Category: History

Floating Rocks

As in many fantastical stories, Ferella is home to floating rocks. While these may seem to be magical defiances of reality, it is entirely possible that these rare formations are natural. Only one formation, on the Giant’s Hand island, has been documented. While the mythos of its creation may suggest otherwise, it is unlikely that magic formed this phenomenon. Instead, many of our scientists theorize that magnetic forces may be forcing rocks away from the ground and suspending them. This theory comes from ancient texts that describe the planet Eurth’s rotation. Ancient humans believed that their home planet rotated, thus causing a magnetic pull of some sort. In some places, magnetic rocks could theoretically be repelled by such forces.

This is such a rare phenomena that further speculation would be as properly supported as theories about magic. Thus, we will refrain from further elaboration in this report. The rest of this report will instead focus on the cultural study of those who live near the floating rocks.

It is not uncommon for locals to make their homes atop rocks in the Giant’s Hand, and rumors circulate of buildings built on such rocks elsewhere. Those who choose these locations have cited a variety of reason, including but not limited to the lack of sovereignty over these rock chunks. Others believe that the magic that causes the rocks to float is beneficial to health, and more still claim that it assists them with their own studies or magical research.

Everyday life on these rocks presents a challenge for locals since the rocks do not support their own ecosystems. Instead, people living there must descend on a near-daily basis to collect water and hunt. Crops seem to sustain themselves there, particularly those common in mountain areas. Locals have had to travel far to transplant hardy species of crops, herbs, flowers, and trees from mountainous regions for cultivation on their rocks. For this reason, plant life is valued heavily. Sometimes ground-dwellers in the region will make special trips to visit the rocks and see the plants that are so different from the ones local to the area.

One family claims that their home became unlivable for a short while, and they commissioned a druid to save their ancestral home. The druid determined that the air had “fled” from the location, but was unable to do anything permanent to help the family. The druid referred them to a wizard from our facility, who then brought the region to our attention. With our permission, the wizard performed some experimental magic borrowed from our space travel experiments and used the spell to encase the rock in a magical bubble to keep the air in. She also recommended that the family grow trees within the bubble to help produce oxygen, and they planted their “Mother Tree” in the home’s living room. The tree and the family thrive at the time of this report.

Image by muhumure ben from Pixabay

Signed, Eldi Deer-Threader, cultural anthropologist

Early Flight?

Photo by MEUM MARE

This is one of the earliest images in our archive. It seems to be depicting a mountain range from above, as if from a bird’s view. This may be a fanciful image by the artist, though images from our own experimental flights show that it is remarkably accurate in terms of viewpoint and angle. It also seems to be framed by a shiny, artificial portal of some sort. This suggests that the vantage point may have been achieved by some sort of spell.

It is also possible that flight was achieved at an earlier time, and that the technology was somehow lost to time. This is consistent with some salvaged pieces made from a material that resembles the shiny white frame of the window.

One final thing of note; the image is not consistent with any known mountain range on ‘El’.

Box Photograph

This picture was found in an old archive, improperly labeled. It was originally part of a collection before most of the pictures were mysteriously redacted. This image survived only because an intern misplaced it. It appears to depict several boxy shapes that almost seem like buildings, but there are no entrances big enough for a person to enter. The flags atop some shapes would suggest that the boxes are much larger than they appear, but it would be impossible for a building of that height to be constructed successfully.

Card Collection 001

This collection of cards was found in a lockbox in Feurstadt, a town believed to be the oldest human settlement on ‘El’. They were in terrible condition, but they are believed to be identifications cards from an ancient war. Each individual can be seen wearing their kingdom’s uniform with the name of their province or town on it.

Druid Circle of Venom

Dwarves are rarely druids since they feel a stronger connection to the earth and the mind, but there is an exception in the area the bandeargen call the Eresse Mountains. These dwarves communed with the magic spiders in the woods to learn venom magic.

When the elves found the dwarves, they believed they were a threat and drove them out of the woods. The dwarves were forced to flee to the lakes below. Now they practice venom magic with the jellyfish in the lakes while elves protect the forests.

Photo by Alice Alinari on Unsplash

The Bridge

Some people believe that at the end of days, a bridge will appear that only the worthy can cross to reach the world that comes after the end of days. Others believe that the bridge is always present, but can only be found near the end of days.

Image by Larisa Koshkina from Pixabay

One adventurer, Eli Munse, believed that he found the bridge, and took a company of humans, bandeargen, and a single dwarf across. None of them came back, but a local woman began hearing voices that night and claimed they were the voices of the people that crossed over. She said that there were just two of them, but they wouldn’t stop bickering. Soon after, she began to drink heavily, until her death eleven years later.

Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

The Kre caves were named after a powerful earth moontouched named Kre Karson who built them using his komorebi to create passageways through the many rock formations in the Grayrock Canyon. Each cave is just a short passageway rather than a dead-end cave. When asked why they’re completely square, he told them sarcastically that if they wanted pretty caves, then they could use their own komorebi to come down and smooth out every single rock.

The Cornish Circus

The Cornish circus is one of the few apparently human-run wonders on Ferella. Unlike the ancient human circuses, this one is truly run by the animals. The animals in this circus are descendants of the ones humans first brought with them to Ferella. Like humans, they underwent mutations when they arrived, gaining the ability to control the twelve komorebi.

The animals that remained in the circus are Technology Komorebi. Technology is the komorebi of reason, and they gained unusual intelligence from their abilities. They used that intelligence to run their circus and maintain the creature comforts that their ancestors were accustomed to when they were owned by humans.

Image by TeeFarm from Pixabay

The animals found that most humans didn’t want to do business with animals, or thought they could cheat them, and the circus gained a reputation for harming people who refused to pay. The Cornish family offered to become the face of the circus to deal with humans on the animals’ behalf, and the animals were only seen during their acts or by their employees after that.

Alaila Mild-Twine

Alaila Mild-Twine is a high elf sorceress who was abused by her husband. Elven society is matriarchal, but the queen chose to believe her husband, the queen’s brother, instead of Alaila. In her anger, Alaila destroyed the village. She now kills anyone who enters the forest who reminds her of her husband or the queen, namely men and royalty of any elf-like species.

She has lived well over a thousand years, longer than the laws of nature permit, but when nature moontouched come to take her to the lands of death, they are never seen again. They have learned to avoid Alaila’s Forest.

Photo by Paz shots from Pexels