| April 2005 | << March 2005 | May 2005 >> |
| Horses and Ammander Tradition |
| The Enclave > Folk > Ammanders |
Horses are rare in the Enclave, owned only by nobles and spearmen. The long-lived and elegant breed brought from Ammand lands in Magi tradeships so long ago is raised, bred and trained only at the King's Keep. Ammander warrior tradition disdains mounted fighting as the province of thieves and bandits, just as it disdains the bow as a tool of hunters. Horses from the King's Keep enable companies of spearmen to patrol the Known Roads and hunt Neth in the snows of deep winter, just as they bring greater comfort and mobility to nobles and trusted retainers.
Ammander farmers and merchants never made any great use of the horse even long ago, before the Expansion of the Greater Power and the Vanishing. The grey, stubborn Ammand mule - easy to keep, easy to breed, strong as a man and just as opinionated - serves these folk well enough. When commoners travel, they walk.
[ Posted by Reason on April 29, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Water Circle |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Mirael |
The large Water Circle of cracked slabs in the center of Mirael, grass growing thick between the stones, is another remnant of the old noble manse and its builders. A single tree grows in the circle, canting surrounding slabs at an angle. The Council House stands beside the point at which the River Road ends by joining the Circle. Once, buried channels carried water from the Odan to flow around the edge of the circle in a stone-lined watercourse; all that remains of that now is a sunken ditch about the edge of the stones that floods in the rain.
The players of Mirael perform and practice on the Circle as often as in their hall. Traders from Three Stones and the King's Keep set out their wares on the old stones on market days. The whitebeards of the village gather beneath the spreading branches of the Water Circle tree in warmer seasons to reminisce and tell tales. Yet the upper red iron shutters of The Furrow's tower are visible from the Water Circle - over the rooftop of the Hall of Powers - just as they are from much of Mirael. The tower provides a constant, unsettling reminder for those who recall the The Furrow's arrival.
[ Posted by Reason on April 28, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Joining of the Odan |
| The Enclave > Seasons Long Past |
Aye, and there's a tale to that old prow high on the wall, bare of islemarks and battered as it is. Maybe you've heard the singing of Krineth's journey down the Farthest Odan - aye, and a fine tale it is too, save for it being Isleblooded Herei who braved the Farthest River with stonefolk wizardry to show the way. There's much to be said for Krineth and his crew, and many to be saying it, but he didn't leap from his tomb to ride the Farthest waters, mark me well! No, the joining of the Odan through the Farthest Wilderness was after Krineth's time.
Aye, the prow. Shaped here, it was, on the docks afore folks were to be using the wizardry of islemarks lest they meant it. Then taken inland it was, a fine fate to befall the results of seafarers' craft! Herei's crew hauled their fresh-built riverboat up the Stone Road past Three Stones and thence the New Road to the deep, fast Odan River. Aye, and there's a task not to be envied; Herei wasn't one to shy from hard work, and that's more than I'll say for most.
The rest of the tale you know already, like as not. The wizardry of the Way Stone bartered from Datarii; the angry waters and rocks; the plunge into the Farthest; the strange riverfolk. Aye, and the prow that found its way back down the coast from the Odanmouth to the seafarers who crafted it.
[ Posted by Reason on April 27, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Two Pillars and the Council House |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Mirael |
A wealthy Lord and Lady came to live out their old age in Mirael many generations ago, when Three Stones and Port were smaller and the village by the Odan was little more than a few farmers and their families. The noble couple built a manse overlooking the Odan and commissioned stoneworkers to carve the Two Pillars, each engraved with poetic declarations of love and devotion.
The weathered Pillars still stand a little way from Mirael, out in the fields where once was a grove of tall trees. Each worn stone mass is twice the height of the traditional Ammander spear.
The noble manse was put to many uses over the years after the Lord and Lady passed from the Enclave; much of the building crumbled for lack of coin to maintain it. What is left, impressive old stonework even with the passing of generations and patchwork repairs, is now the Mirael Council House.
