Archive for 2017

The dormitory door creaked. Stocking feet pattered in the dark. Nightgown skirts whipped softly about small ankles. A pigtailed shadow crossed the moonlit window, clutched something heavy in both hands.

"Thilde?" said a whisper. A weighty something sunk onto the mattress.

Mathilde popped an eyelid. A snub-nosed girl with pigtails sat at the foot of her bed. She clutched a book, peered at Mathilde with excited, blue eyes.

"Maisie?" mumbled Mathilde, rubbed flyaway hair from her eyelids. She blinked, focused on the book. "Woah."

"Yeh," said Maisie. She grinned, hugged the book tight. "Just nicked it." The hefty tome thumped as she dropped it to the checkered bedspread.

"Quiet!" said Mathilde, scrabbling upright. She crossed her legs, considered the cover. It was a moldy, soft grey, embossed with swirling filigree of a veiny sort. Neither a title nor a date marked it. Mathilde went a bit pale. "We're gonna get in so much trouble."

"Nah," said Maisie, tossing her head. "I'll put it back before Professor Montle wakes. He's all drunk."

"Well, if you're sure," said Mathilde. She peered about the dormitory, at the half dozen rows of breathing, curtained beds. Not a stirring could be heard, save a girl snoring two beds over.

The girls met eyes, nodded. Maisie grinned, crooked teeth glittering in the moonlight. Carefully, she turned the thick tome on its side. A hinged, iron clasp covered the text block. Maisie produced a little key, turned it in the clasp's keyhole. There was a clunk, low and resonant in the still room. The clasp slid away.

The tome split in her small hands. It rustled, soft, like fingers drawn over dry skin. Maisie flipped a few pages, squinted in the low light. A scent of fur and cloying taxidermy floated from the old leaves. They were thick, leathery, crabbed with faded, brown script.

Maisie frowned, turned the book about. "Can't read it," she said. "It's too faded."

Mathilde touched a cold page, pressed her nose close. Tight lines of ghostly, tea-brown script floated in the parchment, too light to be deciphered. Faded forms of tables and formulae crouched in the margins, unreadable.

She flipped to the last page, found it empty. Blank, lightly marbled parchment shone in the pale light. The girl turned them backwards. Leaves rustled, crinkled, stopped.

"It's blank, from here," said Mathilde, pointing. Maisie craned her neck. Text, scratched in spidery lines, filled half the page. Only the last, a single word, could be discerned.

"'Don't,'" read Mathilde, whispering.

There was a moment of stillness. Nearby, another child shuffled, turned in her sleep. Maisie glanced about, spoke in a quaver. "Maybe I should put it back."

Mathilde scowled. "Come on, don't quit now. This was your idea." She leaned over, plucked a pen knife and a goose feather quill from the side table.

The knife flicked open, scraped the nib sharp. Maisie watched her friend set the blade's point against the pad of her left thumb. "Tilde," she whispered, gasped. A dark bead bloomed under the steel. Maisie shuffled back, nervously wrung one of her braids.

Mathilde put her quill to the welling wound. Dark liquid oozed through its transparent shaft. Pen meet parchment, pulled crimson lines over the leathery page. There was a thin scratching, like rough nails over bone. When the girl lifted her pen, a short phrase was left behind in squarish print.

My name is Mathilde.

The girls stared at those wet, gory words. They glittered on the parchment. Mathilde put her thumb in her mouth, sucked. With her right, she moved to turn the page. "Maybe it's dea-" Maisie whispered, gulped.

On the next page was a new line: Crabbed, cursive strokes, small and red as capillaries on an eyelid.

Hello, Mathilde. Do you know who I am?

Mathilde gazed at the words through frizzy hair. Slowly, she lifted the quill to her thumb, scooped a new bead of red from the cut. She bent, wrote.

You are Gauge of Blaodwash. The last warlock of Marmony Dale.

Maisie crept from the foot of the bed, watched raptly as her friend turned a page. New words had appeared.

What can the warlock of Marmony do for Mathilde?

Maisie spoke, blinked at the tome. "Maybe... No one will notice if we don't put it back?"

"We are not putting him back," said Mathilde, scraping her dripping thumb for ink. She scribbled another line.

My friend and I are students at a school. They don't teach us what we want to know.

Mathilde turned the page. Her eyes went wide. The next, once blank, was filled to the margins: Symbols and formulae, text and diagrams; all bright red, as if just penned. On the top margin, in large text, was one more line.

I will teach you what they will not.

The sorcerers of old are extinct. Ask anyone. No longer does a conjurer lurk in that high tower. No longer do crooked fingers stir cauldrons of gore and liquid spite. No longer do chimeras creep down from the hills, gobble children in their beds. The sorcerers are gone. Only in folkloric tales do they still appear.* In tales, and in libraries.

In the rare and cloistered stacks of academia lie curious tomes. They are thick, leathery things. Their covers are waxy and porous, girded with iron and locks. Their pages are veined, weirdly marbled. They smell of skin oil and preserved hide.

The best are eccentric, filled with histories that change with every reading. The worst are unreadable, filled with disgusting nonsense and rambling obscenity. Others are simply odd, filled with naught but tables and graphs without reference. All appear hand-written. All are writ in blood.

If a reader happens to scratch some script in their own blood, the tomes may write back. One must simply turn a page and see.

These tomes are all what remain of many a deceased magician. They are known as incunabula.** They are brains. Brains bound into books.

Incunabula

When a sorcerer dies, a peculiar ritual (known as absuturation) may be enacted upon their corpse. With care and gruesome precision, the cadaver is dissected, stripped for materials. The skin is flayed, flensed, layed out in sheets. The nerves are extracted, treated, wound like twine. The brain is cut from the skull, filleted, pressed into prepared sheets of vellum.

A skilled sorcerer may assemble these materials into a gory tome. This process resembles an occult surgery, rather than the binding of a book. Needles stitch grisly leaves with neuronal twine. Forceps stretch flesh to frock covers carved with charms. The resulting block of bound tissue must heal for a year and a day before gaining sentience.

The finished incunable is a marvelous thing; a dead mind restitched and made alive by sorcery. They are true books of magic.

Use and Collection

Incunabula are among the most prized artifacts of sorcery. They are archetypal books of magic, the means by which the old practitioners pass on their arts. Without these books, many secrets would be lost to time

A magician's library would be incomplete without at least one incunable. No simple text or lifeless grimoire can compare, hold quite such detail and expertise.

Interaction with such a book of magic is a ritual in itself. Messages must be written on the tome's pages*** in one's own blood. No other ink nor ichor may suffice.† If the tome is willing, a message will appear on the following page.

Incunabula feed on the blood which is provided them. A portion of the absuturation process incorporates ventricles and veins into the spine and gutters of the tome, forming an odd sort of circulatory system. The text which an incunable displays is formed by the action of veins and capillaries beneath the page.

Of course, not all incunabula may be willing to speak. Depending on the circumstance of their death, sorcerers may not at all wish to communicate (or even continue living.)†† Many practitioners of occult arts keep a standing will be absuturated after death.††† Other bindings are not so consensual. Many a sorcerer felled by combat or assassination has been spitefully transformed into a book.

Some modern scholars believe that sorcery, now largely banished, could only return to the world by the teachings of incunabula.‡ In an effort to prevent this, many incunabula have been chained up, hidden, in scholastic libraries and scholarly collections. Many hundreds of clever minds are left to rot on dusty shelves.‡‡ They are read rarely, if at all. When they are, it is with great care (for books can be highly persuasive.)

