Overview
The Charnel House is a disused meat warehouse that has been altered by the power of The Artist. It also refers to the corresponding portion of The Black Sketchbook.
The Charnel House is a highly unusual location, in terms of etheric phenomena. It can best be thought of as occupying several states:
- Originally, it is simply a warehouse.
- When the artist created the area, containing ghouls and their king, along with rotting meat infested with maggots hanging from the ceiling.
- While the Artist is at rescued or killed, it is an empty warehouse again.
- The reopened version, which contains a part similar to the original, but also contains the lake of fire, and an island with a statue version of the Black Stone Beast
- While the Artist is at free, it is an empty warehouse again.
The major differences from most etheric locations are as follows:
- It is always accessible while active, even when sober.
- It is firmly tied to a physical location, but is a complete replacement instead of an overlay
- It vanishes but later reappears
- There is little to no difference for etheric and sober people
Notably, the denizens do not require eclipse to interact with. It appears that the power of the Artist is sufficient to force his creations into physical reality, in a manner similar to Release The Hounds but on a far larger scale, while he is under the effects of Eclipse. This may be somehow related to the abandoned subway (non-etheric) and the sewer mutants.
Another oddity is that it is one of, if not the only, locations to actually be altered by the knowledge of the person interacting with it. The disturbing sketches allow the viewer to encounter previously non-existent objects. Perhaps the Artist somehow draws upon the minds of the people who view his art to create?
The etheric phenomena are not restricted solely to the warehouse itself. Ghouls spill out into the Waterfront and Dockside Sewers, and also show up in other nearby warehouses.
Ghouls
Ghouls are twisted, humanlike creatures who were created by the Artist. Despite their hideous appearance and cannibalistic activities, they were actually friendly to the Artist and protected him from the Twisted Hounds. Their DNA is extremely similar to human DNA. They attacked the denizens of the Docks and made their home in the Charnal house. Unusually for Etheric constructs, they have physical reality and can attack people who are not taking Eclipse. It is possible they were originally humans and were altered instead of being created from nothingness.