#Lost City of Lyonesse

[joandelahaye]

Help Me Name My Next Book! Uncover the Secrets of the Lost Kingdom of Lyonesse! 🏰🗝️ Book Deals and Freebies Await! 🎉

Hello, my Freaky Darlings! Greetings from the somewhat less frigid arse-end of Africa. Well, we’ve managed to avoid any bizarre gas explosions this week—hooray for small victories! However, we can’t say the same for the protest actions sprouting up all over the place, with burning tires and emergency service providers playing hide-and-seek with danger. It’s like watching a real-life game of cat…

[birdmitosis]

Fanmix-slash-playlist for Slay the Princess! Song list under the cut. There’s 96 songs on this fanmix/playlist, and it’s about 6 and a half hours long.

Some of the songs were not available on Spotify, and they will be linked to on YouTube below. (Some artists have 2 songs on the playlist; aeseaes, The Crane Wives, and Hozier each have 3 because they were just too perfect. Also, some songs are definitely on here because of other people's fanvids or even just suggestions, and I've made note of and credited all of those!) (All fanmixes/playlists are a perpetual WIP.)

aeseaes - All Things Devour

aeseaes - Semantics

aeseaes - Tongues

AG - Terrible Thing

t h e . a i m s - Violence & Blood

Alanis Morissette - Everything (friend suggestion)

Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra - Trout Heart Replica

Amber Run - I Found

The Amazing Devil - The Horror and the Wild

The Amazing Devil - That Unwanted Animal

Andrew Bird - Imitosis

AURORA - Your Blood

Baby Storme - This City is a Graveyard

Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You

Beth Crowley - Monster

Blindside - Withering

Bring Me the Horizon - Deathbeds

Camera Obscura - Fifth in Line to the Throne

Chonny Jash - The Soul Eclectic (inspiration)

City and Colour - Little Hell

Coldplay - The Hardest Part

Coldplay - Square One

Collective Soul - The World I Know

The Crane Wives - Curses

The Crane Wives - Hollow Moon (inspiration)

The Crane Wives - Tongues & Teeth

Crystal Castles - Suffocation (inspiration)

David Bowie - Changes

The Echoing Green - Starling

Electric President - Some Crap About the Future

Elizabeth & the Catapult - Do Not Hang Your Head

Elizabeth & the Catapult - My Goodbye

Ellie Goulding - Salt Skin

Eurielle - Hate Me

The Feeling - Mr Grin

Florence + The Machine - Kiss With a Fist

Florence + The Machine - What the Water Gave Me

Forgive Durden - A Dead Person Breathed on Me!

Foxtails Brigade - Long Route

Foxtails Brigade - Nun but the Lost

Ghost and Pals - DEATHBODY

Ghost and Pals - In Iolite

Hannah Fury - Angels & Absinthe

Howie Day - Collide

Hozier - Francesca

Hozier - In the Woods Somewhere

Hozier - Who We Are

Jack Conte - Kitchen Fork (inspiration)

The Jezabels - Hurt Me

Jhariah - Flight of the Crows

Kate Nash - Paris

Kiltro - Softy

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Magenta Mountain

lasah - taixu (inspiration)

Lisa Hannigan - Oh Undone

Little Dragon - Twice

The Lord Dog Bird - The Shedding Path

Ludo - The Horror of Our Love

Madilyn Mei - Knotted Constellations

MGMT - Little Dark Age

Michelle Branch - Everywhere

Mili (feat. KIHOW) - In Hell We Live, Lament

Mirah - You've Gone Away Enough

The Mountain Goats - No Children (inspiration)

The Mountain Goats - Sudden Oak Death

Mr.Kitty - After Dark

múm - Prophecies & Reversed Memories

The Nor'easters - 715 — CRΣΣKS (inspiration)

Olivier Bibeau - Better Run, Better Hide

Passion Pit - Seaweed Song

PEGGY - Villains Aren't Born (They're Made)

Perfectly Human - Bad As

Perfectly Human - Fly Again

Racoon - Took a Hit

Reinaeiry - When the Sun Loves the Moon

Ricky Montgomery - This December

RIProducer - Fruiting Bodies

RIProducer - What Gave It Away?

