Page 57 of The Opening Act is Death (The Carnival of The Damned)
Fifty Eight
THE CARNIVAL OUTLINE
I. ORIGIN LORE
The Carnival of the Damned doesn’t travel. It appears.
Always to someone who has something to pay.
Name: Carnival of the Damned
Age: Older than memory. Some say it was birthed from the first broken promise.
Myth: Built on a bargain — a ballerina’s soul for eternal applause.
Location: Shifts like smoke — appears to the desperate, guilty, or damned. If you see the red tent… it’s already too late.
Time: Always midnight. Always now.
CARNIVAL LAYOUT: A Map of the Macabre
The Carnival is a cursed, shifting realm — part illusion, part sentient being, held together by blood magic, lost souls, and spectacle. Visitors are drawn in like moths to flame, often never finding their way out again.
five core rings (like concentric circles) with each layer becoming darker, stranger, and more dangerous:
OUTER RING – “THE MORTAL MOUTH”
This is the public-facing carnival front: alluring, seemingly innocent, designed to draw people in.
· The Hollow Carousel – Haunted music, wooden horses that breathe. The only exit. Visitors must ride to leave… if they can.
· Sweets & Sins Row – Vendors selling forbidden treats (sugar spun with memory dust, caramel that shows your deepest guilt).
· The Midway of Misfortune – Rigged games that take more than just tokens—sometimes memories, voices, names.
SECOND RING – “THE PERFORMERS’ STRIP”
Where the main shows are staged. Glamour and grotesque live side by side.
· Pas de Sang Theater – Visha’s knife-dancing ballet, staged in a shattered opera tent. Bloodstains are part of the aesthetic.
· The Cabinet of Illusions – Corvan’s domain. A mirrored fun house where no escape act is ever quite the same. Rumored to trap spectators in reflections.
· The Boneless Tent – Contortionists that shouldn’t be alive. Rumors they were made, not born.
· The Marionettist’s Strings – A puppet theater where the puppets cry when no one’s watching.
THIRD RING – “THE CARNIES’ KEEP”
Private quarters of the damned performers.
· The Dresser’s Hall – Shared vanity and prep space with mirrors that whisper the worst things you’ve ever done.
· Visha’s Carriage – Velvet-lined, opulent, faint scent of blood and roses. Music box that plays only when someone dies.
· Corvan’s Tent – Hidden doorways. Journals nailed to the walls. Chains that once bound him. He sleeps inside a locked trunk.
FOURTH RING – “THE BONE BACK LOT”
Where nightmares are stored.
· The Bloodwell – A literal well that collects performer sacrifices to keep The Carnival alive.
· Ash Pits – Burned bodies that keep regenerating just to burn again. Prison for those who tried to escape.
· The Mirror Graveyard – Broken mirrors containing souls that failed Corvan’s escape test.
INNER CORE – “THE HEART OF THE DAMNED”
Forbidden, off-limits. Even to the carnies.
· The Ringmaster’s Vault – Empty throne. Nobody has seen the Ringmaster in decades… or has everyone?
· The Heart Mechanism – A bleeding mechanical heart that powers the entire carnival. Must be fed with a performer’s pain.
· The Oracle’s Mouth – A whispering hole in the floor. Answers questions at a cost. Some say it’s where Visha first heard the music that made her dance.