The House (The Keys to the Kingdom)

The House is a domain that serves as the center of the universe in the Keys to the Kingdom series by Australian author Garth Nix. Anything in creation not in the House, such as earth (the solar system and indeed this universe), is part of the Secondary Realms. The House is divided into seven demesnes; each of which is ruled by a master named for a day of the week, the Trustees, or sometimes the Morrow Days. The demesnes are, in the order Arthur Penhaligon has claimed them: the Lower House, the Far Reaches, the Border Sea, the Great Maze, the Middle House, and presumably the Upper House followed by the Incomparable Gardens.

Description

The House's physical appearance in the Secondary Realms is described as a vast, varied House with many different architectural styles. Its physical location differs; Arthur saw it in a different place than Leaf and Sylvie (and elderly woman who aided Leaf, who then showed Sylvie the House). Arthur, Leaf and Sylvie are the only mortals thus far to see the House. Arthur can see it presumably because he is the Heir of the Architect. Sylvie requires special glasses given to Leaf by Dr. Scamandros. Leaf believes she can see the House and Denizens because her grandmother was a witch; however this has yet to be confirmed.

Purpose

The Architect created the House to record all that happened in the Secondary Realms, and never to interfere. After She left, She left behind the Original Law to carry out this wish. The Original Law forbids any Denizen to interfere in the Secondary Realms; including interference to end previous interference. The Law is not physically binding however, and can be broken. A Trustee can only enter the Secondary Realms on their "day", i.e. Mister Monday can only enter the Secondary Realms on a Monday. Furthermore, the superior denizens (Dawn, Noon, and Dusk) of each day can only enter the Secondary Realms on the hour of their name (meaning Noon can only enter during the hour from 12:00pm to 1:00pm).

House Time is the only “true” Time. Its time is constant, while time in the Secondary Realms is malleable, even able to flow backwards if a sufficient power, such as a Key to the Kingdom makes it. Thus, a day may pass on Earth, while half of a year will pass in the House. This inconsistency in time allows Arthur to spend large amounts of time in the House, whilst earth time remains still. This happens because individuals can affect the flow of time, so that when Arthur leaves the house he can reappear at the exact time that he left. This system is not dissimilar to that used in the Chronicles of Narnia

Denizens

Denizens are the original inhabitants of the House. Denizens are ranked within the House in an order of Precedence. It is often for asked by another, superior Denizen when being reprimanded or punished. The current hierarchy of ranking is unknown.

Denizens are similar to humans in all aspects, with a few exceptions:

The blood of a Denizen is blue and occasionally silver. However, there has been an unexplained exception.. They have gold bones.
Denizens are very resistant to change of any kind, and are often described as narrow minded or stupid.
Denizens are naturally handsome. Additionally, if a Denizen’s House Precedence is high, he is more handsome and tall than Denizens of lower precedence.
Denizens are nearly immortal:
- Denizens cannot die of old age, sickness, dehydration, or starvation while in the House, and will eventually heal from almost any injury. The ability to survive without food or drink while within the House, as well as not dying from old age, extends to Mortals and Piper's Children, however the resistance to injury does not.
- Denizens can only be killed by
  - Fire, superheated steam, or other things hot enough
  - Certain weapons (such as the Commissionaires’ Clubs, and various weapons of the Glorious Army of the Architect)
  - A prolonged absence of their heads
  - Nothing
  - A bite or scratch from a Nithling, which dissolves them into Nothing
  - A Key
  - drowning (though this does not completely kill them)

Demesnes

The Lower House

The Lower House was the domain of Mister Monday. Due to Monday's affliction with sloth, it was incredibly inefficient. After the events of Mister Monday, Dame Primus, as the Steward of Arthur, has attempted to make the Lower House manageable. However, the remaining Morrow Days have attempted to impede this effort by swamping the Lower House with paperwork.

The Lower House is guarded by the Corps of Inspectors, Metal Commissionaires and Denizen Commissionaire Sergeants, and Midnight Visitors. They are under the control of the office of Monday's Dawn, Noon and Dusk, respectively.

