Jarast's Saga

  From the Journal of Jarast the Sharp: Fire Season, 327 A.E., Cinder waxing crescent, Wraith new: Had I known, all those months ago, that leaving my little rock and taking a bunk aboard the Talulah would have brought me to this place, I likely would have made the same choice but I must confess I’d have had to think about it for a long while.  I cannot deny that Black Bay and the marshes that enclose it are like no other place I have seen in my travels, but whether that is a good thing or bad I leave to the judgment of the reader. The journey itself was a simple enough matter, though it held some surprises of its own, which I will address shortly.  Upon accepting the commission of the elders of Hutum Cehecares, Captain Hohchifo set about learning what we could of our destination, this ill-humored bog that lured Imosak into its bosom with the promise of strong rope fibers, pretty black rocks, and leeches the length of a man’s forearm.  It was certainly well named, the...

  From the Journal of Jarast the Sharp: Fire Season, 327 A.E., Cinder waxing, Wraith half: On a journey west a couple of years ago I got to know a fellow who had traveled even further west and had lived for a time among the tribes of the Xaayda.  Up until then I’d believed that that was as far as west goes, but apparently beyond the isles of the Xaayda, there is another Greater Bounds like the one our ancestors crossed to arrive in our homeland generations ago, and beyond those Bounds lies a great empire called Kagayaku.  I think that was the name he gave.  They are a strange folk who have been steadily encroaching into Xaayda territory for some time.  To hear him tell it, the warriors of this empire are pledged to serve their nobles for life, living and dying by their masters’ whims.  I have a hard time imagining it.  Estavalians are independent minded to say the least.  But this man shared a term that these Kagayakis have for a warrior without a...