LETHE HOUSE
Oblivion at the river, home always to weary travelers and wayward souls looking to forget the world a while (or play a game of Triple Triad).
The Goblet, Coeurl, Crystal
Ward 24, Plot 20
The Brimming Heart
(Open 24/7 to curious visitors; RP encouraged but never required)
Announcements:
Looking to stave away the bitter cold? Join us for cake and tea!
The Grounds
Explore the Lethe House grounds and learn about its establishment and customs.
The Caretakers
Meet the six pseudonymous caretakers of Lethe House.
Stories from lethe house
Bards across Eorzea have spun tales about the patrons of Lethe House - read some of them here.
The Grounds
Lethe House is a home for weary travelers and wayward souls who would like to forget the world a while.
It was created by Comrade Kupo as a space where anyone could rest their feet, play a game of triple triad, have a drink, and relax in the generous study if need be. The house's exterior and interior were crafted in the Glade style, owing to the fact that while Comrade grew up (and now resides) in Ul'dah, he spent many a formative year serving the Twin Adders in New Gridania. He finds the green trees calming.
Outside, you'll find caretaker Freya who is happy to assist adventurers in refurbishing or replacing weapons and armor, or show them the two training dummies in the back to help hone their martial skills. A small hearth provides a place for any traveler to rest without even entering the premises.
(Of course, Freya is known to redecorate every now and again. Has it changed since you last visited?)
Near the door, Comrade frequently stables one or more of his racing chocobos to keep them close by and well-cared for.
Beyond the house's walls travelers can see the best that the Goblet has to offer: a waterfall, pool, and poolside lounge are mere steps away in the Brimming Heart.
On the first floor, you'll find the card tables, chairs, and reception (along with a bit of storage space that can double as a sleeping loft if need be). Small Triple Triad tournaments with low stakes but high intensity are frequently held here, but travelers will have to work hard to beat caretakers Castor and Pollux at the game.
In the basement you can find the master bedroom and the study. The study contains thousands of volumes from Eorzea's best writers, on subjects from poetry to Ala Mighan Liberation and beyond, spread out over two levels. Currently, two of the caretakers - Seshat and Ratatoskr - are assisting Garlond Ironworks in airship research.
There are no full-time residents at the house (even the Caretakers merely live nearby), despite Comrade having originally built his bedroom next to the study. That room, when Comrade is adventuring abroad, is given to travelers with nowhere else to stay and is a loosely open secret among the Ul'dahn streets.
A final and important thing to know: no one uses their real name at Lethe House. It is a place for wanderers, and so family history or pedigree means nothing here. All guests at the house are asked to choose their own trail name upon entering. Names inspired from mythology are encouraged, but certainly not required.
What will your name be?
🎵 Current Lethe House Playlist:
Against the WindLandlordsHeavensturnOblivion (Orchestral Version)Serenity (Orchestral Version)SkylordsThe Mushroomery
The Caretakers
All Caretakers at Lethe House - just as is asked of all travelers who enter its doors - use a pseudonym, a trail name, for their time here.
Castor and Pollux are Au Ra twins from Othard, come to Lethe House many years ago - the first of its caretakers after Comrade. Castor, with black hair, is a skilled baker and artist, while Pollux, with green hair, has more of a penchant for physical prowess. They mind the front desk and will happily trounce any challenger in Triple Triad after serving them ale and bread.
Seshat hails from a wealthy La Noscean family of which he is remiss to mention much. Despite his imposing physical frame, Seshat's mind has always been his keenest strength and so he tends the house's numerous books and encyclopedias in the study. He is currently engaged in research with Garlond Ironworks.
Ratatoskr the Namazu is largely a caretaker in spirit, if not role. He arrived one day, began dusting the study, and has barely left since. He says little and spends most of his time with his best friend, Seshat, helping him with his research.
Freya welcomes visitors in the front yard on a part-time basis, hailing herself from a distant realm. She met Comrade while adventuring near Gyr Abania. At the house, she assists travelers with their armor, weapons, and basic training in the front yard before they set off again to the wide world.
Comrade Kupo is nominally Lethe House's primary caretaker, having established the facility himself. Prone to traveling and adventures abroad, however, Comrade has left most of the day-to-day operations of the house to its other caretakers, who are paid a comfortable living in exchange for their service. His race chocobos occasionally stable outside the building.
Stories from lethe house
(an ongoing collection of vignettes)
#1: A Long Way from the Ruby Sea#2: Triple Threat#3: Tomekeeper
A Long Way from the Ruby Sea
As the frail morning light began to spill through the lobby windows, Comrade Kupo surveyed the evening's detritus left for the morning watch. There wasn't much (there never was), but the loyal Namazu Ratatoskr hadn't had a chance to clear what remained.