Doorstop Hill, and on it the Front Door of the House, is located in the Lower House. The Front Door of the House is a means by which one may leave the House and enter a Secondary Realm, and vice versa. To enter it from the Secondary Realms, one must be able to see the House. It is a pair of wooden doors, with constantly shifting wrought-iron patterns; staring at it for too long can cause the viewer to be hypnotized until someone else is able to wrest them from the door’s affect. The Door is guarded by the Captain Keeper of the Door. However, the Captain Keeper disappeared ten thousand years ago, and the Lieutenant Keeper of the Door, an ally of Arthur, has guarded it ever since.

The Coal Cellar is a deep pit in the Lower House where Denizens that have been punished are sent to mine and shape coal for delivery to buyers within the House. The Old One is also imprisoned here. He is bound by two chains extending from a minute and hour hand on a clock face. At midnight each night, two clockwork figures appear and claw out his eyes. This is punishment laid upon him by the Architect herself for his attempting to interfere in the Secondary Realms, which was directly forbidden by the Architect. His escape is impossible; according to Monday's Dusk, the Seven Keys combined could not free him. In Lady Friday, Dr. Scamandros mentions that something odd is happening in the Coal Cellar; however not with the Old One, but the collectors. The nature of what is happening is not stated.

The Seven Dials is a set of seven grandfather clocks in a room accessible from Monday's Dayroom, the main office of the Lower House. The Seven Dials beat with the Heartbeat of Time. Using them, one can travel to the current time in any given Secondary Realm. Thus far, only Sneezer, Monday's butler, has operated them.

The Far Reaches

The Far Reaches was the domain of Grim Tuesday. Originally, the Far Reaches was a Grand Cavern, and in the Cavern was a steady spring of Nothing. Tuesday used the Nothing to craft items, such as commissionaires and not-horses, which he sold to other demesnes of the House. However, his avarice drove him to deepen and widen the spring, in an effort to get more Nothing. In time, the spring became a vast Pit, which eventually becomes the whole of his demesne, save his Treasure Pyramid and the train station where his personal train into the Pit docks. Grim Tuesday used indentured slaves from his own demesne, as well as ones from other Morrow Days sent to him as payment, to mine the useful amounts of Nothing.

After Grim Tuesday was deposed, Dame Primus was also given Stewardship of the Second Key and the Far Reaches. She has since ordered the Pit filled in; as of now, it is .000002% filled in. The Far Reaches is known for its production of many things in the house. Due to the overthrow of Grim Tuesday and subsequent filling in of the Pit, production of the Far Reaches has declined. The production is being staightend out, but many items once produced by the Far Reaches are nearly impossible to get.

The Border Sea

The Border Sea was an ocean previously under the rule of Drowned Wednesday. After Wednesday transformed into a leviathan and submerging into the sea, the sea overflowed all land in the demesne, save Port Wednesday. Any of the buildings that were submerged were transformed into ships, which currently sail the Border Sea along with Wednesday’s original fleet of 49 ships. A unique aspect of the sea is that anything that is lost accidentally will end up in the Border Sea.

The Border Sea extends into any body of water in the Secondary Realms, and therefore can be reached from the Border Sea. The Line of Storms, a series of vicious lightning storms, guard the entrance into the sea; only an express invitation into the Sea will prevent the Line from killing people instantly.

Raised Rats live here and pilot their steamships. Pirates also live here. The most formidable of which was a mortal pirate who somehow passed the Line of Storms into the Border Sea, Elishar Feverfew. Feverfew was a trained House sorcerer, and was trained in several dark arts. He used Nothing very indiscriminately; he had been changed by this Nothing into something not quite human or Denizen.

However, at the end of Drowned Wednesday, Wednesday’s Dawn informed Arthur that much of the Sea had extended into the Void of Nothing, and since Wednesday used all of the Key’s power keeping her shape, had not reined it in. As Arthur does not wish to use the Keys unless absolutely necessary, he left this task to his Steward Dame Primus.