There exist some who would free these stifled tomes. Rogue magicians, disdainful of the closeted, conservative ways of the establishment, seek to crack the chained shelves. No knowledge, they say, should be forbidden, even that which is most dreadful.

Footnotes

*Of course, this isn't wholly correct. The sorcerers of old are dead. The modern ones are far more cunning.
**Oh, look. It's our namesake.
***Incunabula may populate pages with text on their own, as if displaying their thoughts. Many, thought, remain blank. Any old thoughts become faded and unreadable, until new blood is supplied.

† Älf blood, most especially, will not do. Such black ichor burns the pages of incunabula, leaves permanent scars.

††Notably, the consciousness of an incunable is merely a reanimated version of the real sorcerer. The original remains dead.

†††Indeed, rumors say that elder magisters at various academies wish to be absuturated after death. they search tirelessly for the required recipe, determined to leave a personal, literary legacy.

‡The difference between a magician and a sorcerer is primarily political and historical. Both, certainly, own at least one cauldron. Sorcerers are merely more apt to put bits of people in theirs. They are also more likely to wear leather.

‡‡Humanity has a longstanding issue with not destroying that which they fear. There is a seductive lure to owning forbidden things, of knowing where to find them. Few scholars, in any case, could stand to see a book burned.

A quartet of rough hands raised fists of wine. Dots of light swam in the cherry liquid, glittered in crystal bowls. "Cheers!" said four voices, thumped the table with as many fists.

"And a warm, fat Hallowtide to all of us," said the head of the table, a shaggy lass with white-streaked hair. There was a chorus of hear, hear, a burble of gulped wine.

Beside the lass, a mouse in leather reached for a hunk of nut bread. "I will certainly become fat if we come here any more often," he said, spitting crumbs. The others chortled, admired their surroundings.

The table resided within a sumptuous parlor, all velvet, gaslights, and paneled wood. Servers wavered about, ferried drinks to and fro. A sound of harpsichord thrummed nearby, nearly drowned out by the boisterous cutters.

"This is the beau monde, friends," said a weird creature beside Stoat. Naught but her lips and green, bloodshot eyes showed under layers of woven silk.

"Damn true, Lilé" said a swarthy man with a scarred nose. "One thousand pounds!" he declared, smiling. The table cheered, raised their cups again. "Bless Stoat for finding the catacomb job."

The lass with the odd hair bowed exaggeratedly. "Please, Gar," she said, showing crooked teeth. "The magistrate was infatuated with me. Would've payed us a hundred crowns just to sweep the stairs, if he thought I'd like it."

"Poor bugger," said the mouse, teeth working at a biscuit. "Would break his heart to hear you're queer."

"Yeah," grinned Stoat, pecked the silk-wrapped girl on her swaddled cheek. Lilé shoved her, grinned back.

The mouse twitched his ears. "If you two would pause your fondling, I believe I hear the cheese."

Eight eyes were drawn to a pair of approaching waiters in black ties. One carried a wriggling white sack. The other; a paper-covered stool and a short, wooden bat. The fellow with the sack approached Stoat. He bowed briefly, placed it on the stool which his coworker had set down. With quick hands, he lifted the corners of the cloth. A blue-spotted lump rolled out, wriggled atop the paper.

"Madame," said the waiter, indicating the lump. He kept it from wriggling off with a firm hand. "Very good," said Stoat, frowning as if impressed. The mouse rolled his red eyes at her.

The waiter nodded, took the bat from his colleague. He pursed his lips, sharply thumped the lump thrice. He paused momentarily, observed a wiggle, thumped it once more.

"Madame," he said again, bowing. Eight hands clapped softly, hungrily. The waiters gathered their stool and bat. They bowed again, departed.

Stoat looked to her friends, raised her glass again. "Le beau monde!"

Long have people dined on species of mold. Certain molds, known as curdles, naturally infest the udders of cows, fleeces, and other such quadrupeds. Ancient Litorans, cunning and hungry as they are, somehow learned the contents of such a hardened, wiggling udder to be delicious. Now, thousands, of years later, the culturing of curdles has become a practical art. Vats of milk are allowed to come alive. Then they are killed, becoming, deliciously, cheese.

The best cheeses come from Faindun and Geselchundt. They graze on bowls of the finest milk, are allowed to pasture freely in the dry caves and cellars in which they are raised.

A soft cheese is kept for only a short while before being sold, whereas a sharp, hard cheese is allowed to grow old and sedentary over a period of many months.

In the end, it is the hard cheeses which are easier to prepare for market. The young, soft ones are hard to catch, and are difficult to club to death. Clubbing* is the accepted method of ending a cheese's life on the pasture, and is thought to contribute to its texture.

In Empereaux, it is traditional to club the cheese immediately before preparation, to ensure absolute freshness. This is done before the dinner table, so that guests may be sure of their host's respect and good taste. The phrase "forgot to club the cheese" is used when describing an individual who has committed a very obvious faux pas upon entering conversation.

Many varieties of cheese exist, depend greatly on country and milk of origin.

Boquefort is a spotty, blue cheese. It is soft, allowed to hop about in monastery runs, where it is traditionally pastured by Emperoussin monks. There, it grows delicious and musty on a diet of fleece milk (and the occasional monk.)
Goat is made, as one might expect, from the milk of fat Emperoussin goats (they call it chevre.) Per the preference of the island people, it is a soft cheese, remaining very mobile up until serving. It is made fresh, kept in sacks for only a few days before eating. These sacks are hung from the ceilings of kitchens, may thump about during the night.
Zaleggio is kept by the hearty cheesemongers of Maples. It is a round, fat mass which smells highly of feet. It is washed every day by the cheesemongers, who slap it excitedly to promote good texture.
Mozzarella is a strechy, soft cheese fed on the milk of Alagórian buffalo. It is kept in vats of brine, fed a trickle of milk. When ready for serving, it is scooped up in great strings, rolled into fist sized balls, and smacked on a table until dead.
Cheddar is kept by the Firlish in dry caves. When young, cheddar is undesirable, but becomes flaky and delectable with age. It is pressed into wheels as it becomes old and immobile, eventually solidifying into an easily-bludgeoned wheel.

Author's Note

“A corpse is meat gone bad. Well and what's cheese? Corpse of milk. ”
― James Joyce

*The culinary implement used to club a cheese is known as a cheese pin. It may also suffice as a serviceable cosh, in times of strife.

Mist caressed the moors. It stroked the bruise-black heather, set gentle dewdrops on countless twisted stems. It kissed the still faces of stagnant pools, concealed shallow, submerged skulls. It stroked every dip and dell, spilled wet fingers into the shadowed crevasses of glacial monoliths. It groped, invasive, into fast trenches dug by human hands.

"Shite's cold" said a man, hunching his ranger's cloak against the creeping mist. Icy dew dripped from the flat bill of his helm, touched his red nose. A dinged gunspring lay in his lap. He squatted in a dugout off the trench, pressed near a round, meager stove.

"Here, Seg" said another. He picked a steaming copper pot off the stove, proffered it with mittened hands.

"Blimey, Newcastle" said Seg, trying it. "D'you strain this through your socks?"

"It's the water, mate. Drained off something awful" said Newcastle.

Seg stared into the cloudy tea, grimaced, took another mouthful. Somewhere nearby, a bugle cut the dull air. Three, short notes. Seg peered out of the dugout, over the rough edge of the trench. Stalks of heather were silhouetted against the low, grey sky. He squinted, frowned.

"What d'you reckon that was?" said Seg.

"Dunno. Might be the patrol to Dun Derthe getting back."

Seg made a grim sort of grunt, put the tea down. "Don't envy those lads. Reports were a bloody nightmare."

