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Succession-I

Succession A

o. .... "a sign"

A Seething Vortex Monstrous.

Pressured Immense, Thunderous..

Harrying, Crushing, Luminous...

Clashing Masses Numerous....

Moving, Gnashing, Onerous.....

Nimble Omens Ravenous......

Eye o' Roaring Storminess.......

Rage of Sulphur Tumulus........

Shivered Tower Sonorous.........

Tooth of Sunlight Bitterness.


A.

ء - Nín-havah-núma rested, exhausted of notions.

بـ - Long had been her building, forceful her labours.

هـ - Carving, shaping, moving, forming. Setting bounds. Preparing ground.

جـ - Heaving matter. Earth blending. Moulds casting. Stone ringing with the digging of oceans.

مـ - The last of the Great Temples of the Outer Seas had been made ready, and her breeze kept them on their rounds.

نـ - Tired. She felt the bite of weariness. She, Nín-havah-núma, Mistress Mawú-Líša, had swum up every stream whose valley she and Åído-Hwedo had carved in their great forays.

عـ - With her eyes of all life she saw the glory and fury of that which had come to be. The threads of Ánänsí would take care of the rest, for most all her work was done.

ﺭ‎ - Reclining, seated, her back against a low embankment, and pondering all that had been made, and so too the many strange tethers that held it all in place - this scenery - she daydreamed for a time of the curious parts that each new Thing would play.

ش - Nín-havah-núma laid herself down with her head in the east, and it was crowned with the leaping sun.

ﺕ‎ - Long she slumbered, and the world grew older. Clouds were gathering - mists of silver and grey.


B.

Ɐ - There is a land, or island, where is found a mighty mountain range with four great roots and six tall summits. Many folk speak of the mountain range as a single mountain. Some say it is far to the East. Others tell that it lies far to the North. Yet others relate that the mountain itself moves and is not truly of this world. Regardless, the tallest peak is to the east of the range, and it is like a great dome of solid rock, seated amongst lofty rolling hills and piled rocky cairns that flow about it like sand-drifts about a pebble. The next highest peaks are twins, and they are far on the opposite end of the range, to the west. The center of the range itself is a large massif, with two great terraced hills rising up from the eastern portion, near to the tall dome-peak eastwardmost, and one of these somewhat larger than the other. Further west of these hills, there is a depression or saddle (in times past the site of a wide lake) near the middle of the main highlands of the range, that once, eons ago, if one was travelling north-south, would have been the easiest path across the mountains. Not so now.

ꓭ - Rooted here at the center of the massif, and rising to untold heights, stands an enormous tree of unknown kind, and given many names in the dreams and tales of men. The twisted roots of this tree flow out of and over the lower central mass of the mountain range, and it is difficult indeed to tell the difference between mountain rock and the base of the erupting tree roots. The heights of the canopy of the Tree stand vastly higher than the tallest peaks of the range that surround it like marker stones, along with the other lesser peaks and hills that stand arrayed roundabout. Verily, by sunlight or moonlight, much of the great range is covered in a dappled shadow that is not made by it's own summits. Clouds that cannot aspire to traverse and enfold the lofty branches of the Tree must instead be content with veiling the mountaintops that lurk in it's shadow. Meanwhile, beyond and roundabout the central shade of the Great Tree, are rich forests thickly planted, of lesser trees, incomparably smaller than the Great one (yet still large compared to the familiar species of our Earth that we know). These grow in thickets all around the foothills of the greater range, veiling the bases of the craggy cliffs on all sides, and lie most thickly about the roots of the twin mountain bastions of the west that guard the Plateau of the Tree from the lands of the setting sun.

ʜ⅁ - These, casting their own long shadows, are the next two greatest summits of the mountain range. Lesser in height compared to the great dome-peak upon the east (though not by much), they stand somewhat apart to the west of the Great Tree - one peak somewhat northward, and the other southward, though the eastern slopes of both of them run down and join the great plateau and massif upon which the Tree sits. The northerly peak is taller and sharper, while the southern mount is more domed and it's foothills cover more area and wrap around somewhat, creating a protected bowl-like region before and between the twin peaks themselves. Herein fertile vegetation runs riot amidst a guarded land of quiet lakes and shimmering reeds.