Sarah Blasko - Bird on a Wire

Satin Puppets - Bad Moon Rising

Seeming - Someday Lily

Sharon Van Etten - It's Not Like

Shayfer James - Boots Worn Through (inspiration)

Sleeping At Last - Mind

Sleeping At Last - Taste

SNAKE POOL - FIGURE IN THE BACKGROUND (inspiration)

Snow Patrol - Open Your Eyes

Solas Composer - He Who Devoured the Dark II

Southwest Statistic - Fairy Tale (friend suggestion)

Stars - He Dreams He's Awake

Subsignal - The Bells of Lyonesse (inspiration)

Sunset Rubdown - For the Pier (and Dead Shimmering)

Talking Heads - And She Was

Trespassers William - I Know

TV on the Radio - Stork & Owl

Woodkid - Ghost Lights

[graywitcharania]

A letter to Lyonesse

'' Dearest Kings of Lyonesse, The Lycans from the north have invaded our city and have taken the castle. We lost all contact from our Princess, rumor has it that Ulfur, son of their Warchief, has taken her hostage. As one of her Majesty's generals and cousin, I'm afraid his true intentions go beyond conquering Antireach. He might set foot on your doorstep next. I call out to you for aid, praying this letter may reach you in time. The wolfs have completely taken over our city, myself and our men are considered outlaws and are either captured or into hiding within the lower parts of the city. Follow the Ravens. Sincerely, Prince Cailean Lasair Ash of Antireach -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Story - Rise from the Ashes Written by me and Goddessart10 Please don't copy or use this writing as your own, Thankyou.

[texaxwib]

The lost city of Atlantis has never been found. El Dorado, the legendary city of gold, has also never been found. Lyonesse is the home country of Tristan, in Arthurian legend. Supposedly it's at the bottom of the sea. Some lost cities have actually been found. But they weren't really lost. It's just that they were forgotten. Learn more: cmoneyspinner1tf.substack.com/p/sharing-my-fascination-with-lost-20-02-03 #History

[mleighsquickspot]

Lyonesse

A place of legend, home of a love story for the ages

Now named a "Lost Land", swept away by rising tides and many moons

Where does the legend end and the truth begin on such a place thought very much to be veiled in truth

Quite a large place, keeper of many village's

Suddenly as like that of pom pae, it was simply swallowed by the waves

The entire are lost, animals and people drowned

Once taken, the sea never gave anything of it back to future man

Once thought to be a lost isle if Scily, what's was lost will never be found

Such a fate invoke a variety thoughts and emotional reverence

A lost city based very much in truth, truth based very much in ancient past

Image: ancient city lost to the sea pics

Let me know what you think and pass the thought along.

[introvertedgeeksworld]

A Concept:

So there's all these myths and legends about different lost cities right? The most commonly known like El Dorado (Lost City of Gold) and Atlantis. But then there's ones like the Lost City of Z (zed), the Lost City of Aztlan, the Lost Land of Lyonesse, and the Lost Desert Cities of Dubai, (maybe there's others)...

So what if these, all of these, are really one ancient city, that no one has ever found. Guys storytelling used to be really different. Before things started getting written down it was all oral, and when a story is told over and over it tends to get embellished.

So what if there were groups of people that migrated away from this city or knew of it, and when they went back to their lands/homes told stories about it. And that's how there came to be these myths/legends about different lost cities but it's really just one city...

[whitewingedcrow]

A couple of maps, where I live in perpetual salt because there’s PROBABLY a much more reasonable way to do this but I just did them by hand because I’m a masochist or something (while still trying to match the style of wonderdraft maps). The cities of Lyonesse and Ys, enduring even in Old World mythology as fabled ‘lost lands’, live on within Genesis as thriving mage cities. They’re well-known as centers of light and learning, and would-be apprentices travel here from the length and breadth of the hidden world in hopes of showing enough magical aptitude to be taken in by a mage circle.

[bgpportfolio]

Tales of Aeora 1.6

🔷  Link

"An Analysis of Medeva’s poem, ‘Phrixus and Helle,’ in Relation to the Formation, and Orbit, of the Early Moons of Aeora”

By Thomas Apollinus, a member of the Society of Alchemists

Published in 622 A.D.

