Jose Santos and his purpose.
05:13 by Name: Shahril aka 'Death to Kittens'
This man, this foreigner, he will bring change. I uttered these words as I slipped into a deep sleep.
I am abdullah, a court minister of the 5th rank*.
Yesterday i found the foreigner after an exhausting search throughout the city. I guided the stranger back to my home and invited him to bath and rest for the next morning we shal visit the court of the High King of Barnei, the most powerful sovereign south of the Sino sea, and ruler of the territories west of the empire of Malac.
More importantly, who is this stranger really. As much as i wanted to rest my old bones, i wanted to know more about this person. I have been to musca, the land to the west, near the holy places of old. There i met many of his kind, travelling, trading and most often fighting.
They were the portuguese. Strange men from the distant west, they wear cotton clothing of an unusual style and use guns smaller and superior to our own.
This man whom was invited by the king in particular called himself "Jose Santos" of Almeida. True to his kind, he worships the roman god and proclaims his name before eating and before sleeping.
So why is he here? The truth is the country is in turmoil. We have reached our greatest power under the old king Hashem. It was a time of peace and trade and prosperity. Then the old king died and his son came to power. His son, our current ruler, was an... *whispers* inept man... so much that the country has lost all that made us the envy of the land and sea.
Our cities in ruin and the people dying, the sea stale from the dying fish and the rotting piers at the harbourside, no other time have we been face with such a terrible omen. This is how the king, with my advice, had decided to invite the westerner to cure our land from this disease.
Tommorrow we travel to the court for an audience, and hopefully a good one.
I am abdullah, a court minister of the 5th rank*.
Yesterday i found the foreigner after an exhausting search throughout the city. I guided the stranger back to my home and invited him to bath and rest for the next morning we shal visit the court of the High King of Barnei, the most powerful sovereign south of the Sino sea, and ruler of the territories west of the empire of Malac.
More importantly, who is this stranger really. As much as i wanted to rest my old bones, i wanted to know more about this person. I have been to musca, the land to the west, near the holy places of old. There i met many of his kind, travelling, trading and most often fighting.
They were the portuguese. Strange men from the distant west, they wear cotton clothing of an unusual style and use guns smaller and superior to our own.
This man whom was invited by the king in particular called himself "Jose Santos" of Almeida. True to his kind, he worships the roman god and proclaims his name before eating and before sleeping.
So why is he here? The truth is the country is in turmoil. We have reached our greatest power under the old king Hashem. It was a time of peace and trade and prosperity. Then the old king died and his son came to power. His son, our current ruler, was an... *whispers* inept man... so much that the country has lost all that made us the envy of the land and sea.
Our cities in ruin and the people dying, the sea stale from the dying fish and the rotting piers at the harbourside, no other time have we been face with such a terrible omen. This is how the king, with my advice, had decided to invite the westerner to cure our land from this disease.
Tommorrow we travel to the court for an audience, and hopefully a good one.
06:35 by Name: Shahril aka 'Death to Kittens'
i think i m going to change the setting for the story into something a bit less confusing, especially in the naming of the cities and heroes. instead of madeup names i shall be using a mix of historical and ahistorical names as well as ensuring that the timeline for the story fits in around 1500s to 2000s in real world terms.
so, without further ado, the new storyline...
***
"The foreigner!"
Shouted a boy running towards my home. "sire, i came from the docks this morning and i came to inform you the foreigner has arrived!" he said.
I hurriedly put on my robes and slippers and made way on my mule to see this man. we traveled 2 hours by foot towards the port city of 'said' on the north sea coast. Looking back i wondered, how DID that boy manage to run to me for 2 hours to delivery the message. "well then, its just fiction after all" i smiled then turn towards the path.
The port of said. This port is the only way in or out of this miserable island we call home for hundreds of miles around. It is a rich city full of wonders, worldly or otherwise. Many goods from many nations have graced the shelves of many saidian market stalls. In fact so many, that the king of the land had lost control of this properous city to the foreign men than ply the trade waters around it. But the common folk did not care, they were happy to make a quick penny or two from the lucrative trade that seemed grow everyday.
Anyway, when i reached the port city gates i enquired the gatesman "have u seen a foreign man around here lately?" the gatesman laughed and replied "hah! good sir, here you will find many foreigners, southerners, northerners, westerners and easterners, which among the thousands are you looking for?" I said "nevermind thank you" and left before i was rediculed further. i traveled to the nearest dockyards to look for this man. i asked my young companion "what did he look like?" he said "he had the look of a foreigner" to which i said "well that certainly doesnt help! can you give me a better description?" then the boy whilst picking his tiny nose said "well... he was wearing a strange sword around his waist" then i immediately dragged the boy onto the mule and made haste for the docklands.
Nearing nightfall, i was still scanning for a man with a strange sword, i looked in the workers huts, inns, pubs, sheds, even the constabulary (i suspect an man with a sword would have eventually winded up here) but to no avail. then finally, my age caught up with me and i collapsed on the wet, cool grass on the hill overlooking the port. the boy sat beside me and said "i'll look after you while you rest sir" "thank you boy" i said to him then i dozed off.
it wasnt long before he started to innocently poke my chest again, to which i said "boy, now is the time for rest. please let an old man catch his sleep"
"sire, its him"
I opened my eyes slowly, blinded by the reflection of rays from the moon. then a silhouette of a figure in front of my appeared and uttered the words "dom abdallah?"
