TMarkos posts
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Part 25 - Break On Through
We may be the last. I passed by the old communications hub today and it had dust on it, which made me pause both because it was so odd - and because it is now so normal. Too many of us have died or scattered, fleeing and forgetting as the land slowly withered around us. But for the luck of our monitoring station’s placement we would be dead too, although perhaps in calling it luck I do my ancestors’ foresight a disservice. Still, the array ye...
Part 24 - Some Flawed Place in the Iron Dark
"Of course I have heard the contention that scriptsmithing is an art, but those who say such things are invariably somewhat poor artists." - Vumo Ra, possibly apocryphal.---The massive stone rolled up, pausing for a moment before toppling sideways and fracturing into a few large chunks. The small crew of Aesvain gave a cheer that was equal parts triumphant and weary, and Mark clapped the nearest on the shoulder appreciatively with a dusty...
Part 23 - Ladies and Gentlemen, For Our Next Trick
There are those who object to the expense of fortifying Sjatel, although it can be hard to distinguish honest concern from complaints about the state of my treasury with other aims in mind. It is fortunate that a king need not explain his actions, as the truth would disconcert them more even than my silence. I dream of nothing now but twilight and a bloody sky. I know it is a warning even if her words slip away from me at dawn. My efforts to summ...
Part 22 - Crossing Lines
When you’ve entered into a profitable arrangement with the Sjocelym, bear in mind they’ll give up the arrangement before the profit.- Aesvain saying.---Jesse stiffened as the pair of men herded the rest of their group into the hall at swordpoint. Both were shrouded in dusty grey cloaks that seemed to blend with the stone behind them, their blades lazily extended towards the captured four. They appeared unharmed, albeit shaken and nervously sh...
Part 21 - The Broken City
Fools smile on their way to Sjatel, lucky fools on the way back.- Sjocelym saying.---Grass spread over the wide boulevards of Sjatel, tinted gold by the morning sun rising over the water. Silent and crumbling buildings loomed on either side of the avenue that led into the heart of the old city, and as the wind blew it sighed through cracks and windows in an eerie chorus. “Not the most welcoming place,” Arjun said lightly, peering into the lon...
Part 20 - How to Win Friends and Influence People
returned from the shore of the eye itself and confirmed what we had feared - the array weakens, and where it does something else takes hold. There were no plans for this failure mode, and although we are asking everyone who still responds to search the texts passed down by our fathers I do not have much hope for a solution. He did find one thing that may hold an answer or two for us, a length of bone from the shore with a strange passage in the T...
Part 19 - A Fragment of Light
What to say of the Aesvain? I could say they’ve suffered, as if it weren’t obvious to anyone with eyes. I could say that they’re stubborn to a fault, as anyone with ears could learn simply by walking close. I do not wish to bore, however, so I will say that when the last king of Tinem Aesvai learned that Mosatel had been overrun he grabbed his sword and stood to defend the evacuating ships. When the final ship embarked they looked back to s...
Part 18 - The Eternal Rule
The rolling uplands of Tinem Sjocel are some of the best country one could hope to travel through. The views are scenic, the air fresh and crisp without any of the swampy lethargy that pervades the coastlands. The land, it has to be said, is practically perfect. Now, as for its inhabitants...- Tasjadre Ra Novo, Jesa Sagoja: Zhetam Asade---“This isn’t clothing,” Mark complained, “it’s a glorified bedsheet.”Jackie shook her head, laughi...
Part 17 - Acceptable Losses
Learning any discipline will alter your view on its subject, but for me history was the most jarring. When I was an utter novice I found history dull, then fascinating as I began to understand its intricacies. Later I laughed derisively at the idiocy of this or that historical figure that failed to anticipate one thing or another, then later still soberly reviewed the tragedies that I came to see as reflections of our own failings in the moment. ...
Part 16 - Gifts
I am often called favored, gifted, and in truth I am. But gift upon gift becomes a burden, then a crushing weight, then a rockslide thundering upon me. Yet, I cannot tell her. Even as my back bows and my legs tremble, she smiles and gives me more, more. She shows me who I might be, shows me the crown of light and eyes of fire, but my death awaits long before such a thing might grace my brow. Into the twilight passages ever branching I wander nigh...
Part 15 - The Observation of Patterns
message reaches you, we’ve been experiencing more communications failures recently and have had to strip several other systems just to keep this one active. Father would be sending this himself, but his age is catching up with him and even regrowth provides only moments of lucidity. I am afraid that he does not have much time left. He is the last of us here born before the opening of the eye, and there is still so much we could learn from him. ...
Part 14 - The Barred Door
It is easy to find water in Ce Raedhil, obviously, but finding drinkable water requires a coin of one sort or another. At first I thought this was a terribly clever commentary on the City, but after some reflection I was forced to concede that it is merely a meaningless, unpleasant fact stemming from civic negligence and unscrupulous merchants. Ironically, that process of uninteresting and petty reality stomping on my attempts at wit turns out to...
Part 13 - The Game of Seeker and Sought
GOZHELI: What thief do you take me forbrother of mine, am I one who at nightcreeps to seize the toil of othersand sows blame for the deed elsewhere?VANACO: Only a man do I take you forbrother of mine, for even honest men fearwhen days yet to come promise povertyand destitution for his children and theirs.-VANACO: So brush aside the bindings of fearand speak truth to me, who ever loved you:The sajam of our father has goneand only we two knew where...
