The Death Rites of Talpa

The mountainous land of Talpa, home to the barbaric race of the same name, is a curious place. The people there, of all Mortality on Dutherim, are furthest from the glory of the Peak. They were the last nation on the continent to abandon their ancient ways, and legends speak of great walls and fortresses barring the mountain passes between Talpa and neighbouring lands, to prevent them warring upon the nations below. Their worship is debased, closer to antesermal worship than true veneration of the Peak. Their art is crude, presenting the gods in simple forms without regard for their glory. But it is in their deaths that they commit their greatest offence against the faithful.

The Moon and Followers

What do the Moon and Followers signify? That symbolism is disputed by the cultures of Janspar.

In the frozen highlands of Iame, the land of sunless days and ancient glaciers, they see the Moon and the Followers as a great beast of prey, pursued by hunters. Most commonly described as one of the great tusked loxons populating that country since antesermal times, the Mammoth-Moon proceeds endlessly across the sky, with the hunters doggedly following after. The bountiful mammoth is a creature of great importance to the Iaman, and this lunar tale represents their seasonal hunt and the constant struggle against the harsh lands they inhabit.

Look, child, the Mammoth-Moon marches
And the hunters shall follow
To chase the prey, to catch the pray
The hunters follow the Moon.

-Extract from an Iaman Cradle Song

The Tales of Amarand

Come forth, ye, and hear the tale of Amarand! Sailor, warrior, lover… adventurer! Who among ye has not heard the name? Why, in his centuries on Janspar, Amarand’s name has been spoken in every corner of civilization! What has Amarand not done? I shall tell you of his exploits and deeds, his triumphs and his tragedies, as recounted to me by the man himself! For yes, I was a shipmate of Amarand, though he traveled under the guise of a common sailor. And where else to recount these tales, but here in Silaka… the city of his father!

(gasps, murmurs)

Amarand the Sailor: born on a ship to an Aeskhonae Captain, Amarand is more sea-creature than Mortal! He has circumnavigated the world a dozen times in each direction.

Amarand the Warrior: Amarand has shed blood in every land and upon every sea of Janspar! In wars and in duels, serving now as an officer, now as a lowly footsoldier, now as a dashing mercenary and then as a loyal follower.

Amarand the Pirate: breaking all taboos of his native people, Amarand preyed on the trade of the oceans. The noble sailor became a raider, the most fearsome corsair of the Southern Seas, and led a fleet of brigands like none other ever seen!

Amarand the King: in distant Gla’are, Amarand reigned over a land of peace and freedom, a pirate-nation of daring and romance!

Amarand the Lover: The passions of Amarand are almost greater than a Mortal can know! The story of Amarand is one of stealing into forts to free his love from chains, of embraces with angels and monsters, of romances that span centuries and continents.

Amarand the Explorer: from the icy mountains deep within Cuathona, to the jungles of Mfezili and the plains of Arrekho – there’s no land where Amarand’s foot has yet to tread. He sailed to the Peak itself, yes my friends… and he told me his path!

Conversations with Gods, battles with wizards, and… adventure! These tales I will tell you, dear listeners, and I will tell you in the Roscine Theatre, where the noble patrons of that fine establishment have allowed me to share my tale. Every night after close of market, I can be found in the Lesser Gallery, and for but a small entrance fee, the tale of my old shipmate, that unique and extraordinary person, can be heard!

Unnamed actor/theatre crier. Recorded in the Ahl Plaza, Silaka.

On Aeskhonan Language

The common tongue of the Aeskhonae is not, as many mistakenly assume, the native speech of their home continent. Rather, as communication between peoples was held as a divine aim in their great work, they created a language, both to unify their own diverse tutve and to allow all Mortality to speak freely.

This tongue, crafted for clarity and ease of learning, was the first gift the Aeskhonae brought to Mortality in the era of Contact. Among all scholars, the arrival of common speech is regarded as the event that elevates a land from antesermal times to the enlightened ages.

As to the question of the languages of the Aeskhonae themselves, not only do they not natively speak the language that bears their name, but in fact at least two entire families of distinct Old Aeskhonae tongues exist on their home continent.

Though crafted as a pure tongue, common to all Mortality and native to none, Aeskhonan is rarely pure in practice. It is all Janspar’s tongue for commerce, diplomacy, and scholarship, but most will speak it adulterated by the languages of their own native lands. In the Age of Withdrawal, then more lately and most grievously after the Sin of Amuhlin, Aeskhonan dialects around Janspar became more diverse and isolated, and some became mutually incomprehensible.

An extract from Darion’s incomplete A History of Janspar, Volume the First.

Letter to a Publisher

Eloath,

Write no more to me of deadlines and obligations. I’ve not the patience for you to tell me of my duties. The Duke is happy to patronise me, and I am happy with her patronage, and that shall be an end to the matter. The work shall be finished when it shall be finished; should the Gods in the Peak desire it to be otherwise, they wish it in vain. But with their blessing and absent your nagging, I will produce for your presses a work unlike any seen in Janspar so far. Such an undertaking cannot be set in neat rows or squared into tidy reams, and cannot proceed according to such schedules. Continue with your pamphlets and plays and prayer-books; the demand for such will not fade while Darion writes his Histories.