Newcastle wiped a drop of snot with his woolen wrist, snorted. "Didn't read 'em. What was the matter?"

There was a short clank. Seg had opened the breach of his gunspring, was squinting at the mechanism. "The folk had quit burnin' their dead" he said, idly twisting the catch. "Tied 'em to stakes to keep the ragwretches out, like guard dogs." He squinted down the sights, adjusted them. "Stench was terrible. People were loosing their minds."

"Hey!"

A grey mouse had scurried into the dugout. A broken trail of mist swirled behind her. She peered out from under a deep hood, clutched a pistol gunspring in pink paws. "Hey! Get wary, lads. The patrol's back with company." She scampered off, cloak flapping.

Outside the trench, a ruckus had gone up. Shouts cut through the dead, wet air, lifted from neighboring fortifications. Boots thumped on oaken planks, slapped into mud. The distinct click and slither of priming gunsprings whispered all about.

To the East, not far off, another commotion was growing: A thundering of dirty, clawed feet; a high, massed cry of crooked voices; a terrible rhythm of drums stretched from human hides.

Newcastle's eye bugged. He lunged for his weapon. "In the daytime?" he said, ducking out of the dugout. Seg followed.

They emerged, heads just above the crawling mist. About them, hooded silhouettes rose, nestled weapons on lips of trenches. Seg did the same, tucked his elbows into the moist and mossy soil, cradled his weapon, steady.

Past the gunspring's sights, dark things shifted in the mist. A line of thin and crooked figures writhed over the backdrop of low hills, indistinct. Seg thumbed the primer. The weapon's springs went taught.

"Hold steady!" called a Sergeant, two trenches behind.

The shapes in the mist began to resolve, drew ever closer. Spindly horns showed over leering masks carved from wood and pelvises. Distinct, fell voices could be heard over the mass, calling for flesh and murder.

"Rangers, pick targets!" said the Sergeant. Seg squinted, slowed his breathing.

Beside Seg, Newcastle gasped, pointed. A shape broke from the mist, larger than the others. It loped on long, muscled thews wrapped in raw hides, waved a half sawmill blade above meter-long horns. Upon each of those spikes of bone was skewered an eyeless, skinned head.

"Well, slap me thrice and hand me to my mum" mumbled Seg. He pulled his aim to the monster.

"Free volley!" called the Sergeant.

There was a massed, overlapping crack of steel. Ballistic needles cut wavering lines through the murk. Seg's weapon snapped and whirred five times, emptied. Twisted figures jerked and fell mid-run, spun into the heather. The mill blade-waving fiend screamed, enraged, kept its pace.

"Ready arms!" said the Sergeant.

A slither of rustling blades filled the trenches. Seg dropped the gunspring, drew a stout and heavy sidesword.

"Good luck, mate" said Newcastle, elbowing his comrade.

"Same to you" said Seg, eyes locked on the giant wretch's matte pits of eyes. The thing bared its jagged rows of teeth, met his gaze. Seg bent at the knees, ready to spring.

"Charge!"

They did.

Powell's boots crunched with every step, crushed frozen stems and musty fungus-caps. She clutched a navy-blue ranger's cloak tight with red fingers. A scabbard poked neath the cloth, wobbled as she walked. Great puffs of breath floated behind her, dissipated over the stark and chilly moorland.

The ranger stopped, tilted her hooded head to survey the undulating, rocky plain. Great, low waves of mist rolled from the east, disappeared in the yellow burn of a low, Western sun. Not a structure could be seen, save for the carcass of an ancient tower on some faraway hill.

"Ah, stuff me" said Powell, dismay crinkling her frost-nipped face. "I'd give my left foot for a roof and a cuppa." She kicked at a mound of toadstools, kept walking.

Some time later, the sun had nearly set. Powell's boots were obscured by mist, made opaque by the light's low angle. A red moon was already visible, dull against bright clouds.

With a huff, the ranger knelt by a rare spinny of squat shrubs, began stripping one for kindling. Dry twigs crackled, snapped like popping fingers. Somewhere nearby, something else rustled.

Powell shot upright. "Who's there?" she said, spewing steam.

"Oi, pardon me" said the rustling, not far behind.

The ranger spun about, stared at a hunched, little figure bundled under a hood and heavy furs. It carried a stained bundle over one shoulder, looked down at the soil. "Didn't mean to startle you" it said, voice broken, weak: An old woman's.

"Oh" said Powell, slowly releasing her sword hilt.

"I'm Gretle. Live just over the hill, the old tower."

"Kirst Powell, of Charholm; Ward-scout, second class" said Powell.

"You look awful cold, Dear. Come and warm up, aye? Have a bit of tea" said Gretle.

Powell hesitated, looked at the ruin-topped hill. "Well, if you don't mind" she said, stifling shivers.

The old Gretle turned, gestured with a rabbit-fur mitt.

Powell followed to the ruins. A wrecked half-cylinder of stone rose from the hilltop, crumbled and eaten by lichen and mistletoe. A thin ribbon of smoke curled from a low, pile-stone hut built in its center. Gretle disappeared through it's knot-whorled door, called out.

"Leave your sword outside, Dear. It shan't fit."

Buckles clinked. Powell shivered as she lifted the covered longsword from neath her cloak. She set it beside the door, ducked inside.

"Mind your head" said the little, hunched woman. The hut was smoky, cluttered, hung with countless plants, skins, and ropes of herbs. A cluster of oozing candle butts, stuck to a low table, lit the place. "Sit" said Gretle, poking the embers of a clay fireplace.

"You're alone, here?" asked Powell, curling her legs at the table. She looked to a grey wolf's skin, pegged to the wall by its empty eyes. She sniffed, caught a mite of rendered flesh in the smoky air.

"Aye, I manage" said Gretle, setting down a clay mug. Powell noted her thick, stubby-nailed fingers, stained with green. "Are you a cunning-woman?" she asked, taking the mug. It smelled of mint and sage.

"Oh, no" said Gretle, rubbing her nose beneath her concealing hood. She sat opposite Powell, eyes glimmering in her shawl. "I've ways, but no real art."

She looked at Powell, tilted her head. "Never mind me. What's a Dear like you doing on the winter moors?"

"I'm a Ranger" said Powell, tugging the mantle of her cloak. A crest was embroidered there in dark thread; a fir cone set on a shield.

A wide smile gleamed under Gretle's shawl. "And Ranger girls wander the moors alone, with naught but a sword and a mouthful of curses?"

"No. I got lost. We were looking for trollholes, and a storm came up" said Powell. She held the tea, clutched the warmth. "Don't you know of the Ward Rangers?"

"Of course. 'Fast is the shield against night'" recited the old voice.

"So goes the motto" nodded the Ranger.

"Wise woodsfolk and soldiers, keeping trolls, and älves, and ragwretches at bay."

Powell grinned, wry. "Admittedly, I'm not such a wise one, yet. Got lost in a little flurry" she smiled, looked serious. "My thanks for bringing me in, Master Gretle. I wish I might repay you."

"Oh, but you might, yet" said Gretle, eyes gleaming, large, under the dirty shawl.

"Oh?"

"You said it yourself, dear. 'My left foot for a roof and a cuppa.'"

There was silence for a moment, save for the fire crackling behind Gretle. Powell's eyes bugged, fixed on the large, black-gummed teeth grinning in the dark shawl.

A log popped, split in the fire. Gretle leapt, short claws grasping. Her hood and shawl fell away, revealing the bat-ears and blunt, fat-nosed face of a young troll. The Ranger lashed out, kicked the table into the lunging fairy-creature.

