Day of the Hare (1st), Satyr's Moon, Year of the Sea Serpent [23/7/2003]
(Bnazic Desert)
The land of Mnar is one of the oldest and most isolated in all
of Nehwon. It is bordered by the Poisoned Desert to the west, the
sharp Mountains of the Elder Ones to the south. Far to the southeast,
beyond the Mountains of the Elder Ones lies the decadent city-empire
of Eevanmarensee, where even the cats and dogs are hairless. To the
north laps the waters of the Sea of Monsters while to the north and
east are the Parched Mountains and beyond them, Shadowland, Death's
abode.
Although surrounded by terrain which most Nehwonians fear to cross, the lands of Mnar are pleasant enough. In the west are the blue and green sands of the Bnazic Desert, which extends to the shore of the Sea of Monsters. The Bnazic Desert is a mild desert with plants which look vaguely like coral. Three-humped sea camels are the food and livelihood of the tribes of Bnazie. At night, various luminous animals twinkle like stars in the sands.
East of the Bnazic Desert are wide plains, mostly occupied by smallvillages and goatherds. Along the River Ai, between the Mountains of the Elder Ones and the Sea of Monsters are three great old cities: Kadatheron, Iganok and Thraa. Once, long ago, there was a fourth: Sarnath the Doomed. Sarnath the Great.
Sarnath was once the greatest of the cities of the plain, and
Sarnath's influence was wider than the land of Mnar. Tech-na-Chuk-Chuk-Wakae-Hazar's
ancestors came from Sarnath the splendid, though since doom came to
that city all have scattered to the four winds. Yet he bears a keepsake
from the city, a small grey pebble set in a ring. The pebble is from
the ruins of Sarnath's mighty temple, which like the city
is now no more.
Tekna's ancestors fled from Sarnath's Doom to
the Bnazic Desert, and he grew up here amongst the blue-green sands,
trading with the people of the Oases of Phoon and Uk and Ekk'il
and the rest. From time to time he has met travellers from lands beyond
who have crossed the Poisoned Desert, and thus picked up a smattering
of their odd language.
There are many mysteries in the land of Mnar, and beyond.
Taking up a hand full of sand Tekna starts to hum a long-remembered
ritual of finding. While slowly chanting and shifting his weight from
right to left, Tekna scatters the sand on the ground in a seemingly
random pattern. Looking down at the scattered sand Tekna observes
the interweaving layers and patterns that have been formed, he chuckles
quietly to himself "patterns with chaos ... chaos in all pattern,
heh heh heh". The message he sees in the sand is at the same
time definate and obscure. The message is clear "with the
meek find revelations of the noble", but the meaning.. Thinking,
he comes upon the idea that this is a reference to the plains people
and their humble villages and dwellings to the East. "Hmm
... best to go travel there and look for more signs ... yes ... THERE
lies my way".
And with that he sets off, ideas of ideas racing through his head. Destiny his best and only guide.
Tekna rides his camel along the well-travelled desert path,
through the evening and the cool of night. The moon is nearly full,
and the sands twinkle in the light like the waters of a mysterious
ocean. As the new day dawns he spies the palms of the Oasis of Ekk'il.
Tired, worn out, he sets up his small tent at the edge of the encampment,
and drifts off to sleep.
Tekna dreams deeply. It seems he floats above the magnificent
spires of Sarnath, as it once must have been. It is indeed beautiful,
with its high walls and grand temples. The distant mountains are mirrored
in the lake. Far away, in the mountains a door seems to open. A figure
stands in the light of the doorway, a dark figure with bright eyes
like stars..'Come,' he beckons, and everything seems
to move towards the doorway. There is someone at the flap of the tent.
Tekna opens his eyes, and sees a small boy.
Groggy and with a mouth tasting of dust, Tekna eyes the intruder
dubiously. The fellow does not seem harmful, in fact quite apologetic.
Tekna squints..then recognises the boy. It is little Emrei Wa'aii,
a local lad, grown up a bit now.
Nervously, Emrei speaks. "Please sir, sorry for bothering
you, I mean. It's Grandfather...I mean it's that Ba'Tun
taking Grandfather's money..well he said he was just collecting
a debt but I don't believe it..and he's so sick.."
He trails off into silence when he sees Tekna's expression.
Once agiain the sands spin their web. Not Tekna nor the the
deities themselves can entirely predict their shifting patterns "with
the meek find true nobility" Tekna whispers to himself quietly.
Looking up at the boy he makes his best attempt at a kindly smile
(kind of crooked but friendly). "Take me to your grandfather
boy ... and we shall see what the fates dictate".
Emrei leads Tekna through the oasis encampment. It is bright, too bright, the sun high and glaring. It is still siesta time; few are about. Emrei holds back the flap of one tent and motions for Tekna to enter.
As his eyes adjust to the gloom, and his nostrils to the heavy, pungent fume which fills the tent, Tekna sees an old man lying on a couch with eyes glazed, and shallow and wheezing of breath. His mouth is blackened and stained with some sort of sticky resin. His feeble, veined hands clasp the snakelike tube of a water-pipe, from whence the fume emanates. The old man does not stir when Tekna approaches.
Tekna recognises the fume as that of Hazia, a narcotic weed.
"He's so sick, my grandpa," says Emrei.
"And yesterday Ba'Tun the trader came and took some
of grandpa's gold, said it was a payment for past services.
He laughed when he saw my grandpa like this. I hate him. Why won't
he go away and leave us in peace?"
A small ember of burning herb glows softly in the water pipe, and then goes out.
Tekna sighs ... so many have fallen pray to the local narcotics
traders of this area. Praying on the passing fears and insecurities
of weak and trusting. This one looks to be far gone ... maybe too
far gone. But the Gods have lead him to this place and here he will
play a part it seems. Turning to the the boy he states in a calm steady
voice "there are spirits at work here boy, go outside and
boil water for your Grandpa". Once the boy has left Tekna
sits and ponders any methods he can conceive to bring the old man
to a state of health or aid his passsing from this world to the next.
Tekna tries all he can to revive the old man. First, he removes
the water pipe from the clutching fingers, then opens the tent flap
to let the hazia fumes out. When Emrei returns, wide-eyed with the
bowl of steaming hot oasis water, Tekna uses some of it to extinguish
the burning herb. Tekna tries to recall a useful potion, he waves
smelling salts under the old man's nose, he chants, stamps
the floor. Maybe it is the lingering fumes but Tekna finds his mind's
eye moving through strange lurid landscapes as he chants, odd geometric
patterns seem tohover around the face of Grandpa Wai'ii. Then
with a dry cough, the old man's eyes flutter open and he awakens.
A look of despair passes over his features. "Ah..he is gone.
I was so close...the Watcher, take me back to the Watcher..the doorway
was open...let me sleep...the Watcher in my dreams..." Then
he seems to pull himself together somewhat. "Ah, there you
are, boy, good lad, good lad..." he says vaguely, noticing
Emrei, then squinting with confusion "But who is this?"
Tekna looks deeply past the eyes of the old man. His stare is
flat and unfocused. "A desert creature ... no more, no less.
But passing fortune for one such as your grandson that I should be
passing".
"My name is Tech-na-Chuk-Chuk-Wakae-Hazar, and I have
some advice for you old-man. Look to your responsabilities in this
world before passing into the next". <side glance at the boy
Emrei>
"For only then can the pipes of redemption play and
your chains become unfastened".