Summary

   "The following article attempts to reconcile the debate over whether or not Medeva had access to information regarding the formation, and evolution, of the early moons of Aeora (Phrixus and Helle). There is a modern-day belief that Medeva had access to secret knowledge through her mother, Luna, and the other gods. We argue, however, that Medeva had access to exclusive records on time-reckoning, through the Society of Alchemists, and that she used complex metaphors to describe relationships that she perceived in the natural world. Unfortunately, Medeva’s advanced metaphors (and perception of the world) led many to believe that she was not entirely mortal."

Article

Contemporary scholars wonder to what extent the ancients knew about the rotation, and formation, of the moons and planets in our solar system. When “Phrixus and Helle” was written by Medeva, sometime Before the Destruction (BD), ancient astronomers relied on three methods of calculating a year – one lunar, one solar, or a hybrid depending on the civilization. The country in which Medeva lived is unknown, but historical evidence indicates that it rested somewhere between the ancient empires of Kemet and Valentia (1). The system of time reckoning for both of these civilizations is beyond the scope of this essay, but it should suffice to say that Kemet relied (primarily) on a lunar calendar while Valentia dated their months according to the sun (2). Claims by Medeva, and her supporters, that the poem was presented to her by the spirits of the two moons – Phrixus and Helle – has prevailed into modern theological discourse. However, it seems far more likely that the poem was written using the knowledge of time calculations of the Kemetian and Valentian empires, as well as Medeva’s own knowledge concerning the formation of the moons based on her study of her former husband’s research.

The structure of the poem indicates that Medeva had some knowledge about the orbit of the moons, but to what extent is still debated. For example, each stanza is introduced by the name of a season associated with the solar year. Scansion of the poem’s form and meter, however, indicates that each stanza is made up of thirty feet of either iambs or trochees (depending on the season) plus a triplet of twenty feet at the end, or 140 feet in the entire poem, which suggests that Medeva refers to a lunar year in her work (which is comprised of 140 months and begins with the total eclipse known, to the ancients, as the Morte Kalendis — described in line 24). Her follower’s assertions that the poem was a revelation sent by Phrixus and Helle are completely unfounded; still, there is clear indication that Medeva was aware of the months in a lunar year and that they were somehow related to the seasons.

During Medeva’s lifetime, there were several groups who devised calendars based on the phases of the sun and the three moons. Many of the early calendars, specifically those in Kemet and Valentia, influenced our own modern systems of time reckoning. In the temples of the Khonsu, in Karnak (where Medeva is rumored to have visited), ancient astronomers began their lunar year at the day of total eclipse (2). Furthermore, the Society of Alchemists started to observe the orbit of the moons and developed our modern system of date-keeping. Jason would have been aware of these developments and might have shared them with his wife, or Medeva might have stolen the information from her husband’s library when she fled the country. The poem could have been written sometime after her flight since the final couplet references a “paper boat” (lines 27-28). Due to the discoveries of her husband, and the Khonsu, Medeva could have been aware of the number of times Luna orbited the earth in one rotation of Phrixus (being 140 or the number of months in a lunar year). Rather than a vision transmitted by the gods, it seems more likely that Medeva wrote poetry inspired by the early scientific discoveries of astronomers such as her husband.

The records Jason kept, translated for generations by the Society of Alchemists, describe Medeva as a sorceress who didn’t reveal her true identity until years into their marriage. On the night that she was sentenced to prison, she fled her country on a boat across the Seventh Sea – stealing several rare and valuable documents from the organization archives before she left (4). Although Jason never wrote about the conclusion with his ex-wife, historical records (see the letters of various pirates off the coast of Elithrea) suggest that she traveled toward the coast of Kemet where she settled with the Khonsu. Scientists speculate that Medeva brought the records of Jason the Astronomer with her, transplanting them on the eastern continent and in the hands of Khonsu priests and priestess (thus adding to their own research concerning the movement of the moons).