[ Posted by Reason on April 26, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Players' Guild |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Mirael |
The village of Mirael might seem an odd place to find a traditional Ammander players' hall amidst trees and faded hanging ribbons. From the River Road, Mirael seems far too small a community to be the destination of troubadors in winter and the source of traveling players in warmer seasons. Nonetheless, as home to the Players' Guild, such it is.
In truth, the Players' Guild is much reduced from its once-comfortable place as a favorite of Three Stones nobles; a mere shadow of what it once was. While other Guilds were forbidden and disbanded by order of Lady Verden and her descendants, the troubadors and players of Three Stones continued on as a guild in all but name for a generation. The increasing influence of the Temple of Powers and a number of injudicious decisions on the part of successive Master Players brought an end to that golden time of patronage and performance, alas.
As seasons passed, the troubadors of Three Stones drifted away to Port, Gold Vale ... and Mirael. It happened that Master Abonel, a shrewd and talented playwright of not immodest means, spent his childhood by the Odan and in the fields of Mirael. Quite where he obtained the coin to commission the players' hall and surrounding dwellings is a matter for speculation, but obtain it he did. The small village of Mirael became host to quite the wide variety of characters and birthplace of a number of well known performances in the years that followed.
In time, Master Abonel reached the end of his Road and the hall came into the hands of the present Master Player, Lareth. Sad to tell, but with Abonel went the last of the easy coin; Master Lareth may have the touch in some matters, but coin has never been one of them. As the years whitened Master Lareth's once-fine head of hair, the lure of noble patronage in Port or playing for coin on the Known Roads proved too much for many a troubador - even fighting for lead coins with the few established players in present day Three Stones is a more attractive proposition for some than living the life of villagefolk.
Still, the players' hall stands yet, threadbare though it may be, and troubadors come and go from Mirael in all seasons. Old Master Lareth has a good number of years left in him, and even those on the outs with his coterie have to admit that the Mirael players do not lack for skill.
[ Posted by Reason on April 25, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Master Lareth of the Players' Guild |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Mirael |
By Lady Moonlit's nether beard! What have you been doing with my coin, my hall? What is the name of this piece? "The Love of the Two Pillars" ... "Love," do you hear me? You call yourselves players? Why, you passionless field rabbits look less in love than the Two Pillars themselves! And the delivery ... oh, but I am speechless! Speechless! If I'd wished the best work of my mentor butchered, carelessly dismembered, treated like cuts on a commoner's table, I'd have thrown my coin at Lady Dalun's squawling babes and their talentless thugs and thieves.
Ah, me and mine! I am riven, riven! Look at me - you have brought me to tears and pulling at my hair! It's no less than my own fault; I should have stayed rather than leave things in less capable hands. But who else to trust with Three Stones merchants and cloth and dye? And less than ten days til we are to leave for the One Stone fair! What to do, what to do?
[ Posted by Reason on April 24, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Lun and Abethel |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Mirael |
Poor ale, yes, Neth leather on the wall turns your guts, the wind blows through the walls, but don't be calling her a crone. Abethel's her name and if your spear was nocked as mine, you'd see the look she gave you. A generation ago you'd be spilling your blood atop the dirt, like as not. Best watch where you sleep tonight.
Hah! This place is rotten meat that won't fade, and us as flies in winter. Neth, they make you sick to even think of, and here we set down spears, drunk on bad ale in filth and cold. You can't stand it, but mark my words, you'll be back just as sure as Neth when leaves fall. Old cursed Lun, he's just another gobbet on the whole rotting pile, deserves worse still he does. Abethel, now though, she rode with Tean.
Why? You're not going to understand, not until you've Neth blood on your spear. Not until your father looks like that and you're staring at your own path ahead. Not until you find and lose a wife. Abethel was as hard and sharp a spear as you'll ever see, just ask the old priests at the Keep. Her here with Lun, like this ... like this, look around you! That's just how it is.
No, no more. Drink your King's-cursed ale I paid good coin for. The morrow is to the Odan Bridge again, and that's too soon for my liking. A drink to this rotten pit of a tavern and freezing ourselves on the River Road!
