Introducing Talezim’s Travelogues
For some time now I’ve been meaning to document various aspects of a world that’s been on my mind. It grew from the seed of an idea, slowly at first, as an attempt to answer a series of how-could, what-if, and why-would questions followed to their logical conclusions.
How could magic be both prevalent and accessible in a world yet costly and dangerous to procure? What if all magic was cursed? Why would science not simply replace magic? How could the traditions of magic survive such a curse? What if magic was largely preserved in oral recitation and song? Why would anybody trust a magic user? How could the curse affect divine magic? What if alternate paths to magic could bypass the curse? Why would those who discovered those paths not already dominate the world?
Questions led to answers led to more questions, and over the course of its development, Somna was conceived. Evolved from a single-threaded premise into a whole cloth world, it is interwoven with bits of magic and objects mundane, fever dreams and stark reality, modern myths and ancient stories. Somewhere along the line it became a living, breathing macrocosm, Somna, the cursed lands, complete with its own gods and demons, legends and heroes, and innumerable untold stories just waiting to be discovered firsthand.
Somna is fantasy, yes, but maybe, just maybe, it is also real. Somewhere, somehow, perhaps it exists, and I, like the armchair anthropologists of old, am merely documenting it from afar. Not having traveled to Somna myself, I have only experienced it indirectly by way of random thoughts or inspired ideas filtered through the collective subconscious. Or if I have truly been there, my memories of it are only bits and pieces of half-remembered dreams, not quite real to me, and lost to the mists of my mind before I have the chance to jot them down.
But rather than bore you with my own meager attempts at capturing the wonder and woe that is Somna, I instead humbly present the writings of Talezim Du’unsael, renowned adventurer, well-traveled explorer, and prolific writer. Through his lens I hope you can discern a lived experience, find useful tools, insights, and perspectives, and become inspired to explore and find your own stories recorded there, hidden perhaps amongst the sheafs of unbound parchment in Talezim’s rucksack.
— Anthony Alipio
Talezim’s Travelogues: A Field Guide to Somna
A collection of treatises concerning the known world and what lies beyond
Preface
Ah, Somna. “The cursed lands” as it is known, as it has been known for centuries, perhaps as it has ever and always been known. But how then would we perceive it to be cursed, if we had no other experience with which to compare it? If Somna had always been as it is today, how then could we even know to call it cursed in the first place? Life might be difficult, dangerous, deadly even. But cursed? Cursed denotes something not just unnerving but unnatural, and intentionally so. It involves someone or something placing said curse upon us, whether as punishment, out of spite, or even on a whim. And it implies that we the cursed remember what life was like before the curse and thus can imagine what it would be like if ever the curse was lifted. And that we do. We imagine a world where magic is safe, without fear of any misfires or side effects. We imagine a time when prayers are answered in times of need and no misfortune accompanies the miracle manifested. We imagine a better life, not just because life is hard, but because we know that a better life once existed and can one day exist again.
Friends and strangers alike have scoffed at me for such optimistic sentiments. They argue the curse is as permanent a fixture as the sun in the noontime sky, as inescapable as water in the deeps of the ocean. That it is just the way things are, have always been, will always be. The academic among them posit that the Great Curse is simply a label we have assigned to the hardships of life, something for us to point to when we need a scapegoat for our own failings or a specific target at which to direct our anger when life seems most unfair.
I am old now and admittedly more jaded in my outlook today than when I first set out to wander the world. Yet the more I learn, the more dangers and wonders I behold that make me feel small and insignificant, the more I am convinced the Great Curse is not a convention of our own despair but a wedge driven between us and the life we are meant to live. Will we see it dislodged in our lifetime? Only time will tell, and only if more are swayed to believe it even possible.
You may wonder what this philosophical discourse has to do with a collection of geopolitical regions of the world. For what is this travelogue if not that? Yet it is more as well. It contains my ramblings, rumblings, and research. Clues to unraveling the mysteries of the world. Not that I have all the answers. On the contrary. That would assume I know all the questions, which I most certainly do not. What I do have is information, and while this book and these clues can serve as a guide, you must travel your own path, ask your own questions, and seek out the mysteries that matter most to you.
Notes, Maps, Sketches, and General Organization
While these travelogues are a collection of informal journey notes and sketches from my various wanderings and adventures, I have done my best to organize the content for each entry in as consistent a manner as possible.
Regions and Warlords
Kings, queens, governors, overlords, emperors…call themselves what they will, those that manage the state of affairs in regions far beyond their own households will only ever be warlords in my eyes. “For it takes war to make peace, and threat of war to keep the peace, though war be the furthest thing from peace a thing can be,” as the old adage goes. That isn’t to say some warlords are better at managing the peace than others, but to think of them as something other than they are is to forget the truth and risk becoming complacent, both to the dangers these warlords protect their people from and the danger the warlords themselves represent.
These notes then are organized by region and warlord and the dangers inherent therein. Of course not all is doom and gloom, and some of those more pleasant elements shall be highlighted here as well. In this way a region may be known and then avoided or approached with eyes wide open.
Tiers and Categories
Each region has a descriptive category, which gives an indication of the types of terrain and other features you can expect to encounter while traveling through it, as well as a tiered rating (0-4, with 4 being the highest), which measures how dangerous or challenging I consider the area to be. As an example, The Far Wastelands region is denoted as a “tier 4 blasted badlands” from which you could infer the region is extremely dangerous with dry, rocky terrain, limited sources of water and food, and likely home to a few particularly nasty creatures.
Wayfinding, Weather, and Wandering Monsters
Getting lost on purpose might be an exciting way to explore and familiarize yourself with unknown territory, but it is rarely the most effective or efficient way to travel from point A to point B (the mythical Maze of the Madatyr being a noted exception), and for some regions in particular, staying on track and maintaining your desired heading can mean the difference between survival and death. Likewise, knowing the types of weather and wildlife to expect, along with any other inhabitants that wander a region, can inform your preparations for travel to and through the region
For each regional entry, I have provided calculations (extrapolated as best I could from my own experiences) on the odds of encountering certain types of wayfinding obstacles, weather patterns, and creatures along the way. As to avoiding or overcoming these challenges, I leave that decision up to you, though where possible I have included details that, based on personal experience, should increase your chances of success either way.
Elder Domains
Many regions fall under the protection, jurisdiction, or dominion of a major or minor deity of Somna. Some are hotly contested battlegrounds of the same. And yet others seem abandoned by the gods altogether. And while many Somnans believe the Elder Children of Creation, the first and greatest of the gods, have left us to our own devices, I’ve seen evidence to the contrary in my travels. Wherever possible I’ve made a note of which of Elders (if any) have taken a particular interest in a given region.
And now I realize not every Somnan may have been exposed to the stories of creation nor be familiar with all the Elders, and so in my next essay I shall expound upon the subject to provide the needful context.