There are some documents that make it appear as if Medeva had access to information about how the solar system was formed, however this has been pure speculation. Her assertion that Phrixus “burned as punishment, thick band of ash and sulfur tore apart the sky” (lines 11-12) and that before this a “grey light, reflected, showed” (lines 1-3) demonstrates that Medeva believed that the moon, Phrixus, was not always the swirling red and black that we see today. Modern science has revealed that, before a stellar collision in our moon’s past, Phrixus would have looked like a small Luna or (more likely) a large Helle. It is likely that several large impacts from a period of heavy bombardment pummeled the moon, causing its surface to rupture and spew magma, as well as form lengthy volcano ranges – leaving behind the burning, smoky atmosphere that we witness today (3). However, the Society of Alchemists weren’t even aware of this fact during Jason’s lifetime, and it is not clear how Medeva knew as much as she did about Phrixus’ ancient past. Scientists hypothesize that the asteroids and meteors that caused Phrixus’ crust to shatter occurred before the evolution of life, and is therefore put forward by zealots as evidence that Medeva was in communication with the gods. Such assertions give too much credit to Medeva’s artistic comparison between Phrixus and the moon, Luna. It would not have been a stretch for her to imagine Phrixus, especially if he were as personable as she suggests, having once looked like one of the other moons.

Another problematic piece of evidence — Medeva claims, at first glance in accordance with modern scientific discourse, that after he burned Phrixus “called his twin flame,” Helle (line 13). It is known that Helle and Phrixus were formed together during a probable collision between Aeora and a large stellar body billions of years ago, making them “twins” in a sense. It is likely, however, that Helle received a large portion of ice from Phrixus during the most recent period of heavy bombardment – causing its current, oceanic appearance. Once again, modern philosophers are baffled by how Medeva could have known these facts but the answer is simple: she didn’t know them. The description of Helle being summoned by Phrixus is a reference to their (obviously) dependent relationship in space. If zealots would peer more closely into Medeva’s work, they would note that her poetics are not a revelation but a metaphorical analysis of what she perceived in the night sky coupled with the knowledge she stole from early astronomers. The “mysterious” methods by which she obtained this knowledge was not divine or visionary, but a byproduct of human reflection on the natural world.

The author hopes that this article will dispel the assertions that Medeva was linked to a divine world and reveal, instead, that the ancients were more aware of their natural world than we used to believe. The relics found in Valentia, such as the Antikythra, as well as the records of the Khonsu, indicate that early man was more adept at time calculation than we previously thought. There is no evidence that Medeva was connected to a divine agent, or that she was aware of astronomical patterns and events, before the observations of the Society of Alchemists. Like the “lost cities of Yis and Lyonesse” (lines 9-10) that she describes in her poem, any “evidence” to the contrary is a fantastical and unsupported conclusion derived from the whims of a hopeful, new-age delusion.

Additional Sources

Mythologies of the Anantian People, Polek Helena (598 A.D.)

Ancient Calendars of Kemet, Timot the Builder (474 A.D.)

Modern Thought on the Destruction, Hiratio Derus (603 A.D.)

Analyzing Ancient Mythologies, Stephan Mendac (615 A.D.)

[nessie-rp]

LYONESSE, founded in the 11th century, stands as a testament to the power of interspecies collaboration. When an ancient sea giant began to terrorize coastal villages in Cornwall, the druid and prophet Myrddin Wyllt — known to the modern age as Merlin — gathered a company of mages, knights, fae, and, to the surprise of many, the exiled Laestrygonian queen consort, Psamia. Their combined might brought down the giant but not before the giant, Cormoran, tried to escape to the realm from whence he came: a pocket between this dimension and the next, ruled by concentrated and capricious magical energy. Trapped in this realm, the unlikely company had to work together once more to return to the world they knew, eventually using parts of the slain giant’s body to create portals back to the mortal world.

This success did not mark the end for the company. Mortal and magical beings alike were drawn to this new realm and, seeing on the horizon a kingdom unlike any that had before risen, Myrddin Wyllt made a proposition to the rest. From those magical creatures most drawn to the giant’s grave, the Hallowed Council was born, and from the mortals who fought alongside them came the keepers of the gates. Hidden from the mortal world, Lyonesse rose as a joint effort where people of all species could work together to build a place where old feuds and misunderstandings could be laid to rest, more and more beings seeking refuge and opportunity there as mankind forgot the old ways and sought a facade of control over their fate.