ꓘ - To those approaching from the distant west, these two summits stand like the twin posts of a gardened gateway - thoroughfare, perhaps, to the bulging central region of Tree-Mount beyond.

ꟺ - As one enters the curving folds of these foothills, which leap up to become the great stony knees of the twin summits on each side, then, central and nearer at hand, a deep forested ravine with many small hidden ponds and waterfalls is revealed. This vale runs up from the bowl-land before the two peaks, into the highlands and hinterland between and beyond.

u - In the deepest and darkest portion of that great gorge between the peaks, but below the uppermost overhanging cliffs above, there are secret caverns hidden amongst the great shadowy trees from which spill the purest subterranean waters.

o - Climbing further up, above the caves, one reaches the final steep and rugged cliff, as it were a great wall of giants . This rocky barrier spans the entire upper region directly between the two peaks, and obstructs further travel.

ꓤ - It is no easy climb over these highest parts of the ravine and beyond to the saddle-lands, which would allow one to pass out from between the two great mountain summits, on their eastern side, and descend again to the central plateau of the mount - to the innermost realm and the stupendous knotted base of the Great Tree.

ꓢ - Do you see the Tree of Earth, bathed in the golden light of the the Torch of Tixo?

ꓕ - None have marked it's true elevation.


Gh / He / E.

𐤀 - The roots of the Tree, twisted mountains themselves - mountains lying upon mountains - the cracks in their mighty bark being ravines you and I might journey in. The four greatest of the roots of the tree, like the buttresses of a gigantic cathedral, spread out over the central massif as it were the dais upon which a bonsai tree were grown, and descended and spread out, two to the north and two to the south, to the plains far below, and into which they buried. Standing upon the tallest dome-peak of the east, the view of the twin western peaks is almost entirely blocked by the mighty girth of the bole of the Great Tree erupting from the massif. So too, standing upon either of the far western summits, one might glimpse far in the distance, only the shoulders of the mountain heights that support the dome-rock of the east, for the Great Tree obstructs the direct view.

𐤁 - And now, roughly, you know the lay of this mysterious mountainous land.

𐤂 - However, though the Tree be it's most startling feature, that is not the focus of this particular account. Rather, it is far in the west of the range, in the bowl of garden land seated in the vale betwixt the twin summits, about which fold the foothills of the southerly peak that create an enclosed region of wetlands and dense forest and dappled glades that glow orange in the evenings... Our tale really begins here, in one of the three dank caverns of the upper regions of the cloven gorge. The cave of the lowest reaches was long ago buried in a rockfall, and is no longer accessible. The two at higher altitudes might still be entered. From the highest cave, only navigable by crawling, springs an underground river, that cascades down the valley to feed the gardenlands below. The main chambers of the central cave are larger, though the entrance to both accessible caverns are not easily visible or trivial to find. Within this larger cavern (with interior walls and floor of glistening crystals, polished flowing rock sculptures, and it's roof erupting with sharp stalactites and huge beads of transparent stone) - here slept a strong creature of the ancient days.

𐤃 - The scaly body of the cave beast was long and armoured with strong scales. It lay, curled up, off to the side of the main chamber. It's tail and fins were wrapped about itself. It lay on it's nest. The creature had chosen this spot because of it's love of shiny objects, and in this spot was a particular rock formation, embedded in the ribbed stone of the cavern floor. It was somewhat larger than a human head, but more conical. This jewel seemed to be made of a strange crystal or semi-precious stone, and it reflected what little light entered the cave into a marvelous subtle spray of colour, misty and deep, yet appearing as though warmth radiated from it. Long ago the cave-creature took this formation to be the central post of it's bed, and wrapped itself around it. Years went by, and after a visitation by a great winged male of it's species, it had now a clutch of eggs gathered beneath it's fins and body. The cave was damp and drafty, ideal for the beast, but there was a need to keep the eggs that held it's young warmer than usual.