A few glasses here, a stray Triple Triad card missing its companions there. Patrons of Lethe House were not of the raucous, property-damaging variety. Still, the evidence of a social evening well-filled brought warmth to Comrade's chest.
As Comrade began gathering the glasses up, edges clinking loudly in the dawn stillness, he heard a grunt from the small alcove above the reception desk.
"Oi," it called out, "mind keeping it down 'til noon?"
Comrade wondered if he had misjudged the timbre of the previous night's festivities.
"We never close," Comrade replied, "so we've got to clean some time, friend."
"It can wait."
"Ah, it can, can it?"
A stray guest was uncommon but not so novel as to be alarming. His vaguely combative tone, though, was. Comrade climbed the bookcase stairs and was greeted with a mass of green chitin curled upon itself amidst the spare towels and vegetables and potions.
"A long way from the Ruby Sea, aren't we? Why don't I fetch some water for you?"
"Gods, please," the Kojin replied. "A wanderer over in the Sapphire Exchange told me this was a place I could stay the night if need be, but to watch out for the owner's temper. And yet the pounding I feel in my skull is plenty enough to override that all. But a glass of water and I'll be suppliant as a karakul."
"A temper?" Comrade said loudly as he descended the stairs. "This wanderer, she wouldn't happen to be a Viera with long, black hair, would she?"
"Aye," the Kojin responded, "that she was."
A few moments passed as Comrade fetched the water and brought it back to the main floor - and in more of a jug than a glass.
"That would be Freya," he said. "She works here. Drink up, I'm sure you've a long day of travel ahead of you."
Triple Threat
Comrade Kupo awoke from his slumber suddenly, to the sounds of screaming coming from the lobby upstairs from his bedroom.
"Castor and Pollux," he sighed with a gravelly hoarse voice.
Comrade threw on his clothes and began to trudge his way up the staircase. The squeaks and groans from his feet meeting the wood caused a flurry of shushes from up above, along with a few sheepish giggles.
"I suppose I didn't really need to sleep in today anyway," he said as he passed through the entryway and into the lobby, light spilling through the wall-sized windows.
"Castor," he said as the black-haired Au Ra girl nodded politely.
"Pollux," he said to the green-haired Au Ra girl with a kind but defiant smirk.
"Good morning. Triple Triad?"
"Triple Triad," the twins responded in unison.
They were hunched over the table closest to the door - Comrade noted that they had theoretically tried to keep the noise down, at least - with decks perilously close to spilling off the edge. Their prized possessions.
It was too early for any of the regular patrons to have wandered in for a brunch-time ale or snack, and the house seemed much larger without more people there. It was a pleasant moment of relative quiet, or perhaps would have been.
"D'you want to play?" Castor asked mindfully.
"I'm not sure my brain would work so well this early," Comrade replied. "Not before coffee, anyway."
He helped himself behind the counter and poured a cup of the already-brewed coffee into his favorite mug, then leaned his elbows onto the counter and faced the girls.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of an early awakening?" he asked between sips.
"Castor," Pollux said quickly, "swears that she shuffled her deck."
"We were playing Random, All Open," Castor interjected.
"I, however," Pollux resumed, brushing back her green hair and rubbing the polished black scales on her face, "contend that my dear sister has rigged the game in her favor with duplicitous techniques meant to force the best cards to her hand." Pollux was whip-smart despite a general reputation for her quiet but powerful lancing skills, and even with an air of sarcastic formality her words were sharp.
"That's an awful lot of words to say you think I cheated," Castor replied.
"I simply don't see any other way you could have won."
"I'll prove I'm better than you any day! Comrade, why don't you set some new rules and I'll beat my sister with them like a club, no matter what they are."
Comrade inhaled deeply the scent of his coffee, then sighed.
"Ascension, none open," he said. His favorite version of the game. And so he settled in for another long morning of refereeing the twins' Triple Triad blood feud.
Tomekeeper
Seshat, a large Roegadyn man, hunched once again under the low overhang of the study's second level. After long stints of research each day, he would roll his shoulders back, stretch his arms out pillar-to-pillar, and crack his neck. Too long in that position and he'd have trouble sleeping at night.
"I've pulled a number of tomes of interest out over here in the pile to the left," he said to the Garlond Ironworks researcher who had come to pay him another visit. "I think you'll especially like the one on the practical applications of aetheric shunts."
Seshat heard the shuffling of tiny feet and didn't need to look down to know that his quiet Namazu friend (Ratatoskr - or Tosk for short, but never Rat) was hurrying to the pile to pick out the specific tome for their colleague.
"I've heard of this one," the researcher said. "But I thought there weren't any copies available anywhere in Eorzea!"
Seshat offered a small smile.
"We have our ways," he replied.
"You've have to be willing to part with several million gil for something like this, I'd have to imagine. I hope you take good care of it."
"Always do," Seshat said.