The Nest
"The loveliest prison I've ever seen," remarked one dazed surrogate as she was dropped into the nest.
Affording for differences in race, the nest is well and warmly lit. Most of the glow falls from the ceiling after being diffused through gauzy pillars of fabric. Chairs and sofas cloud-fat with cushions line the edges of the common area, partially veiled by graceful waves of pale fabric hanging from rods across the ceiling. More fabric in earthy tones is pressed against the ceiling and walls, enveloping the room like a tent.
While the surrogates are viewed as cattle, they are prized cattle treated with the utmost delicacy and care until they serve their purpose. Female Symenestra tend to the needs of the surrogates, and lock them in their comfortable bedrooms come evening. Burning incense and herbs fill the rooms with calming vapors and baths are followed by sweet smelling oils. Surrogates are fed a carefully crafted diet, and clothed in soft robes and silk shifts. Most the creature comforts they request are given to them, be it books, music, games or flowers. However, some objects bear the disconcerting marks of prior use.
Surrogates taken from squalor indulge themselves in this new life, some even forgetting its price. Morbid reminders come when a girl's room is cleaned out or another rebels and is silenced. A terrible story is passed among the women about one surrogate who refused to eat or do as told. Her punishment was the loss of her legs and arms beneath the knees and elbows.
No cord leads to the nest, and there are no doors. A surrogate is carried to the structure by several Symenestra holding her in a harness, and is lowered in from a hole in the roof. Even if a surrogate could reach the hole in the ceiling without the attendants seeing, it is a staggering drop to the cavern floor.
NPCs:
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