A good place for humans
Sun Singer's chronicle #1 (06/20/96)
It's strange how humans can be obsessed by having a permanent place to live.
I never understood why, to give an example, they would like to stay in a
jumble of ruins such as the city they call Celik.
Located deep to the southwest of the Tablelands, this place has really nothing
to do with the city-states. I think we could say that it's more like a big
campground set on the remains of an ancient city. Oh! but there is a ruler
in Celik; it is Patriarch Korsun,
the leader of a once Kalidnay-based merchant house called Mareneth.
Korsun makes me laugh for sure. He is so proud of his ruins, so proud to
claim that everything and everyone living there belongs to him, but the
other way he would do anything to keep a low profile, being afraid of the
rulers in the Tablelands if they should become interested in his "mysterious"
city... Moreover, it's not that I do not respect the man, because he's truly
a good trader, but he seems to forget that the Goldensong Clan of the Sun
Singers IS the one making people entertained in his dump lost in the desert.
Without the "Basking Drake" tavern and the "Dawn Luck"
gaming hall, run by my tribe in the elves district, nobody would consider
stopping here, and much less living here.
By the way, I really don't care for the people of Celik; it's just that
running such things as a tavern and a gaming hall is an easy way to accumulate
money, and it takes money to buy knowledge these days. For me, knowledge
is the real thing. It is the true power.
Nevertheless, I have to admit that House Mareneth has made some efforts.
When it settled here, the place was filled with undead and monsters of all
kind. Today, the remaining vermins and creatures are confined in a portion
sealed by walls and fences, preventing the critters to get where people
live. For one, I did once go into the slums to see what was lurking there,
and I came back shortly after killing a bunch of crazy ratmen. Nothing of
true interest... It's why Korsun is paying a good price to adventurers going
into the ruins to hunt what resides there: there's probably nothing of great
value to risk his men's life, and by making the place clean from monsters
he will be able to extend the living area to the entire ruins. To own more
and more territory is such a typical human quest...
Tonight, at this very moment when the moons reflect the soothing rays of
the sun to me, I realize that the people of Celik are fools. They live for
the future, trying to bury their past, completely ignoring the now. Their
work is so pointless... The land is there for everyone to run free and the
sun is there to lead them to power. Is it not obvious that it's what the
now has to offer?
Well, finally, I guess Celik is a good place for humans.