[ Posted by Reason on April 23, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Speared Neth |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Mirael |
A run-down, dirty stone tavern is the first building in Mirael passed by any traveler arriving from the River Road. It is an unappealing sight, the appearance not helped by a poorly-executed wood mural of spearmen and what would be a dying Neth - were it not deliberately scratched out.
The tavern lies empty in warmer seasons, shunned by the common folk of Mirael. Spearmen from the King's Keep drink in the Speared Neth when they pass through in winter; it may be ugly, the interior dirty and hung with unpleasant reminders of Neth, but the ale is cheap. Not as cheap as it should be, but cheap.
Lun, the aged Ammander who owns the Speared Neth, is as unpleasant, ugly and ill-kept as his tavern. It is common knowledge that there was once something between Lun and The Furrow, an arrangement of some sort when the sage was newly arrived and Lun still a merchant of means - but a short Declaration on old parchment was all Lun recieved in the end. "Ugly and nothing you are, ugly and nothing you will always be."
[ Posted by Reason on April 22, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Fast Flowing Odan |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Mirael |
The Odan river flows fast and deep by Mirael and the River Road. The rocky banks slide and shift each spring with the melting snow; wood-walled Ammander cottages built beside the Odan a generation ago now hang precariously over river rocks, supported by stonework and posts.
Fishing the Odan at Mirael is poor sport and a poorer living. River Pebblefish are small and shy, while the Toothed Eels that hunt them taste rancid. Still, it isn't unusual to see older Ammander folk casting line and hook into the current to while away a warm afternoon.
Were the Odan less rocky and rapid, and the Farthest Wilderness less forbidding, there would no doubt be trade by river between Mirael and Cael or the Watch of Trees. As it is, the Odan is the only thing to wind its way across the open Enclave land to the Unending Sea.
[ Posted by Reason on April 22, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Tower of The Furrow |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Mirael |
The stone-walled tower of The Furrow, red iron shutters covering its few windows, looms over the common folk of Mirael in more ways than one. The tower stands atop a hillock a little way from the scattered village dwellings, giving it a commanding view of the Odan River, the River Road and the surrounding fields. Indeed, the tower was built by spearmen from the King's Keep in the time of Tean's youth, and served as a winter staging post until the The Furrow claimed it for his own.
The Furrow was once a sage of the Black Tower in Three Stones, until his departure the better part of a generation ago. He is rumored to hold the keys to powerful wizardry; the threat of The Furrow's Refutations casts a longer shadow than does his tower. The Furrow is neither vindictive nor vengeful, but quite capable of momentary or lasting cruelty without a second thought.
The Furrow makes few demands of the folk of Mirael; privacy and provisions are chief amongst them. The cost is not great, and stories are still told of the fate of those spearmen and common folk who once stood up to The Furrow. No-one knows how the Ammander sage spends the passing seasons hidden away inside his tower - few folk in Mirael care to speculate aloud.
[ Posted by Reason on April 20, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Tall Man |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
It was a sight hard to pretend everything was the same as the morning while the Tall Man strode this way and that, bending to look at goods and people. A sight hard, mark my words. Tall as a house he was, flat-faced as a door - but trade he did, great bars of Visitors' metal for this and that. But let me tell you this much; grow yourself tall, cut off your nose and you'll be the first Ammander in Cael to profit from a trade with old Sepan and his lot. He couldn't keep his mind on it!
Well, the Tall Man didn't outlast the fog that market day. Out from the Unending Sea he came and back he went, pretty as you please. I dare say the high and mighty in Port have seen stranger things in their time, but not I, not I.
[ Posted by Reason on April 19, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Tide Cave Folk |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
Shy, they are, those strangers. Lived in the tide caves around the headland for, oh, must be ten years now. Visitors come and go - especially when the fog rolls in - but nary a sight of our Lost neighbors in any of that time.
