The Complete Traveller’s Guide to Mortos
Come curious. Leave changed. Preferably alive.
There are places that welcome travellers, and places who merely tolerate them.
Mortos is one of the latter.
Should you be able to brave the treacherous White Sea and its monster-infested water to reach it’s borders, you will be heavily rewarded by what awaits ahead. Beyond its black sand beaches lies a vast northern kingdom of primeval forests, black mountains, frozen lakes and cities that appear to have grown rather than been built. Its people have spent centuries adapting to conditions that would make most visitors reconsider their holiday choices: brutal winters, scarce resources, dangerous fauna, eldritch magic and a landscape seemingly determined to remind civilisation that it was here first.
And yet Mortos is magnificent.
Some of the finest food, tailoring, spirits and craftsmanship in the world can be found behind its forbidding exterior. Impressive landscapes range from the ancient monasteries cling to impossible cliffs; volanic springs steaming beneath falling snow; Gothic cities glowing by candlelight; and the scintillating black pearl of Gravissia’s nightlife contining until dawn.
Mortos is a fictional country from Camilla Andrew’s The Essence of the Equinox fantasy series. This dark fantasy travel guide covers its Gothic capital, wilderness escapes, winter cuisine, luxury hotels and the places worth visiting if your idea of a relaxing holiday has always been slightly concerning.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
The Vibe
Mortos is rugged, untameable, and alluringly enigmatic. Everything seems connected to the earth, blood, bone, forest and whatever might be sleeping considerably further beneath them.
Climate
Mortos varies enormously by region, but travellers should expect snow, severe winters, fog, frozen landscapes and dramatic mountain conditions. Snow rarely remains pristine for long. By evening, the streets are alive with black carriages, glowing gas lamps and bustling crowds despite the weather.
What to pack
- Cashmere.
- Wool.
- Leather.
- Velvet.
- Thermals.
- Waterproof boots.
- Gloves.
- More gloves.
For evenings, jewel tones and black are always safe. Silver jewellery complements practically everything.
And if you’re travelling beyond major settlements, don’t dress entirely for aesthetics lest you succumb to exposure.
FIRST STOP: GRAVISSIA
The city that never sleeps
You will probably dislike Gravissia for approximately twelve hours… then something starts to shift.
Perhaps it’s bone-chilling awe from beholding its needle-pointed skyline glowing orange through the alchemical fog. Perhaps it’s the quiver of mischief after stumbling from a tiny underground bar at four in the morning. Perhaps it’s the moment you realise that beneath the city’s dour, ancient exterior lies one of the most relentlessly alive places you’ve ever visited.
Gravissia is a labyrinth of spindly towers, cobbled streets, gargoyles, cramped buildings and strange venous architecture illuminated from within by a fiendish glow. A hybrid of ancient and alien.
And after dark? Oh, that’s when the city erupts.
GRAVISSIA AFTER MIDNIGHT
Mortesian nightlife is legendary.
- Theatres.
- Circuses.
- Bloodsports.
- Public houses.
- Private clubs.
- Gambling dens.
- Alchemical cocktail bars.
Establishments that have no signs and will not explain what happens inside until after you’ve paid line in a row along streets thick with cigar and luneleaf smoke.
A perfect night
9pm: Opera.
11pm: Drinks.
12:30am: Dinner.
2am: Underground performance.
4am: Find somewhere questionable.
6am: Realise Gravissia has somehow become busier.
7am: Go to bed.
2pm: Breakfast.
Congratulations. You’ve acclimatised.
WHERE TO STAY
★★★★★ The Vesper Grand
For first-class Gravissian decadence
A monolith rising through the city’s alchemical fog, its upper floors disappearing into the clouds. Foreign politicians stay here because Malborg Citadel’s spies are less likely to have bugged their rooms.
Known for: impeccable service and absolute discretion.
Rooms: Dark velvet, silver fixtures, heated floors, enormous baths and windows of tinted glass overlooking Gravissia’s orange-lit skyline.
Signature experience: Supper at 1 a.m. in the rooftop restaurant while the city glows beneath you.
Best for: Luxury without sacrificing menace.
★★★★★ Hotel Severo
For travellers who complain ordinary hotels lack existential menace
Nobody knows exactly when Severo was built. Some say parts of the foundations predate Gravissia itself, built out of the remains of something eldritch and ancient. Something that still hungers.
The upper hotel is Gothic splendour: carved oak, black stone, tapestries and enormous beds. While the lower levels become increasingly… organic. Walls curve where they shouldn’t. Corridors narrow like arteries. Strange orange illumination seeps through seams in the stone.