Powell rose, scrambled from the trollhole. Claws grasped at her departing boot heels. She dashed out into the dark and the cold, whipped the sword from where it lay. The scabbard flew off, landed amidst the ruins.

From the hut charged Gretle, ears pulled back, black eyes reflecting red spots of moon. She circled the Ranger, hissed at the bared steel. She lunged, roaring, far faster than her stubby legs belied.

Steel flashed in the crimson moonlight. The troll's roar ceased, cut by a wet spatter and a hiss. With a scream, the creature bolted, trailing smoke, steam, and hideous curses.

Panting, Powell looked down: A wide ear lay on the heather, thawed the frozen sod with a trickle of smoking, black gore.

Northeast of Firlund, alongside the yawning sea, stretch a range of vast and otherworldly fens. Few civilized folk abide on these cold and evil plains, for they are awash with the mist of the Otherworld. They are the domain of all manor of fairy and monster. They are the Moors So Sere, and they are no home to Humanity.

If left alone, a slow and predatory wave would subsume the good realm of the Firls. Every hill would be a trollhole. Every mistletree a leering älf's perch. Every cradle a ragman's feed trough.

A hardy and singular force keeps the Other at bay: The Ward Rangers. They are the cunning step of the hunter; the burning iron bolt. They are Humanity's shield against night.

The Ward Rangers

Though the Crown has not been at war for two score years, it has supplied and fortified a bitter front for more than two centuries. This front is the effort of the Rangers, a defense against the encroaching Other.

Though the Rangers are a military organization, they are separate from Firlund's army. They are a specialized force, clad in signature mantled cloaks, learned in the ways of patrolling and guarding the moors.

Recruits are sourced from both the Firlish army and civilian population. Signing on is no small decision, as all known the risk which Rangers face on the edge of civilization. Many, when faced with dire straights, will consider a life as a paid Ranger only as a final resort.

Multiple layers of defenses are held across the moorland front. The first is the army's own Northern line of fortresses, wherein Rangers and soldiers station and operate together. These forts serve as supply and mustering grounds for further Ranger lines. The second line is a broad, many-league swathe of neutralized ground, upon which Ranger lodges are constructed. These lands are civil enough, and many good folk make their lives within them, guarded by frequent Ranger patrols. The final line, where the mist of the Other swirls unabated, resembles a literal front against the wilderness. Rangers keep trenches and fortifications here, play a slow and deadly tug of war with monstrous opponents.

Rangers hold ground against a sporadic and cunning enemy, one well at home in otherwise difficult terrain. The monsters they face are multifarious, wicked beings.

Ragwretches

All rangers know a single wretch to be deadly as any human combatant. In a group, the red-eyed beasts make a maniacal and voracious host.

On the moors, ragwretches grow to unusual size and strength. A plentiful diet of human flesh makes even the skinniest scrap of a wretch into a monster of village-devouring proportions. A blooded ragwretch is bigger, stronger; possessed of massive horns and an inappropriate number of teeth.

As the impressive heads of hordes, giant wretches lead offensives on Rangers lines, greater than any force outside of the Underworld.

Trolls

A troll is an intelligent creature. It may keep a homey hole, use weapons, wear clothes, and even speak human tongues. Trolls are not at all human, however. They care not a whit for human life, and will readily eat a Ranger, if given the upper hand.

Small trolls, known as trow, make attempts at crossing the moors into human lands. These cunning, hungry creatures make their holes in the moorland hills, probe the Ranger's lines. They are a subtle danger, but a real one, when driven by hunger.

Like all creatures of the Otherworld, trolls are allergic to iron. It burns their flesh terribly, serves as a handy deterrent.

The Mist

On some days, a pall of weird mist flows from the wilderlands to the North and East. It is the spoor of the unknown, a sign the Otherworld is pressing near.

Where the mist creeps, the enemy is strong. Rangers take this vapor as sign of a job yet to be done. Every meter of ground saturated with the stuff is a meter to be claimed and broken, to be owned by the world of humankind, rather than the Other.

Where the mist is banished, the Ward Rangers have won, claimed another victory for a world slowly encroached by a realm which would consume it.

A bright, midsummer moon lit the clearing. Shadowed fir arms, saggy with cones, swayed over dewy grass. Soft, twisted mushrooms poked above the blades. A lone weed with heavy, chard-like stems grew, alone, in the clearing's center.

A rustling sounded. Beneath the low firs, two heads poked into the clearing, dragged by dirty, flannel elbows. One head, possessed of a grizzled beard, turned to the other: The round face of a young boy.

"There, Tim" whispered the beard, pointing with a dirty, calloused finger.

The boy's brown eyes went wide. "That's it, Pa?"

"Aye. See the dirt piled 'round the stem? That's how ye can tell" said Pa.

"How long's it been growin' here?"

"Didn't grow here, son. Buggers move. Plant 'emselves anew every night. This'n's been roaming the hollow for a month. It's a luck I found it" said Pa.

"Ol' nan says they're terrible dangerous."

"Aye, they are." He looked to his lad. "Got nary a choice, though, son. Need that root to help yer mum, for her pain."

He grimaced, watched the weed closely, eyes asquint. "Just keep a sharp eye on and hold quiet."

For a long while, they lay in the silence and the damp. Dew gathered on their backs. The smell of mushrooms stuck in their throats. A nightjar called, broke the silence just once.

A moth circled the clearing, bobbed drunkenly in the air. It dipped, alit on the weed's waxy stem. A leaf twitched. The moth darted away.

Pa shifted. His eyes grew wild. "Gimme the axe, Tim. S'about to move."

Tim jerked awake from a half doze. He stared, frozen. "Does it know we're here?" he said, panicked.

"Shh, lad. Put yer wax in yer ears and gimme the axe!" whispered pa, hoarse.

Tim shifted on the wet grass, put the handle of a splitting axe to his father's rough palm. "I'm scared, Pa."

"Aye, so am I" said Pa, rising to stand at the clearing's edge.

The weed twitched, began to rise atop a dome of shifting soil. Dirt dribbled to the grass, revealing first a skew-jawed skull, vertebrae, clavicles.

A skeletal thing straightened in the moonlight. Soil sloughed from its frame, equal parts twined root and ragged flesh. The weed wobbled atop its cracked skull. Spongy, reddish root-flesh filled the cranium, bulged from empty, broken eye sockets.

Pa hoisted his axe, set a quick pace towards the thing. Boots thumped into soft earth. Teeth gritted under grizzled mustache. Moonlight flashed in the sharpened splitting blade's edge.

The thing jerked, turned to face the charging man. Its jaw dropped, jutted as if to roar.

A click broke the night air, sharp and painful as an icepick to the back of the skull. Pa tumbled, dropped the axe. He clutched his head, bellowed. Runny blood trickled from his eyes and nose.

The skeletal thing stepped over Pa, stooped. It moved in a stilted, contracted manor. It knelt over the man, head-weed drooping. Feelers, like the pale outgrowths of an over-ripe potato, snaked from the slack-slung jaw. Twitching, they felt for his eyes and mouth. Pa moaned, dully, face screwed up, bloody.

There was a sharp crunch. The thing jerked up, whipped its head about. Feelers writhed, furious. A second swing sent the skull rolling to the grass.

Pa peered up, saw his son, axe in hand, silhouetted against the moon.

In the light, they are innocuous weeds; no more interesting than a sprout of burdock. In dark, they are hideous nightwalkers; dangerous as any necrocyte.

They are mandrakes: Human bodies commandeered by a species of parasitic plant.