Ah now, you should be asking Kalei about them, not I; it's her daughters who take eel meat and firewood to the caves after first snow. Took pity on them, I'll wager, but she says to leave well enough alone. Ah, but you should have been here the winter when those hired spears from Port were firm and set on going to look! Half chased them out into the Farthest, spears and all, did Kalei. Hah, and there was a sight!
[ Posted by Reason on April 19, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Spear Eater of the Odanmouth |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
The Magi-blooded of Cael tell outlandish stories of the long, spined marsh eels of the Odanmouth, although no village folk hunt the outskirts of that saltwater marsh. There is no need risk becoming Lost to the Farthest in such dismal, boggy terrain when the Unending Sea provides such a bounty of gemfish, crawcrabs and eels.
The common folk of Cael take their water from the fast flowing marshedge stream at the edge of their village; beyond that they do not go. Once in a while, or so the old whitebeards say, the biggest and oldest of all Odanmouth eels can be seen sporting in the waterways of the marsh edge. She is twice the size of a grown man; legend has it that this great eel wrested the spear from the very last Ammander hunter to brave the Odanmouth.
[ Posted by Reason on April 17, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Year of the Eel Storm |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
It was back when my mother was a child, late in the year but before the leaves fell. A dark, cold storm came out of the Farthest Sea, swirling round and round like a mad dance of wind, rain and thunder. The Unending Sea came up with the wind and threw boats into the village; wrecked and drowned those folk who were too slow getting back to shore. It wasn't like the winter storms, nor the summer storms you know; it was different and greater. Some folk ran to the bluffs, like my mother's parents, in the cold rain and wind and through the froth and surge. Then the strangest thing of all: eels raining from the sky like so many hailstones, thrashing and snapping!
[ Posted by Reason on April 16, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| A Council of Fisher Folk |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
Aye, a nice arrangement they have themselves here. There would be a thing; a few more years of sailing the coast for coin and then to be a councillor in a quiet fisher village. Nothing to worry about save hiring a few spears each winter, aye, and maybe throw the drunks into the surf if they get too rowdy. A sight easier than captaining my crew, mark my words.
The council here spend their days fishing and laying a bed, I'll wager. You wouldn't catch me sitting sober and thoughtful in yonder Council House like a Lord cast in miniature; what would be the use of it? Fisher folk keep to their own - you might as well try to be a Lord of cats.
Aye, and there's the whitebeard councillor now, watching the barrels loaded. He used to be a Seafarers' Guildsman with a hull of his own, but that was years ago now. I'll wager he looks at my crew and sees a shoal of thieves. Hah! He wouldn't be far wrong, either.
[ Posted by Reason on April 16, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Baene's Carvings |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
The old stone walls of Baene's cottage by the Marshedge Stream are scarcely visible beneath piled driftwood, cut timber from the bluffs, casks of eel bones and half-completed carvings. Much of it is old indeed, left leaning against the walls winter after winter while Baene works at his own slow pace beside a comfortable fire.
In warmer seasons, dusky-skinned Baene the woodcarver opens his door wide to watch the shoreline as he shapes his latest sculpture. He sells a little of his work to traveling merchants or folk who sail the coast to Port; enough to support his idle, enjoyable life in Cael. Perhaps more besides - Baene is always generous with coin. As often as not, this Magi-blooded woodcarver is to be found in the Jeweled Line exchanging tales with the old fisher folk or cheerfully picking over shells and gemscales on the strand.
[ Posted by Reason on April 14, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Cael Road |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
The sparsely wooded bluffs overlooking Cael offer a fine view on clear days - over wood and thatch roofs and the glistening pebble strand, out to islets and small boats in the Unending Sea. The low, solid, stone-walled houses of fisherfolk stretch the short distance from the column of smoke over Firetower Rocks, past the Black Jetty, marketplace and Council House, and on to the first wet marshland of the Odanmouth.
The Cael Road leads straight down from the bluffs and the Coast Road out of sight beyond; it is a good hardy climb in dry weather, but troublesome in Winter months. A line of wooden posts and rusted, solid chain runs the length of the Road as it climbs the bluffside - it is a proud traveler indeed who doesn't make use of this assistance when the snow is deep.
