Thanatia

The Thanatia (pronounced θəˈneɪʃə) is an enormous arena on Kadis, in the nation of Gerech, filled with deathtraps and labyrinthine ledges and corridors. To compensate for this, however, it also is plentifully supplied with duplicators, so that anyone killed in its myriad pitfalls can be quickly brought back. The Thanatia is used as a stage for various challenges and competitions, some run directly by the facility's staff and some by outsiders renting the venue. Those running the Thanatia's gauntlets and braving its threats are known as "deathrunners". For most, this is a one-time thing, or at least an infrequent pursuit, but there are some professional deathrunners who make a living vying with the Thanatia's trials.

The Thanatia was founded and is still owned and run by an individual named Geronger. Originally a sthitarat, Geronger now enjoys taking on many different forms, destroying his current body and replicating a new one almost daily, and seems to seldom appear the same twice in a row. Occasionally Geronger appears in the Thanatia in two or more different bodies at the same time; presumably he has many more duplicates than that somewhere around the Dupliverse.

Business

While most events at the Thanatia involve dodging its dangers and surviving, usually either in competition or in cooperation with others, there are a number of different variations on the details. For some events, the participants go as they are, but for others, they have new bodies duplicated for the purpose of the run. (Geronger has taken out a multiple metamorphic license for this purpose.) Teams of professional deathrunners entertain the public either by going up against the Thanatia's challenges or by fighting each other to be the last man standing (or the last to lose a certain number of lives, or the first to attain a particular position). However, Geronger also often organizes similar but larger-scale events open to public entrants, with prizes awarded to the winners. (The revenue Geronger receives from his viewership, of course, more than compensates for what he spends on the prizes.) Too, individuals frequently decide privately to compete in the Thanatia as a way of settling some personal dispute. Occasionally, the Thanatia or some part thereof is hired out as a setting for parties, about the only use it's put to that doesn't revolve around dangerous exploits. Of course, much of the environment within the Thanatia is deadly enough that even with Geronger and his employees not actively trying to kill the partygoers, deaths still occur, but the duplicators ensure that any loss of life is not long-lasting.

In addition to dodging traps and enemies and surviving the hazards of the surroundings, many events in the Thanatia also incorporate puzzles to be solved, which may involve pushing blocks, matching symbols, or other manipulation of environmental elements. Such puzzles are especially common in the grand, public events, but are also found frequently in coöperative private runs, and less frequently in other kinds of event.

Layout

The Thanatia comprises a number of zones, each with a distinct feel and with distinct classes of obstacles. Formally, Geronger lists fifty-seven zones, though some are rather small, and some are often in practice divided into subzones. Most events are confined to at most one or two zones of the Thanatia, and more likely only part of a zone, but large events may use most or all of the Thanatia.

Some of the Thanatia's zones are particularly well known, either because they are often used in well-known events, or simply because they are particularly memorable. Hawara is an enormous stone labyrinth, filled with traps including pitfalls, crushing walls, and spikes that shoot from the floor. Omino is a series of floating blocks, the only way to progress through them being to jump from block to block; many of the blocks sport hazards like spikes and fire, though the fall if a runner misses a jump is likely to be fatal enough to render many of these features superfluous. The Gigamaree is a vast area filled with machinery useless except for mangling intruders, including sawblades, crushing gears, and great stamping weights. The Inferno resembles a mythological Hell, a vast cavernous expanse with lakes of fire and brimstone. The Dark Forest is a huge wooded area replete with hidden perils. Orcus Labs is a vast network of chambers and corridors filled with quasi-scientific equipment that, naturally, blasts, perforates, and otherwise harms anyone who gets in its way.

Though the arrangement of the zones is mostly constant, except insofar as the Thanatia continues to expand and annex some of its surrounding land and new zones may be devised to fill it, within the zones the details of the layout and contents frequently change. Geronger enjoys altering such details to keep the Thanatia fresh and to prevent regular contestants from growing too familiar and comfortable with them.

