Winter at an oasis is a busy time for the caravans. The local farmers may have left their fields fallow, but the road still calls to merchant and pilgrim alike.
In the villages, they look forward to the celebrations to come. As always, the year is coming to an end, reminding us that change is eternal and nothing can last forever…
This ends cycle 11 and begins cycle 12, the last ordinary story cycle. Following this cycle, there will be a concluding epilogue cycle to wrap things up.
From the records of the Grand Abbey of Kuchina:
On this day there commenced the preparations for the wedding of Sugnumae, lay disciple, to groom of noble birth. Attendant to the rites of Kusinne and the customs of the kingdom of Kuchina, the groomprice has been recorded in the records. Her wedding is planned to take place before the New Year.
17th Thermador, 1836: According to this letter from Hyronomous, the dig at Chayi has revealed evidence of smoke, seeming to point towards a large fire damaging the center of the ruined compound and possibly leading to its eventual abandonment.
Beneath the soot, there are engravings that resemble Kusinne religious tattoos: geometric-numeric designs with meanings encoded numerically into their symmetric designs.
They have also found several dead ends apparently intended to mislead looters. Curiously, they appear to date to much later than the original ruins. Possibly second century, according to Hyronomous.
An except from a document found at Aksu:
…preparations are underway for the construction of a permanent edifice for the academy. Royal support has ensured that the project has favorable winds.
There have been persistent rumors that religiously motivated assassins are operating in Kucha, targeting public spaces and institutions of Kusinne…
An excerpt from a letter by a citizen of Aksu:
…the city’s forges have been quieter of late. I have been told that this is because the mines have run short of laborers, even though they were booming just a few seasons ago. It has been whispered that Eonic workers are avoiding the mines entirely.
I, on the other hand, am fully occupied. Thanks to an introduction from the Queen, I have been engaged at the academy that has recently been established in Aksu. I have been working closely with Mandal Ashkashwar and find that many of my students are gratifyingly eager to learn…
From the Annals of the Oasis Kingdoms:
At that time the court in Kucina was disrupted by the sudden uncovering of dissidents in their midst. Acting on advice from trusted advisors, the Queen took advantage of her seclusion to allow her agents to ferret out adversaries among her own courtiers.
Excerpt from a letter from Chayi:
With the Withering Season upon us, the laborers in the villages have left their fallow field and have taken up their other pursuits. Many seem to have occupied themselves with exploring the ruined tower and the surrounding environment. Not all of them: today I saw a blind girl, a daughter of one of the local clans, apparently. They seem to keep her sheltered in the village.
I have heard rumors that someone has found a dagger with a black opal in the hilt that sounds very similar to one that the heretic Adjudicators used during the time of Devastations. But many strange things are being found nowadays: there are many ingots recovered from the ruins, of some unknown metal that seems to react strangely to lodestones. Perhaps I will be able to tell you more of this when I see you next.
Faithful to the Adjudicators,
Aspandhat
At night, everyone in the caravan gathers around the fire, and tells stories appropriate to the season: stories of endings, the last time you saw someone, the thing you lost when you were a child.
This ends cycle 10 and begins cycle 11…
15th Thermador, 1836: This has been a day of a great many discoveries!
Behind a wall in what I believe to be a salt cellar, we found a sealed chamber with a great many jars, each one containing what appears to be a sacred text. And not only that: some contained much more mundane records. One of them, for example, appears to be some kind of social register: the last entry announces the betrothal of an apprentice initiate of the order named Sugnumae to a nobleman. This must have happened shortly before the records were copied and sealed away. Another document makes mention of the Abbey being unexpectedly closed to visitors that season. Perhaps there is some connection there as to why the texts were sealed away.
Catalog Item #651: Triangular coins. The dimensions are in a strict 3:4:5 ratio. Predates the founding of Chayi, but more recent than the ruins outside the town. Inscribed with Eonic writing, referring to mystical tenets of the Symness beliefs.
Catalog Item #612: Rug and cushion, decorated. Circa 5th century. Prime example of rugs used in practices of the Kusinne Path of the Well.
Catalog Item #390: Lamp and cup. 3rd c. Markings indicate connection with the Kusinne Path of the Well.
Catalog Item #292: Dish of earth. Predates early Oasis period, likely early Kusinne and used in religious practices. Excavated at Aksu.