animaworlds

[animaworlds]

Pre-Kansa stone carving

Anonymous writer, found in ancient Egseden river before it was terraformed.

Translated from PrePh(1) (O dialect).

BIG RAIN IN THE FUTURE(2)

We see a big rain. Our plants are too small.

If someone touches these words, the sky will be good.

Find our bodies.

Footnotes:

(1) PrePh: Pre-Pheoras writing system. Very scattered information can be found about these, but their pictographic nature and common glyphs in primitive versions of modern languages give some clues into their translation. The O dialect, found in the Agse, is most known and recognized by its tendency for "O" sounds(similar to modern Aplan script).

(2) Title line was written in larger, simpler text(approx. 1 body long) for easy reading from afar.

[animaworlds]

Snippet from the Apla Ple’on (central archives)

Written by anonymous(presumably Werrid) friend of a Ple'on member, in a public journal.

Translated from Werrid dialect of Aplan. Realia/Aplan-exclusive words will be annotated.

Today’s research brought me to think about ”death cities”.

If, by some chance, a foreigner is reading this, I will ask of anyone living in the Ogse(1) to contact me with any information on death cities in the area. Thank you in advance.

In Agse(2), there are two major examples of the phenomenon, yet they could not be more different. It brings one to question the vagueness of the term, and if there should be more of a distinction. I will explain it this way:

The more famous and populous death city in Agse is Epol, in the south. It has a population of roughly 1000. The inhabitants’ main occupations range from embalming, funeral managing and gravekeeping to the lowly affair of gravedigging and sharing bones. The city’s graveyard, which is situated around it in a sort of moat, spans almost triple of the former’s surface. Some would call the density of the graveyard disrespectful to the deceased, but I would advise them to remember that these people have been managing our graves for centuries, that the dead do not care for the space they take in the living world, and that if they want their grave on the highest mountain with the godly shrines, they should arrange it themselves.

I will circle back to the utmost wrongdoers in Epol; the gravediggers. To those unfamiliar(I will shift my gaze to the uneducated(3)), due to the amount of graves in the city, some people think it is acceptable to rob them of their occupants. Bones are most common, as they do not decompose and are greatly coveted for decoration and fine work; such is the case for the spine, skull and teeth. I have heard there is a rare but fruitful market in fresh corpses, as well, where organs and skins are the most valuable. Horns, hooves, and Werrid crystals are not sought after, perhaps because there is no need for them to be living, or perhaps because of an excess of existing supply. I would have thought that hooves could be used for certain cosmetics or medecines, but the uneducated must find use in more damning things.

I may have strayed from the original subject. Let me talk about Kensa.

In case anyone decides to think of me as some kind of glass-skinned frog(4), I will give this topic the due respect it deserves. Everyone fought, no matter how hard. No person should die an untimely death unless they call for it.

Kensa is, to put it clearly, a mass grave and nothing more. No one lives there. It was visited by Enos(5), then nothing anymore. I will not delve into the unnecessary details, because everyone is probably tired of hearing about them.

To call it a grave is kind. It is just a battlefield left to time. Nothing was built on the land since that was not there before. It is called a death city too, despite not being a city anymore. Perhaps it is named so as a form of reverence to its past form. A better term than “blood-stained land”, I would say.

After writing this, I have changed my mind about the suitability of the term “death city”. There are more important matters. I will nonetheless give this paper to you, in case one decides they have the time to investigate all this. Epe.(6)

Footnotes:

(1): Region comprised of Oxtrad and the southern half of the Egsede archipelago.

(2): Region comprised of Apla and the northern half of the Egsede archipelago.

(3): “the uneducated” in this expression in old Aplan refers to children. In post-Kensa Apla, the expression had come to be a sort of dogwhistle referring to Egsedens, who were heavily discriminated.

(4): Frog was a derogatory term toward Egsedens.

(5): “Ena” in Aplan -- God of blood and massacre.

(6): Colloquial expression of goodbye, shortened from “Epe’ěn espla”. literally translates to “have a harvest”.