WELCOME TO SOLVUNN!

[abraxasmods]

WELCOME TO SOLVUNN!

Welcome to Solvunn! Bright suns and merriest of welcomes to you! The portal opens in a vast field on the western side of town surrounded by cattle, with a distant view of the bustling marketplace. The first impression of the settlement is one of idylic, country charm. There are no looming structures or crowded streets. Instead, there are cozier houses on wide streets and community buildings made of stone and wood. A gentle breeze rolls across the field and the sun is high in the sky.

There's not as much magic here as in other locations, but it's there. No one will be stopped from entering Solvunn, though suspicion will be cast upon new arrivals. Citizens will be friendly and welcoming, but curious about their new visitors. It isn't often that they welcome new folks- especially not so many at once!

With tensions between the other communities, Solvunn will not be keen on ratting out those who fled Thorne, but with the knowledge that sanctuary will not be given for free. Everyone does their part, whatever that part may be.

Asking questions will result in being told to find Rowan March, one of the council members, somewhere in the marketplace.

Comments

[gruesome]

Some smiles, just the lower mouth for once, a sad smile.

"Can I ask what some of those words mean?" He touches the writing, fingertips following a line of text with great care.

[antichristsplusone]

"Uhh... I-- I guess?" Now he's worried in a different way. "Which ones?"

And then, as a side note, "You're, um. Holding that the wrong way up, by the way."

[gruesome]

"Oh?" He turns it a quarter, glancing up, and then another so it's right side up, reading that he has it right now in Martin's expression.

"Astronomy, and constellations, and stars." The longer words, he pronounces as well as he can, using both mouths together to make sure he has all the syllables.

[antichristsplusone]

Martin gives a bemused nod and a brief thumbs up when the creature gets it correct.

But the chosen words make him blink. Astronomy, sure; constellations, understandable, but stars.

"...ah. Okay, um..." How does he start this...?

He looks up at the sky, then picks up his lantern to dim it as best he can. "You see all those lights in the sky? Those are stars."

[gruesome]

The grue looks up, opening all eight eyes wide. Pair by pair, he closes the smaller ones, until just the central, largest pair are still open. A moment, and he gasps softly, pointing up at a trio of the brightest stars, nearly directly above them. "Those?"

[antichristsplusone]

There's something about that little gasp that makes most of Martin's worries ease off, and he gives a small smile.

"Yeah. Those are thousands and thousands of miles away, giant balls of fire in the sky." He holds up the lantern demonstratively, keeping it dim. "Like this, but massive, like the sun. And because there's so many, people like to try and see pictures in them. That's what constellations are, they're the pictures we make out of the stars we see."

[gruesome]

He glances at him again, holding a hand to block the light still coming from the lantern. "They aren't just reflections of the lights down here?"

[antichristsplusone]

"Oh-- no, there's nothing overhead to reflect things, not on a clear night like tonight. It's just the big, empty sky." He dims the lantern a little more, noticing that apparent discomfort, even if it makes him a little more uncomfortable to be this dark. "They're all their own unique things up there."

[gruesome]

He frowns again, looking back up. "How can there be nothing up there? What keeps them there, if it's all empty?"

[antichristsplusone]

"I'm, um. I'm not terribly sure, to be honest. I know a little but that's what astronomy is for." He gives an awkward little smile. "I-it's the study of things like stars and outer space. For people who are really, really interested in learning more about them."

[gruesome]

His shoulders hunch a bit. He's not sure he likes the idea, that there's truly no ceiling to all of this, just flying fires so very far away.

"And that's what's in this?" he asks, turning a few pages with delicate care, tilting his head as he looks at a picture of scattered dots. "Study?"

[antichristsplusone]

"Sort of! When you study, i-it just means you're making an effort to learn about things. You're, uh, putting time and effort into learning as much as you can about it."

He puts the lantern down and steps forward, carefully offers his hands for the book back. "I can, uh, I-I can show you what I was studying, if you like."

[gruesome]

He returns it, relaxing enough to half-sit. Even with his hind leg folded beneath him, he's still taller than the human if he doesn't sink down.

"Then study is something I know. I study paths."

[antichristsplusone]

"That sounds very useful," he says, diplomatic but very sincere. It would probably be helpful, somewhere like here. If the thing got used to being in a spot where the sky existed.

"So, um!" He points straight up at those three brightest stars. "You see those three, a-and the lot of little ones coming off it like a tail? That's called the Harpoon. The story goes, a mighty hero wanted to bring the kingdom of the gods down to the earth, and so threw his weapon into the sky to drag it down. But the gods were so powerful that the hero couldn't bring his weapon down, and when night fell it turned into stars and was stuck on the side of the gods' kingdom forever."

He opens the book to the right page and shows Some the illustration, of a strong-looking man hurling a weapon at what looked like a castle suspended in a cloud. "If you follow the line of the Harpoon, though, it points north, so people still use it to navigate even now."

[gruesome]

Some stares fixedly at the sky, trying to see the 'little ones coming off it like a tail.' He can see the three bright ones, and... maybe a fuzzy glimmer beside them. And when he looks back down at the book, he blinks hard, readjusting his focus.

"Is it a true story?"

[antichristsplusone]

"Well, um. That's part of what I've been trying to research - that's like studying, but even more so, you look at all sorts of different resources to help you study your chosen area-- um, anyway, I-I've been trying to look into it more." He turns the book around and flips the pages slowly. "As far as I can tell, no one's really sure if they're real, but no one entirely thinks they're not, and really- they very well could be real, since they're all about magic."

[gruesome]

"Does it say anything about Light?" He draws a little closer to peer at the pages.

[antichristsplusone]

That gets a curious look. Something about the thing's intonation...

"Now... now when you say light...?" His tone is leading, curious, as he offers the book back to Some. "That can mean a lot of things."

[gruesome]

He gives him a slightly puzzled look. "The god who made... you."

[antichristsplusone]

Martin blinks. And stares some more, like it'll help.

"...what?"

[gruesome]

Do the humans not know? How could they not?

"Light. One of the Five." He holds up a hand, his second thumb folded in so there are five fingers raised. "Earth, Light, Water, Air, and Void."

[antichristsplusone]

He sort of opens his mouth and nods, like he's about to say something, but he stops and frowns instead.

"Um. I mean. Humans do have a similar sort of set-up, in some cultures, uh. Usually it's more like- air, water and earth, sure, but fire and metal, not void and light. And they're not gods, they're just. Elements. Symbolic, I suppose. My-- my culture really only uses the four, air, water, fire and earth."

[gruesome]

His outer eyes blink at 'fire,' his lower mouth tensing slightly.

"We learn, Light created fire, while trying to make people, and then made m- humans."

[antichristsplusone]

Martin looks at Some this time, really looks. At how the creature looks like a strange, giant spider, how reactive he'd been to avoiding the lantern and how he's never heard of stars.

"Does that, um. Would that mean your... your God would be... Void?"

[gruesome]

Some smiles, lifting his head again, and reaches behind himself to touch his back. "My god is Void, yes. The god of grues is Earth, our mother."