The Warren is an expansive underground Warden base and repository of Tanu. It is the Wardens' greatest refuge in the city of Chicago.
Background[]
Defenses[]
Areas[]
Entrances[]
The Warren can be entered via an elevator in the Mazzoleni Academy. This entrance leads into Vithra's Eye.
Vithra's Eye[]
Vithra's Eye is a powerful source of the Nevren which Keepers must pass through to enter the Warren (unless using Sanguine Hall). It is located in a large, domed, echoing cavern too dark to see all the way across. The cool air smells of animal and water. Either four or seven archways lead into the south side of Vithra's Eye, acting as various entrances. (According to The Box and the Dragonfly, "Immediately to [the] left and right [of the Mazzoleni Academy entrance], three other archways[...] opened into the great chamber.")
Only the southernmost part of the chamber has a (gritty) floor; the rest is filled by a massive underground lake, with a length near that of a football field. Its black water is perfectly smooth and hides an unknown danger; Mrs. Hapsteade explains: "You do not want to fall into this lake. [...]First, you would get wet." A loose brick walkway leads across the lake. After a few yards along the walkway, the Nevren becomes apparent; the path leads directly through its darkened center. This way is possible for non-Keepers to traverse, but completely impassable for anyone who has taken the bond. Multiple unknown Keepers have tried to cross and become dispossessed.
For Keepers, the only way across involves a jithandra, which can be dipped into the lake water to solidify it. Keepers following this path, along the curving edge of the cavern, must still pass through the Nevren. This takes noticeably longer than passing through the Nevren at the House of Answers.
A colony of bulky, swift cave owls inhabits the cavern, sometimes swooping low across the water. During Horace and Chloe's first visit, they hear a noise that could indicate one of the owls diving into the lake (or something else coming out).
Once crossed, the northern end of the chamber leads into a wide, round tunnel, large enough for a train, which leads downhill for 100 feet before opening into the Great Burrow.
The Great Burrow[]
The Great Burrow is a cavern resembling a stone forest. It is a massive, quiet space, two stories high with a stone floor and a brownish-blue ceiling, lit by large versions of the same amber Tanu lamps used in the House of Answers. As one ventures deeper into the cavern, the air becomes crisp. The burrow is filled with dozens of irregularly spaced, massive round stone columns, rising from floor to ceiling, as wide as they are high. Some are hollowed-out dwellings, with open doorways and windows; these are called dobas.
Mrs. Hapsteade describes the Great Burrow as a place of refuge and the topmost level of the Warren, and shares that it once may have been a town.
Dobas[]
Most dobas are empty or used for storage, but a few act as dwelling places for the Wardens, containing furniture such as couches, tables, and chairs. During his first visit, Horace notices an unknown doba containing a bed which has recently been slept in.
Mrs. Hapsteade lives in the Great Burrow "from time to time."
Mr. Meister keeps a doba, which acts as his office. It is larger than the others at 50 feet across, and fills half the width of the Great Burrow. Inside are a variety of bins retrieved from the House of Answers before its fall. The office is a smaller room within, round and 20 feet across, located deep inside the doba's outer ring. It is made of wood and has a door, unlike the other dobas. The office's walls are red and covered entirely in compartments, no two identical: drawers, cubbies, shelves, holes, gates, glass-covered recesses, and a hole shaped like an eye. The compartments are used to store dozens upon dozens of Tanu, including many Tan'layn, in a collection far more powerful than the House of Answers. The inside of the door is also covered in compartments, and the doorknob has one of its own. At the top of the room, the wall rises into a smooth red dome with a glowing white crystal hanging from its peak. One half of the room has a curved workbench, and the other a musty red wooden couch covered in pillows. Mr. Meister often sits in a chair behind a cluttered, crescent-shaped desk in the center, facing the couch. The room is also inhabited by a colony of small, black, twittering bright-eyed birds. Whether Mr. Meister also lives somewhere in the Warren, in addition to keeping the office, is unknown.
Brian keeps a doba with a window.
The Perilous Stairs[]
Brian's Workshop[]
The Maw[]
The Gallery[]
Sanguine Hall[]
Other Areas[]
Inventory[]
Mr. Meister's Office[]
- A chest-sized book with finger-thick pages (on the desk)
- A delicate white sphere the size of a raven's eye
- A raven statue leestone (on the desk)
- A small square cloth
- A stubby pencil
- A thin mask in the shape of a human woman's face (from the House of Answers; on the desk)
- A tiny notebook
- Boxes
- Crescents
- Chunks of glass
- Figures
- Isabel's spitestone (on the desk)
- Rolls of paper
- Slabs of stone
- Stacks of cubes
- Sticks
- The backjack's compass (on the desk)
- The Laithe of Teneves (from the House of Answers; on the desk)
- Tubes
The Wardens protect a great many Tanu of considerable power within the Warden, though many are without Keepers.
History[]
The day after the Fall of the House of Answers, Mrs. Hapsteade led Horace and Chloe into the Warren for the first time to meet with Mr. Meister.
Gallery[]
