

Palus Somni Mystery Tragedy Supernatural Slice of Life Psychological Horror
It is the final days after the end of the world and you only have one month left before the last sanctuary erupts into chaos. There's a dead body hanging from a tree and cadaverous giants watch you sleep at night. The end is already here, you just don't know it yet.
Now rated in the top 3% of all novels on Royal Road!
Palus Somni (‘Marsh of Sleep’) is a worldbuilding webnovel about what happens when your God forsakes you.
Inspired by gothic horror and mingled with British myth and folklore, join the Alucinari nuns as they struggle with day-to-day life after the world has ended.
Every night when the sun sets the monstrous Gol, colossal beings with too many teeth, awaken and roam the marshlands. Only those with a faithful heart will be spared. Young acolyte Wille has never seen the walls fail, but when a fellow nun is murdered within their sanctum the very safety of the monastery is thrown into question. Did the Gol find a way to breach their defences, or is there a human traitor amongst them? The answer lies both far in the past and deep beneath the earth, through the maze of ancient catacombs.
With a cast of over thirty different characters, watch as your friends and enemies spiral into inevitable madness at the hands of a callous and unforgiving world. Discover the secrets of Palus Somni through letters, diary entries and notes found scattered across the monastery. Uncover the mystery of the grotesque giants that stalk the night and bring your challenge to the Gods themselves.
Each character has their own handmade pixel art, and every update includes a music recommendation for a dark atmospheric dungeon synth album that you can listen to while you read.
Slice of life meets cosmic abomination: Palus Somni is a collection of intertwining stories, some chapters are stand-alone tales while others feed into the overarching narrative. It is an exploration into a community, and rather than focusing on any one character the story meanders through the convent, exposing the hopes and fears of its inhabitants.
Story updates every full moon.
-
{{#chapters}}
-
Chapter {{idx}} {{name}}
{{/chapters}}
-
Chapter 1 Canto I - A Visitor in the Night
-
Chapter 2 Canto II - The Tatter Tree
-
Chapter 3 Canto III - Death Comes
-
Chapter 4 Canto IV - Letters by Lamplight
-
Chapter 5 Canto V - Into the Larder
-
Chapter 6 Interlude - Inka's Tale
-
Chapter 7 Canto VI - The Rookery
-
Chapter 8 Canto VII - A Kiss for Claudia
-
Chapter 9 Canto VIII - Echoes in the Dark
-
Chapter 10 Canto IX - No More Silence
-
Chapter 11 Canto X - Funerals and Fading Fears
-
Chapter 12 Canto XI - The Willow-Woven Basket
-
Chapter 13 Canto XII - The Quiet Space Between
-
Chapter 14 Canto XIII - The Margins
-
Chapter 15 Canto XIV - Primordial Pilgrims
-
Chapter 16 Canto XV - The Dream Eater
-
Chapter 17 Canto XVI - Hide and Seek
-
Chapter 18 Canto XVII - Saint Francesca of the Inquisition
-
Chapter 19 Canto XVIII - Here Comes the Arm
-
Chapter 20 Canto XIX - The Road
-
Chapter 21 Canto XX - Chrysalis
-
Chapter 22 Canto XXI - The Lord of Everything Under
-
Chapter 23 Canto XXII – Conventional Habits
-
Chapter 24 Canto XXIII - Fall From Grace
-
Chapter 25 Canto XXIV – This Too Will Burn
-
Chapter 26 Canto XXV - The Wille and the Wisp
-
Chapter 27 Epilogue