[HQ Ignorance] Scene 68: The Abiding Book, Nochet and The Dead God

[Erica Hoehn]

Kalen meanders down to see Rotterex to ask if they were nearing the town he had mentioned that his "master" might be at.  Kalen hopes they are nearing the town 'cos he is getting rather sick of this stuff the humans call food - it doesn't come out of a can, how can they call that food!!

--- On Mon, 7/7/08, Lev Lafayette <lev at mimesisrpg.com> wrote:

> From: Lev Lafayette <lev at mimesisrpg.com>
> Subject: [HQ Ignorance] Scene 68: The Abiding Book, Nochet and The Dead God
> To: "HeroQuest Glorantha" <ignorance at mimesisrpg.com>
> Received: Monday, 7 July, 2008, 12:44 AM
> nota bene: Just returned from Gencon Oz! More on that
> latter...
> Meanwhile, something I composed whilst at the con..
> 
> 
> Scene 68: The Abiding Book, Nochet and The Dead God
> 
> Over the next week, the Acindina makes good speed heading
> towards
> Nochet, the only metropolis in densely populated Esrolia.
> The Fellowship
> chooses a course of open sea in a nor'easterly
> direction from the
> Mournea isles and is only slowed when approaching the
> famous Kethaela
> Bay of the Holy Country when all of the sudden - in indeed
> measurable to
> a metre - the strong so'westerly wind blowing towards
> the Dragon Pass
> region comes to a sudden and complete stop, whereupon Kalen
> shaking his
> head, went below deck to command the engineer to release
> the Elementals.
> 
> During this previous week the Godlearner Riku was below
> deck, feverishly
> scanning the Abiding Book. As a great treasure, lost for
> hundreds of
> years, Eurynome also diplayed a great deal of interest and
> some full and
> frank discussions broke out concerning the book's fate,
> for Eurynome was
> of the opinion that it should be handed to her patron
> Nauticles the
> Lhankor Mhy priest in Nochet. Also interested was King
> Azhur, for the
> book was indeed holy to all pious worshippers of the
> Invisible God,
> Malkion.
> 
> To all three the story is well known. One thousand years
> ago the various
> Malkioni faiths were fragmented in various and sometimes
> contradictory
> sects which even led to bloody in-fighting during the
> Second
> Erandinthanos Conference. One heresy, that of the Priest
> Serozos claimed
> a revelation through an spirit entity called Makan, an
> expression of the
> One True God which argued for worshippers to practise
> Veneration to God
> via Priests as intermediates. Despite interrogration by the
> Dolphin
> Guild we was brought before the Conference to explain
> himself.
> 
> Suddenly a hand, quill and book of indestructible binding
> and paper
> appeared from nowhere. A disembodied voice commanded
> 'Write', and the
> hand did so, expressing how worshippers of the invisible
> God were to
> live, how they should worship, what was True and what was
> Illusion and
> how heresies could be reconciled. For a thousand years it
> has been the
> most holy of texts for all who follow the Invisible God.
> 
> Reprinted many times, all these doctrines are well known
> throughout
> western Genertala. Yet what has surprised the Fellowship
> the most, and
> has held them in greatest awe is the appearance of a new
> book, as yet
> unfinished. Entitled "The Hero Wars" it recounts
> the adventures of the
> Fellowship from the very day that a brave shepherd
> discovered fragments
> of Kyrmon's Scroll to the most recent encounters. More
> so, it records
> what is seen and unseen; Azhur discovers the depth of
> Aalmon's madness
> and wickedness from the eve prior to his wedding and
> Eurynome discovers
> that the pirates of Smelch are actually in the employ of
> the Free City
> of Khorst.
> 
> Taking almost two days, at a pace of a slow moving ferry
> (for the
> Dwarves wish not to exhaust the Elementals), the Acindina
> makes it
> slowly through the Bay. There are very few ship in what is
> a normally
> teeming region and those that do exist are either powered
> by oars or by
> magical means such as this Seshnelan craft. Most disturbing
> is the
> absolute lack of wind - not even the faintest breeze. Even
> breathing,
