Nine Abyssal Vales of Kthor

[CaptainPenguin]

Before you post on this thread, read the Plot called "The Nine Abyssal Vales of Kthor" on the main page.

I was reading my old plot and noticed a comment by ephemeralstability saying that, since I left it unexplained what was in the Vales, it would be a good thread to discuss. So run wild, people! Run wild! Tell me what you think the Vales and Kthor itself should be! Let your imaginations soar!

[CaptainPenguin]

Nobody has anything to say?

[manfred]

Give it a link: The nine abyssal Vales of Kthor

OR write the entire thing right here for handy reference.

Beneathe the crust of the world, the endless tunnels and caverns of the Deep World are almost a complete mystery to surface-dwellers. Within the Deep World, horrors and wonders that cannot be found on or are lost to the surface exist. But the people of the kingdom of Lishar never suspected any of it, until now. On the eve of Smernae, the midsummer's celebration, the mightiest earth shaker ever recorded by Lishar's geomancers struck the Water-Rift Mountains, rending a gash in the great hills that the Lisharan capitol of Iboul could fit into. The great rivers and bottomless lakes of the Water-Rift Mountains have begun to pour into the rift, collecting in the shadowy bottom of it and forming the Great Water-Rift Lake. But the new canyon has revealed something that is older than man: A mighty iron gate, carved with grotesque images of demons and fiends and monsters. Rumors tell that it is the entrance to the legendary Nine Abyssal Vales of Kthor. Sealed away for a millenium by St.Iel, the Vales are now open to be explored by adventurers, who have swarmed to Iboul City by the thousands. But within the Vales, horrors await which have not seen the light of day for six thousand years.

NOTES
-The Vales are gigantic, larger than the largest city you could imagine. There could be all sorts of different things within them, from underground tropical jungles to hideous fields of bones.
-Kthor itself is within the Ninth Vale. Use your own ideas to make your own Kthor, whether it be a city or a god.

[manfred]

OK, what if Kthor is a... city. Not some ordinary city, of course.

Kthor, the City where people never die.

Just right, people never die here. It may be some kind of curse, a divine blessing, or something else. Whatever, people do not die, children are not born, nobody grows older. It may be that no inhabitant can leave this place, or they don't want (become mortal again if leaving).

The city can bizzare or common as you want, even boring, but what are the changes deep inside? If a city continues to exist for hundreds of years with the same people inside, shouldn't it change many things?

 - No one sees a reason to hurry anywhere.
 - Despite the not-too-small size of the city, everyone knows everyone.
 - Many are willing to sell for absurdly low prices, even for free, or too expensive. Some people don't care for money anymore.
 - Children. Older children become surprisingly 'adult' and knowledgeable about things they should not know. Younger children, and anyone that cannot take care of himself, can get 'adopted', simply given into care to anyone that wants.
 - Crime. People are bored if anyone gets killed, but thievery can be very harshly punished (looong imprisonment...).
 - Some craftsmen became great masters of their art.

I could continue for hours. Now imagine what could re-opening of the Vales cause, both to the city, and the world around, once this news spreads...

[Ria Hawk]

Or maybe instead of being a city where people never die, it could be a city where no body lives.  A city of ghosts, or a loop in time (a la Groundhog Day).

[Siren365]

Or maybe it could be a combination of both ideas. It could be a city where people live during the day. And at night, the city is destroyed and ghosts take over the city. But there's a loop in time, and in the morning, the same process happens all over again for eternity.