Part 12 - Distinction and Proportionality
A Sjocelym farmer came across a poor Aesvain in the market one day who plucked at his sleeve, asking for work. “Ye honored,” the Aesvain said, “spare me a coin and I will work the plow in your stead.” The farmer refused, not having much coin to his name, but the Aesvain persisted, saying: “Ye honored, when you return I’ll have plowed day and night. I’ll have near worked my fingers to the bone. Pay my wage now and I’ll have done yo...
Part 11 - Plan D
Water is the best armor, but it has yet to blunt a knife.- Sauvain saying.---Vimodi forced himself to unclench his fists, burying the excitement that sparked in his chest when his guard slammed a mailed fist into the wooden door. “Stand aside!”, the guard shouted gruffly, shouldering the door open and charging in with several of his fellows. The warm light of the guest room spilled into the hallway, and Vimodi counted off a few beats before s...
Part 10 - Kansas City Shuffle
[Alre]ady seeing destabilizations in the areas farthest from the Nexus site, and a large-scale corrective action may be required much sooner than previously thought. The continuing severe weather and the lack of reliable transport has compromised our ability to perform necessary maintenance on the array. There is as of yet no imminent danger but I fear that we may find ourselves without the tools to address the problem ifUnattributed fragment, ea...
Part 9 - Ex Tempore, Pro Tempore
Her words linger and work and work and work and work until they prove themselves true. I fear that I was not made for such truths, the very blood in my veins seems to rebel at knowing them. Does the shape of it come to the world from my mind or did it crawl through perception unbidden to etch itself on the meat of me? There is a pattern to be observed and I cannot remember if I was its author. In the endless bloody galleries it has carved I wande...
Part 8 - Voi Ch'intrate
Of course, none of this changes the immutable truth that nothing ever happens in Sjan Saal. This is not hyperbole, but a fact I have confirmed through long and exhaustive empirical research. The town is too mired in its own infamous mud to play host to an event of any importance. Even on what was arguably its most significant day events flowed through the town rather than occurring in it, and only once well and truly clear of Sjan Saal’s impene...
Part 7 - The Ashen Way
Sjan Saal is the end of many things. Not even the road has the endurance to continue far past the old wall.Lyneje Di Sazhocel Ciqi, unpublished letter. Royal archives, Ce Raedhil.---Mark grunted with effort as he hauled another crate up into the truck, the hard plastic sliding grittily inside with a push. “I don’t like it,” he muttered. “Moving shit back and forth, telling us not to spend too long by the trucks. They’re not telling us e...
Part 6 - The Lone and Level Sands
The desert bears its scars with quiet dignity. They are old wounds, but the land’s long memory is written in unyielding stone. Many seek only to ease their passage while forgetting an essential truth: the old paths tell the story of our battle against the land, and seldom have we lost more decisively.Tasjadre Ra Novo, Jesa Sagoja: Zhetam Asade---“How many?”, Grande asked. The captain’s face was grey and his eyes bloodshot. He drummed his ...
Part 5 - Fathers
[predic]tive models estimate that complete containment may be achieved within twenty-six days if there are no significant changes in scenario or deployment. Local populations are accepting the official explanation without significant unrest. Evacuation of the unaffected areas can be accomplished on a shorter timescale if increased air transport is allocated to rural locations. Major roadways remain impassible. Transport of potentially compromised...
Part 4 - Brothers
A traveler in the desert is accosted by a Sauvain thief who brandishes a sword and demands the traveler’s purse. Upon seeing the thief’s face the traveler drops to his knees and cries: “O, what fortune! I have wandered long years in search of my brother, and you are he!” The two embrace as brothers and the thief leads him back to his camp for a hearty repast. They feast and feast, sharing stories of their family and their lives apart whil...
Part 3 - Catching Breath
Those who deride the food of the Sauvain as simple fail to appreciate the savor and quality added by contrast. Begin with a simmering desert stock, add sand to taste and garnish with ash. Serve in a cool evening under the cerein, and oh - you would weep to taste it, had you the water.Tasjadre Ra Novo, Jehamyn SadedremDespite Arjun’s exhortations, the consensus seemed to be that Mosidhu would take at least a couple of days to reach Ademen Tacen....
Part 2 - What Follows an Action
The natural habitat of the cerein is wherever you find one growing.Unknown, Ta SatineimGusje was irrepressible during the long descent into the basin, practically vibrating in place with her excitement to return home. Although not quite at that level of mania, Jackie had to admit that she was rather giddy herself at the prospect of visiting the village. It seemed like longer ago than yesterday that she had felt hopelessly adrift. The endless, lif...
Part 1 - The Chariot
Modern scholars will tend to criticize elements of the Sjocelym nobility for their initial response while ignoring the context in which their decisions were made. This is unfair, and I say this as one with more cause to bear a grudge than most. Consider: for all of living memory ruudun has been our shield and sword, our plow, our sturdy arm. It kept us fed, watered and warded by stone, the greatest good ever granted to our people. That this view ...
