the nature of the world

[cellio]

January 22 (Sunday)

I am sitting in a throbbing room beneath Durgam's Folly contemplating the nature of the world. I've had better days. My head hurts. But I have to get this down. It's all so clear now!

Theodocius made an amazing discovery about the world. He was cryptic, and it took me a little while to figure out what he was talking about, but...wow.

We know the land itself is sick. What we didn't know before is that the land is the body. Specifically, the body of a dragon. Rampant. Just like in all the ancient Agondre statues that keep showing up around us. It's not just ancient art gone wild.

Cardior is the center of the empire, which is another way to say that it's the heart of Agondre. Literally. (All roads lead there.) There is a place to the far northwest called the Gorge of Fire, which would seem to correspond to a similar part of a draconic body. The lake of Optalia, from which legend says you can see a great distance, is about where an eye would be. The plains to the east, over the mountains, are large and flat, and magical flight is particularly potent. (I want to go there someday!) The mountains themselves seem to form a backbone. My former home, the Gastreyr, is particularly suited to tasty food. (And here I thought we were just good cooks. Mom would be so disappointed if she knew.) And there are other correspondences as well.

Theodocius came here specifically because he was looking for a strong vein of magical control. He found it, as you would expect from this geography. It was too strong for him, but that's a different matter.

I am convinced that we need to go to Cardior sooner rather than later, as bad things happen when an infection finds its way to the heart. We needed to go north anyway, for Lord Marius and also to seek out the Caverns of Laryn (laryn, larynx, throat...), where Therion might still be playing for all we know.

And later, when the world is restored to health, I now have lots of ideas for places to conduct magical research and seek ingredients.

We don't know if the disease is natural or inflicted, so I do hope we can keep this discovery under wraps for now. I trust Brion to keep a secret, and Mairead and Seamus, and Colm, and I'm not sure about Lord Marius, but that's about it.

Comments

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

I am sitting in a throbbing room beneath Durgam's Folly contemplating the nature of the world. I've had better days. My head hurts. But I have to get this down. It's all so clear now!

I love that opening paragraph.

And here I thought we were just good cooks. Mom would be so disappointed if she knew.

Actually, y'all are good cooks--the production of good cooks is part of the Gastreyr's magic, as well as the production of good food.

[cellio]

I love that opening paragraph.

Thanks! I'm glad it worked. I was worried that it might be (too) over-the-top. :-)

Thanks for the clarification on the cooking thing. Larissa certainly believes herself to be a good cook, but outside validation has been hard to come by. These northerners just lack a proper appreciation of curry. :-)