It’s largely unexplored, and it keeps the surface world and The Household separated. Some of these pipes are designed for surface mischief.* In them you will find all kinds of strange rivers feeding different parts of The Household.
Ol’ Lonely is an interesting pipe which deserves a special mention. It separates tears from bathwater before the water reaches The Jugular. Ol’ Lonely transports these tears to a very sad marsh in The Bog.
Through the forest of pipes, bathwater travels into the deep below, towards a vast chamber called The Jugular.
The main feature of The Jugular is the waterfall of bathwater at its centre. At its top, the waterfall averages about one hundred kilometres in width, but after the drop it expands over time to nearly three times that number. After falling for three thousand kilometres, the largely vaporous mass of water crashes into a half-exposed Time Cog,
which protrudes from one end of the conical body of The Jugular. The noise created by the impact is tremendous, averaging a deafening 340 decibels.
The shape of The Jugular transports the sound throughout the room. When listening to the distant roar, many have reported being able to hear voices carrying messages within the white noise. For this reason the The Jugular is thought of as a holy place by some of the residents of The Household.
The water then falls upon The Time Cog, a water-wheel of such staggering proportions that it is decorated with a burning sun at one end and a frozen moon at the other.
The wheel turns very slowly, casting sunlight and bringing evening into all the rooms of The Household. These rooms are like planets; each one is different and filled with its own unique madness.
* This term is the name of an ongoing plot by The Household to relieve the surface world of all pens, lighters, golf balls and car keys. There are entire river systems consisting of nothing but these objects. If you keep very quiet you can sometimes hear them rumbling along far underground.
