grounds of the manse are located atop a steep hill, with a low stone wall at the top of the slope, broken by a single gap aligned towards the Imperial Mountain. This gap is topped with a gatehouse of stone, and while the gatehouse lacks gates or full protection from the elements it does include murder holes through which rocks and projectiles can pelt those passing through.
Within the walls, what seem to be three low buildings of smooth granite can be seen, though these are in fact parts of the structure of a three-dot Earth-aspect manse breaking the surface. The smallest (I) is currently outfitted as a guest room, while another is equipped with advanced combat training dummies and devices (H). The final structure houses a sitting room (K) for taking tea or seeing small numbers of guests, as well as a wide staircase descending into the ground (J).
At the bottom of the staircase (G) can be found a large room (A), which can be outfitted for entertaining, storage, or part of an expanded crafting workshop to supplement the existing workshop connected to it (F). The workshop contains work benches for carving and alchemy, as well as a kiln for the firing of clay and boiling of liquids. Exhaust pipes carry smoke and unpleasant fumes to the outside (M).
The central chamber is also connected to several different rooms. One is the Deep’s kitchens (C), where tendrils of essence produce cooked meals from the raw ingredients presented to them (though of course the resulting dishes are mostly stewed or roasted). Another is a well-stocked library (E) containing a number of scrolls and books on earthworks (Craft Earth (Ability)), ceramics (Craft Fire (Ability)), and sensing through the ground (Awareness). Another room (D) is currently fitted to serve as servants’ quarters.
This floor also contains the master bedroom (B), which is outfitted with luxuries befitting a Dynastic sleeping chamber as well as an office with writing desk. A long stairway spirals downward into the earth from the bedroom, coming at last to the hearthstone chamber (N).
The hearthstone chamber is centered on a stone column atop which sits a bowl of white jade covered in copper filigree, in which the manse’s stone forms. Unlike the other rooms of the Deep, there are no sconces for lamps or lanterns, though a visitor can of course bring their own... the surrounding mechanisms, forming the central control of the manse, interface primarily by touch and vibration rather than visually.
Central control can be used by the hearthstone bearer or those with the proper password to operate the manse’s systems. Through amplified vibrations, systems communicate what the manse perceives with its basic senses (detects the presence of people within the manse, differentiating between non-attuned, attuned, and hearthstone bearer. Hiding from the manse is Diff. 3, pool reduced to zero before charm use, detects immaterial as material). Those able to operate central control may also set passwords for both the control systems and every door in the manse, which remain locked until they open automatically upon hearing the correct password. Central control also operates the manse shutter (L), a system of ivory plates that can be opened to expose the central chamber (A) to the outside... useful for moving in large pieces of equipment, direct access without the delay of using the stairs, or stargazing parties.