[ Posted by Reason on April 13, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Firetower and Fisher's Shrine |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
The far end of the gemscale-scattered pebble strand is marked by the firetower rocks and rising cliffside beyond. The stone firetower atop the highest rock is an old, weathered construction; a ladder leads up to the flat top. When Cael fisherfolk are out on the Unending Sea, a dampened grass fire keeps a column of smoke rising from the tower. The Farthest Sea waits to claim fishers who are careless amongst the islets, but smoke from the firetower helps to mark the way home.
Beneath the firetower, in the lee of the rocks, stands the Fisher's Shrine. A single priest tends this modest stone and wood hall; the interior is largely empty of decoration save for a statue of the Fisher in Darkness and a few old benches. Sabei, aged and of Magi stock, used to come and go from the Temple of Three in Port, but settled into the quiet life in Cael as the years passed. He is a kindly, wise man, fond of the spawling family of cats that make the Shrine their home. When catches are large, Cael folk leave offerings of salted eel for the Fisher in Darkness, Sabei and his cats.
[ Posted by Reason on April 12, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Ferelei |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
You're from Port, then, with your road dust and good looks? Ferelei won't be wanting anything to do with you; she tells a good tale about the thieves and liars in Port, those who put on fancy plays and sing fancy songs. Ah, now, I see your drums and your flute hanging on the mule you don't feed often enough. You'll be having a hard time of it at the Jeweled Line; Ferelei doesn't like competition.
Oh, she was crossed and crossed hard by some noble Ammander lady, or so I hear. All over a man too; hah! They're never worth it. She has nothing but black words for your type, good looks or not, but such a pretty voice for the telling of them!
No, you should pack yourself and your mule off to the Forest Road. The villagers there will pay coin to hear a troubador perform and you won't have to face Ferelei.
[ Posted by Reason on April 12, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Black Boathouse, Black Jetty |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
Old rock, black rock they are; there's a wizardry about them. You'd have to close your eyes halfway to see a jetty and a boathouse instead of just plain rocks on the shore, but that's what my mother called them. Her mother too, I dare say.
The children climb out on the black jetty past the strand; climb over it too where they could just walk around on the grass. By rights it should be polished as the firetower rock, scratched with islemarks, but nothing can touch black rock. Wizardry! Just the same as the day it was put there, I'll wager.
Whoever lived here afore Ammander and Magi folk laid the first stones of Cael, they're long gone now. Perhaps stonefolk wizardry put the black stone here, though they say the stonefolk are scared of the Unending Sea.
[ Posted by Reason on April 11, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Trade Rock and the Seafolk |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
Look out the window; yonder out on the water, the biggest rock past young Lenei's sail. We called it Two Craws when I was the age of Lenei and her man, but folks hereabouts call it Trade Rock since the seafolk came.
Eh, village ale is poor stuff, leastways from anywhere but Traveler's Stone or Ura. The young folk lazing on the strand could make good coin sailing to Port for better - but that'd be expecting too much at the height of summer. Like cats on a warm stone wall, they are.
Ah yes. It was a day just like this, oh, back before Varim got himself eaten by the Great Port Eel and the Three Stone whitebeards stole his parchments. The seafolk came walking from the Unending Sea, as though water were sand and grass, kicking up spray from the wavetops. Little and large they were, plump for all their walking and strange on the eyes; amazed at swimming they were, afraid of rock and land.
Who would have thought of folk who could sit on a wave as though it were a chair? Generous with their strangers' coin, though, and for the strangest things. All of Cael was coming and going from the Trade Rock that day, wading out to meet the seafolk. Not Varim, though; he was too busy with quill and ink on the highest point of the rock, hiding his work from the crowd.
I'll wager most here at the Jeweled Line still have a few seafolk coins hidden away; fancy sorts in Port pay gold for rarities like that. But what is gold compared to knowing that you traded with the Visitors?