The city was once confined by the gatewall, but population growth had settlements quickly spilling over the old boundaries to the lands around. With Llyn Lothian to the north, the Morroi Forest to the east, and hills and ridges just beyond its southern farmland, the spires and towers of the most industrial parts of the city cannot overshadow its connection to nature. Split into eleven recognized districts, Lyonesse is now a thriving metropolis of more than six million residents.

◇ THE GATES ◇ As old as the city itself, the gate system is the only way to breach the wards that contain Lyonesse. Eleven portals were built out of the bones from Cormoran’s severed arm, seven in the walls of the city itself and two on the shores of Llyn Lothian. The city’s magic hides it away from the mortal world, but the gates connect the two in more ways than one.

Each gate is protected by a collection of human families with at least one Gatekeep tasked with the operation and guardianship of the gate at both points of entry — within the city and in the mortal world. It is said that Merlin entrusted the first gate — the largest and southernmost, located between Southwyk and Mellaltizi — to Trystan, though the original histories of the Gatekeeps were confused and lost after a library fire in 1686. Lyonesse was never created to shun the human world entirely, you see: collaboration between magical and non-magical peoples was ensured when Merlin bestowed this responsibility on mere mortals. Over the years, many have questioned this decision, but only humans with ancestry connecting them to the Gatekeeps of old have the ability to activate the gates.

Knowledge of the gates is one of the best kept secrets in the world — less social magical beings can go their entire lives without ever hearing of the city at all. (Popular opinion about this isolationism varies widely.) That being said, the law states that no magical being can be barred from the land, so anyone who learns about the city may journey there.

Gate travel is unlike other forms of teleportation, more taxing on the body and the spirit due to the barrier keeping Lyonesse in its own plane. Some experience it instantaneously, others lose hours in the mists between worlds. Both ends of the portal are heavily guarded. Upon arriving in the city, those who have never travelled there before must register regardless of if they are visiting, relocating, or seeking refuge. Blood is drawn by a mage in order to assign a branch to all those who enter the city and prevent magical tampering, though this system is far from infallible.

Gates are shown on the map above as diamonds along the city walls. They lead to the following mortal cities:

Buenos Aires, Argentina Cape Town, South Africa Edinburgh, Scotland Jakarta, Indonesia Lima, Perú London, England New Orleans, United States Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Shanghai, China St. Petersburg, Russia Toronto, Canada

[iliveinmyblanket]

Check out Adoni Davine and the Sword of Daylight on Tapas

Hey guys, I was bored and I started making a comic, it's mainly just for improving my art so sorry if the drawing is a little questionable, but if you want to check it out you can. There's currently two chapters up.

[epic-summaries]

I love the reasons I’m giving to give this character a Pokémon.

It could be

Duh, Decidueye is Robin Hood. Look at him!

It fits a theme, like with Bedwyr’s team.

They had the animal this Pokémon is based off of as a pet in one legend, Owain with Murkrow.

I think it fits their personality, Blaziken and Kay.

Look at this Pokémon entry! Look at this Pokélore! Manectric and Owain.

In their legends they fought this monster and this Pokémon reminds me of that monster. And for some reason Tyranitar reminds me of Grendel’s mom. Also I find it hilarious a little Larvitar is killing huge Nordic men.

The Disney version Friar Tuck is badger, so Typhlosion.

I like this Pokémon and it vaguely fits this character and the story I have for them, Dragalge and Morgause (which still might change).

It represents the sunken city of Lyoness, so yes the haunted seaweed Pokémon is the souls of the dead of his lost kingdom, Tristan and Dhelmise.

[neptunerune]

Lost City

***reading on lost cities like Lyonesse, Ys and Atlantis got me thinking about untold stories and volumes of literature

@neptunerune, #1992: Lost City, Chapter 57: Algos

[texaxwib]

Atlantis is not the only lost city. Want to know about more lost cities? It's fascinating!

The lost city of Atlantis has never been found. El Dorado, the legendary city of gold, has also never been found. Lyonesse is the home country of Tristan, in Arthurian legend. Supposedly it's at the bottom of the sea. Some lost cities have actually been found. It's just that they were forgotten. I have a fascination with lost cities and ancient civilizations.

