A Beasthood · The Lights
Faded Heights
Seen it. Not tonight.
Their gift: The Lookout. The watch-keepers see what's coming first. The cost: Whatever they watch can see them, so the ridge looks inward.
About 500 Beasts call Faded Heights home.
The place
A ridge above the Beastside: thin cool air, every roof turned to face in. The Heights dress in washed colours, dusty rose, sea-glass, ash violet, each fit made by a friend, with terraces to match. Cold stone, a kick drum three roofs away.
Their gift, and what it costs
The Lookout. From the ridge alone, the Heights see what's coming first: weather, Shapes, the Edge. The cost: whatever they see can see them; stare at a Shape and it starts up the Stairway. So the ridge looks inward, and only the watch-keepers look out.
What they want, and what they fear
Want: not to fade again. Fear: the Grey, which they remember from the inside.
People you might meet
- Noor Belcourt (Lopped-Ear Rabbit), Curtain doorkeeper, faded in the Grey Year and called home at the Hill Counter. Says "Not tonight" so kindly Beasts thank them. On the vote: "Cortado said my name once. I can stand to hear it again."
- Kaito Strand (Ape), the Watch's selector. Runs each warning downhill, then plays the night's set eyes shut.
- Cosima Vey (Lopped-Ear Rabbit), stylist: wants their Beasts admired; since four drew Shapes, dresses friends to be looked past.
- Yuki Danforth (Original), Darkroom keeper: wants the whole ridge in one photograph. Thirty springs of trying; somebody always blinks.
Neighbours and old business
- Cortado Cafe: the debt, and the ridge still drinks the Heights Order.
- Studio 66 copies the look without the care, and answers every warning.
- Trusty Lake Estates: "They shut their gates and kept everyone. We lost half." Said at every shared table, word for word.
Books from Faded Heights
A Beast's Book is written from their holder's choices.
No Book from Faded Heights is open yet. A holder of a Beast from here can begin theirs in the game.
More about Faded Heights
Their scarIn the Grey Year the ridge saw the Grey coming and couldn't look away.
In the Grey Year the ridge saw the Grey coming and couldn't look away. The first great Shape felt itself watched and came up the Stairway; the Heights call it "the one who came up the stairs." Half the ridge faded. Cortado called each name over the Heights Order, all night, until its Beast came down. Home again, the ridge chose softer colours for its dress and terraces, took the scar for a name, and turned its roofs inward.
What they argue aboutThe Watch vs the Curtain.
The Watch vs the Curtain. The Watch say a ridge that sees first owes the valley what it sees. The Curtain say the Grey Year taught what staring costs.
This seasonThe Understudy walked up to the ridge last month to ask for one of the five Quiet Weeks.
The Understudy walked up to the ridge last month to ask for one of the five Quiet Weeks. The first vote failed by four roofs; two more terraces have painted their doors grey since. Watch-keepers still call each dark stretch down to Studio 66's riggers, and stare longer than the oath allows.
The Hush hereThe frightened go Hush here, elegantly: grey thread at a collar, a terrace kept for the Quiet Hours.
The frightened go Hush here, elegantly: grey thread at a collar, a terrace kept for the Quiet Hours. Their case is the ridge's own lesson: Shapes come to whoever's looking, so give them nothing to look back at. The Curtain agree. The Watch, and every roof that hates owing, don't: a quiet ridge must ask Cortado to carry its names, and Cortado would call each one over a Heights Order. One who wants their name back climbs to the Lookout to be called, and for once the whole ridge faces out.
PlacesThe Lookout: a watch-keeper swears to look, and to know when to stop.
- The Lookout: a watch-keeper swears to look, and to know when to stop.
- The Pale Terraces: a first-climber earns the door by holding a night there.
- The Darkroom: last night's photographs, pinned up by noon. The faces in them look the same to everyone; the colours start arguments.
What they think is going on"See it first and it can't surprise you."
"See it first and it can't surprise you." They mistake seeing a thing for safety.