"ahhh, Estrangeiro, você chegou!"
***
Notice i used some portuguese words. however i m not sure that it is the correct form , and furthermore i used wordlingo service from ms office to translate "ahhh, foreigner, you are here!", so who knows what kind of errors may have appeared. but the main thing is to get the atmosphere right and not the accuracy so thats justified i guess.
so, without further ado, the new storyline...
***
"The foreigner!"
Shouted a boy running towards my home. "sire, i came from the docks this morning and i came to inform you the foreigner has arrived!" he said.
I hurriedly put on my robes and slippers and made way on my mule to see this man. we traveled 2 hours by foot towards the port city of 'said' on the north sea coast. Looking back i wondered, how DID that boy manage to run to me for 2 hours to delivery the message. "well then, its just fiction after all" i smiled then turn towards the path.
The port of said. This port is the only way in or out of this miserable island we call home for hundreds of miles around. It is a rich city full of wonders, worldly or otherwise. Many goods from many nations have graced the shelves of many saidian market stalls. In fact so many, that the king of the land had lost control of this properous city to the foreign men than ply the trade waters around it. But the common folk did not care, they were happy to make a quick penny or two from the lucrative trade that seemed grow everyday.
Anyway, when i reached the port city gates i enquired the gatesman "have u seen a foreign man around here lately?" the gatesman laughed and replied "hah! good sir, here you will find many foreigners, southerners, northerners, westerners and easterners, which among the thousands are you looking for?" I said "nevermind thank you" and left before i was rediculed further. i traveled to the nearest dockyards to look for this man. i asked my young companion "what did he look like?" he said "he had the look of a foreigner" to which i said "well that certainly doesnt help! can you give me a better description?" then the boy whilst picking his tiny nose said "well... he was wearing a strange sword around his waist" then i immediately dragged the boy onto the mule and made haste for the docklands.
Nearing nightfall, i was still scanning for a man with a strange sword, i looked in the workers huts, inns, pubs, sheds, even the constabulary (i suspect an man with a sword would have eventually winded up here) but to no avail. then finally, my age caught up with me and i collapsed on the wet, cool grass on the hill overlooking the port. the boy sat beside me and said "i'll look after you while you rest sir" "thank you boy" i said to him then i dozed off.
it wasnt long before he started to innocently poke my chest again, to which i said "boy, now is the time for rest. please let an old man catch his sleep"
"sire, its him"
I opened my eyes slowly, blinded by the reflection of rays from the moon. then a silhouette of a figure in front of my appeared and uttered the words "dom abdallah?"
"ahhh, Estrangeiro, você chegou!"
***
Notice i used some portuguese words. however i m not sure that it is the correct form , and furthermore i used wordlingo service from ms office to translate "ahhh, foreigner, you are here!", so who knows what kind of errors may have appeared. but the main thing is to get the atmosphere right and not the accuracy so thats justified i guess.
Prologue
18:46 by Name: Shahril aka 'Death to Kittens'
I am trying to set the scenario as best as possible so that everyone can understand how this totally fictional country of Inurbia came about, historically geographically socially and etc. basically try to paint its origins in a realistic way as much as possible without compromising the 'fantasy'.
So.... here goes, prepare for the most boring part (or exciting for some) of the prologue, the HISTORY! i know many a people who hath feared this 7 letter word since primary 4, but anyway on to the future!!! (or past!!!)
***
Changing times...
From the Diary of one, Ijah III of RADNAB, competent son and administrator of Kayabeya, in the year 1842.
Ah, yes today the king hath ask me to travel to the capital in anticipation of the arrival of this foreigner. the king, my friend, hath told me that this man will change the country. i know not how, but i fear, the change will come and destroy the old order. but my king is my king nonetheless and i confer to him my best regards for this man whom i hath not met personally.
who is this man that the king eagerly awaits? My page hath told me that this man hailed from the country far north and to the east of that old and venerable land of ANIHCEE. Some foreign kingdom i presumed. My page continued, he said that land was of wonderous machines and buildings, men did not carry sail by the wind as we do but by the power of fire and water to produce steam. the had buildings of stone and metal, my page said.
As my page continued on the wonders of this strange land, i cannot but wonder, this foreigner, will he make our land like his? Only time will tell.
Ijah III Radnab
***
next chapter: The Foreigner
So.... here goes, prepare for the most boring part (or exciting for some) of the prologue, the HISTORY! i know many a people who hath feared this 7 letter word since primary 4, but anyway on to the future!!! (or past!!!)
***
Changing times...
From the Diary of one, Ijah III of RADNAB, competent son and administrator of Kayabeya, in the year 1842.
Ah, yes today the king hath ask me to travel to the capital in anticipation of the arrival of this foreigner. the king, my friend, hath told me that this man will change the country. i know not how, but i fear, the change will come and destroy the old order. but my king is my king nonetheless and i confer to him my best regards for this man whom i hath not met personally.
who is this man that the king eagerly awaits? My page hath told me that this man hailed from the country far north and to the east of that old and venerable land of ANIHCEE. Some foreign kingdom i presumed. My page continued, he said that land was of wonderous machines and buildings, men did not carry sail by the wind as we do but by the power of fire and water to produce steam. the had buildings of stone and metal, my page said.
As my page continued on the wonders of this strange land, i cannot but wonder, this foreigner, will he make our land like his? Only time will tell.
Ijah III Radnab
***
next chapter: The Foreigner