Mandragora ambulates

This root makes its nest in human skulls. It eats up the brain, connects to the spine, and takes control. Portions of the body needed to ambulate and dig are preserved. Everything else is allowed to rot, become fertilizer.

The root and its host is know as a mandrake. Most mandrakes resemble human carcasses with broadleaf weeds protruding from their broken skulls.

During the day, mandrakes stay hidden. Buried, save for their leaves. At night, the plant unearths itself, looks for a new location. This habit of relocation is procedural. Its occurrence depends on the mandrake's current state.

If a mandrake is lacking in sun, it will move to a new location. If its lacking in food, it will, as well. Wandering increases a mandrake's chances at encountering an animal or human. If it encounters the former, it will simple kill it, enjoy rotting carcass for a week or so. If a human is encountered, the mandrake will attack.

Assuming it kills the unfortunate human, it will proceed to perform one of two actions: Either the mandrake will claim a new host for itself, discarding the husk of the old, or it will reproduce. To do so, they simply crack the skull of a fresh kill and insert their seeds. (Mandrakes are not pixifers. Their flowers are poisonous, as are their roots. They merely store the seeds.)

The Mandrake's Scream

To kill, mandrakes utilize an ability unique to their species. The root, when conjoined with a human body, possesses the ability to project a powerful infrasonic attack, so powerful as to incapacitate any human. This attack, colloquially known as the mandrake's "scream," is nothing like an actual scream. It is perceived only as a single, terrible piercing of the skull. A single painful note, describable as a "click."

If a target is not totally incapacitated by the mandrake's scream, it may be easily dispatched by the creature in melee, given it's weakened state.

Mandragora Root

Litorans* have concocted a broad range of uses for mandrake root.** When extracted as a serum, it is known as an effective painkiller, sedative, poison, or aphrodisiac, depending on preparation and dose. Root (knotty, red, and stuck in a skull) is work upwards of a crown per kilogram. Mandragora roots frequently weight more than six kilos.

As a result of this usefulness, folk have devised methods of hunting mandrakes. Little can be done to reduce the efficacy of the scream (save for specialized headgear.) Thus, other plots are concocted.

The traditional means of mandrake hunting involves creeping up on the plant during the day, tying a goat to its stem, and slowly walking away. The goat (as its a goat) will eventually graze the area and wander away, tugging the mandrake. Theoretically, this causes the monster to emerge and scream at the goat, who will serve as a distraction while the hunter swoop in.

Tradition

Some individuals, out of concern for tradition, refuse to hunt mandrakes. It is believed ælves keep mandrakes as garden pets. to kill one would be to incite the wrath of an ælf (an idea many Northerners dread.)

Though few know it, ælves are attracted to the scent of Mandragora serum. Throughout history, many a patient, an addict, or a lover has complained of visions of ælves. To ease their suffering, they consume more. Unbeknownst to them, the mandrake's milk only worsens their plight.

*Any native of the Coast is called a Litoran.

** Or, debatably, mandrakes have evolved to be desirable.

The Knight watched countless steps pass beneath his clicking sabatons. He climbed a winding stair, head bowed to shining marble. Rainbow flecks, shed by ascending, stained windows, played over his long and curling hair. His lips shifted, parted in a breathless chant:

"Laudate Aveth, Deus in terra,

Avetha, gratia plena,

Avetha, potesta plena

Ave, Ave, Dominosa,

Dominosa autem mecum esta."

A hundred steps further, he stopped, leaned heavily beside an arched window. His plumed, ceremonial helm rose and fell, tucked against his heaving cuirass. With a handful of white, silken cloak, he wiped beads of sweat from his brow. Still panting, he peered through a semi-opaque pane.

Some half a league below, a military procession of immense scale crept down the cypress-lined avenue. Thousands of red pennants snapped and quavered over soldiers' pointed helms, whipped by autumn breeze. A double number of brass-shod boots clicked over ancient cobbles. A dozen lines of drummers set a perfect march.

At the head of the procession rode many gleaming Knights, each bestride a monstrous warhorse and clad in arched, whirring clockwork steel. A roiling crowd, waving to and cheering for the parade, loved these riders most of all. Sweet roses, thrown by the masses, were crushed under the hooves of high-stepping destriers.

The crash of hooves, drums, and footfalls was dull, from such a height. The curly-haired knight followed the riders below, watched the stellate spears emblazoned on their ceremonial shields, so very much like the symbol on his own cape.

With a start, the young Knight turned away, resumed his upward climb. Again, he put up a chant, filled the helical stair with the rhythmic click of metal boots and repeated bars of prayer. After fifteen minutes, a vein bulged above his eye. He churned on, practically belting his prayer through gritted teeth. When at last the stair ended, the man nearly toppled, expecting another step.

Before him, under an arch, was a high, small room. Through the right wall was set a deep window, its panes so old as to droop in their leading. The old glass was covered by thin bars of new, dark steel. Through these fell a checkered, bare shaft of light. It bathed a small, stone altar in the room's center. Past this was a curtain emblazoned with the familiar star-headed spear.

Clumsy from his climb, the knight dropped sharply before the alter. His helmet clunked to the dusty, marble floor. He swallowed nervously, bowed his head, clasped his uneasy hands. "Aveth" he pronounced, hoarsely. "Lord Sister, I am commit to thee. Accept me now as you did the palatines of old. Laudate Aveth, Deus in terra..."

Glittering dust fell before the Knight as he prayed, cut into a grid by the window bars. Square lines of shadow patterned the alter and the man's white cloak.

Cloth rustled. A shadow passed over the alter. The Knight's head jerked up. A small, olive-skinned girl had emerged from behind the curtain. She was barefoot, wore the simple, long-sleeved robe of an alter attendant. She fixed the Knight with a curious gaze. "Who are you?" she said, quiet.

"Señora, I am Edwind Melvyno Kréc de Carro" said the knight, standing hurriedly. "Sent to bid my troth as a chevalier unto the Lord Aveth.

"It has been a thousand years and more since a holy soldier was sworn under her name" said the acolyte, stepping forward.

"Her return" said Kréc. "Is a high miracle. I am honored to be the first."

"Will Aveth accept you, Sir Kréc?" asked the acolyte.

"It is my dearest wish that she will" said Kréc. A grinding sounded as he clenched one metal glove.

"Why would she?"

"I have devoted my life to humanity. By Her grace and strength, I have banished evil by bolt and blade."

The acolyte blinked. "And what will your Lord do, if she accepts you?"

"She will lay a hand upon me and provide me a gift of wisdom, as she gave to the palatines of old." Kréc squared his shoulders, frowned. "Who are you to ask?"

The acolyte smiled. "Forgive my prying." She lifted a hand at the window well. "Wait with me here, Sir Kréc. You will meet your Lord soon."

Together, they went to the sill, sat in its deep recess. Kréc settled against the pane. His armor clicked on the steel bars. The woman settled, knees tucked to chin, against the arching well. Pale light illuminated half her face. She peered at the man. Kréc stared, brow knitted, at their pair of shadows, imposed over the small alter. They sat, for a moment, in silence.

"Have you met the Lord?" Kréc said sharply, voice suddenly hoarse.

"I have."

Kréc set her with a heavy stare. His eyes were dark. "Is she as the priests say?" he asked, voice thick.

The acolyte cocked her head, curious. "Maybe. How do they describe her?"

"I..." said the Knight, trailing. He looked again at the alter. "I find I no longer remember what they say. I have only my own mind's portrait." He looked at her, smiled wryly. "The image of my Lord is mine only, I suppose."

"Describe her yourself, then."