Guests are politely advised not to descend below Level VII.
There is no Level VII on the lift.
Known for: its subterranean thermal baths.
Best for: Gothic travellers, occult scholars and people incapable of recognising an obvious warning.
★★★★ Rottiškė
The fashionable hotel
Small, expensive and extraordinarily difficult to book. Popular with performers, courtesans, minor royals and the sort of nobles who don’t want their parents knowing where they spent the weekend. Every suite is individually decorated in jewel-toned velvet, smoked mirrors, silver and lacquered wood.
Downstairs is one of Gravissia’s most fashionable cocktail bars that never closes.
Signature drink: Black cherry, wormwood and smoked cedar spirit served beneath a dome of fog.
Best for: Nightlife. Do not expect to sleep.
★★★★ The White Hart
The old-money choice
A former aristocratic residence away from Gravissia’s entertainment district. Less theatrical than the Vesper and much more intimidating. Portraits of dead nobles cover the walls. If you think their eyes are following you, they probably are. Fires burn continuously in shades of blue-green. Staff address returning guests by name even if their previous visit occurred thirty years ago.
Known for: hunting parties, private dining and an extraordinary cellar.
Signature supper: Roasted marrow and caviar, buttered black bread, wild mushrooms, medovik and terrifying quantities of spirits.
Best for: Travellers who want traditional Mortesian hospitality.
★★★ The Lantern
Where I’d actually tell tourists to stay
Warm, atmospheric and comparatively affordable, sitting among the crooked buildings of Gravissia’s old quarter. Rooms are small but comfortable, every one containing an iron stove because Mortos is trying to kill you with weather before anything supernatural gets the opportunity.
Downstairs is a packed public house serving ukha, black bread, smoked fish and mulled berry wine until dawn.
Best for: First-time visitors, solo travellers and anyone who actually wants to meet Gravissians rather than aristocrats.
WHERE TO EAT
★★★ The Black Stag
Behind Gravissia’s fog-soaked avenues sits The Black Stag, where Mortesian aristocrats negotiate treaties over marrow bones and blood soup beneath gargoyles and black chandeliers.
Every dish embraces the kingdom’s philosophy: strength, endurance and indulgence earned through hardship.
Order:
Roasted bone marrow
Chive butter • caviar
Lamb tongue
Mushrooms • red chrain
Seafood plateau
Lobster • dill and chive butter • oysters • pickled cucumber • roe
Ukha
And for the adventurous:
Hot blood soup
Onion • pungent aged cheese
Then comes the centrepiece:
Braised whale heart
Stuffed with mushrooms, truffles and fatty goose liver.
YES, THEY HAVE DESSERT
And this is where the supposedly grim Mortesians reveal themselves to be massive hypocrites.
Look for:
- Medovik
- Poppyseed cake
- Toffee apples
- Red cake with whipped cream
Sweetness here tends towards honey, caramel, nuts, preserved fruits and warming spice rather than Soleterea’s flowers and delicate creams.
WHAT TO DRINK
Forget sparkling nectar wine. Mortos likes its alcohol capable of fighting back.
Look for:
- Oak-aged vodka
- Cedar-infused spirits
- Blackcurrant liqueurs
- Wormwood bitters
- Smoked whisky
- Mulled berry wine
- Pine liqueurs
Cocktails may arrive smoking, or even occasionally glowing.
Don’t ask too many questions.
LEAVE GRAVISSIA
And you absolutely should.
Because reducing Mortos to Gravissia would be like visiting one city and claiming you’ve understood an entire civilisation.
ZLODEBOR
Disappear into the snow
A mountainous region famous for geothermal springs.
Small settlements sit between cedar forests beneath staggering quantities of snow. Traditional inns contain private outdoor mineral baths overlooking the mountains. Travel for snow-capped mountains, being submerged up to your shoulders in steaming water, and near total silence.
Activities:
- Private onsen
- Cedar saunas
- Snow walks
- Tea ceremonies
- Kaiseki-like Mortesian tasting menus
- Sleeping on heated floors
Perfect for: People who desperately need to disappear.
ABBAKON
The Edge of the World
Enormous black mountains pierce the clouds.
Ancient monasteries cling to cliffs that no sensible architect would have attempted to build upon. The region is sacred for prospective occassi performing their rites to come of age. It is also extraordinarily dangerous in certain areas due to the noxious, fear-inducing vapours and flesh-eating beasts patrolling the vicinity.
