A description of Cananshall

Cananshall

"An outline of Cananshall

Canashall is a large open plain, home to the Plain-Elves (also known as the Dim Lwis - 'Grassy Nomads').  This was once mostly a forested area, except in the far south, where the earliest Dim Lwis lived.  These early Dim Lwis where small in number and really just a collection of tribes that lived on the edge of the forests of Gaer.  This ancestral land is what is now in depute with the later arriving Humans of Domtajoya, a regretfully permanent state of raids and counter-raids having developed. 

During the time of the Dwarvish Empire the area of modern Cananshall was deforested for the pits and furnaces in the north.  The encroachment east of this deforestation was only held in check by the marshy swamp forests of Darngaer, where Dwarvish military tactics did not work due to the lack of solid ground.  

When the Dwarves had deforested the mineral poor area it was abandoned, and the ecology of the plains to the south took hold, including large herbivores such as horses and bison. Following in their wake came the Dim Lwis and slowly the area of Cananshall as it is know today was born.

An old map of Cananshall, from imperial times, but before Humans.

The Dim Lwis do not have permanent dwelling places, but they do have a series of meeting points for certain people or certain times of year.   In old maps one never finds these marked, and I suspect they are not in fact that ancient.  It may be a phenomenon of the last thousand years or so that larger regular gatherings of the Dim Lwis took place.  They speak a dialect of Calobelvan. The people of this area are famous for their stamina, being able to cover terrific distances with a endless skipping lope that a sprinter might be able to out run for the first hour, but would overtake any other race come nightfall. They live for the main part in tall many-poled tents and travel on foot with horses and bison and dogs pulling their belongings on wheeless carts consisting of two long poles with a sling of hide between them.

I chose to highlight Hwngadiaer as the capital because it is perhaps at times the biggest, but they would not regard it as a capital city as human lands might.  

Rivers of Cananshall

Laldarin - (Opposite of Oak River / Relaxed Oak River) - In all probability this was called Darin (Oak River) in pre-imperial times and renamed subsequently in recognition of the deforestry, and the fact that beyond it to the west there was no oak left. Now some oak has regrown, and the Dim Lwis, as well as the tribes of Darngaer, tend to be pretty relaxed!

Lwnivanin - (Silver Song River / Silver Is Who River) - Most likely this is Silver Song River, being fast yet steady and with clear mountain water and a silvery stony bottom.  Avan is a rhythmic wailing walking song, while Van is to speak. However the name could simply be Silver River, with weird ancient elvish grammar.

Meanathin - (Beautiful Snow River) - this river swells when fed by the spring-melt of the mountain snow.  It is also so fast it flows white for the first three-quarters of its length.  It is exceptionally beautiful.

Some of the meeting places of Cananshall

(Notes on the dialect - these annoyingly elegant people will not stick to one form of words when bending it to braking point might make it trip off the tongue even more beautifully.  So my apologies, but I could not translate all of the names, and I very much doubt an elder of a Dim Lwis clan could either.) 

Faerncer - (Wolf Wood) - A meeting place for certain northern tribes. Some coppice is practiced here for tent poles.

Gandeal - (Lone Hill Windy) - A isolated hill in an otherwise gently undulating landscape. A meeting point for some festivities and prayers

Neqabesh - (Eating-Teeth Cat?) - This pointy peeked island of mountains has somehow never been taken by warvish might from the Elvish people (at least they say so).  It is considered a holy places for death and war.  The older people go here to die, often climbing the mountains looking for the mountain cats that live there in order to ensure that the sacred cats get to finish their lives.

Lasuli - (All Cloud?) - A dark place of frequent cloud - no travelers have been here and lived.  Although, having said that, there is also a rumor that this a a trading place with the Dwarvish black market!

Nisi - (?) - Not much is know about this place at present - When I turned up it was simply a big flattened area covered in horse droppings. Maybe it was the wrong time of year...?

Hwngadiaer and the tents - the main tent is a vast home of meeting.

Hwngadiaer - (Summer Garden) - The summer meeting point of the Dim Lwis. This is where almost all of the tribes gather for mid summer revelries, with tribes turning up from late winter and others leaving in mid autumn.   The grazing here is exceptionally lush, due to many hundreds of generations of concentrated manuring and grazing. Here is a happy place where one can witness the best of the plains people - singing, storytelling, magic and animal care.

