Cousins, Comrades, and all Gentle Readers,
I sit here writing by lamplight. Belinay, suddenly a stranger to me, has already gone to bed. Last week I could have written how my wife filled the gap in my soul. Now I search her eyes, fearful that I will see a stranger. We have mutually retreated into stilted formality.
I should weep for the loss, but right now I just feel cold and dead inside.
Alcohol having failed me, I seek solace in my ink well. Yet I am not ready to write of all the recent horrors. Most of you who read these letters already shared these events anyway. You already know that chaos seems to grip the world from Biharn and Seremas, to Coryan, Khitan and the First City.
I beg your indulgence. Let me instead turn our narrative back to the last time that I was truly happy. Really, it was not long ago. I had the opportunity to travel with good companions. And of course, to poke my nose into new mysteries.
It started, improbably, with an overdue attempt at revenge.
Not against me, thank the gods. No it started with a visit from a … I’ll call it a consortium of bitter people from Canceri. Perhaps that was redundant to write. Few people I meet from Canceri can be described as either happy or content. When they came to Littera Scripta Manet, we all packed into the upstairs room and I offered a pot of tea. I then listened to grievances against the Legion of the Black Sun.
Do I need to pause here to describe the Legion to you? I am sure their spooky highlights are generally known... How their first Imperium Standard was rediscovered and brought to Quaron val Dellenov, “the Mad Emperor.” And how he refused to reactivate the Legion. In Quron’s defense I note that it was a Nierite Legion and Canceri had just revolted. Still, it proved to be a poor choice. The dead Legionnaires of the First Imperium rose from their graves, ostensibly from the direct will of Neroth and Nier, to reclaim their standard and march north to Canceri. Almost everyone knows that particular “ghost story.”
But do you know that the Legion of the Black Sun barely involve themselves in Nishanpur and Canceri? For example they have never been part of the various invasions of Milandir. In fact it’s not entirely clear to me just who they answer to in Nishanpur. Certainly they bow before the Dark Apostate and accepted Leonydas. But even then they keep the world at arm’s length. I am told Hegrish interacts with them through a liaison and they both seem to keep a wary distance. So one might say they are rather mysterious.
Certainly, no one admits to having any real idea what the Legion of the Black Sun does on a daily basis. Do they mostly sit around with dice and cards? Somehow I doubt it. I did some poking around. The Legion may or may not have been involved in the death of a significant numismatist in Nishanpur. They may or may not be hunting works by Aldemerius Biriglo who was once the Abbot of Rell … before he fell from grace and was labeled a heretic. About the only thing I do know for sure is that they are ruthless and thorough when fate or chance cause them to spring into action; and the Legion is completely indifferent to any collateral suffering they cause among the living.
Hence the cabal. There are those among the living who have grievances. And wish to act on them. They said a half century (or more) was on the move and might be passing through the Blessed Lands. Was I willing to figure out where they were going and what they were doing?
"Sure," I said!
Don't get me wrong. I didn’t want to fight half a century of hardened undead veterans, for all the obvious reasons! But I thought I could investigate a little and keep out of their clutches.
I also knew just the group of friends to help out … Though sadly I report to you that, to the last person, they have requested that I not mention their names. I guess I can understand why one might not wish to antagonize the Legion of the Black Sun. I'll ask you gentle readers, to refrain from forwarding this letter to Nishanpur!
Just assume I got lucky and that, after yourself gentle reader, the best and the brightest were intrigued enough to sign on.
I was worried that the Legion’s movements would be opaque and well concealed. But even given efforts to move at night and travel by Gate, it turns out its just plain hard to move a large number of infamous undead horrors with anything resembling real secrecy. Besides several of us were decently powerful spell casters. Our combined use of divinatory and clairvoyant magic, as well as a willingness to suck up at least a little unpleasantness, all but guaranteed we were going to figure out where they were going.
Which turned out to be the Sea of Grass.
If you don’t know where the Sea of Grass is … well I don’t blame you. It turns out that it’s a sparsely inhabited peninsula on the southern coast of the Sea of Lanterns. There the marshy lands grows tough grass that reaches out of the mud six or seven feet (or more) toward the sky. It might be completely uninhabitable except that there are the occasional low hills out in the wild which provide some solid ground.
The Sea of Grass’ sole distinction, beyond the grass itself, is as the home to the Hunai people. None of us knew much about the Hunai, but we did some quick research. Reportedly they have simple minds and make excellent pleasure slaves. So great is the demand for Hunai in the markets of Grand Coryan that they sell for at least 30 gold imperials each. Slavers must love the place.
In the First City the Hunai have some kind of Temple to their three Goddesses in the Pearl. So of course we went to talk to one. You know, before trying to head out past the far end of the known world. We quickly made friends with a smiling but simple man.
What a weird experience! First, one of the three Goddesses appears to be Belisarda! “Belisarda provides,” our new friend said with a wide smile. Since the Hunai are human I can only wonder what the elorii make of that! There is also a younger sister goddess they associate with the Green Moon. “Lyssandra protects.” Again the big simple grin. And an older sister. “Nayal.” He stopped smiling for the first time and looked away at the floor. But soon he looked back at us smiling and said, “Friends!” The liturgy, if I can call it that, was repeated a couple of times. “Lyssandra protects. Belisarda provides. Nayal.” He also spoke wistfully of “Home.”
Trying to get detailed information from the Hunai proved to be almost futile. He, and the others in the Temple, really were “simple.” They all had difficulty with abstract concepts like the passage of time, distances between locations or even something like "yesterday." And the Hunai spoke in two or three word sentences.
Two things were obvious to us all after this talk. One: the Legion of the Dark Sun wasn’t going to the Sea of Grass looking for stimulating conversation. And Two: undead Legionnaires don’t cross the world to get a discount on pleasure slaves. Whatever they were up to, it was only getting more mysterious.
...I ask your indulgence. My lamp oil burns low. Give me a moment to refill it and I will continue the story of the Legion of the Black Sun and the Sea of Grass...
-Tukufu
_________________ Eric Gorman
AKA Ambassador Tukufu, man of letters, tomb raider and Master Sword Sage . . . and Sir Szymon val'Holryn, Order of the Phoenix Formerly Sir Jaeger val'Holryn. Weilder of the Holy Avenger: Thonanos. Gave his soul to help free King Noen
Last edited by val Holryn on Mon Aug 01, 2016 1:23 am, edited 3 times in total.
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