From the writings of Utta Marvew, Wanderer of Cyrrn
A Preparatory Word
It has been many years since I left my home to find a way for myself. I never would have imagined back then the way was a never ending journey of discovery. I have walked the lands of Cyrrn, shore to shore, many times. Through my journeys I have met many wonderful people and learned many things about our world, our history, and magic. Some of these facts are known to many but some only guessed by a few.
As my hair has grayed and my legs grown tired, I have changed the purpose of my life from obtaining knowledge to sharing it. I am not a scholar or nobleman and will not attempt to write in such lofty manners. My hope is to share what I have learned in a way all people can understand and pass onto others.
Maybe I will inspire some of you to wander out in search of new mysteries and lost truths.
The Tangian Plane
Stand at the water’s edge of a beach and feel gentle waves splash against your toes. Smell the tang of ocean salt on the breeze. Hear bird cries resound in your ears. Feel the sun’s brilliance warm your head. All of that which you experience as “real”, the completeness of all existence, dwells upon the Tangian Plane.
The earliest mention of the Tangian Plane is in a Sum Sum manuscript dated twelve hundred years ago. The author’s name is long lost to history. The Sum Sum are generally credited as being the first truly sea-going civilization, with trade routes around the world that lasted hundreds of years, until their kingdom met a sudden fiery end (which we will discuss at a later time). It is equally important to understand the Sum Sum were also avid sky watchers and their discoveries and influence have lasted to today. This world we call Gensuto was named long ago by the Sum Sum. As were all the bodies in our sun’s realm.
OKENU – Our sun is the “Great Fire.” A fitting name for a blazing ball so huge all other worlds can be dropped into it and lost like raindrops into the sea.
KURAMI – “Shadow Moth” is the first planet. It is twice our size and orbits so close to Okenu, its surface is a black, scorched landscape.
GENSUTO – Our home’s name means “Eye of the Real.” The Sum Sum valued peoples’ ability to peer across the Tangian in wonder, always seeking answers to unknown questions.
TOGATME – They called our supposedly twin planet “Hiding Brother.” According to their reports, Togatme may have oceans and continents. It circles Okenu very close to our orbit but just a little slower. Currently, it is on the far side of the sun, out of sight for many more hundreds of years. Yet, it must have been close to Gensuto during the age of the Sum Sum for them to be able to observe it so well with their early spells.
SHANDRII – The last world of Okenu’s realm earns its title as the “Jewel of the Sky.” This massive world of endlessly swirling storms and wide rings glows bright blue in the sky.
When you gaze into the starry night sky you are looking at other realms so distant their stars appear as mere specks of light. Some of those stars are so enormous they would swallow Okenu and Shandrii without notice. Others aren’t single stars at all, but clusters of millions of suns orbiting together in vast clouds of gas. Some stars may exist for the age of the Tangian, while others rip themselves apart in horrific explosions. There are even stars so powerful they conceal themselves from sight, shrouded in eternal blackness.
All of these wonders were chronicled by the Sum Sum. Even after a thousand years since their destruction, our mage’s most complex spells continue to confirm their ancient observations. Our Plane is a wondrous place of danger and amazement, and all of it real and existing according to natural laws.
The power of spells to reveal so much which is hidden begs the question, what is magic?