Aesgstea - (Knowledge? / Raging?) - Home of the tribal councils that come together when the Dim Lwis need to act as one. This happens only every few years or so.  There is no prescribed time.

Harean - (?) - This is the only permanent dwelling of the Dim Lwis, though the inhabitants themselves always change. It is a trading spot to meet with the other Elvish people to the east and north.

Mordeantha - (Spirit / Ancient Birch Air?) - A mysterious meeting point, possibly connected to a semi-cult based around a long departed Mage who lived near by.

Madwasha - (Bones Blood Water) - A peaceful place devoted to child-rearing. Once the site of a bloody battle with the southern Humans.

Hathesa - (Warm ?) - A winter gathering spot for some tribes.

Muliseadath - (The Nomad's ?) - A trade center for goods going to and from the south. Only very brave Domtajoyan traders would risk the Disputed Land to reach it, but the high profits make it worth it...  I got a very high quality rug for my boat from here, and some fine rum. The river is still navigable this far in land."

The Magish Alphabet

Magish alphabet

[From 'An Anthology of the World']

 

"Appendix 3

Alphabets

Magish (old common) Magish

Magish is the ancestor of modern common, and follows the same rules. It's still used on Partway Island and some Tuyun Countries and, of course, by the Mage's.  It is divided into five Families, usually arranged in a circle with G at it's center.

X H E C N / M W S Z N V / U L O K A / Y T I J F / R B Q P D

The numbers used with this alphabet is based on the number of corners they contain : -

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

[Most people who can read modern common with ease can also interpret Magish, given a few moments contemplation.

The red decorations are as follows -

Top-left - Old Gaer symbol of the sun; 

Top-right - Old Gaer symbol of the moon. The Calobelvan written around it reads - "- Shal (Sun) - Car (Tree/Truth) - Aer (Ground) - Ash (Water) - Ath (Sky) - Mhoor (Spirit) -" (presented together they mean balance)

Left border - Sand-Dwarvish pattern, also found on some Galmearan materials.

Right border - Modern Gaer (Elvish) design, used frequently.

(These two pattern presented as complimentary patterns indicate the breadth of alphabets covered in Appendix 3, coming from almost opposite types of societies and races]

Before the Begining - book of "Ddoe"

Page 6 - 

Page 6 of 'Everything'

"Before The Begining

"Before the beginning" said the Mage of Waun Fach, after much hassling on my part, and an entire firkin of Minchen whiskey on the part of Orddk (it is truly inspiring how much alcohol a Mage can drink!) "Before the beginning there was nothing.  Then it exploded..."

The 'Nothing' explodes

Orddk let out a short bark of a laugh and frowned, worrying, no doubt, about the liquor he had wasted to obtain this nonsense.  I, however persisted.

"So what made the nothing explode?"  asked. I was excited that at last we might be on the verge of obtaining knowledge of the penultimate "BEGINNING".

What a fool."

"So what made the nothing explode?"

 [Note on the image - This image is of one of the inner rooms of Waun Fach, the independent Mage mountain in the heart of Kreyic.  The furniture appears to be Elvish, while the tapestry on the wall looks like primitive Kreyician work, and the fire dogs are in an ancient pre-imperial Dwarvish style.   The Mage of Waun Fach is pictured here inhabiting it's latest elderly host, with whom it has been twinned for at least 130ish years.]

Page 7 - 

Page 7 of 'Everything'

"A Mage never seems to part with information that is not obscured completely by riddle and mystery...

"Nothing made it explode for there was nothing anywhere. No life, no planet, no rock, no water, fire or air, no time and no nothing."

"What a lode of scrag!" exclaimed an exasperated Orddk. "I know all about explosions, you need something to explode, any fool can see that...  Come on, Mage, we want the truth, not vagaries and fancy!"  It always amazes me how a Dwarve of less than a century can be so rude to a being that was born before the founding of the races (and ultimately had a hand in it, but we shall come to that...)

Orddk the Dwarf, smoking his pipe.  The Mage sign of the Mage of Waun Fach is above his head.

"Never-the-less," continued the mildly inebriated Mage "I am informed by those who study such things that the absolute void that failed to exist before the beginning wasn't there, and then it exploded, and ceased not to exist."

So much for Magish knowledge.

A Dwarvish mining explosion.

