A Guide to the Unknown Territories

Found in a market stall with assorted goods in Diwan, 1821.
Bought for 2 Skilliggs.

This is a guide to the lands of Lãsu’tyq, beyond Thirun, beyond Luban. Our land, that has no name in foreign tongues, is half dead and doomed to be forgotten, but has survived so much more disasters than a man can remember.

In ancient times we were a proud people, with flourishing cities and fields filled with wheats.

Salt

But now the soil is salted, and our gardens are no more. The agriculture has faded, and only our Urx are left. Yes, salt is our burden and our wealth. Hardly a plant grows on the salty soil, but we can sell our salt to the merchants of Luban, those of Myrëns, those of Daleth, and sometimes even merchants from further away.
We do also need our salt ourselves. We have to put our meat, our fruit and vegetables in it to make them last the year. Without our salt, we could not survive anymore.
The importance of salt is set into our culture with the currency we have. Our very coins, our money, is made of salt. So valuable, so precious, we carry our salt with us in small round coins, and some larger bars of it.
It is the water that makes us poor as it melts the salt away.

(Margin note: 1 sõbar= 7 Skatts; 1 sõqa = 6 Assar)

Animals: Urx

Our Urx, the animals I have mentioned, are our very dearest possessions. We love our Urx like we love our wives and children, they belong to the dæ-kerwi just as the humans. The animal, as high as a twelve year old, but much heavier so we can’t carry it and are happy it has it’s own four legs, are hairy and provide us with many materials.
The females give us milk and little Urx, the males give us horns. Both give us furs and wool, leather and meat, bones and some more specific materials that are made of the dead Urx. But before they die, they give us their faeces to fertilise the dry, barren land with, and the power of their muscles to work the land, and to pull our carts.
Our very god is idolised by an Urx.

The hunt for the Unicorn

The planes of our land are plagued by the Unicorns, who happen to raid our dæ-kerwi and our City. Naturally, we will hunt these creatures, to get our possessions back. The brave young men who ride the fast Ãgul will go after the Unicorns, hunt them down for many days, and either kill them on the hunt, or be killed themselves. But the very bravest don't just hunt the Unicorns, but trace them down to their lairs, where they rest on hordes of treasure, the stolen goods they got over the centuries. And our heroes will bring the stolen goods back to us, to the dæ-kerwi and the City. The hunters will only return with the meat and the horns of the dead unicorns, the bones and the furs.

The Cave of Dreams

South of our City, in a wider part of the Canyon, the Cave of Dreams holds its secrets. The Cave can be entered with difficulty, and it is only a few big hundred years ago since it was discovered. The Cave is shrouded in darkness, but he who brings a light will see the many colours of the mists that drift through the cave and its many niches. But he who goes in will see more than just the mists - there are many visions in this cave, the dreams that wander into ones mind when walking into the cave, sweet dreams, creepy dreams, dreams of the past and those of the future.
And it is Œrsyl who found that the dreams did not just drift and wander like the mists, but held a secret messages for the beholder. And she sat down in the cave, and let the dreams come to her, and she experienced a sense of knowing and she was enlightened and became our Oracle. She is old
now, her skin pale and fragile like old parchment. She is hundreds of years old, and she sits in the lightless cave, blind for our world, but a visionary to our dreams.
When you get into the cave, and with a lamp, and you pierce the darkest mists, you will see Œrsyl, sitting on her throne of gold, her eyes a silver blind, and her her white as snow. She will smoke a pipe and listen to you. She will ask you to lay down, and dream. And you will dream. And you will tell her your dream. And she, she will tell you what it means. Œrsyl is our Oracle, and only the woman of the past will know our future.

Niblãn Gershõn once went into the Cave of Dreams. He was plagued with the dream of an unknown woman, who was as beautiful as the flowers of the sky.

The Fall

Once upon a time, and long ago, a thunder from beyond the stars hit our land. The traces of the thunder still remain in our soil and in our heart. The deep round lakes are caused by the lightning that hit us with a brightness no one survived. The ashes of the early people are found burnt onto walls of rock as painted down, the arms turned up in fear, the heads looking to the sky, silent silhouettes of terror. That was the Falldown, the largest disaster that came to our lands, now so long ago, but still surviving in our memories.
And once again thunder struck and hit our country. Now, the impact was not that big, and it is not so long ago, but we do remember it well.