"This is the port of Visage, where faces may not be naked. Except one: a stone monument the size of a village church, serenely gazing upwards. Flourishing-of-Years."[1]
Visage is an island in the southern Unterzee whose main feature is a massive stone face that watches the sky.
Hide Your Face! Hide All Your Faces![]
Everyone on the island wears masks, each mask corresponding to a certain role. For example, those that wish to trade wear locust masks, those who wish to learn of Visage wear frog masks, and those who wish to spy wear bat masks. Once a mask is chosen, its wearer must play their assigned part.[2][3]
Visage features a few notable landmarks, which hint at the origin of its culture:
- The Flood Court, which is always flooded to a certain degree. The water might be ten feet deep, or merely up to one's ankles.[4]
- The Library of Parts, where citizens go to learn how to perform what their mask asks of them.[5]
- Apis Temple, inhabited by a wounded bull and by priests who are constantly collecting its blood.[6]
The Flourishing-of-Years[]
Visage's face is hollow, and it is possible to enter its interior through its ear; this is typically allowed during festivals. In the complete darkness within, the island's inhabitants remove their masks and trade secrets, though nobody knows whose secrets are whose.[7]
The Masks of Visage[]
Which will you choose?
"Each mask declares a different intention towards the denizens of Visage, and must be accompanied by suitable behavior."[8]
For every part played in the ritual life of Visage, for every personality and caste within its society, there is a mask. Each person is expected to follow the nature of their mask, and play their part in the grand play that goes on here. Here are just a few:[9]
- Moon Moths are at once customs agents and tour guides. Most new members of Visage are often shadowed by a Moon Moth in order to make sure the newcomer knows how to play their role - and that they don't cause trouble. The Moon Moth is often a senior member who has spent years on the island.[10]
- The closest thing Visage has to priests, Cobras are respected members of society whose main job is to maintain Apis Temple and the Flood Court. To be invited into the home of a Cobra is considered a great honor.[11]
- The equivalents of enforcers or warriors, Crocodiles hunt threats to Visage and sail overzee to enforce the will of the island.[12]
- Another type of enforcer, the Jackals, protect the ritual of entering the Flourishing-of-Years. They ensure that every member plays their part, and reward those who follow the rules with treasure.[13][14]
- Frogs, normally newcomers to Visage, are expected to be goofy, playful, and generally ditzy. This doesn't make them very popular, unfortunately.[15]
- Locusts are the masks of traders and various other greedy folk. Locusts are expected to put money above all other thoughts, and it is not uncommon to see them swarming over the money pools of the Flood Court.[16]
- Very few people play the part of the Bat, as these are always spies - and they always die. Crocodiles and Jackals are expected to kill them on sight. Bats often stay hidden in the shadows or within the Flourishing-of-Years.[17]
There are, of course, many other parts in the great play that is Visage. These are just the main players. But be warned: to not play one's part, or to remove one's mask, is almost surely a death sentence.
Origins[]
The island was originally an outpost of the Second City. It was abandoned for unknown reasons, but repopulated by a different group.[18] It seems the colony's re-founding has to do with a man losing his lover and a strange Unterzee creature called a jillyfish.[19][20]
The Flood Court is surely an interpretation of the way ancient Egyptians recorded the annual flooding of the Nile River. While the Unterzee itself does not flood, the detailed records of the Egyptians allow the people of Visage to simulate the natural calendar flood cycles from when their ancestors lived on the Surface.
Animal masks also had a significant role in Egyptian culture. Priests and higher members of society often wore such masks to represent the animals of the Nile. It is often thought that the mask would gift the wearer with the virtues and powers of the animal shown. Many festivals and religious celebrations often had such masks to hold reverence to the creatures who were thought to be messengers and eyes of the Gods. Even more convincingly, all the masks feature animals that were worshipped by Egyptians, save for the bat and the moon moth. The Moon Moths are clearly inspired by Jack Vance's "The Moon Moth," a short story about a diplomat trying to catch a criminal in a society where everyone wears masks. And the bats... well.
The most obvious pointer toward Visage's Egyptian origin is Apis Temple, which is named after an actual late Egyptian bull god. A long series of ritually perfect bulls, who all bore specific markings that made them so, were identified by the god's priests and housed in temples for their entire lives. If they lived past a certain age, they were sacrificed.