[ Posted by Reason on April 9, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Gemscales and Eel Spines on the Strand |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
The islets off the shoreline of Cael are thick with spined eels, crawcrabs and colorful, quick gemfish. It is a poor seafarer indeed who could fail to make a living in this part of the Enclave coast. The pebble shoreline of Cael extends the length of the village, from marshy ground to firetower rocks. Islemarked boats used by hardy Ammander and Vanished Isle fisherfolk are beached ashore in a line beneath the firetower and the Fisher's Shrine. The boats rest atop old spines and scales as much as pebbles and sand; fresher, brighter gemscales make the tidelines glimmer on sunny days.
When the snows melt and the first flowers show, gemfish by the thousand throw themselves ashore in the surf - who can say why? The folk of Cael leave their boats idle and comb the pebble strand for days on end to gather the fish before they rot or are eaten by crawcrabs and seabirds. Fisher folk bearing barrels of packed gemfish sail along the coast to Port, past the Watch of Trees and its mysterious cliffside temple. There are always more fish than can be sold - salted gemfish from the cellars is a summer dish in Cael, just as salted eel is reserved for those winters too harsh for fishing on the Unending Sea.
[ Posted by Reason on April 8, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Jeweled Line |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Cael |
There is but a single tavern in Cael, the Jeweled Line. A faded mural runs the width of the rough stone wall above the front door; it depicts a fisher's line hung with multicolored gemfish. The muggy interior is smoke-filled and busy in summer evenings when fisherfolk return from a day out amongst the rocks and islets. The walls are hung with nets, driftwood and islemarked planking from old fishing boats long rotted away. In winter seasons, spearmen come to Cael as guards or to provision for patrols on the Forest Road. Their spears and armor fill shelves above the bar that stand empty in summer.
Rius the barkeep is a worn old rogue from the Port dockside of generations past, owner of the Jeweled Line for as long as any care to recall. He is stooped, bowed, wrinkled and has but a single tooth remaining - yet weathers each winter just like the last.
[ Posted by Reason on April 7, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Tean's Marker |
| The Enclave > Known Roads |
Travel the New Road from the red iron gate of Three Stones past the King's Keep, past the Middle Road to Traveler's Stone, past Lorn with wary glances, and you will see Tean's Marker. A great stone carved to the likeness of a spear thrusting up from the ground, the Marker stands atop a ridge overlooking the Odan River Bridge, the River Road to Mirael and the New Road on to Greenwood. Tean - spearman, leader of men, follower of the King's Way - spent his own coin to place the Marker as a challenge. Past this point, the Neth would not pass.
Aged and respected, Tean left the world a generation ago, but King's Keep spearmen still make their first and largest winter camp at the base of Tean's Marker. When falling leaves and the first snows bring the Neth forth to raid, Tean's challenge becomes a matter of pride.
[ Posted by Reason on April 7, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Krineth's True Map |
| The Enclave > Lore > Wizardry |
If I had a stamped lead hundred for each alleged copy of Krineth's True Map in the shelves of our library ... well, I would be able to live handsomely for the rest of my years in a large manse on the Great Way. Take my word for it, there is no such thing!
Oh yes, indeed. Krineth was large beyond his stature even in life, but no map can show the Enclave lands. The purses of clever thieves and the Farthest Wilderness wait on those who would believe such a thing. By coming to me you have at least saved yourselves from the latter fate.
My, this is an elegant work for all it is useless. Look, there, the Neth Road in the Greenwood ... and all sorts of other fanciful suppositions. A portrait of Krineth on the final curl, well I never. If you cannot find a better price, I am sure I could convince the Master to part with three lead tens - this would go well with the other maps and curios.
[ Posted by Reason on April 6, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Ammanene Tansaree |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Watch of Trees |
I have left you speechless, and I apologise. So young you are and without the chance to brace yourself; but I know why you are here. You have the looks of your mother - no, grandmother it must be. She was a fierce one, clutching her red iron spear and scowling the second and last time that we met.
The first snow and Neth had brought the Emerald Company to our temple; they came here then as the Ammander folk do now. Those who carry spears have the yearning for the old Ammand and the King they carry in their hearts, just as do those who work the land ... ah, now, no tears. They do not bring back the past, no, but not for lack of trying. Not for lack of trying.
