Strange Tale of Aeran: The Encyclopedia Esoterica by Calliope Pendergast

Strange Tale of Aeran: The Encyclopedia Esoterica by Calliope Pendergast; Travel Scribe Extraordinaire

If you are reading this, Welcome. I am Professor Constance Corsica Pendergast, and I will be your guide through the more esoteric elements of Aeran. Though before we begin a note, this book, and the content that follows this preamble is meant for the layperson to gain a more well rounded understanding of the world we live in a practical and entertaining manner. This is not to say that a person of a more learned understanding can not find prudent information in this book. In fact I encourage anyone and everyone who picks up this book to read its contents and learn something new and exciting about the place we call home. Some topics covered may come from a place of slight misunderstanding or ignorance on the topic, but I seek to learn as well. So come with me and maybe just maybe you’ll find out something new about the place you live and gain a new and fun perspective.

Ruined Inn located between Verden and Dalen

I arrived at this location on a warm spring day. Despite its currently dilapidated state, the scenery would have made it a sight to behold back in its heyday. A nearby brooke lent an undeniable air of ambiance to the local. But I might be getting a bit off track. I apologise. Right, so this location is speculated to have been many things. Rumour has it that it was once a thriving brothel settled on a neutral border with the two kingdoms of Dalen and Verden. Other sources say it was simply an inn placed in this auspicious location lending itself to a colourful clientele. If the leg work I have done in researching this location both facts are true. The Original proprietor of the Inn was considered strangely enough a literary genius, some of you might even know her works. Madam Jocelynn a renowned writer of many books such as ‘Light of the Midnight Moon’, ‘The Lingering Summer’, and the one that is vitally important to our current conversation ‘The Fox and The Raven’ now, now, dear reader I know what you must be saying. “Constance, how can a salacious romance novel be of any academic use?” Well I will tell you. Due to the genocidal campaign waged by the Timber Crag invaders that slaughtered wholesale most of the local population and destroyed most of the buildings and infrastructure, very little documentation exists about this particular inn exists about this inn, strangely enough despite its seeming popularity of its time, that is where the previously mentioned book comes in. Although the book is largely apocryphal, several events mentioned in the work point to it holding some modicum of truth. Like much of Madam Jocelynn’s works historical events are mentioned in such a way to imply that though the characters are either meant to be representative of an idea or at the very least exaggerated people who were alive at the time. The story tells of a pair coming and going from the inn, one from Dalen and one Verden. If you would like to know more, just read the book yourself. I do not have space in these pages to review or synopsize the novel. Back to the point I was attempting to make, the story is written from the point of view of the Madam herself mentioning the war that was occuring at the time was making business boom. To make a long ramble short all things said and done, it is my belief that the inn was both your run of the mill in for a weary traveller and a brothel set up in a place where neither kingdom's laws could apply. All said, I do wish I could have seen it in its heyday regardless of what business it was, if only to say that I had been there. Despite this fact I do not suggest travelling the roads between the Verdan and Ruins of Dalen unaccompanied as they do still pose at the very least at the time of writing a modicum of danger.