Do you find stories or legends about lost cities and ancient civilizations fascinating?

♦♦♦

5 Lost Cities: From the ancient homeland of the #Aztecs, to jungle cities of gold and riches, we examine five legendary lost cities that have never been found; including El Dorado. https://t.co/GBWO1vjWCx via @flipboard #legends #lostcities (@FoxMarks_ATX) January 30, 2020

♦♦♦

Archaeologists Claim to have Discovered the Biblical City of Sodom | https://t.co/JmbK4hDElO via @flipboard ~ This claim probably won't be substantiated. Pretty sure the destruction according to the Bible was meant erase all traces. But! ... might find other unexpected treasures.(@cmoneyspinner) January 30, 2020

♦♦♦

● Riddle Me This. Why Do Most People Search for #Atlantis and not for Ophir? The land of Ophir mentioned in the Bible has never been found. King Solomon sent ships to this city to bring back algum trees, gold, and precious stones. https://t.co/jAXWfBoMCA #lostcities #ancient pic.twitter.com/s1Ql74Z1bT(@FoxMarks_ATX) January 30, 2020

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Using cutting-edge LIDAR technology and AR, @ExplorerAlbert is able to map what Ciudad Perdida looked like during its prime. #LostCities — Nat Geo Channel (@NatGeoChannel) October 29, 2019

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"#LostCities are funny places; belief in their existence only seems to increase when no one can find them." Another great new @Forbes-#science article by @DSAArchaeology:https://t.co/uQNlHNM2P0— Jens Notroff (@jens2go) May 1, 2019

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Death Valley Mysteries The classic book from the 1930s, Death Valley Men, spoke of an underground city below #DeathValley. According to Paiute legend, this city is called Shin-au-av, a name meaning “God’s Land,” or perhaps “Ghost Land.” #LostCities https://t.co/VkDPgHalky— Denver Michaels (@_denvermichaels) January 26, 2020

♦♦♦

“#Lostcities are cities that have been built by different #empires during the course of #history and subsequently abandoned and forgotten for long.” Learn about the “10 Most Beautiful Lost Cities” https://t.co/qLn3TO74r2 (@FoxMarks_ATX) January 31, 2020

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34 Lost Cities Forgotten by Time (with Photos & Map) - Touropia https://t.co/KcB9b0b0P6 List includes #Carthage, #Troy, #Babylon, ancient cities in #Pakistan, #Thailand, #Zimbabwe, and a preserved Stone Aged village located in Skara Brae. #history #ancientcivilizations (@FoxMarks_ATX) January 31, 2020

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"6 Lost cities found underwater around the world" ~ https://t.co/4XqbLbmYqV CIties found in #India, #Jamaica, #Greece, #Argentia, #Japan and #China. " ~ Images: China’s Lion City; Port Royal, Jamaica; and Pyramids of Yonaguni Jima - Japan. (@FoxMarks_ATX) January 31, 2020

♦♦♦ Do you know any more stories or legends about lost cities?

[theirprophecy]

♛ @fovghtabear

         riley liked to think he’d been put on some massive top secret mission, when really, he was the only one who knew about. he found himself in cornwall, in search of the lost city of lyonesse. it is said that it was buried at the bottom of the sea thousands of years ago. he was going to find it, regardless, he would search the entire ocean if he had to. luckily for riley, he was already great at finding things that had been lost for a very long time. he tightened his messenger bag around his shoulder & headed towards the nearest town, where rumours of a lost city were spreading. he found himself chatting away to a man behind a desk in the inn he was residing in for the time being. the man spoke of treasures & monsters that were apparently dragged under the ocean with the city.  ❝ —- well, wish me luck, man. the next time i come back here, i’ll have found the city. ❞ he was cocky, but he knew he was that good.   

[baphall]

Factions in the Endless Sea

Factions in the Endless Sea

The problem with the Factions in play in the Endless Sea is that, unlike the Factions in Cambria, they’re much more local.

