Slab Penitents
- For the enemy, see Penitent.
The Slab Penitents are bugs who live in the Slab, a region of Pharloom serving as a prison for the Citadel and the kingdom at large. The Jailers who live in the Slab are also considered penitents and prisoners of their condition.
Penitents
The Penitents are prisoners of the Slab, though they seem unaware of their ultimate fate, believing their sentence to be a way to absolve sins they were accused of committing.[1][2] They are all shackled and cowled, blind to their surroundings, and unable to leave the place they are resting in, only attacking by charging or throwing themselves forward.
The Penitents are accused of various sins ; "Irreverence", "Dissonance", "Infirmity and Sickness", "Apostasy", or sometimes even unnamed ones. As they are judged and imprisoned there, it is also decided whether or not they are allowed Absolution after their death.[3][4][5]
Most of the Penitents succumbed to the Haunting and seemingly lost concept of the time they spent in the prison, simply wandering the hallways of the Slab hoping to absolve their sins, and attacking any bug they consider sinful.[6][7]
Jailers
The Jailers are a separate group of bugs living in the Slab, a caste acting as guards and wardens to the prison. They are a clan of Flies living in a matriarchal society, all seemingly born of the same Mother.[8] They are grey and hairy, all bearing wings, but they vary in size and weight depending on age and feeding availability.[9] They all also wear bronze attires given to them by the Citadel, as notified by the Pharloom crest embedded in some parts of their uniform.
As wardens of the Slab, the Jailers' role in the Citadel is to keep the prisoners in their cells, capture them, and punish them, though the latter two jobs are generally reserved to the Wardenflies.[10] As guards, they are proficient in combat, either throwing their body weight around, or sometimes even wielding hooked longpins.[9] In addition, they are adept flyers, able to alternate between walking and flying very smoothly, and all adults possess the ability to spit a slimy grey goo, sticking to the ground and ensnarring any bug caught in it. Though most of their activities are located in the Slab, some Wardenflies are sometimes sent to other regions of Pharloom equipped with rune cages to catch sinners.
All flies are born to Broodmother, in service to the Citadel, and the jail itself.[8][11] They are considered prisoners and penitents just as much as the other sinners, and they are said to act in servitude as a way to absolve of a grave and long forgotten sin whose guilt was transmitted through generations.[12] The jailers are all taught and all believe they clean themselves and perform their penance by enacting violence and cruelty on the other sinners,[13][14] even the younger among them enact such penance by sitting on other Penitents to keep them from moving.[15] After Broodmother's death during the events of the The Wailing Mother wish, a Broodling is found in her place, and is fated to take up her place and role, continuing the cycle of the Slab.[16]
Most Jailers have fallen victim to the Haunting, but still perform their duties regardless. [6]
Members
Jailers
Enemies:
NPCs:
Bosses:
Penitents
Enemies:
NPCs:
Bosses:
Gallery
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Old Penitent in his cell
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Penitent idle
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Puny Penitent idle
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Scabfly sitting on a Penitent
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Guardfly patrolling
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Wardenfly patrolling the top of the Slab
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Wardenfly sent away from the Slab carrying its rune cage
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Broodmother flying in her arena
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Freshflies flying passively in Broodmother's arena
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Broodling idle in what was Broodmother's arena
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The Slab's message board, indicating what to do of certain sinners
References
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Lore