What we do know for certain is that there was an explosion! The Dwarves are..."

Page 8 -

Page 8 of 'Everything'

"...the cheif source of knowledge on this. The mistics of the lowwer Queendom[s] of the Dwarves, known as the Maids of Rock, have gathered samples of rock from accross the globe (including some plucked from the sea bed by the Sea-Nation [Sea-Elves]. Indeed it was for this purpose that the Dwarves first invented the under-water-boat, or 'Carreshran', a craft now sinonimouse with the Sea-Elves.).

From these samples they where able to tell that the oldest parts of teh planet had been melted some 600 million years ago, though some say it was 3,500 or even 6,000 million, which fits with the anciant Dim Lwis tribes conviction that mother Earth is 5,005,206,993 years old.

It seems probable that at its formation the earth was like a globe of molten magma like a bead dropped by an incompetent glass-blower.  They also theorized, when it was proven by the sea-nation that the earth was round, and not flat like lead poured upon the floor, as previously thought, that the Earth formed a globe in the same way that a molten mettle will form a ball when dropped off teh top of a tall tower (though in the earth's case we haven't reached teh bottom yet!) The Dwarves where also instrumental in t the Western Elvish descoveies by providing (for the pricey sum of..."

The Carreshran, or submarine boat of the Elvish sea-nations

[On the Carreshran - This is a peddle powered boat tht is made out of a hollow tree trunk and weighted with lead. It swims like a cross between a jelly-fish and a dolphin, with opening and shutting fins on its side that run back and forth along rails and open and shut simply by being pulled through water. The pod attached to the roof floats on the surface when the craft is near the surface and internal peddle powered bellows allow a transfer of air. They are buoyed to float just above the surface, and most simply used forward motion and tilted tail to descend. Some, however, compress air and take in water to be steadier when deeper down.  All Carreshrans are incredibly dangerous, which perhaps accounts for their popularity amongst the sea-nation.]

Page 9 - 

Page 9 of 'Everything'

 "... 10,000 pit props a year) the Stella Eye, a vast Double Lens, set on the steadiness rock on the continent, that could plot the movement of the stars. It was found, over many, many years, that all stars, being distant suns and planets, moved from a central point, the ancient heart of the explosion...

~Tad~"

"The Stella Eye"

Western Elvish Astronomy is a complex process, akin to meditation, based on the premise that while complex thoughts and consideration can be paid to the cosmos, the information gleaned is ultimately useless. This lack of purpose is said to be its ultimate accolade, improving the soul without directing it.

Inside the Stella Eye.  Some Dwarves consider this devise diabolical (studying the roofless chaos), but the Hive that created it was in desperate need of Elvish wood.

Book of "Ddoe" (Everything) - Introduction

[This introduction has many paragraphs in an Elvish tongue that can be quite hard for those used to the common tongue. Please bare with it. If it is too much of a challenge, simply enjoy the pictures.

This unfinished book appears to have been destined for the Library of the Mage of Waun-Fach. It was a joint collaboration across races, for which this was a second draft - an attempt to set out the illustrations and text.  Unfortunately this version, condemned to the basket of Faadon Naano, was incomplete. Faadon's connection to the book is through Pip Cerrig, his nephew.  Pips father is Karl Cerrig, the map maker of Kreyic who is either Faadon's brother or half brother. Certainly for a man that high up in the hierarchy of human Kreyic Karl seems to have an unusual touch of the Elvish about him, and cannot bring himself to live too long away from the sea...]


Front Cover

Front cover of "Ddoe"

"Ddoe" [Dd pronounced as in a hard Th]

[Gaer Elvish (Calobelvan) translation - "Everything"] 

Page 1

Page 1 of  "Ddoe"

"Ddoe - 1(12)(11)3(11) - Lalsadaceocal"

Gaer Elvish (Calobelvan) Translation - 

"Everything - 39,915 [years] away from creation"

"Everything - 22222 AC"

[A.C. = "After creation" - Quite a discrepancy!  I suspect Human/Elvish disagreement!]

"Vaga ma negal enimova o mo fuaninanl enimofuain o Abalyo nuf mo ilmiranke o mo Shamail astaen; mo Grit Pip Serig o Glascwm Mawth, enimopinscfoarinan o Craic; Aarrddc, ma Dongil enemofoarin; Tad, ma Grit lwis; and Ewis, ma Galimean lalins.