The rulers of Lyonesse or Iram of the Pillars or Baochuan or Ravenser Odd – whoever they might be – are going to be factions. The various thieves or political advisors or merchants or magicians are also going to be factions. The refugees from the lost city of Ys are probably a…

[underachievers-please-try-harder]

Interview // Gwenno

I interviewed Gwenno Saunders for 7digital.

Having won the Welsh Music Prize for your debut, the reception must have surpassed your expectations?

Oh yeah, that was a massive shock. I’ve been making music for a really long time in different guises and me and my husband [Rhys Edwards] moved back to Wales and just got stuck in with what was going on Cardiff and across Wales musically. And I was rediscovering a lot of things that I grew up with. So the motivation for making [Y Dydd Olaf] was just making something that didn’t already exist.

That’s a real advantage of working in Welsh and Cornish – when you have a language that fewer people use you’ve got to make your own entertainment, and so your motivation for creating things is because they don’t exist. It’s a really natural, DIY approach to making music in general; you’re having to create content because it’s not there. And so, the fact that the album was taken up by Heavenly Recordings was such a massive added bonus. So when I was thinking about the second album I tried to remember all those motivations so I would make the right decisions. I was creating purely for myself. I’ve always wanted to make a Cornish record and so the first album gave us an opportunity to do that.

The final song on Y Dydd Olaf was in Cornish so this album does feel like a natural continuation.

Yeah, it was almost a deliberate thing. It hit home, like, “Oh god, that’s what I’ve got to do.” As far as inspirations like that – where you’re compelled to do something – it’s quite scary because obviously on paper it doesn’t look like the most naturally popular option. Because if someone’s willing to put your record out, I’m sure you can feel pressured to release something that you think the most amount of people would like. But then you’re probably imagining people that aren’t there so you might as well just concentrate on doing something that’s exciting to you.

Can you tell us about your relationship with the Cornish language?

My dad was brought up in Cornwall, so we spoke Cornish to my dad and Welsh to my mum. So when I actually went to Cornwall to visit my dad’s friends, they would all be Cornish speakers so I actually thought a lot more people spoke Cornish than did. I had a son in the period after my first album and started speaking Cornish to him, so I really just started taking ownership over something that I’d been given that was a bit of an anomaly and something that I hadn’t been fully able to explore geographically. I wanted to form my own narrative in the language, like, “Oh well here’s how I express myself through Cornish.” And also I was getting excited by meeting a lot more Cornish speakers, independently of my family.

How big is the community of Cornish speakers?

They say there are between 500 and 1000 fluent speakers and then there are 1000 or more that can understand phrases and have basic conversations. But it’s constantly growing and I love that about it. I’ve realised that I get excited about exploring the points of view that are less known or less familiar in general. You know, there’s this language that people don’t even know exists, and I’ve lived my life in this language fully. How brilliant is that? It’s worth celebrating, because the fact it exists at all is incredible, you know?

In terms of the structure of the Cornish language, does it allow nuance of expression that you couldn’t replicate in other languages?

Oh completely. Also, the Cornish language had a real renaissance at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. There was an artist called Robert Morton Nance, and he really started getting [the language] going, because up until that point people were looking at the language as something just to be documented. And the botanist Edward Lluyd too – a lot of people documented the language and phrases that were still hanging around. But then there was this conscious effort in the early 20th century, reflecting a lot of the Celtic revival that was happening in general. And obviously that came from Art Noveau and the Arts and Crafts movement of the period, because of this mass industrialisation.

So anyway, a lot of the phrases and the words were from miracle plays that were written pre-Reformation, which really excited me because there’s a strong medieval element to the language that I speak, even though I’m using it in the context of the modern world. It was exciting thinking of all the people that were speaking Cornish in the 13th century.

What are the challenges of communicating in a language that so few people speak?

I personally felt particularly fortunate, because in my creative relationship with Rhys I’ve obviously dictated what the album is sonically to an extent, but he has produced the album and engineered it, and Rhys conjures up and creates a sonic landscape. It’s a really exciting way of communicating because you’re just creating a world that you can get lost in, and so it becomes about the music. My motivating factors aren’t really that important to the listener because it’s all there to be interpreted. I think there’s something quite nice about not understanding the lyrics because people can just get lost in it. It becomes more subconscious rather than something where you’re really listening out for a word or whatever.

