From the Journals of Marith Kuelvar, Royal Calastian
Explorer:
Day 87
We have made the most marvelous discovery today. While I
was sure that these jungles held nothing but biting
insects, snakes and man-eating giant cats, today's
discovery totally refutes that idea. Perhaps there are more
terrors on this damnable continent of Termana, but there
are certainly some wonders, too.
Those blasted fey creatures that have been plaguing us for
nearly a week now have shown themselves. Now, despite their
use of confounding (though, in retrospect, non-lethal)
illusions, as well as their ability to speak to the small
animals of this verdant wilderness, these small folk are
actually very friendly.
Their chieftain and shaman, who both speak halting Ledean
(passed down from time their ancestors spent among the
Forsaken elves, if I understand them correctly), paid us a
visit today, after we made the fact that we were merely
explorers clear. Thankfully, Caldrick's idea worked; I
could have kissed that bard.
These folk call themselves "gnomes," a name I have only
heard in reference to the strange brewer gnomes. Now,
whether these two groups spring from the same primeval
source, or it was a similarity that caused one to be
referred to by the name of other was unclear. We do know
that the Forsaken elves (whom the gnomes called The High
Ones) are responsible for this naming convention, one way
or the other.
These folk are clever and small, with chestnut brown skin
and dark hair. Their green eyes gleam with intelligence
and, dare I say it, mirth. They seem to be a happy folk.
Nor are they the savages that one might mistake jungle-
dwellers to be. No, indeed. Though they would not take us
to see a settlement of their place, their chieftain claims
that his folk make their homes in the vast root systems of
the massive, sprawling trees of these places, comfortable
among the small monkeys, burrowing mammals, lizards and
brightly colored birds of this place.
Their shaman was an odd fellow, too. Kuorney, our sage, was
interested in the specifics of their faith. They seem to
worship none of the gods. Nor, however, do they openly
worship any of the Titans, despite the distinctly druidic
powers of their shamans. Rather, they claim to worship the
spirits of their land. According to the shaman, every major
feature of the land - a large stand of trees, a mighty
mountain, a stream, a volcano - has a spirit.
When we mentioned the titans, the shaman shushed us
quickly, and asked the chieftain to step away from the
conversation. He took us aside, worry furrowing his brow.
He said that we were not to speak of The Great Ones; he
referred to them as the Great Fathers of All Spirits,
implying that the spirits they revered owed some kind of
vassalage to the Titans. But to speak of the Titans
themselves was forbidden, the nature of The Great Fathers a
taboo subject.
They told us that they often tried to drive off strangers,
for they had dealt with centuries of being enslaved by the
charduni of Chorach, or hunted by the foulnesses that arose
from the Blood Bayou.
I hope to meet up with these small folk again, soon - they
are truly fascinating.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yep. I traded in FR for most of the same reasons.
