A Journey Amended in Delta City - The Journal of Anther Strein

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The Journal of Anther Strein

Observations from a Travelling Naturalist in a Fantasy World

Written by Lachlan Marnoch
with Illustrations by Nayoung Lee

 
 

Moonsday 16th of Corper, 787 AoC
Badaharbour, Delta City
A Journey Amended in Delta City

With the new part successfully installed – a secretive affair to which we were not allowed to bear witness - our journey downstream continued apace. The various branches of the bayou re-combined into the river's single fantastic trunk, and then divided once more as it streamed into the Great Delta. Seabirds began to appear overhead; the rainforest’s eucalypts, palms and raintrees gave way gradually to mangrove, and mangrove then to kelp forest and open ocean. It is into this vast body of water, the West Spine Ocean, that the Veduka River finally pours, but not before filtering through the islands of the Great Delta. Such is the force of this outpouring that, for much of the year, the waters remain unsalted for some distance, and are visible long before land to vessels approaching from the northeast. Such ships often use the muddied water to guide their way to Delta Harbour. Assisting in this task are the great light-towers of Delta City, one of which I sit in the shadow of while writing these words.

Delta Kingdom occupies the hundreds of islands that make up its namesake, the river delta at the Veduka River's terminus. Delta City stands strung between three of these – Ocean Island, River Island and Delta1 Island. Island. On the north-eastern tip of Ocean Island, Badaharbour points seaward and is used by ocean vessels, while the smaller Kangharbour occupies the southern end of River Island, open to rivercraft. The most significant port in all the Paluchard Kingdoms, Delta City is the gateway between the Veduka River, along with its many tributaries, and the Spine Ocean, and with it the entire coast of Proesus and beyond. Here cargo from across the Rainforest, carried on the flow of the River, is traded outward toward every seaport on the continent; the riverships, meanwhile, embark upriver laden with foreign goods, in high demand by the inland states. Other Paluchard Kingdoms have made grabs for the valuable Delta harbours in the past, but any resulting dominion has failed to endure beyond a few years. Especially compared to the mammoth Swamplands not so far upriver, tiny Delta has always wielded disproportionate power over the region.

Prentis and I said our farewells to the Wise Proverb and her captain, ship and Paluchard accepting the parting with a similar apathy. After disembarking in Kangharbour, the two of us made as directly as possible for Badaharbour. Our journey was facilitated by the broad, well-paved highway connecting the two harbours, upon which a steady flow of carts passes in either direction, laden with goods of every description and hauled by elari and gambuk. Here, the king of Delta leverages his position quite astutely--every one of these carts is rented to interested merchants by the state, it being illegal to carry one’s own goods between the harbours. Perhaps this, and other tariffs of the sort, account for the state-of-the-art navy decorating the nation’s waterways. To the king's credit, the fleet of wheeled transports is well-maintained, and includes a number of carriages, both private and omnibus, for personal transportation. For a small fee, one of the latter sort conveyed us through Delta City, across the bridge connecting the River and Ocean islands, and to our destination in Badaharbour.

Delta City consists largely of the stifling noise, gritty heat, questionable scent and overstimulating motion found in any metropolis, but amplified substantially above that found in Bayou, Kaagmester or Arcing--and, to be quite fair, in substantially better repair. Although each of those other cities has some economic importance, none of them are quite so prosperous as this seaside metropolis. It reminds one, in its vociferous swarming, of a beehive, only possessing far less underlying order, and being far less interesting to watch. Still, some measure of peace may be found at the headlands of Badaharbour.

A pair of light-towers stand here, at either end of the harbour, while a third completes the triangle on a much smaller island to the north-east. They are, it must be admitted, quite impressive among Paluchard works, being among the tallest structures still standing in Proesus. Their design, cunningly wrought from granite, recalls sketches I have seen of the purported ship-burning Beam Tower of ancient Antithetus – a redolence, although reduced in scale, that is no doubt deliberate. Why such a feat was necessary when an arrangement of more conventional scale would have quite sufficed is unclear, but I suppose hearts and minds must have something to do with it. All that tithe money must go somewhere, and one can only build so many warships. I write these words in the shade of the northern tower, having enjoyed a pleasant climb along the winding paths, enclosing which a natural environment has been allowed to remain, to the promontory summit. Not particularly caring to see any more of the city, I retreated here after my visit to the wharfs – a visit which brooks some retelling!


In brief, I have found passage to Forum, on the Maragana fishing vessel Connotation. Upon arrival to the docks, Prentis and I first consulted a pair of uniformed wharf officials, waving their tails lazily back and forth to dissuade mosquitoes. Between the two of them, they were able to assemble enough knowledge of Swamplander to point us toward a bone-white Maragana craft docked at the fifth wharf. They informed me that it was bound for Forum.

