The+Journeys+of+Nanta+Hualta

Famed explorer, scholar, daredevil, and "reclaimer" Nanta Hualta is best known through his own words, his travel writing and guides to some of the many places of the Whisperland having become classics when they first appeared over four hundred years ago. Some of the scholars in the Empire of Shibboleth Nur have decided to revisit these tales, as explained below by the able chief administrator.

The legendary explorerer and scholoar, //**Nanta Hualta**//, complete with timepiece and viewing lenses from the Realm of the Maker. Preface Before departing aboard his vessel the //Waverunner// in the Year of the Maze, subsequently believed lost at sea with all hands during a crossing of the Sea of Long Teeth, the famed Litheeni explorer and scholar Nanta Hualta left behind many volumes of writings based on his journeys throughout the Whisperlands. Though there are many volumes missing from the Imperial Library at Von’Gramis (our procurers are endeavoring to find copies of those as we speak), we have recovered a number of Hualta’s diaries and unexpurgated material from a recent acquisition of antiquities and have concluded that the time is propitious for a new edition of the standard text on his travels. The best of the illuminators available in the Empire have been contracted to contribute, and the bindings will, as always, be of the highest quality, though produced at a very economical rate. We hope, therefore, that his Imperial Majesty finds pleasure in the reading of these annals, several advance samples of which have been included in this preface submitted for your approval, especially as it may prompt further investigations into areas of the Whisperlands that may prove profitable. Speaking for all members of the Geographical Research of Andavar Surveying Program (//GRASP//), I have the pleasure to pledge once again our full and enthusiastic support in your rule, the effects of which have brought so much to light that was hidden in darkness, all for the enrichment in so many ways of the Empire.
 * //The Adventures of Nanta Hualta, Revised//**

Jalibi Min, Procurer General, //GRASP// Icestrike, Year of the Pied Sow

Some say it was a stroke from the axe of one of the Pantheon, or the place where the Unquenchable Fire of legend fell into the sea and eventually burned its way to the center of the earth. Others claim that it has always been there, a fault in the composition of the very planet that one day will rupture, tearing Andavar to pieces. And yet others still insist that it is the entrance to a prison of something so terrible that the gods themselves hurled it into the abyss, unable to kill it, uneasy in the knowledge that one day it would eventually crawl free. Whatever the case, myth, legend, or fact, the Trench of Gargonoth is now named for the Firstborn that has long claimed at least part of it as its home. Just as with the trench itself, the nature of Gargonoth is disputed. Most agree, however, that he, all stories refer to the beast with masculine modifiers, is gargantuan, partially fish, partially serpent, and partially something “other”. He does not seem to be particularly territorial. Others live within the vastness of the trench and along its sides at all depths, some of them quite massive and imposing. Nor are there many stories regarding a proclivity toward intentional violence, though it is said that tidal waves along the Gnat Coast are a result of his occasional breaching of the surface. There is, however, one famous exception to this apparently peaceful approach to life. The Kingdom of Al’ak’aba was one of the first lands to recover from the horror and madness of the Godswar, and one of the least affected by the battles among the Pantheon. It shone for centuries as a place of great learning, wealth, and power, and it was ruled by an unusually wise list of kings for nearly a millennia. At some point, records do not agree, Al’ak’aba lost its reputation for prudence and enlightenment and gained one of aloofness, strife, and arrogance. It was said that the people of the Floating Kingdom, for it sprawled across a wide shelf of land in the midst of the Sea of Pearls, had an appetite for unwholesome things and that their inquiries delved into things best left alone. What they did remains a secret, but the result does not. If the stories are true, Gargonoth, annoyed, offended, or threatened by the actions of Al’ak’aba brought earthquake and tsunami-born ruin to the proud kingdom, the magnitude of which flooded entire reaches of the Crawling Jungle four hundred miles away, destroyed countless ships in the Sea of Pearls, annihilated the cliff tribes near Pei Ving and several other cities of the archipelago known as the Comet. When it was over, the Floating Kingdom had been torn from its foundations, and it lay scattered within and around the Trench. Stories agree that the magic of the kingdom’s greatest wizards preserved some of their people, though whether those magics still hold back the crushing tons of water is surely a mystery to most. The Floating Kingdom is now known as the Drowned Kingdom, a legendary example of offending the wrong immortal. It is said that those who find the ruined land and survive are rewarded with wealth to satisfy even a Nurian tax collector.* As for Gargonoth, he is there still, sighted by sailors every decade or so, rising high like a mountain above the sea, shivering water for half a mile, before plunging back into the depths, the waves he creates buffeting even the largest of vessels and meaning death to many smaller. It is to the great watery abyss that the Waverunner sails. I intend to anchor far above, and descend with my intrepid team, trusting to the devices of Rua and the sorcery of Yosh.
 * __The Trench of Gargonoth__**


 * Though for the sake of scholarly accuracy the original has been included in unedited form, it must be pointed out once again, as we have done in other such areas of this work, that Nualta, though an expert on many things, is noticeably lacking in true understanding of the Empire. For instance, the fairness and humility of actual tax gatherers serving the Great Nur has been badly maligned by the false characterization above. When any such errors occur, we will pause to make the due amendments.