Ghyll:Zavinian House

Dib. --Snood Trunion 13:27, 17 November 2005 (EST)

The Zavinian House is, according to popular lore, the house that mysteriously exploded in -2004 EC, killing no one but destroying itself and the surrounding buildings. Indeed, there is even a shrine in memoriam of the incident, at which hundreds of the lay public regularly rest their mandibles in solemn salute. But not every story about the Zavinian House tells the whole truth as it was meant to be heard.

The house was actually built in the year -2087 EC by two young farmers, Ambuline and Zechariah Zavini, who had had enough of the city life and wanted to settle down on the back roads and harvest the land. So that's just what they did. They built a small house, at the edge of a large forest, and began farming the nearby land. Pretty soon, having found success selling fruits and vegetables to passing travellers, they began to expand their holdings by incorporating a barn, a greenhouse, and restaurant, and a small theme park where patrons could test their carapaces against numerous challenges such as simulated weapon duels and knackerbat attacks. The Zavinian House quickly became a tourist attraction, with it's influence reaching as far as Folktown and Iganefta.

The Zavini family's success was short lived, however. As early as the year -2060 EC, raids on the Zavini land began stripping the property of its value. These raids were thought to have been as simple as a school of Phaelrosen charting a new trail through what was once their land alone. Recent studies, however, suggest something more insidious, such as a deliberate attack by early ancestors of the Trunion lineage, who are thought to have a deep and extreme dislike of the Zavinis, along with an intimate knowledge of how to disguise their getaway paths as Phaelrosen trails.