Maragana sailors are known to occasionally offer cheap transport in exchange for unskilled labour, so we stood a fair chance of obtaining passage. I approached the ship’s captain, who was directing preparations for departure on the main deck. Despite the inadvertent intimidation offered by her great height, sharp teeth and rumbling voice, filtered through an accent which proved difficult to pierce, I found her entirely more pleasant to deal with than her counterpart aboard the Wise Proverb. To my delight, she is fluent in Proesine, a language I’ve lacked much opportunity to converse properly in lately – I fear I grow rusty.

Although listening attentively as I made our case, she seemed reluctant to take us--until I mentioned my aspirations as a naturalist, upon which she asked to see my notes and sketches. I produced what I had, flipping through this very journal. Apparently impressed with my detailed observations (to which she was happy to offer minor, on-the-spot corrections), I seemed now to gain enough trust2 from her to learn of the voyage's true purpose.

In fact, as she told me, the Connotation is not bound directly for Forum--this was a small lie told to dissuade those who might follow the fisherpeople from port. They have just sold the last of their catch in Delta City and are to return to their secret fisheries to re-stock. Where, she would not say – I was fortunate to be told even this much while still in port--except that some lie within the Jaw Sea, taking us quite far out of the way to Forum 3.

I was given this information in an effort to dissuade me, but this is actually a most fortunate circumstance! Not only is the reduced fee a boon - the pittance remaining of our funds, having dwindled dangerously since reaching the Rainforest, would not cover a direct passage for both Prentis and myself – but the Bloom is building even as I write, and by the time we arrive in the Jaw it should be in full swing! I have dearly wished to bear witness to the phenomenon since reading of it as a child, and this is the ideal opportunity. I was unable to conceal my joy at this news, as a more tactful negotiator might have done to arrange further discount, but it was of no matter. If anything, my naked enthusiasm may have been the factor that prompted the captain's relentment. She offered me a place on the voyage, conditional on my word that the locations of their fisheries go unmentioned in my notes. I was only too happy to acquiesce.

I suspect that the Maragana are arranging their journey around the Bloom as well, for fish of all species become more abundant during its throes. Maragana fishermen tend to specialise in rare or difficult catches. The secrecy surrounding their practices exists to keep non-Maragana competitors from springing up - not merely, they claim, for financial reasons (although I am certain this must play a role), but because others would not have the wisdom or the self-restraint, accumulated over generations, to conserve the fragile populations that the Maragana fish from. I will reserve judgment on the veracity of this motivation until I have witnessed their practices in person.


Now that I know of the upcoming detour, I can sketch here a revised map of the increasingly circuitous path I will follow toward Forum, now aboard the Connotation:

I have left off our specific destinations (they are unknown to me, at this point, and I should avoid writing them down in any case), but I know that we shall be making vaguely southward4 for the Strait of the Teeth, the narrow stretch of water that separates Aranta and Taragon--the two large islands commonly known as the Teeth of the Jaw Sea, or simply the Teeth. From the Strait, we will be striking west some way into the Jaw Sea itself, where the Bloom is now building. From there we shall sail north-east until we round Aranta, pass through Shull Strait, and follow the Essichard coast north to Forum. Quite a voyage! And not one I expected to embark upon. It shall be, by some margin, the longest I have ever been at sea. I shall have to pray that my constitution is up to it. River-sickness has never been a problem for me, but I am led to believe that the rolling motion experienced at sea is another thing entirely.


Here, Prentis and I must part ways. He has been an excellent companion – and I was surprised to hear from him that, despite the gratuitous perils in which I have occasionally placed him, he reflects this sentiment toward me. Although our travels thus far have invigorated him, he seems loathe to delay his return any further. He will hence attempt to find more direct passage to Forum. I have pled financial reasons for my delay, and this is the reason I intend to give if challenged in my debriefing, but truthfully a more direct route can probably be arranged with some patience. As a Deacon, Prentis is sworn to the Order in a fashion that I am not – I have, in some ways, significantly more freedom than him. A pleasant side effect of the otherwise despised ambiguity of my position. In addition, as much as he may claim otherwise, I think our unorthodox journey has worn on him in a manner that it has not on me. While he is most likely eager to return to a more stationary existence, a part of me wishes only for further travel.