Kréc shut his eyes, tipped his head to the vaulted roof. "She is like a wise elder sister. I speak to her, and know I will receive praise or criticism as I deserve. Either way, she will guide me." He shifted. "Her presence is larger than she is, and her gaze humbles even the proudest man. She has eyes like green garnets, as the monks painted her in the frescoes of Bansa Abbey" he said, turning. "Like yours."

The acolyte smiled at him. "When do you see her?"

"When I pray" said the Knight, immediately "I have prayed to Aveth every day since I learned how." He frowned, considered how their crisscrossed shadows fell across the altar. "It's odd" he said. "I am only now about to meet the Lord, but I feel as though I've known her all my life."

At this, they sat in silence. The acolyte hooked a pair of fingers over the bars of the window, peered over and far away. "You know, Sir Knight..." she said, softly. Her voice was stronger than before, deeper.

"At night, far away, I can see fires on the hilltops. I can smell the frankincense and myrrh, even in this mile-high tower." She looked to the man, and Kréc shivered to meet her gaze. "It doesn't quite mask the burning flesh."

Kréc swallowed. "Sorcerers, apostates."

"Still human" said the woman, softly. Her fingers slipped from the bars.

"There's a parade, down there" she said, smiling thinly. "I imagine it's for you."

"It's for the Lord Aveth. Her second coming is the reason for my errand, greater than all of us. Didn't you attend the procession?"

"No" said the woman. She ran a finger down a steel bar. Its image floated in the cloudy, ancient glass behind. "I do not leave this tower."

Far, far below, the sound of drums, boots, and cheering melted into a distant roar. Kréc watched the acolyte, saw her face reflected in the glass as she looked down at the world, judging.

"Do you think" she said, hugging her knees in "that Aveth fears what her race have wrought?"

The Knight looked at her, horror smeared his face. "Such an idea is blasphemy. The Lord is fearsome, not fearful. All of faithful humanity knows that her eyes follow them, judging."

"Perhaps" croaked the woman with the green eyes. "She's no longer the Lord you all knew."

Kréc shifted, dropped from the sill. His steel plates clattered, glittered in the pale beam of light. He looked to his companion, face twisted in concern.

"Who are you to say such things? You speak as if you do not even hold the faith" said Kréc. "As a soldier of the Lord, I would clap you in irons for speaking such words" he said, voice breaking. "Yet I would not, cannot. I feel as if I have known you, of old."

Slowly, the woman slipped from her perch, bare feet pattering on the marble floor. In the light, her robes were luminescent. She straightened, somehow greater than the Knight. He cowed under her gaze.

"You have known me" said the green-eyed woman, taking Kréc's steel-clad hand. "Since the day you learned to pray."

Breadcrumbs scattered on the garden lawn, drew a bobbing, cooing crowd of appreciative doves. They milled about the black, pointed shoes of a thin woman, whose sunhat so surpassed her in width that she resembled an umbrella. She stood amid rows of cypress trees, fed birds from a paper sack

Past league-long rows of skinny conifers loomed Palatine Chapel, its titanic minarets superimposed against the clear, hot sky. The lilt of a faraway choir floated over the grass. Beyond that, even grander, loomed an ivory spire, its pinnacle lost in a haze of heat and sun.

Another shadow crept over the green, came to rest beside the first. The woman in the wide hat glanced to it, tossed another handful of breadcrumbs. Beside her, the second shadow, a grey-haired man in a vicar's suit, cleared his throat nervously.

"The doves in Sorelle sing sweeter" he said.

The woman glanced at him. "But the birds of Botandale are best."

At this, the man nodded, smiled slightly. "Good day, Master Dime."

"Good day, Shapiro."

"Are we well alone?" asked Shapiro.

"Yes. This park is deserted during Sorensday services. I've scouted it for two months" said Dime. She grasped a handful from the crinkling bag, threw it. The doves skittered excitedly to the fallen crumbs.

"Good" nodded Shapiro. "I must say, your Alagóran is excellent, for a Firl. Have you been in Carro long?"

"Since a year before the parousia."

"You fell right into this assignment, then" said the vicar, shaking his head.

"Indeed. What have you gleaned, regarding our subject?"

"Here" said Shapiro, extending his hand. Dime proffered the bag of crumbs. The man took it in both hands, folded something into her palm: A rolled, wax cylinder. "Everything I've found since the shrove parade." he said. "The rumors have shown some truth."

Shapiro gazed up at the distant spire, squinted against the sun. "I acquired a builder's plan for the tower. It was labeled for burning. Dated a month after she was recognized by the Court. Full refurbishment and restoration of the upper suite; installation of a pulley system; addition of hidden guard catwalks to the superstructure; among other things."

"Any mention of cost? How much of the Prince's treasury did they sink into that?" said Dime, tipping her head as well. The broad sunhat shed a band of shade over her eyes.

"None. Would you spare any expense, for your Lord?" asked Shapiro.

"I have no such thing, Vicar." said the woman.

"True" grimaced the man. "Though I never thought I would say such a thing, I think I now come to understand the Firlish mindset."

"How so?" said Dime, squinting at him. The vicar was silent for a time. He produced a floral kerchief, dabbed sweat from his grey hairline.

"I have served the Church for longer than you have lived" he said, finally. "I have prayed to Aveth for decades, happy in her silence." He shut his eyes, listened to the faraway choir. "Now, she has returned. My faith should be stronger than ever. Instead, I pray no more." Dime studied his face, watched the crow's feet deepen on his skin.

"While others worship, I pass secrets to Firlish spies. But I hold no shame." The vicar opened his eyes. "In those notes" he said, pointing with a wobbling hand. "There is a guards' record from the tower." He swallowed dryly.

"Last month: Five escape attempts. They've installed bars on the upper windows. My Lord is a prisoner. She does not speak to me. She is no more powerful than you or I."

Far off, the choir hit a soaring high note, faded. Doves warbled softly at the old man's feet. "That, Master Dime, is why I understand you."

"I'm sorry" said Dime. Shapiro met her eye, smiled sadly.

"The service is ending. Until next we meet" said the old vicar, softly, proffering the spy her sack of crumbs.

Doves fluttered, flew with the vicar's departing shadow.

Parousia

Just two years ago, the Lord herself returned to the world.

Her followers rejoiced, prayed with greater surety. Her Church welcomed a golden age, hailed the event as righteous validation. Her Northern skeptics sneered, decried a hoax of epic proportions.

Up and down the Coast, folk flock to the Avethan faith, heartened by the ancient religion's renewed legitimization. Peasants, hopeful, clasp dirty palms in hesitant prayer. Common folk, curious, attend mass, fill their heads with the catching power of frankincense and chanted psalms. Monarchs, inspired by the pious High Prince of Alagór, offer their ringed hands to the Lord. Everywhere, cautious souls raise prayers to Aveth, hopeful she might hear.

Aveth

Aveth is the chief religion of Alagór and its surrounding states. * It is a monotheistic, humanocentric faith defined by its followers' recognition of a merciful, all-knowing, unique being known eponymously as Aveth.

Avethans believe their Lord lives on high, observing, judging, and influencing human lives. She is known as a merciful, just, sisterly figure to all of humankind. ** She is said to bestow fortune on those who live by her dictates and judge harshly those who do not. ***

The Writ

The faithful know Aveth's dictates by a book called the Lord's Writ. This seven-hundred and seventy-seven page tome is regarded as the unaltered and final revelation of the Lord. †

Within these pages, the canon of Aveth and humanity's origin is detailed. It is, as Avethans would have it, the story of the Coast and the World.