Activities:
- Mountain lift journeys
- Visit cliff monasteries
- Stay in remote luxury lodges
- Watch sunrise over the peaks
- Explore ancient temples
Some peaks are forbidden. Locals will not explain why.
Perfect for: Those whose shared hobby is apparently surviving things.
MURSK
Into the ancient forest
Miles upon miles of dark pine. Lakes that have frozen over into black mirrors and offer up distorted reflections. Wooden qarna villages with hand-painted izbas. And forests old enough that the locals don’t particularly care whether outsiders believe their stories. Stay in an isolated luxury hunting lodge with a coal stove, bearskin rugs, and a cedar bath. With absolutely no means of communication for miles.
Activities:
- Cook over the fire.
- Drink mulled berry wine.
- Walk across the frozen lake.
- Listen to wolves somewhere beyond the trees.
- Realise something else is answering them.
- Go inside.
Perfect for: Introverts.
SKARLVILE
Gothic romance
A half-remembered nightmare of a city filled with bridges, cathedral spires and crooked streets sitting along a black river. This is Mortos at its most conventionally romantic.
Activities:
- Spend the afternoon wandering.
- Attend the opera.
- Eat an enormous midnight dinner.
- Find a basement bar.
- Walk home through snowfall at 2am.
Perfect for: Dark-academia couples.
ŠKORBJEVA
Chase the lights
For several months each year, darkness consumes most of the day. Remote glass-roofed lodges offer uninterrupted views of aurora-like celestial displays. Spend your days exploring frozen waterfalls and your nights staring upward from somewhere warm.
Activities
- Hippogriff-sledding.
- Frozen waterfalls.
- Hot tubs surrounded by snow.
- Reindeer-like creatures wandering past your window.
Signature experience: Dinner alone in a glass pavilion beneath the aurora.
Perfect for: Proposals. Assuming nobody loses a finger to frostbite. Also discovering whether your relationship can survive putting on seventeen layers of clothing every time you leave the room.
PUTRICH
Go to the seaside. Regret everything.
Putrich offers black beaches, violent seas, towering cliffs, historic bathhouses and grand hotels constructed specifically to let wealthy people watch storms without personally experiencing weather. Male tourists are advised to take care during siren mating season. They are particularly ruthless, and insatiably ravenous.
Activities:
- Storm watching
- Seaweed baths
- Cliff walking
- Observe siren mating calls from a respectable distance
- Seafood feasts
- Casinos
- Underground nightlife
Perfect for: People who find thunderstorms erotic.
MORTOS IN ONE PERFECT DAY
Never try to experience Gravissia during daylight.
1pm
Wake at the Vesper Grand.
2pm
Black bread, smoked fish, eggs and violently strong herbal tisane.
3pm
Explore Gravissia’s old quarter.
5pm
Visit the Imperial Academy’s public galleries and libraries.
7pm
Return to your hotel.
Dress in velvet.
9pm
Watch ice-skaters perform on sharpened knives.
11:30pm
Drinks at Rottiškė.
1am
Midnight feast at The Black Stag.
3am
Find an underground performance.
5am
Walk through Gravissia as snow falls through the orange fog.
6am
One final drink.
7am
Go to bed while respectable Soletereans are inexplicably waking up for breakfast.
THE MORTOS DIRECTORY
Architecture: Gravissia
Nightlife: Gravissia
Hot springs: Zlodebor
Mountains: Abbakon
Forests: Mursk
Gothic romance: Skarlvile
Celestial skies: Škorbjeva
Coast: Putrich
Fine dining: Gravissia
Ancient history: Abbakon
Relaxation: Zlodebor
Bad decisions: Gravissia
Possibility of encountering something humanity was never intended to comprehend: regrettably competitive category.
TRAVELLER ETIQUETTE
Mortesians aren’t necessarily unfriendly, they simply aren’t Soletereans.
✓ Respect privacy.
✗ Don’t expect effusive hospitality from strangers.
✗ Don’t complain constantly about the cold.
✗ Don’t mistake reserve for hostility.
✗ Don’t enter religious sites without understanding their customs.
✗ Don’t wander into wilderness without a guide.
And perhaps most importantly:
If a local tells you not to go somewhere, don’t interpret that as an invitation to an exciting hidden attraction.
They know something you don’t.
Mortos looks like a warning.
But hostile landscapes produce cultures just as surely as abundant ones do. Scarcity shapes what people eat. Environment shapes what they build. Danger shapes what they value. History shapes what they fear. And sometimes the difference between a monster and a person is simply which side of the border is telling the story.
Welcome to Mortos.
You’ll find it in The Essence of the Equinox, beginning with When the Stars Alight.
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