The Great Maze

The Great Maze is a demesne that was ruled by Sir Thursday. It is composed of a great set of tiles, one million squares, one thousand by one thousand, each one mile long by one mile wide. At each sunset the tiles move to another location, allowing any attackers to be split and easily attacked by The Glorious Army of The Architect; a strategy known as Tectonic Strategy. There are several fixed tiles, such as the Citadel, Fort Transformation, and a few others. The Citadel is the main Headquarters of the Maze, where Thursday himself makes his residence. Fort Transformation is where new recruits spend a year of training before going on to serve the last 99 years of their tenure in one of the various factions in the Army.

Square 500/500 is the “master square” of the Maze. All other squares’ ability to move depends on square 500/500’s ability to move. When, in Sir Thursday, a giant spike of Nothing is driven into the square, preventing it from moving, Tectonic Strategy fails until the Spike is destroyed.

At one end of the Maze is a mountain range. Within this range is a tunnel that connects to the Void of Nothing, by which controlled amounts of Nithlings are let through so that the Army may train. There are four gates within the tunnel, one gilded in gold, one in silver, one in bronze, and finally an Immaterial gate, the “Cleargate”. Each gate is operated by a single lever in the Border Fort, just above the tunnel. The gates are opened in various ways depending on the amount of Nithlings Sir Thursday wishes to be brought in.

During Sir Thursday, all four gates were opened, which is technically forbidden. A vast, uncontrollable amount of Nithlings entered the Maze. Unlike the Nithlings Denizens are used to, these Nithlings are smart, organized and near-Denizen in their attributes. It is revealed that these Nithlings are under the command of the Piper. The New Nithlings then took control of the Border Fort, and kept the gates open past when they were to be closed, allowing huge numbers of New Nithlings to enter.

After deposing Sir Thursday, there are still several hundred thousand New Nithlings in the Maze, and must be gotten rid of. However, Arthur did not have the time to appoint Dame Primus Steward over the Great Maze, and as such she does not have the fourth Key necessary to deal with them.

The Middle House

The Middle House is a giant, thrice terraced mountain, resulting in three large plateaux, previously under the control of Lady Friday. The plateaux are connected by the Grand Canal, a waterway that is able to repel anything with text on it, enabling it to move various documents within the demesne. The workers of the Canal wear clothes made of out of paper so that they float if they fall in.

Each of the plateaux, or “shelfs”, serve a different function. The bottom, and the largest, called the Flat, is where the Guild of Gilding and Illumination is located. The next shelf, the Middle of the Middle, has the Guild of Illustration and Augmentation. Finally, the Top Shelf has the High Guild of Binding and Restoration. In between the Top Shelf and the crest, is a crack in the mountain leading to the eyrie of the Winged Guardians of the Night, as well as the former prison of the Fifth Part of the Will.

On very crest of the mountain is Lady Friday’s Scriptorium, where, in Lady Friday, she leaves a replica of her Key, in hopes of killing Arthur, the Piper and Saturday. This trap, although it failed, managed to destroy the entire Scriptorium, and a good portion of the Top Shelf; however Arthur, using all of the four Keys under his control, managed to reverse the damage.

At the end of Lady Friday, Arthur granted Dame Primus Stewardship of the Great Maze and the Middle House, although he retained the Fifth Key.

The Upper House

The Upper House, ruled by Superior Saturday, is an as of yet enigmatic demesne. Not much is known about this demesne, other than that this is where House Sorcerers are trained. The Upper House controls most of the phone lines throughout the House. As a result, Superior Saturday tries to stop the phone connection to the Lower House, The Far Reaches, The Border Sea, the Great Maze and the Middle House, but is unable to do so because the wiring for the phone services fall underneath the Far Reaches and the phone operators are located in the Lower House.

The Incomparable Gardens

Even less is known about Lord Sunday’s demesne, the Incomparable Gardens. It is supposedly like nothing within the Secondary Realms, unmatched by its beauty. Dame Primus mentions that Denizens of this area of the House would be noticeable in the Great Maze.

