The Oracle
First Passage of the Summer Moon
34-Arm Long Serpent Caught off Jalpan Docks
Young Arynen, only thirteen years old, is the most famous person in Jalpa, at least for this moon. Famous because he caught a sea serpent.
“I was fishing off the end of the long dock, like I often do,” he said. “And luckily, I was using my thick line that I keep for really big fish. Usually I catch one and then some of my friends, the older fishermen at the dock, help me bring it in. You learn the feel of different fish, you know, but this one was weird – just a slow, steady pull that I couldn’t fight at all. So I shouted out, and some of the fishermen helped me coax it in, a bit at a time, until we saw the most vicious thing begin to come out of the water. It was HUGE, with glittering eyes and dark, shiny skin, and this long fin that ran from its head to its tail, all along its back.”
When it was drawn next to the dock, people from the sizeable gathered crowd brought bows to bear, and despite some tremendous thrashing, managed to at last slay the beast. Then it was dragged up onto the dock. It measured just over thirty-four arms in length, and was a sort of creature unknown to any of Jalpa’s sages.
As sages studied the beast, it was cut up and the meat was sold to various people and restaurants throughout the city. Which, of course, made young Arynen not only famous, but suddenly quite a bit richer as well.
Tirian
Plague Causes Distress in Selarum
Disease is seldom of concern to us in this age, save the occasional case of lycanthropy or mysterious illnesses imported from distant and exotic provinces. But Selarum is discovering that even our modern healing methods can be challenged by rather common sicknesses.
“Plague mostly affects isolated individuals,” I was told by Salendra, one of the city’s foremost healers. “They begin to feel ill, and come to a healer right away. The next day they’re better, and there’s little disruption in anyone’s life. This particular plague, however, flies swiftly from person to person, and literally hundreds of people are getting it every day. Our healers simply can’t keep up, and people are having to rely on herbal cures or the power of their own bodies to heal. Luckily, although it is swift-flying, it is not particularly virulent, and we’re not expecting any deaths.”
Still, the spreading sickness has disrupted much of Selarum’s normal ways. A walk down any city street bears testimony, as numerous restaurants and shoppes are now closed for business. It serves, too, as a reminder that although we live in a time of relative safety and security, the world beyond our borders is mostly unknown. Only seventy years ago, also in Selarum, a similar but much more deadly plague swept through the city streets, killing over a hundred people before it was brought under control. A good reminder also, not to be overly proud, and to remember that we, too, are subject to the whims of Maya and her natural world.
Lord Kieran
Ancient Tirané Temple Discovered
In an exciting announcement to Queen Lillian last passage, one of her official explorers presented his unique discovery. “Burly Bear”, as he is affectionately known, leads a group of explorers who are scouting the isles north of Teran’s Point. Near the isle of Tirané, they came upon an old, weathered temple, long abandoned, that suggested that the Tirané traditions may have more history to them than we suspect.
“A few Tirané tribes have permanent stonework and buildings, sometimes quite elaborate,” Burly Bear said. “But this is quite different. This temple is huge and sprawling, taking up most of the isle it was built on. And it appears to be much older than we would have thought. You see, some of the designs we found on the stonework are the same as we have seen on ancient Tirané artifacts, which were created at a time when the Tirané were thought to be quite primitive. And areas of the temple have been overgrown to the point where it appears that many hundreds of years have passed since it was abandoned. There are suggestions that we may know less than we think about early Tirané culture.”
Most sages agree that the Tirané possess a high degree of Fae blood, and that their culture followed a smooth progression from a primitive, Fae-like lifestyle to a more and more advanced culture, finally arriving at today’s mode of living (still primitive by our standards). Burly Bear suggests that an earlier, more advanced culture may have been in place before the rise of the Tirané people as we know them.
“We also believe that the ruins are of religious significance,” he said. “There are numerous statues placed in different grottos throughout the ruins. Most are still in remarkably good condition.”
He and his crew will be making a public presentation at the Theatre of Aranor this An Tiné.
Tania