The opening of the Writ, known as Legionaries, describes, some 1,100 years ago, the time before Aveth's birth: A dark age of the world, a time of war held between titanic powers. Fell serpents and abhuman sorcerers manufactured machinations and combats of unthinkable scale, consuming uncounted millions of lives like easy chattel. In this time, a girl was born to an unnamed slave. Only after gaining twenty years, a legion of followers, and a dozen serpents dead on her spear did the girl gain her holy name.

The charismatic Aveth, unchanged by years, gained followers and influence over a decades-long military campaign. †† Uncounted fiery, coiling serpents and titanic, steel-clad sorcerers, thought invincible, died on her star-headed spear. By a century's end, she had built an empire for humanity.

Toward the middle portion of the Writ, in a section known as Reigndoms, the Lord succumbed to wounds sustained while slaying the serpent Murmillo. Her followers mourned for only a day, however, as the corpse of Aveth, lain in state, disappeared, leaving behind only her spear. This event was declared a miracle, however, for Aveth had prophesied that she would die in service to her people, that she would return again when needed most. Thus, worship of the Lord continued for a thousand years and beyond.

Dictates

Modern followers of Aveth ascribe to a set of dictates set forth by the Writ. These dictates command that a follower:

Recognize Aveth as the one true Lord (to whom all are subservient;) and
pray to Her, and only Her, that she might hear them (in weekly mass and daily prayer;) and
recognize humanity as the sole, true people of the World; and
finally, serve only humanity and the Church in their pursuits (charity and conquest.)

These tenets, broad as they are, vary in their interpretation depending on the presiding regional arm of the Church. Many Avethans give alms as part of their service to humanity. Others join the Alagórian military. Many hold one fact as truth: If the faithful uphold these dictates, they will be favored in the eyes of the Lord, and be granted return to the world after death. †††

Conspiracies

Now, a thousand years after her death, the Lord has returned. By what means, few can guess. Popular opinion says the legendary and fearful Holy Inquisition, a force of secret police and assassins supposedly formed in ancient times by the deadly Lord herself, was responsible for carrying out her resurrection. ‡

When the Lord came to the capital of Alagór in the company of an Inquisitorial army, many expected the High Prince to abdicate his throne, that the Lord might again rule her people. ‡‡

Instead, no such abdication occurred. It is said that the Lord met for an afternoon with the Prince, the Lord Inquisitor, and the heads of state and Church in the royal palace of Cair Elise.

The subject of this meeting is a matter of debate. Officially, the state says the Lord put a series of questions to these powerful figures, made a variety of benevolent orders, including the dissolution of the Inquisition and cessation of political aggression toward apostate states. She took the hands of the leaders of the land, ascended to Altamora to guide her subjects from on high as they ruled below. ‡‡‡ Rumor suggests otherwise.

Some months after the parousia, an interview with a notable Alagórian expatriate appeared in Emperoussin papers. The interviewee, formerly a high priest of Aveth, described the meeting at Cair Elise as a travesty. The Lord, described by the priest as no more than a willowy teenager, was aghast by state of the world, condemned the heads of the Church and Inquisition as liars.

The priest suggested two possibilities: Either Aveth is a unwilling prisoner, contained by corrupt leaders, or she is a willing cloister, terrified by her chosen people. Folk whisper these possibilities only in secret, fearing, even now, the lingering blades of the Inquisition.

Whatever the truth may be, these years are a golden age for Aveth. The faith prospers, draws new souls with every sunrise. Few (even atheist Firls) doubt the Lord's return.

The people's faith is strong, sound in the returned Aveth. Millions pray to the Lord on high. Few, however, ask whether She, in her mile-high spire, is the same woman who died a thousand years ago.

Author's Note

This article was requested by Devon McKinley, our first Otherworldly Patron. May Aveth's sight guide him in dark places.

If you, too, wish to influence the lore of Incunabuli, support us on Patreon.

Footnotes

* Aveth originated in the South. Alagór is considered to have been founded by the Lord Herself.
** Many Avethans address Her as "Sister Lord" when praying.
*** Magister Porton Bord of Mindy Dale suggested in his work Theism: A Qualitative Approach that Avethans experience a variety of group placebo which is enhanced by the rituals of the Church. Magister Bord was assassinated in 3.449 by the Holy Inquisition.

† Scholars at the Arterton Academy posit that the Writ was, in fact, compiled by Avethan priests.
†† The mythographer Ivonne Jacalyn Kamille Peyroux suggested Aveth stole the arts of the sorcerers she slew, gained her own magic.
††† Notably, apocryphal copies of the Lord's Writ, dated pre-2.922, hold no mention of reincarnation of the faithful. These copies were retrieved from a book burning held by the Church in 3.400.

‡ This fact is contentious, as Aveth officially dissolved the Inquisition shortly after the parousia. Rumors suggest they continue to operate, serving the militant wants of Aveth as she existed long ago.
‡‡ The Alagóran title of High Prince (rather than King or Emperor) is a sign of reverence and subservience to the Lord.
‡‡‡ Altamora, also known as the High Steeple, is an ancient, mile-high spire of white marble. It is located in the holy Old City district of San Carro, the capital of Alagór.

The hulk of a greenish, barnacle-crusted cog hung under Saint Pierro Bridge. Strange folk crept up creaky scaffolds nailed to the crossing's piers, swaggered through a pair of saloon doors set in the hull to join a ruckus of voices and excitedly strummed six-strings. In the windows, cobbled from daub and ends of bottles, figures shifted like smoke. By the swinging doors was pegged a sign painted with a lounging, fin-legged woman: The Siren's Rest.

"I don't know about this, Elias" said Peral, frowning at the slightly swaying structure.

Elias punched her in the shoulder, grinned under his messy drapes of black hair. "Come on, tipa. This place is the most, and these fellows I know are something" he said, unbuttoning his red cadet's jacket. "At least, I think they're fellows. I hope."

"Micio" grinned Peral. She punched him back. "Fine. I want a drink."

They braved the groaning scaffold, pushed past all manor of swaying, smoky creatures. Something briefly tugged Peral's sleeve, flashed her a hand sign she didn't comprehend. A mouse spilled his thimble of wine on Elias' boot. Up ahead, someone keeled over the rail, toppled with a shriek into the briny canal far below.

Peral caught the saloon doors as they swung behind Elias. A wash of sound and pepperelle smoke doused her, thick and thrumming. To the prow of the old hulk, a bustle of hands passed wine, rum, and sherry over a grainy bartop made smooth by wear. A swarthy, busty publican directed glasses and pewter cups to and from thirsty hands. Circular tables cluttered the long hold, crowded with shifting creatures. A trio of men in wide hats blurred their fingers on the frets of wide guitars, laughed at the mice who danced amidst ropes and smoky, swaying lamps on the ceiling. Over the bar, gazing dully over the scene, was the mounted head of a siren. Lank, golden hair fell over it's clouded glass eyes. Peral stared at it, grimacing, fascinated by the skin peeling back from its small, sharp teeth.

Grinning wide, Elias beckoned Peral to the bar. He tugged the publican's sleeve, mouthed something over the noise, held up two fingers. The apron-clad woman plucked two stepped glasses from beneath the counter, wet the edges, and rolled them in a bed of grisodate salt. A splash of blue liquor and a half lime, squeezed, graced the stem's glass bowls. Elias flicked a silver coin, plucked the glasses, proffered one to Peral.

"This is what they're drinking in Empereaux. Try it."

Peral squinted at the sour cocktail. "Lord, tipo. The Emperoussins must want to hurt."

