Karcau Opera

Karcau Opera

(Organization)

Type

Arts complex

Leader

Headmistress Calmadra Vhalikackos

Headquarters

Karcau, Ustalav

Goals

Pre-eminent arts school and performance venue

Scope

Local (practically);
Regional (influence)

Members

Musicians

Source: Rule of Fear, pg(s). 44

The Karcau Opera is based in the large city of Karcau: the county capital of Sinaria, in Ustalav. It is more than an opera house or company, being a large arts complex in the north of the city hosting many arts organizations (see Structure). It is considered among the pre-eminent schools for the arts in all Avistan, renowned for elegance and tradition. The Karcau Opera has produced some of the top artistes of the musical world over the years, though few alumni tend to stay in the city once their courses have finished.

Notable members and associates

The headmistress of the Karcau Opera is Calmadra Vhalikackos. She has an on-off relationship with the talented conductor Aldentor Rudono of the Palace of Voices in Caliphas.

The current ruler of Sinaria, the Countess Sasandra Livgrace occasionally performs at the Karcau Opera and is very popular. The countess boarded at the opera As a teenager, but in 4692 AR she tried to run away and was kidnapped. She was found some three months later in the city's sewers.

Structure

The Karcau Opera campus is home to a number of organizations and buildings, including the following well-known ones:

• the Karcau Conservatory
• the Livgrace Orchestra
• Dyemeir Opera House
• the Museum of Song
• several staff and student boarding houses

Additionally, there are other elements of the Karcau Opera hidden from the public; some are known to residents while others are no more than rumours to most:

• secret passages
• a submerged labyrinth
• an ossuary exclusively reserved for the bones of the most famous pupils of the school
• a secret balcony where an audience gathers from all over the Great Beyond to hear the great performers of Golarion

Hauntings

Much of Karcau's art scene is associated with hauntings, and the opera complex is not left out. Numerous rumours, or established facts, about hauntings on the campus are known, including two related to the Dyemeir Opera House:

• the Banshee Prince and his ghostly audience
• the Veiled Mistress, a masked or veiled impresario, conductor, and playwright