Skull of Silence

The Skull of Silence is a castle of black stone in the Zalgara Mountains, situated at the top of a lone hill rising from the surrounding plateaus. The castle serves as a prison for a malevolent, elemental force known as the Silence. This entity, as the name implies, was the embodiment of absolute silence. Thousands of years before the time of Kull, this malignant force was imprisoned in the castle by a legendary sage named Raama, after it threatened to destroy humanity and all sound throughout the universe. The region of the castle was shunned and no one ever chose to dwell within a hundred miles of it. The area within sight of the castle is affected by a dead stillness and quiet, which partially muffled all sound when approaching the castle. This served as a warning sign for those who ventured too close to it.^[1]

As a safeguard, Raama placed a special jade gong and mallet near the entrance. If one were foolish enough to break the seals and bolts, thus releasing the Silence, it could be forced back into the castle by repeatedly striking the gong. Kull resorted to this measure after releasing the entity and eventually destroyed it with a relentless onslaught of sound from the gong, which also shattered the gong in the process.^[1]

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