Your grandmother was one of those Lost to the Farthest Battle that winter, yes, and you yourself in armor and the company of those weaponed stalwarts beyond the temple pillars. I understand now.
I recall your grandmother, but I did not know her. For that I apologise again; I have little to offer you. But wait - take this bloom to Port and there find Unsharee, who calls herself The Cursed these past years. It was Unsharee and Arith I spoke with while your grandmother scowled ... but take this bloom. It came from a far place, and that will win you through to speak with one who knew your grandmother.
[ Posted by Reason on April 4, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Temple by the Coast Road |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Watch of Trees |
Some days of travel from Port, the Coast Road veers from the clifftops to pass around the Watch of Trees. Where the Road passes close to the dense forest, a temple stands amid the outlying trees. It is built in the old style, moss-covered and simple of line, as if the great Ammane still watched over the Ammand lands and spearmen still marched at the command of kings.
The old times are not yet passed in the minds of the common folk, for there are those who make the journey from Port or Three Stones or Ammander villages to pay their respects at the Coast Road Temple. They bring cloth-wrapped food and a few coins as gifts for Ammander priests and stay in hope of seeing one of the Ammanene. Hard-faced spearmen from the King's Keep - followers of the King's Way - stop at the Coast Road Temple as the leaves fall and Neth come forth to raid, there to pay their respects to the Ammand that was ... or the Ammand that should have been.
[ Posted by Reason on April 3, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Hidden, Cliffside Temple |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Watch of Trees |
The traders and fisherfolk who sail between Port and Cael often tell of lanterns that burn by night atop the highest forested cliff of the Watch of Trees. An Ammanene temple of the old style is clearly visible by day from the Unending Sea, carved from the clifftop itself over generations, seemly deserted and overgrown with moss.
No-one knows how many of the ageless Ammanene came to the Enclave in Magi tradeships; very few are to be found in mortal cities, towns and villages. The weight of years presses heavily on the Ammanene and strains relations with their Ammander kin. Long ago, the Ammanene of the Enclave withdrew to the Watch of Trees; dense, trackless forest atop the high cliffs of the Coast Road. There they seek Laelene, the Eldest Tree, in the Farthest Woods - or so it is said.
[ Posted by Reason on April 3, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Blessing of Amral Meten Wei |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Wohken Family and Brotherhood Lore |
As it is and should be, at birth your Son is of the Unranked. His Pathway will be clear, as if of strong Uk wood, and he will learn well. At the end of childhood he will become a prized Second Lutnen. He will be wise in courtship - the rank of First Lutnen will accompany a respectable and appropriate partnership that reflects well on our Family. With age, he will show skill and wisdom; he will know the importance of respect and rise in our Family to become Capnen, Camnel and finally Amral. He will embody the traditions of our Tribe and bring honor to the Family and Brotherhoods he gifts with his time and devotion. This, Sister, is my blessing on your new Son of the Family; may he wear it well in the cycles ahead.
[ Posted by Reason on April 1, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Amere Speaks of the Rings of the God-King |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Law and Ritual of the Dispossessed |
So it is and so it was; seven rings of divine material were given to the most trusted advisors of the God-King early in the generation of His Rise. Of those, only two remain - the others burned to nothing or lost to the passing cycles. Who holds these gifts from the past? We do, the Born Dispossessed, kept in trust by our Lawmakers for the entire Tribe. One ring was worn by Unborn Erias, the first and greatest of us, in the time of Claiming. The other was brought to the Tribe by Lawmaker Noi himself.
I have seen them, just as you could see them, neh? Travel to the Hall of Congress in Noi and speak to the Lawmaker of the community. You will not be turned away; that is not the way above the Scarp.
Dented and worn like old wood, they are, yet yellow as wood-flame and perfect to the eye. Great as He was, the God-King was not the equal of the World Crafter and the One God. His divine creations have faded in the generations since His Ascension to the Sky.
[ Posted by Reason on April 1, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