~*~

Ddade:- Mo o ar nuf enimov o mo astaen o lara ar fi o fechmhoor ig sadar mo erins o lara cal met a ceremay erin astaen o mo ca ma blar sadar foarin o lara mhor."

Direct Translation from Gaer Elvish (Calobelvan) to the common tongue -

"Of a combined writing of the master scholars of  Abalyo use[ing] the broken-birth of the Sharmail [Priest-meeting spot]  ?Library?; the Human Pip Cerrig of Glascwm Mouth, 'out-loud reader' of Kreyic; Orddk, the Dwarvish scholar; Tad the Human nomad; and Ewis, a Galmearan refugee.

~*~

Quest:- the because is use writing of the knowledge of all is known of the history flow, towards the present of all folk are, and help build knowledge of the many a soul/spirituality towards the mastery/full knowledge of all spirits/will. "

"Sharmail"

 [The illustration shows an interpretation of the old writing houses of Sharmail, where on warm still days the side panels of the room could be removed to allow the light in.  This scholar and his room show some classic examples of grown furniture and architecture. In some cases additions to the library where planned three generations in advance in order to allow the correct pieces to be grown. You can see here the prominent use of tree-nails. Above the scholar on the wall are a few of the old spirit-signs of the Elvish people. This picture is late in the day for Sharmail, for it depicts the use of iron bindings, and more importantly, of books. Early Sharmail only housed scrolls.]

Page 2

Page 2 of "Everything"

"Ce O Mo Enimova"

Direct Translation from Gaer Elvish (Calobelvan) to the common tongue -  

 

"Birth Of The Writing"

"Origins of the writing.  

The Elves of Abailgor used the part of the library that was taken from Sharmail, seat of Gaer-Elvish knowledge since pre-6000AC. in 20882AC, when Wingaer dissolved, to Abailgor, the peace-meeting site of all the ancient families of northern old Gaer. This contains snippets of knowledge from the ethereal Mage Monilan [Mage-sign], who has long deserted the Elvish Shore. They also used the extensive annuls of the guardians of Aldurelws, who met with many travelers, including the Galmearan, as they passed through the pass of Minabiag and recorded these tales for posterity... 

Other sources used where:- 

The library of Pip Cerrig, being compiled over many centuries by his family and thought to be the largest in Kreyic;  

The open parts of the libraries of Waun-Fach and Tiron, the former thought to be the most comprhensive on Ottarol, and the latter containing most of the languages ever spoken and many more besides;

The minds of Orddk and Ewis, who hold the history of their people, and that of Tad, who has also many tales from teh more removed parts of the east. 

Pip Cerrig."

[Some discussion on illustrations and symbols -

 There are three Mage-signs used. Monilan's is in its origional form , while Tiron and Waun-Fach are both slightly elaborated. Waun-Fach is thought to have got his sign from the ear of the silver Lynx, his preferred host before the coming of Humans.  Tiron is thought to be linked to Wood-Sorrel, but no-one knows why. Very little is known of Monilan.

Mage-signs are used when writing about Mages as they use shape rather than sound in the Faerie dimensions to communicate.

Tiron Mage-sign

Monilan Mage-sign

Waun-Fach Mage-sign

This Rune of dragonic protection (bellow) is used frequently by Elvish, Dwarvish and some Human cultures. It represents the balance of the Physical, Conscious and Faerie.

Dragonic Rune of Protection

Karl Cerrig is the father of Pip Cerrig, and Pip continues to use his fathers logo on his official projects.  the use of Faadon Naano's logo is interesting. Although he is not credited for this project the use of his sign, coupled with the fact that this book has turned up in a collection of his old notes, suggest he was intimately connected with it...

 

Faadon Naano's sign

Karl and Pip Cerrig's sign

This picture is of the group working around a round table.  Orddk is on the left, then comes Pip, then Ewis, then an inebriated Tad. The style of the archetecture suggest they are at Pips house in Glascombe Mouth, Kreyic. As the Abailgor elves would not travel this far it begs the question - who did the drawing? Could it have been Faadon Naano?]

Around the round table

Abailgor? Or Sharmail...?

