Carnival l'Morai

Depicted in the novel Carnival of Fear, Carnival l'Morai was a community of freaks and circus performers located in the land of L'Morai. The carnival folk lived segregated away from the people of the City of l'Morai yet were abused and preyed upon by the cityfolk. Formerly ruled by the Puppetmaster, the carnival folk eventually rebelled and abandoned L'Morai all together under the leadership of Hermos. Hermoas and his flock eventually found a new carnival master in the form of Isolde and formed a new Carnival.

This article is for Carnival l'Morai as it existed in the domain of L'Morai. For details on the domain, see L'Morai. For details on the city of l'Morai, see City of l'Morai. For the new Carnival society that wanders the Demiplane of Dread under the leadership of Isolde, see Carnival (Society). Carnival l'Morai should not be confused with the Carnival of Karina, which is a totally separate thing.

The Location

Aside from the carnival arena, Carnival l'Morai was most comprised of a weather-beaten assortment of temporary fixtures: wagons, tents, booths, splayed across a nameless stretch of land referred to as the black heath or even simply the heath. A thorny row of hedges surrounded the perimeter, and an iron gate allowed the only entrance. The carnival folk lived in a section of the carnival known as the Performers Quarter.

Relationship with the City of l'Morai

The people of Carnival l'Morai depended upon the people of the city of l'Morai for patronage and economic sustenance. However, the people of the city of l'Morai benefited much more from the relationship with the people of of the carnival than the other way around. First, Carnival l'Morai existed as a dumping ground for those who "seriously" violate the Statutes of l'Morai, for those people were punished with the mandatory sentence of the living death. This punishment was a particularly twisted form of exile, in that a citizen so punished is transformed into a freak, stripped of their previous identity and memories, and then banished to Carnival l'Morai.

The second, and perhaps darker, truth of the City is that (at least according to the Puppetmaster) the freaks of Carnival l'Morai exist to be the target of the city folk's loathing such that they don't turn on each other. As (according to the city folk) repulsive, degenerate, and subhuman beings, the carnies represented a sort of scourge to be abused and even murdered for the betterment of the City of l'Morai.

The laws of l'Morai existed to reinforce the strict delineation of rights between "citizens" (as in, residents of the city) and "freaks" (as in, residents of Carnival l'Morai.) Freaks were not recognized as people in the same way citizens were. Moreover, the Grand Charter of l'Morai forbid freaks from formally accusing citizens on their own. (Of course, Marie the Blind Juggler and Morcastle the Magician showed through bringing Dominick the Butcher to court the Charter may not stop freaks from bringing citizens to trial and working up popular sentiment against them.) The reason for the deprivation of freak rights is a dark one, for the very existence of Carnival l'Morai is a conspiracy of exploitation against the Carnival's people.