Transportation & communication within the House

Wings

Wings are an everyday means of short distance travel within the demesnes of the House. They are often mentioned, and used in all of the books. Though most take on the classic angel-like appearance (i.e. white and feathered), wings can be different quality. The cheaper, paper-made wings are disposable, are often made for temporary use by high-level sorcerers. The user doesn't have much control over them, and they are usually one directional, and after their purpose is completed, they fall off and dissolve. The higher-quality wings can be taken on and off at will. These wings are controlled by a mental link with the wings. Some of the higher-quality wings have special properties, such as the ability to shed light, or invisibility in the Secondary Realms. Wings are banned in some areas of the House because of various air-borne hazards, such as The Pit in the Far Reaches, or Monday's Dayroom in the Lower House, or in The Great Maze.

Postage Service

The house does have a postage services but it appears to be notoriously poor. Letters take weeks, sometimes years, to reach their destination; most don't even get there at all. This is due mainly to the disorder in the lower house and has apparently grew worse prior to Mister Monday's downfall, having all the letters and newspapers cut off completely in some of the House, according to Fred Gold.

Elevators

Elevators are currently the only way to travel between the demesnes of the House, save Friday’s Mirror, which lets the user go to any reflective surface in existence so long as Friday has been there in person before. As the elevators fall under the authority of Superior Saturday, they are banned from the realms controlled by Arthur as of Lady Friday. The size of an elevator can vary greatly, it can be the size of a telephone booth or a football field. When the elevator is in motion, its path is marked by a beam of light. Elevators can only travel to Port Wednesday in The Border Sea, as the rest of the realm is submerged.

Weirdways

Weirdways are pathways that exploit the veins of Nothing within the House. One is able to go through the Nothing via a dark corridor with soft and jellylike walls, floor and ceiling. Weirdway entries are often disguised as innocuous items within a room, such as a painting or coin on the floor, and they cannot be moved.

According to Suzy Turquoise Blue, only the blood of a Trustee can close a weirdway.

Transfer Plates

Large plates that work as a sort of teleporting device throughout existence. Transfer plates are usually electrum; they occasionally are made of other things, such as fine china. Touching a transfer plate, intentionally or not, will automatically transfer you to the prescribed destination of the transfer plate.

The Improbable Stair

The Improbable Stair is a stairway that can traverse all of creation. It was the Architect's personal transport by which She visited all of Her work. To enter the Stair, one must first have an item of power, such as a Key, or the Piper’s Pipes. Then, they must find something that looks like a staircase, such as a blade of grass bent three times, or a scratch on a wall. Then, the rider must believe that it is there, and it will be. There are several landings to the Stair, and once you arrive on one, you must quickly find your way back on the Stair, or be stuck there forever. There is also the risk that a Nithling may make its way onto the Stair. The entire use of the Stair is described as risky and dangerous; and these risks increase when the destination is near Nothing. Some Denizens cannot travel on the Stair (the reason for this is unknown), but Pipers Children are always accepted.

As of Lady Friday, the Improbable Stair has been used four times:

Arthur Penhaligon and Suzy used the Stair in Mister Monday to get from the Coal Cellar ( the Old One’s lair) to Monday’s Dayroom,.

Sir Thursday uses the Stair in Sir Thursday to reach square 500/500 to destroy the giant spike of Nothing which was built by the Piper to freeze the squares in the Great Maze. Thursday travels the Stair taking Arthur, Suzy, Fred and 9 other Piper's children with him.

The Piper uses the Stair in Lady Friday to get himself to a safe place when a trap disguised as the Fifth Key opens into the Void of Nothing.

Arthur, Suzy, Fred, and the Fifth Part of the Will use the Stair near the end of Lady Friday in order to quickly get back to Monday's Dayroom.

Telephones

Telephones are a means of communication within the House, and also to the Secondary Realms. The ring is inaudible to mortals, save Arthur and Leaf. House telephones are similar looking to an old fashioned earth telephone. Telephones require an operator to use; during Lady Friday, Superior Saturday attempts to prevent Arthur from using them; but as they fall under the authority of the Lower House, and their wiring the Far Reaches, she has limited success. The telephone operators are especially willing to connect Arthur, as he is often polite to them, and, most of all, says "please".