> although necessary, feel peculiar. Passing through the
> fabled City of
> Wonders one is struck by the silence and inaccessibility of
> the place.
> Once teeming with its golden dome, the exterior is now like
> tarnished
> bronze from a by-gone era.
> 
> Eurynome explains some of the recent events in Dragon Pass
> that have led
> to this unusual state of affairs. Over the past thirty
> years the Lunars
> have invaded steadily from the north, first taking the
> Heortling Kingdom
> of Sartar and then the Holy Country. The Pharoah died
> suddenly some
> eight years ago and no replacement was found, leaving the
> Holy County
> vulnerable. A mercenary leader from the west appeared and
> took some of
> the old Satarite lands; named Sir Richard the Tigerhearted,
> he too was
> eventually driven away by the ever-expanding Lunar Empire.
> From
> Eurynome's description he bears a remarkable
> resemblance to a certain
> mercenary captain encountered in the Battle for Segurane by
> certain
> members of the Fellowship.
> 
> Two years prior, the last surving Satarite stronghold,
> Whitewall, fell
> to Lunar troops although King Brian is still at large. With
> the last
> surving temple to Orlanth, most senior of the Gods of the
> Air, in Lunar
> hands the very winds themselves stopped and have remained
> so for two
> years. The Lunars openly proclaimed that the God himself
> was captured
> and over time would acknowledge his subservience to both
> the Sun and the
> Moon and may even be released once more.
> 
> The Acindina chugs its way in Nochet harbour, a massive
> city of some one
> hundred thousand people, most important of Esrolia and seat
> of their
> matriarchial government. A number of men assist the docking
> of the ship
> whilst women in authoritive regalia approach Eurynome for a
> report on
> the condition of the ship. When it is remarked that a
> foreign King is
> aboard, the women show deferential respect and mention that
> the Council
> will be informed of his presence. Karala gives her fair
> well's to Knarl
> who, without much ado, leaves the boat to head inland to
> his people.
> Talor's Axe feels particularly heavy at this moment
> with the realisation
> that the prophecy of her relationship to the fate of the
> Telmori has
> grown even more. 
> 
> In the meanwhile, Eurynome takes the Fellowship to the
> Lhankhor Mhy
> temple, where she has rooms along with her mentor Nauticles
> one of the
> few men in Nochet with any semblance of position or
> authority (and even
> that is most nominal). The elderly scholar offers drinks to
> all and
> seeks reports on the journey, hanging off every word that
> is spoken. He
> is particularly fascinated by the presence of both the
> Dragonewt and, of
> course, the God Learner for the former are most rare in any
> human city
> and the latter were believed to be an extinct people. 
> 
> It was the ever-empathic Jareena - and the ever sensitive
> Icthya (albeit
> for different reasons) - who noticed that the people of the
> city bore
> many of the signs of a very modest diet. There was no
> indication of
> starvation, but nobody could be considered of generous
> girth by any
> stretch of the imagination. Inquiring of this state of
> affairs,
> Nauticles sighs. "It is the capture of Orlanth. With
> the winds dying,
> the temperatures have become more extreme in heat and in
> cold. Crops
> have failed - not so badly here is Esrolia I will readily
> admit - but
> certainly in Heortland, Sartar, the Grazelands and parts of
> southern
> Tarsh. The winters have been most terrible there, 1621,
> 1622.. thousands
> starved. Gradually some are beginning to make adjustments
> of course, but
> nevertheless life is terribly tough for the Heortlings and
> Satarites. If
> of course, the Orlanthi submitted this would change.. But I
> don't think
> that would happen. *We* Orlanthi value our independence a
> great deal,
> and have always sworn we will never submit to the Lunar
> conquest. There
> is, of course, rumours of an Iron Ring of rebels leaders
> who seek to
> liberate free the Storm God..."
> 
> 
> 
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