After I concluded the negotiations aboard the Connotation, Prentis and I split our provisions between us, coin included. I have left him with a greater share, since my passage is to be heavily discounted, and he will likely need more if he is to find a direct route; Prentis, on the other hand, has left me the tent (“I think that you are more likely to use it than me”). Before saying our final farewell, he showed me his completed scent artwork, contained in a fastened glass jar. He unclasped the hinged lid of the jar for me to take a sniff; I was unable to appreciate its full complexity, but I found it to have quite a pleasant bouquet. I detected eucalyptus leaves, a number of Swampland and Clearleaf flowers, a mixture of various wooden scents, and a very slight hint of fish--upon visual inspection, a single scale from a river barramundi had been included. A few drops of water from the River itself collected in the corner of the tilted jar. Although the scent will change as the organic components dry or rot, he has included ingredients that will retain some smell far into the future, if kept sealed away. Prentis said that the composition will always remind him of this journey, and he believes that he will come to treasure it dearly 5.


After a final farewell, Prentis moved away to begin his search, refusing my offer to act as his interpreter6. I took a crawl along the waterfront, watching for wildlife in the harbour. I expected to see little more than fish and seabirds, but was rewarded and surprised by the sight of a scalade sunning its feathered bulk on the rocks by the harbour mouth. This far north, it could only be a friar scalade (Ludross arngeirus), all other species being restricted to colder climes. To find any scalade at all in Delta is unusual, since the water is often less salty than the marine essiloth are used to. Not always: although the flow of the river keeps the water fresh for much of the year, this is not always so. Great tidal bores, in which the incoming tide overwhelms the River’s output, occasionally rush inward in terrifying waves capable of uprooting houses. They have been compared to the tsunamis that occasionally fall upon the Teeth of the Jaw Sea, although not so excessive in force. Up to two heights tall, the bores will sometimes reach as far as Bayou before petering out. These surges are dependent on the state of the moons, as with all tidal phenomena, and most so on Veurtoss, occurring chiefly when the quickest moon is new or full. The forces that govern the tides remain mysterious to those who study the interactions of the material world, but the moons’ role in them is beyond any doubt; the power of the bore, as with all tides, is amplified when one or more of the other moons is near to Veurtoss; even further by the proximity of Sororius.

The plants crowding the riverbanks thus require, apart from deep roots to withstand the wrenching currents, a tolerance of a range of salinities, or else they would all perish even in the river's regular ebb and flow. The mangroves here at the rim of the forest are among those to achieve this. The requirement is not limited to the plantlife--many aquatic animals found upstream disappear from the outer delta, and few penetrate from the ocean. There are a handful from either zone, suited to both fresh and saltwater, to be found (the intrusive shark, Hospes indecorum, and the delta platypus, Yeoldae samgagju, are a couple). The scalade, with its feathered mane and agile flippers, is not usually among them, having no such tolerance--but I suppose this individual might be of an adventurous spirit, and may not mind the lack of salt during a short venture. Once he had flopped down in rest, he gazed with apparent interest at the diving bhels and cormorants with which he shared the rocks, flaring the nostrils of his scaled snout but making no move toward pursuit. I watched him with comparable curiosity for nearly an hour, before he slipped back into the water and surged away with far more grace than he exhibited lurching across the rocks.


The Connotation departs this evening, after sunset--another precaution to evade any unwanted followers. From the reputed speed of Maragana craft, this seems hardly necessary, but they will do as they do. The hour approaches: Sororius sinks behind the city, and the light-towers have been lit. Upon closing my journal, I shall make my way back down the headland to the Maragana ship. The prospect of finally witnessing the Bloom has filled me with excitement! I think Febregon likely to forgive me, after ten years of faithful service in His name, for tarrying just a little longer on my way to Forum. I feel on the cusp of something new, something grand, and the excitement is too much to quell. Even should the ship’s motion prove no obstacle, I doubt I will sleep at all tonight.

 
 

1 Creativity and originality in naming were clearly not high among the priorities of this nation’s founders.

2 Those who study the natural world, it seems, are revered in Maragana society. How flattering.

3 I’m not that sure she should have been so quick to offer even this – revered or not, I know more than one naturalist of less than unimpugnable reputation, who might have agreed to secrecy only to publish a paper on the secret fisheries as soon as he returned to land.

4 Indirectly, in all likelihood – I suspect one or two of our stops lie in the Spine Ocean proper.

5 Although my command of Central Austium grammar is limited, I don’t think I mistook his use of future tense--and fair enough, too. It is only with distance that we appreciate certain experiences.

6 He maintains that his ability to write in Proesine should be sufficient to communicate his needs. Sufficient, perhaps, but scribbling back and forth is hardly the most efficient means of communication, and I wonder how much patience the captains will have for it. Maybe I should have insisted--but then again, our chances of locating his transport before the Connotation departs are slim.