Employees

Though Geronger makes the final decisions regarding the Thanatia's operations, he does not run every aspect of the place alone. A number of designers help plan out the changes to the Thanatia's arrangement, and administrators help keep track of its finances and coordinate events. Naturally, a large staff is also required for janitorial, security, and customer service duties.

Geronger also employs a number of people to act as additional obstacles for those going through the Thanatia, attacking them and trying to either kill them directly or maneuver them into deathtraps. These employees are given bodies fitting the theming of the part of the Thanatia they are in, and/or of the particular event they are currently running; they may take the form of humans or other ordinary races, but they may also take the forms of fabulous monsters, or even of seemingly inanimate objects. They are, of course, frequently killed, but, like the players, are recreated from the Thanatia's numerous duplicators. On occasion, for some scenarios, Geronger may have some of his employees act as helpers or advisers to the players instead of enemies, or to play some more neutral role. Geronger has supernumerary licenses on file permitting his employees to have duplicates far in excess of their usual allotted number within the Thanatia, so that one employee may be in many places at once.

Geronger's employees within the Thanatia fall into three basic categories. (The professional deathrunners are not actually employees of the Thanatia; they or their managers simply pay Geronger to use it as a venue.) The most numerous are the mooks. Mooks have few special abilities, and do not necessarily pose much challenge individually, but come in great numbers. This does not necessarily mean a great number of different employees; Geronger arranges for his mook employees to be allowed a large number of duplicates within a maze, and it's not unusual for a mook employee to be in more than a thousand places at once, or for a horde of dozens of enemies to be composed entirely of duplicates of a single mook. (These duplicates need not all have identical bodies, however, so it won't necessarily be obvious that they're all duplicates of the same person.) Somewhat more powerful than the mooks, and occurring in much smaller numbers, are aces, intended as more challenging enemies to be faced individually or in relatively small numbers, often in conjunction with accompanying mooks. The most formidable (animate) foes of runners of the Thanatia are the bosses, usually of large size, and always of large power. Bosses are usually encountered one at a time, and never more than three or four. In many challenges, a particularly dangerous boss guards the exit, or otherwise poses the final obstacle to success.

All Geronger's employees within the Thanatia are necessarily capable actors, the better to immerse themselves in the roles they are given and contribute to the theme of the scenario. Aside from that, however, each type of employee requires a different skillset. Bosses, who are supposed to be especially tough opponents to deathrunners, must be expert fighters, able to quickly adapt to foes' strategies and take advantage of their weaknesses. Conversely, mooks don't have to be quite so good at fighting (though Geronger certainly expects them to have some combat ability), but have to be versatile and familiar with the layout of the Thanatia. Mooks also require considerable resiliency, to put up with all the punishment they're put through in the course of a scenario; it's not particularly unusual for a single mook employee to die thousands of times in a single day, across his numerous duplicates. Meanwhile, the aces must have some of the fighting ability of the bosses and some of the resiliency of the mooks, though to a lesser extent than either.

The terms "mook", "ace", and "boss" are internal terms used by the staff of the Thanatia, and are not in common use by spectators and participants—though certainly there are some outside Geronger's employ who are aware of the terms and use them.

Other Thanatias

Although the Thanatia in Kadis was the first and is still the largest, and the one generally meant when speaking of "the Thanatia", Geronger has since expanded on his success by founding other Thanatias elsewhere. Currently, counting the original, there are seven total Thanatias: one on Kryos, one on Daan, one on Hellebore Station, one as a self-contained satellite of Adhafera, one in the fourth Lagrange point of the orbit of Mars, one independent and self-powered that moves throughout the galaxy, and of course the first one on Kadis.

Next to the main Thanatia on Kadis, the oldest and largest of the Thanatias is the one on Kryos. The newest is the one in the orbit of Mars, which Geronger started because of the prestige of having a location in the Earth's solar system. The smallest of the Thanatias, however, is the one on Hellebore Station, space being at a particular premium there. Geronger has a few locations in mind for more new Thanatias, but for the moment is concentrating on further developing the ones he has.