𐤌 - Months later, there must have been a cave-in deeper within the mountain, and some underground stream or reservoir was redirected, and there was a short flood-torrent that swept through the creatures lair. Some of it's eggs were lost, being rolled by the waters to smash on the rocks below the cave entrance. Most of the eggs were safe, however, but the mother worried for the consequences of the extra dampness. The female of the species had not the fiery breathe of the male that might have dried out the bed of eggs.

𐤍 - But something queer was in those rushing waters, and it reacted with the pearly stone that was the bedpost of the monster, and around which the eggs were cloistered. It began to glow more than usual. The cave creature noticed this but it was nought more that the tides of the light of glowworms changing over the season.

𐤔 - Another month or two later, the eggs hatched, and so did the creature's bed-post. The shiny stone cracked open, only a little while after the first young hatchlings of the scaly subterranean beast had began to crawl out of their shells.

𐤓 - The great cave creature's head snapped around at the sound of the conical glow-stone splintering. It was not being cracked open by a force from within, but rather it's lower section was slowly dissolving, and the grinding sound was caused by the still solid pieces jostling as they weakened and gave way. The mother monster was confused and distracted. Her young, four little dragons, a bit smaller than she had hoped, were now clear of their shells and were testing out their senses and their limbs. The strongest had already picked out the runt of the litter and was tearing at it's feeble limbs, and it cried with a pitiful squeal. The glowing bed-post stone, cracking and flaking, suddenly collapsed entirely, seeming almost to dissolve into a gritty, greasy paste, and slime down upon itself, pooling at it's base. It revealed a new thing.

𐤎 - Sitting on the ground, covered in rapidly dissolving but still slippery goop bubbling in weird colours, was a strange creature that the mother-monster had never before seen. The baby dragons were busy fighting amongst themselves, gorging on the now dead runt, that had been born with malformed wings and crippled hind legs. The cave beast leaned in and surveyed the newborn that had erupted from her prized jewel-stone that was her bed-post no more. This strange new animal seated in front of her was immediately intriguing because it glowed with a rather bright light, an echo of the light of the stars or the moon - although the dragon could not properly focus her eyes on it for some reason. It was attractive but unknown. Somewhat disconcerting. Those very familiar with Fairyland and it's most secret denizens would perhaps know what the dragon-mother was gazing at.

𐤕 - At that moment the sun, which had been setting for hours, reached the distant western horizon, and a ray of sunlight beamed in through the narrow cave entrance, and illuminated the dragon's nest. The strange little newborn was bathed in the light, and it appeared to the mother-drake to be almost fully transparent for a few seconds, however, it's skin and eyes gave back the light manyfold, and it glowed brightly in the cavern and illuminated it's sculpted walls in a spray of colour that recalled the radiance the stone itself had made. The drakaena had to look away for the brightness. But the newborn giggled, and the cave beast again focused on the baby. It was looking straight into the dragon-mother's eyes, and it smiled, revealing sharp little fangs. It's body appeared to clothed in a skin that at times had an appearance like as to the purest chalk, yet at other times, as it moved, it looked like misty, milky crystal glass. It looked soft and cuddly, yet hard as diamond. The strange little animal laughed again, and the laugh echoed in the caverns. The sound was exceedingly strange to the cave-beast, and also to the instincts of the pups. The sun set then, and mother observed that the baby dragons had now noticed the newborn from the stone, which was moving and stretching it's little legs and six-fingered arms. It was still glowing gently, especially it's bald elongated skull, and yet it appeared shadowed or veiled somehow. It was still difficult to look at directly for reasons other than its' brightness. It was then that the biggest of the cave-dragon pups, one of two winged males, pushed past a smaller female that had begun to nose up to the strange new thing, and faced off with it, assuming a threat posture, and looked to it's mother for a signal to attack. The mother was not sure however, being still in awe and indecision about this strange animal. The biggest dragon pup then got impatient, and leaped at the baby from the stone. ..

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This text originated here:

https://old.reddit.com/r/GeometersOfHistory/wiki/discovery/fairyland-succession-a