Page 3

Portraits of the writers

[The dry fallen leaves represent the old leaves of paper used to compile the text. The snake, with its triple tongue, hinting at the Dragonic rune of protection, represents a renewal of these old texts, a sloughing of old hardened skin of rivalry and a restoration of balance.]

Ewis

[Ewis is depicted with the mountains of Nazuoralnitotzu in the background, returning to the old hunting grounds of her people and living off the rich fruit that grow there.]

Orddk

[Orddk is pictured in a Dwarvish doorway at Farin, just inside Darngaer, where he comes from. This is a place of peace in the face of hostilities from all surrounding people, a mixing place for Elish, Human and Dwarvish traders. Above his head is the goat god who terrifies the superstitiouse Dwarvish miners. The only thing that scares this god of mine colapse is his own image, hence it is everywhere in Dwarvish towns around Nazuralnitotzu.]

Pip Cerrig

[Pip Cerrig depicted in the simple robes in fashion at the moment in Kreyic, with a background of one of the shelves of his library.]

Tad

[Tad is a Moryan, a 'Gypsy' as some say.  Her name is not her real one - as with all Moryan to avoid trouble they use pseudonyms based on their real names. Her pseudonym, she has said on occasion, is a shortening of Tadpole, but no-one believes her.  Here she is seen growling at the illustrator, a typical pose for this player of theater. Behind her is one of the vans of her people. Undoubtedly it is not hers. No Moryan would want to go down in print with too much reality around  them encase it turned around and bit her.]

The Abail Elves

[This is a group portrait of some of the Elves who helped with the book. Typically for their people not only are the scholars depicted, but so are the fisher-people who fed them, the camouflaged warrior who guarded them and hose-keeper who cooked and cleaned for them. On Abail all these duties are considered necessary parts of writing a book.]

Stained Glass Dragon from the Sharmail Library

Close up of dragon Stained Glass

The whole Stained Glass Window as drawn

"Stained Glass from the Sharmail Library. 

Faadon Naano 2404"

Close up of Runes on the tail of the dragon

[The runes on the tail of this Dragon are not Magish as one might expect, but look perhaps Dwarvish.  Either way they are indecipherable at present. They may well be a spell, rather than a written phrase.  The Magish Rune for Dragonic protection is used prominently in the center of the image.]

In search of Trolls...?

"Troll Rock formation"

"Troll carving?"

Fragment #1

 

"Troll Rock formation from Gortyn. Is there then some truth in the idea that the rare Trolls turn to stone?  Or is this some totemic carving, weathered and cracked?  I did not wait to find out."

"Weathered Troll rock."

Fragment #2

"I have a hunch that Trolls still exist in the southern lands of Gortyn."

 

"Stone Arrow Head"

Fragment #3

"We came to these distant shores in search of the rare Trolls, the aboriginal inhabitants of this ancient lands. But after 3 days walk inland I had seen no sign, no path beyond that animals make, no house nor tent nor sheltered cave, nothing, save this stone found on the second day that might be a primitive arrow head.  I was about to turn back to the coast when the mountain scrub-land cleared and revealed what I have named (in my arrogance) "The Valley of the Ancient Gods".  Around me on the rocky crags are ranged the widely spaced statues (I hope that is all they are) - great heads and torsos of colossal giants with jutting brows and chins, weathered and cracked like they have stood here for eons. Some are clearly the features of Trollish beings while others are so warn by time it takes the presence of the former to correctly divine their form.

"Hurried sketch of Troll rock head. It there a hint of an Elvish ear?"

It was about noon that Elrash reminded me of the rumor that stone and troll-flesh are much the same substance.  I started to sketch, but as the shadows lengthened his words began to play upon my mind, and returning to where only an hour before I had sketched a better preserved specimen I found it not.

We slept that night deep in the under-brush, and heard mighty drums on the heights... We could not find the valley come dawn."

"Sketch of well-preserved Troll statue."

Fragment #4

"Perhaps these rocky Giants I have witnessed where not the Trolls I sought - the old texts speak of true Trolls as not that much bigger than a tall Sea-Elve, though stronger by far. Could instead these vanishing statues have been a wild band of Faerie making a long escapade into the world of the physical, far from the interfering machinations of the magic-fascinated introverts of our organic races?  If so, long let them dance!"

"Sketch of a well-preserved Troll statue. The ear is clearly and distinctly elvish in character.  Why? Where not Humans the mid point between Trolls and the Elvish people?"