"Hah, well, they do" said Elias, distractedly. He was craning his neck, looking over the tables. "There they are!" he exclaimed, pointing to the back.

Elias took Peral's arm, split the crowd with his shoulder, drink held overhead. As Peral passed one table, a scarred man flipped it at his comrade, who lunged in response. A mouse landed on her shoulder, only to depart immediately, leaving sooty footprints. Her boot tread on something soft: a bare pair of legs sticking from under another table. Peral frowned. Elias turned her about.

"Fellows, meet my friend Peral" he said, gesturing. Before them sat, at a round table, a trio of odd creatures: Thin, crooked, and entirely wrapped in thin strips of leather and cloth. Bright, bloodshot eyes peered at Peral from under bandannas and woven rags. One of them, a creature with a bicorne hat crammed over his head wrappings, stood and offered a thin hand to Peral.

"A pleasure, Señora" he said, baring pink, slimy, sharp teeth.

Peral shook the hand, felt bones.

"Milne and his crew" said Elias.

"Please" said the raggedy man. "Join us."

The cadets pulled up chairs, joined the table. Milne fixed Peral with his reddened eyes. "You are a friend from the naval academy, aye?"

"Yes" said Peral, looking to the still-grinning Elias, unsure.

"We, too, are sailors" said Milne. His compatriots nodded in unison. One of them curled his lip, spat a gob of pink goo into a copper cup. "Recently, we have returned from sea, eager for fresh eggs and coquelicish."

"Tipa, Milne sailed under Hogar of Anghenfeldt" said Elias, nudging his friend.

"Aye" said Milne, hat bobbing. "He was a fine and generous captain. We sailed before the Mascarados vanished."

Peral raised her eyebrows. "That was before I was born. You've sailed a long while."

"Age is not so obvious, in us."

A silence fell, stretched. "Um" said Peral, shifting. "What, if you don't mind my ignorance, are your people called, Señor Milne?"

Beside Peral, Elias choked on his drink. Milne pulled a wide smile at him, displaying crooked and pointed teeth set in bright red gums. His companions flashed similarly sharp grins. "I'm glad tales of our Norther cousins do not precede us, Cadet. We are traperos; 'rag folk,' in your Alagórian tongue."

Elias frowned, pulled a pained smile. "I'm sorry, Milne. I should have explained to my friend."

"No, let her question."

"How" said Peral, leaning forward, curious "do your cousins spoil your name?"

Beside Milne, the ragged sailors put hands to their covered foreheads, made signs like pointed horns.

"You see" said Milne, baring his teeth again. "They eat people."

Moonlight played over Meeve's cot, over the burgundy quilt tenting atop small toes. The child ogled, frozen, at the open window above her bed. Silhouettes of twigs wavered in the frame, swayed by summer breeze. Meeve followed each, eyes wide. A mousy blonde lock stuck to her forehead, quivered with every quiet breath.

A scratching broke the quiet. Meeve flinched, screwed her eyes shut, screamed.

"Mum, Mum!"

Footsteps sounded in the hall. Something scraped and bumped on the floor, then quieted. The bedroom door opened with a clunk and a creak. An arc of yellow light fell into the room.

"Meeve, Dearie?" said Mum. She wore a nightgown, held a low candle in a silver chamberstick. "What is it, now?"

"A monster's come through my window, Mum" said Meeve, clutching her quilt.

Mum pursed her lips, rubbed the bags under her eyes. "Dearie, you've had a nightmare. Try and sleep."

"No, it came through the window. Check and see!" The girl pointed sharply.

Mum smiled thinly, stepped to the window. Her candle made the dim frame into a deep, black rectangle. She bent, plucked something from the floor.

"It's just a twig, see?" She raised a crooked stick. "Fallen in from the apple tree. Nothing to fear." She tossed it out into the dark. "You must try and go back to sleep."

"But I'm scared."

"Well, maybe you should be" said Mum, soft with exaggerated fervor.

"Mum?" said Meeve, wringing under the quilt, eyes wide.

Mum sat beside her, held the candle in her lap. Its flame lent her a stark, shadowed visage. "You know the game you play at the fountain wall, with Dosof and the schoolchildren?" she asked. Meeve nodded.

"And what do you call it?" said Mum.

"'Who's Afraid of the Ragwretch'" recited Meeve.

"You know what a ragwretch is?"

"Sort of" said Meeve, eyes wide.

"A ragwretch" said Mum "is a hungry, hungry creature that comes out at night. It wears all rags and bits of cloth, because the sun burns it up. It's got sharp horns on its head like spindles; and little red eyes like redcurrants; and sharp teeth like a cat's, but bigger and more crooked." Meeve shuddered. Mum smiled, continued. "All wise little children know to keep quiet and asleep at night, lest a ragwretch hear them."

"What happens if a ragwretch hears you?" said Meeve, whispering into her knotted quilt.

"Well" said Mum, leaning over the flame. "It'll creep up and stuff you in a sack with all the other things it means to eat."

"Now" said Mum, standing to leave. "You know why you'd best stay quiet and sleep?"

"Yes, Mum" murmured Meeve.

"Good. Nighty night, Dearie."

Mum departed, her candlelight followed. The bedroom was darker for its absence. In the gloom, Meeve smoothed her quilt, settled in, held it tight to her neck. Quite still, she peered at the window through her mousy hair. Breath slipped from her lips, shallow and carefully silent.

Slowly, Meeve's eyes adapted to the moonlight. She made out the pattern of the burgundy quilt, the crooked lines of the apple tree, and the glistening, hungry teeth rising from neath her bed: Like a cat's, but bigger and more crooked.

Picture a ragwretch: A hunched, crooked creature wrapped in rags. A scuttling beast bent under a wriggling sack. A pair of hungry eyes shining in the dark under horns like spindles. This picture haunts the cultural fears of the North. It is the bogeyman, the creeping ravager, the eater of human flesh.

Every Northern child knows what ragwretches are. They live in holes and huts deep in the wilder-woods. They sleep away the day because the sun burns their skin. At night, they come out to hunt, snatch up everything they can strangle and fit in their sacks. They are monsters both real and imagined, made terrifying by the perverse joy they find in mischief and murder.

Every Ward Ranger knows what ragwretches are, too. They are clever fiends who prowl the wilderness, preying on settlements and farmer's holds. They yearn, with every moment, to creep across the moors and devour the good folk of Firlund. The Rangers stand vigilant, ready to put down invading wretches with fire, bolt, and blade.

Though they'd never suppose it, Southerners know ragwretches, too. In the warm ports Alagór, they are known as pinkspitters (for the coquelicish they chew) or traperos (for their intricately woven coverings.) They are wry and nimble creatures of the sea, not at all like their predatory Northern cousins.

Traperos have no horns on their skulls, for they do not consume the flesh of thinking creatures. Instead, they are fond of eggs and fish; and are as civilized as any mouse or human (albeit unusually fond of drugs and adventure.) Though the Church does not permit nonhumans in the Navy, any trader or privateering captain would consider himself lucky to hire a crew of rowdy pinkspitters.

Though scholars agree Northern ragwretches and Southern traperos are undoubtedly the same species, none can say what caused them to diverge so strongly. Only their shared mutation, a terrible sensitivity to sunlight, unites these disparate races.

Author's Note

Anyone who's taken an intro to psychology course will be familiar with the Nature versus Nurture debate. This debate posits a question: Between the factors of genetic disposition and socialization, which affects an individual's physical and behavioral development the most? A reasonable consensus states that both have a distinct effect.

Thus, we have inspiration for the ragwretch: A species which may become two starkly different creatures depending on the environmental stimuli which act upon it.