Were there any reference points for the record?

Yeah, well we’d been listening to Bo Hansson, this Swedish 70s prog artist, and to Alan Stivell, who’s a Breton artist. He’s a harpist, and a bit more new-agey. And Clannad. And Brenda Wootton was a massive influence as well. But a lot of these were things that I’d been brought up with and that I’d rejected, by just being a teenager going, “Right, I’m going to find something really synthetic and horrible just to react against the organic, folky, rustic feeling of music.” So it was about coming back round and really connecting with that music.

I wasn’t brought up on Anglo-American popular culture at all. Like, extremely not. I wasn’t allowed to watch English television – which was stupid – so I had no idea about English bands for a long time. And I definitely rejected that when I was younger, but now I quite like that because it’s a different narrative, and another expression of living in Britain.

The album title Le Kov translates from the Cornish as “the place of memory”. What’s the story behind that?

Well, it’s an oddity really that I’m a Cornish speaker and I live in Wales, even though historically there are strong connections between Welsh and Cornish. They come from the same strain of Celtic languages. I’ve always been brought up in cities or lived in cities, so my experience of Cornish was quite different to if I’d lived in Cornwall, which is quite a rural place. So I was then thinking about how to contextualise it.

I started reading about Lyonesse, which is just past St Michael’s Mount, off the west coast of Cornwall. There’s a legend that there was a land there where King Arthur lived, and then it sunk under the sea. And then there was another story that on the north coast of Cornwall there was this city called Langarrow which was a state that got drowned because it was too debauched. So there are a series of stories of sunken cities within the Celtic world. And I was like, “Brilliant, my city! That’s where I live!”

I wanted to imagine this place where it was a utopia where everyone spoke Cornish; a place where this record could exist because it didn’t exist in the real world because my experiences of Cornish were an oddity. I was reading Situationist texts that imagined a city where people didn’t have to work anymore and it would just be a place for pleasure. That’s what Le Kov is: it’s a city that’s accepting of everyone just existing and being happy.

My last record was very dystopian and I wanted to react to that. So instead of imagining a future which is awful – which we’re kind-of living in right now – maybe there’s room to imagine somewhere really warming and beautiful and loving, which is actually my own experiences of the Cornish community. Hence why there are songs about cheese on the album. (Laughs) There are highs and lows obviously, but I just wanted to have a sense of celebration as well.

You tackle Brexit on ‘Herdhya’. Obviously Brexit is something that Cornwall did overwhelmingly vote for despite the fact they stand to lose out economically. That’s an interesting juxtaposition, don’t you think?

So many factors were influential in why things turned out the way they did. A lot of it has to do with the existential crisis that the UK is going through anyway. Right now the UK is like that awful person at the party who’s not willing to deal with their own problems so they’re just getting really, really drunk and embarrassing instead. (Laughs)

Obviously, we’re all responsible for that, but I think there is an awesome opportunity creatively to have different conversations. I enjoy having creative conversations that don’t seem confrontational. I mean, I don’t have the ability to write a Brexit album, talking about how awful it is and the bureaucratic practicalities and the bad media and all of that. But I think there is quite an exciting opportunity to raise different points about why so many of us have influenced the negative outcome, and the motivation behind that.

I adore history and I think a lot of the right wing rhetoric is that England in the Middle Ages was just English, which obviously has never been the case because we’ve always been incredibly multicultural. So I just felt this was a way of expressing that creatively and celebrating Cornwall’s international-ness. And people aren’t taught their own local history in school, because there is this dominant narrative which is propaganda, tied to an empire that doesn’t exist anymore. For example, I didn’t even know Henry VIII was of Welsh descent through my teaching at school, which explains a lot to me about the way Welsh history panned out.

But with you addressing those ideas in Cornish, Le Kov never feels didactic.

Absolutely! And that’s the thing! Because having this conversation, that’s why I feel really lucky and excited to do what I do. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t put it into music. It really is about escapism as much as it is about confronting ideas. That’s what’s so amazing about music; it works on such a subconscious level that you get lost in it and it’s much more pleasant than having a conversation, almost.