Notes from Nochet from Tales of the Reaching Moon #10

More entries from Goliard’s Ten Thousand Gods of the East Isles…

[XXIX. 21-014.e] The lonely Isle of Pines is a beautiful place, inhabited by the handsomest people of all the East Isles. They live in idyllic splendour: the isle is ringed by golden sands, and the waters teem with fish and other sea bounty. The soil is rich, and the natives need hardly stir far from their huts to gather coconuts, breadfruits, loquats, yams and countless varieties of other produce (some which I have never encountered elsewhere). This island paradise is spoiled only by their twin deities Otu and his wife Mara, who in the six years between my visits, began feuding. Naturally enough, the males have sided with Otu; the females with Mara, causing no end of domestic disharmony and making my second stay on the Isle of Pines most unpleasant.

[XXIX. 21-014.f] The people of Cacama Cay have a most unusual godling, a purple-skinned infant born in pre-history. The nursing mothers of island take turns to nurture it, and report that over the last several generations it has begun to crawl. The god-child has a number of wondrous, yet trifling powers, but the people of Cacama predict a era of greatness for them when it reaches maturity. The infant has no official name, for children there are not named until they are weaned.

[XXIX. 21-014.g] Axayakt l, god of the Tizocmerenes, found himself being supplanted by the activities of missionaries from the Haragalan Commonwealth. In a jealous rage, Axayakt l brought terrible earthquakes upon the island, and boiled the lagoon until all the fish died. Chastened by their god, the people of Tizocmer drove out the missionaries and burned their temple. But because of their god’s intemperate acts, famine struck the island and when a Commonwealth fleet sailed against them, they were in no condition to resist. Tizocmer is now a slave nation under the lash of the Haragalans, and Axayakt l broods in his dead lagoon.

[XXIX. 21-014.h] Melekeok, the coral goddess of the Tamatam archipelago manifests annually as a…
[unfortunately, the remainder of this extremely lengthy section has been removed, by persons unknown. Divinations reveal the transcript, which contained another 1066 of Goliard’s descriptions of the Eastern Isles gods, has been destroyed. I call upon anyone who has read and can recall this section to assist me in its reconstruction. Theo. P.]

[XXIX. 21-015] There are three serviceable paths up to the Plateau of the Gods. Firstly, there is the Bloody Path (accessible from the desert) upon which the stones themselves bleed and groan. At the top there lives a curious tribe of chaos beings who bar the way to all those not of their kind. The second path is called the Upward Crack, it is a narrow crevice which starts just to the south of Only Safe. Near the top it is extremely rocky and perilous to climb, and troll-like things often roll boulders down on helpless climbers. The third path is called No Go, and its gradual ascent makes it the easiest to climb. However, at the top, the path is guarded by the castle of the Boggles, from which none have returned sane, or wholly intact.

[XXIX.21.016] The greatest city-cult in the world is said to be that of Tondiji, a city in the Pamaltelan land of Fonrit. Inside the city walls, even major cults such as Yelm are subservient to the Tondiji-god. So I was told by a traveller,who claimed to have been there. Columbus Mercator, grey sage.

[XXIX. 21-017] The Collator has asked us if we can recall any of the 1066 missing entries from Goliard’s Ten Thousand Gods of the East Isles. Here is one I can recall, verbatim: …of all the many and varied islands which make up this sprawling archipelago, perhaps Jawambo is one of the strangest. For this island, which was once highly populated, is now completely deserted. Although its buildings still stand, only jungle creatures inhabit them now. I found the reason for this mass exodus inscribed on the walls of Jawambo’s only temple: “We, who have listened to the wisdom of the Prophet from the Turquoise Waters, have been given an insight into the future of the world and leave our homes to walk beneath the clear waters so that we may help in the Battle for Genertela’s Heart.” Eudoxus, assistant deputy chief librarian.

[XXIX. 21-018] Another of 1066 missing entries of Goliard’s Ten Thousand Gods of the East Isles, recalled by Eudoxus, assistant deputy chief librarian: “Travellers wishing to move between the islands of the Ujokto chain should be wary of accepting offers from the Glaistyn, a magical water-horse which haunts these shores. It appears as a sleek, aquatic pony, offering its back to anyone seeking to cross between the islands. If the offer is accepted, it then plunges back into the water with its prey.”

[XXIX. 21-019] “In the realm of True Things, where all that was once existed, a great garden belonged to the sorcerer Jeneer. When Jeneer fell from the laws of Malkion, devils seized him, destroyed him, and and infested what remained. Later the Remaining Law killed the Devil’s body there. What was once Jeneer’s Garden is now called Preacks by its savage residents.” From the History of the Sins of Mortals, Nolos Cathedral of St. Talor.

[XXIX. 21-021] “The Doctrine of Indestructibility teaches us that the True From of things cannot be altered. Things may only be refined towards Purity, or Polluted away from it. As it is with the rebirth of souls, necessary for continued progress to a pure form across many lifetimes, it is actually a service to pagans to remove the accretion of impious experience with the world. Shorn of such pollution, their next incarnation may, at the Creator’s whim, allow true progress along Malkion’s path. Thus the tapping of pagans allows them faster return to their unpolluted form, and Union with Solace.” Archbishop Korlossen the Unknown, Commentaries on the Book of Galvost, 1239 S.T.

[XXIX. 21-022] “Those who heed not the Word of Malkion are no better than minions of the Devil. Draw the life force from them however you wish, for the Glory of your Will!” So saith Sorana the Leopardess, renegade Ralian sorcerer.

[XXIX. 21-025] If you are reading this, then I have finally succeeded. My name is unimportant, but my dire warning is. I speak of the return of the God Learners, for their foul seed lies within us all – and we must forget it! The language we call Tradetalk is their seed. Do not mock! Think! Is it not convenient that there is one language which all can speak, that reduces the problems of communication between nations across all of the continents, known and unknown? Is it not unnatural or unusual that while Tradetalk exists our own languages exist too? It is because it is, was, and will be, the language of the foul God Learners! It contains within it their secret – a secret which must not be known lest they return and the world be destroyed and Chaos reclaim all. I have warned the peddlers of this doom, the cults of Issaries and Etyries, but they paid me no heed, and their leaders have tried to poison and kill me to stop my warnings from reaching you. Can those cults be God Learner constructs too? My last chance before the assassins reach me is this book. We must forget Tradetalk, we must embrace our own languages again! Before it is too late..

[XXIX. 21-024] As the above entries attest, many Sages are naturally curious about the workings of sorcery. I must caution you against this interest, because in its own way sorcery is nearly as dangerous as chaos. Sorcerers study the rune of Law, that much is true. But where Sages of the Lord of Knowledge seek the lofty heights and intimate understanding of Law and Knowledge, sorcerers grasp the Rune like a pickaxe, and use it poorly, like some common tool to be forged, worked and ultimately discarded when no longer useful. This failing can be seen in the desperate clangour of their various sects; all claim to espouse “Malkion’s Truth”, but each is branded false by the others. Such is the result when the fundaments of Creation are suborned and mistreated by the material desires of ordinary men. Has this attitude not been shown barren by the God Learners? Consult Pantholin’s Fall of Jrustela for that answer! Paiglus the Philosopher, Priest of Lhankor Mhy.

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