The Book of Rites: Forsaken Lands

"← Previous chapter: The Book of Rites: Living in Exile"Hovertext: Concerning the races and ethnic groups displaced to and indigenous to the Downside.

To unlock: Return to different regions to reveal more pages.

In the Words of Molten Milithe, the Wild Witch

Page 43 - Forsaken Lands
Years upon long years we spent distilling life-essence from many things, which all once writhed under the auspices of their mortality, which we ourselves cut short.

In this we have no regrets, for we learned much, and so, we think, did they.

We earned the title 'Witch', and were forced to flee, into the Downside. Here, we encountered Soliam Murr, and soon, we gained an understanding of each other.

He bade us circumnavigate these lands, and catalogue our findings. We felt a strong desire to expose the secrets of this land. He wished to yield benefit to those who followed in our wake. Indulge us both, then.

Page 45 - Downside Prairie
The Downside is connected to our realm via a single artery, the river named for our prestigious Sap colleague, Lu Sclorian. That river gushes into seeming nothingness.

That seeming nothingness turns out, of course, to be the Downside. Its existence undermines thousands of years of thought about the composition of our world.

The Downside's southern edge, we call the Sandfolds. It is a desecrated wasteland speaking well to this land's lack of hospitality. Here, the strength of many who survive the river-journey finally fails.

If only they could clamber further north, where lies the verdant Downside Prairie. A better place to perish, to be sure.

Page 47 - Jomuer Valley
The Downside Prairie first appears serene. It is not. The soil there accommodates only the region's brutish, native vines and overbrush. The most-likely food sources prove poisonous.

Thus, we journeyed further north. The climate there grew fouler to my senses, though the cur Jomuer found it amenable.

This sprawling valley, pocked with long-evaporated lakes, gives evidence to the monstrosities which roamed this land.

We found the region's western edge to be more pleasant, on the whole. Therein we found sources of fresh water, whereas over to the east, we found the edge of the land's most hideous decay.

Page 49 - Flagging Hands
Beyond the valley lies the Flagging Hands, which could be called a swamp, if an entire sea could merely be a lake. Soon after our arrival, several of us fell into a dark despair, such were the environs.

I found it rather fascinating, though. It held aspects reminiscent of the Southern Bogs we dwelt in as a tad. We grew accustomed to the dampness of the air, and grew to savor certain twigs and beetles.

It can be said the Flagging Hands are an acquired taste, recommendable only for those of our same bent, or, perhaps, the Downside's native imps.

The sea surrounded the environs on three sides, appearing insurmountable, at first.

Page 51 - Sea of Solis
Beyond a shallow, sickly Gulf, our voyage grew increasingly forbidding and much harder to explain. How could a sea exist, here, at the bottom of the world?

We could not deduce whence sprang the carcasses of ancient sailing-ships we found throughout the Sea of Solis, though the warnings that they signified, we duly noted.

It was here we first met Ores, called the Underking, who brazenly assaulted our small skiff, for we had trespassed in his waters. But, then the Underking relented, for he witnessed Soliam Murr in all his doom and glory. Soon he would side with us.

Then, with the Underking, we sailed forth into a tempest beyond reasoning or measure.

Page 53 - Deathless Tempest
We waited for the Deathless Tempest to subside. We waited, but the Underking, he merely laughed and laughed. For the Deathless Tempest does not subside.

What lies beneath that stretch of sea to cause such an upheaval is best left to myth and speculation. We made passage, nonetheless, through sorcerous aid and fortune, scarce seeing the surrounding environs.

We did detect a landform, to the west. Soliam Murr detected there the presence of the treacherous aide who lured him into exile, and then followed him, in turn. Murr, in his wisdom, thought it best to be avoided.

At last did we arrive on distant lands, though seeing them provided little comfort.

Page 55 - Black Basin
The continent we called Black Basin shall one day tear itself apart. Arriving upon blackened molten crags, tolerable only by the harp Triesta, we pressed onward toward a suffocating wood.

This land felt to us somehow primordial. Deep in its roots and noxious crevasses lay innumerable clues as to its ancient history. But we had little time to excavate, for our supplies, by then, were thin.

Further, we were lost. Our best attempts at circumnavigation all had failed. It was Lu Sclorian who reached out at last, unto the stars, and they revealed the way.

Then, we at last could see the sacred Mount Alodiel, there, in the distance.

Page 57 - Mount Alodiel
Gaining the summit of the sacred Mount Alodiel involved no small amount of sacrifice and sorcery, in varying proportion.

The mountain's energies were palpable. The sensation that we felt, indescribable. The lands we stood upon were closer to the stars than to the world we knew.

It was upon this highest point in all the Downside that we first made efforts to concoct this tome, which you now read. It was there that we were stricken with a vision of the cycle of the Rites, and felt, together, for the first, a sense of freedom unlike any we experienced before.

But, that is a subject which our comrades shall illuminate in greater detail."→ Next chapter: The Book of Rites: Celestial Landmarks"