The Sins of Amuhlin (part two)

The Sun’s Tears struck Janspar in the last days of Spring in 1332AR. They chiefly impacted on the land of Selmya, though smaller fragments of solar material landed all over the planet.

The intensity of the Sun’s Tears utterly destroyed Selmya – for hundreds of miles the land was ravaged and burned, leaving no trace of the nations that inhabited that wide country. All land north of the Resava range, from the Kelmar Ocean to the southern base of the Unnis Peninsula was utterly annihilated. Many of the Resava mountains themselves erupted, casting smoke and ash into the sky.

The Sins of Amuhlin (part one)

An extract from an early draft of Darion’s ‘History of Janspar’, wherein he describes the Sins committed by Amuhlin and the events preceding the Sun’s Tears.

The Sins of Amuhlin is the name given by scholars to the crimes and blasphemies committed by Amuhlin, King of the Nehri, the Sun Tears that rained upon Selmya and much of northern Oisindo ending his reign, and often to the subsequent Long Winter that covered Janspar for many years.

Due to the nature of the Sins, and particularly due to the awesome destruction wrought by the Sun’s Tears, knowledge of the precise events of Amuhlin’s reign is impossible. What is known has been gathered from Aeskhonan records, the accounts of travellers, and the accounts of those who fled Selmya.

Amuhlin became a leader among the Nehri in approximately Ar1310. He was in early middle age, and is said to have been a distinguished military leader, with minor orders in the Solar Cult of Olanis. He was raised to a position of leadership by the support of the Nehri Convention, the ruling council of that nation, and became known for his powerful oratory and just rulings. A surviving letter from a Nehri Elder to a relative in Jufai describes Amuhlin as a having “passions for ambition and for justice, evenly matched.”

A Manual on the Language of Shiban, Chapter 1

This manual is focused primarily upon the instruction of the most common dialect of Shibani, that spoken in the city of Ausin and surrounding regions, concentrated in the northeastern part of the peninsula. However, many of the features of this language are common across its various dialects, and shared with its neighbouring tongues. Most of the languages of this region are related and many are mutually intelligible. The variety of Shibani spoken in Ausin is often considered to be the default language of communication between peoples, when Aeskhonan is not employed.

Further, it is noted that Shibani languages have had a significant grammatical and lexical influence on the dialects of Aeskhonan spoken in the Tiler Sea, and all along the coasts of both continents.

Successful completion of this manual will not only render intelligible the languages of many people, but will grant a new richness to the study of Aeskhonan and to that of languages generally.

In order to begin speaking and comprehending any spoken language, the student must first be able to both produce, and distinguish upon hearing, the sounds used therein. What follows is a complete account of the consonant sounds encountered in Shibani, and the glyphs used to represent these sounds.

Insurrection in Shuldith

Dear Friend,

I am writing to you to inform you of grave events, recently occurred in the town of Wersham. These may yet have become currency in High Shuldith, but I hope with this letter to dispel rumour and falsehood, and lift the veil of doubt from what part of this affair I myself witnessed.

On the fourth morning of this month, I was roused from my work by a general commotion taking place in the central square of the town. I made my way there, following an uproar of voices, to witness the following scene:

The barracks-house of the militia had been surrounded by masked figures, armed with blade and bow and cudgel. The figures, numbering at least a score in the vicinity of the barracks, were matched by a handful of their fellows on rooftops around the square, and upon the raised platform in centre, stood another of their number, evidently their leader. Bound to the post of this platform (used for speeches, public hearings, and executions) were the militia-captain and the bailiff; bound tightly and gagged, yet quite conscious. The people of the town had gathered to see what would occur between the besieged militia and these apparent bandits, and made no attempt to free the militia in the barracks or the prisoners at the platform.

The leader of the masked band was in the middle of a speech as I came into earshot; I have faithfully recorded what I heard of this oration (having served as amanuensis in my early vocation, I dare to claim this as an accurate recollection).

On the Progression of Plagues

Extract from an General Instructional, published in Itis-Mae, dating to approximately Ar850

The Benevolence of the Pantheon, and their gifts of Right Cleanliness and Healing Arts, have risen Mortality from the diseased squalor of the pre-theistic darkness.

Nonetheless, pestilence and plague still afflicts this world. Spirits of corruption work against Mortality and the Deities that protect us. Learned Theologians teach us of the following progression of stages in the spread of a pestilence.

FIRST, the bearers of corruption will arrive. Be they Mortality, or beast, for all sickness is borne by living flesh.

SECOND, this will spread among the population. Those practicing Healing Arts will be at gravest risk.

THIRD, the priesthood and healers of the city will be struck down. Those intercedents between Divinity and Mortality, protectors of health, must be killed for the corruption to take hold. Be this achieved by ill timing, or cultists of corruption assaulting their persons, or the effects of the sickness itself; this is a grave step in the progress of a plague.

FOURTH, the illness will begin to spread unchecked. Panic will disrupt the daily order, and Right Cleanliness is forgotten, increasing the corruption.

FIFTH, many will die and many will flee. Those fleeing will bear the illness in their flesh to fresh lands, where the corruption may take a new root.