[The following was scribbled in after the last note, in different ink]:

I found it! Finally, a description, though from some time after Saxo's death. This comes from a thaumatic, or wizard, in 278 prior, snugly in the middle of the Thaumaturgical Revolution. I had to piece together various fragments to read it properly and alas, there is no name left in the remnants, though there is a piece of the fellow's description of himself: "a gentleman of sightly stature and bearing, whose physical appointments are but augments to [his] mental prowess...." It is ironic vengeance that such a pillar of his age should be forgotten and his work torn asunder. I am certain the work was not written by one of the Greats of that time, but it is exactly what I was looking for: a concise definition of the Netherwild. Of course, it cannot be all encompassing, but it will do:

"When men speak of "the Netherwild," most often they are referring to an unstable, geographical phenomenon that has been reported, at one time or another throughout the written record, in nearly every square mile of Isumbras. In other circumastances, the wielder of the term might be referring to the supposed entity or entities that has been long supposed to rule or control the said phenomenon. In order to describe this peculiar environ, we will be greatly aided in preparing first an analogy."

"Another albeit circumstantial evidence to the connection between the eastern Narti and the Asanir [the Cilanese and the gipsies] is their peculiar relationship to the Wild."

Here again he mentions the Netherwild, and in this case, discusses the abnormal relationship between the Cilanese and that bizarre phenomenon. But he does not here, or anywhere for that matter, provide a base line from which such abnormal behavior is to be judged. I will have to find a true description of this thing and reference it here for further use. Of course, I have heard of the thing, and read anecdotes about it, but I am still not clear on what it is.

"Though there are many other examples, the two cited, and indeed the folkloric tradition in general, will suffice to suggest that, though common tradition suggests that gipsies never entered the Cilanese swamps (except for their coming of age journey, as I have mentioned), the Cilanese Narti did indeed encounter gipsies in their journeys south, and that in fact, their cultures seem to have assimilated each other.

"This is certainly apparent in the significant cultural differences between the Iskandrans and the Cilanese, as well as the long-lived tension between them, but it also seems clear in an examination of the Cilanese culture itself. They have become a supernatural people, keeping themselves continually under th influence of strange and subtles magicks. Entirely different from the external, elemental- and force-driven powers granted by the gods or painstakingly wrestled by the wizards, this swamp magic seems instead to be like smoke, clinging to them and permeating their lives.

"Of course, they are not all such witches or practitioners. In fact, of late, the Cilanese have begun to exert a presence in the mercantile drama opened by the League, but there is still a faint air of it about them, and deep behind the diplomatic face they have erected, there are still demon summoners and black magicians. It is a heritage they will not easily escape, if indeed escape is their purpose.

"I will not now speak of the demons, though they are perhaps the most salient feature of Cilan. They deserve a treatment of their own, and shall receive it in due time. Suffice it to say, the Cilanese, now a hybid of Narti and gipsy blood, sought the power that was to be had from their ancestors, and from the spirits of the world around them, and more importantly, from the ancenstors of the spirts around them."

Merkado is wise to give separate treatment to the demons. He himself surely knew that their influence and taint spread far beyond those wicked fools who ripped them from stagnation and cast them into the world again. It is a thing that is alien to me, though I suppose it is in the end a manifestion of the addiction of mortality and stagnation that threatens to shackle all men.

"Another piece of evidence is a bit of gipsy lore itself. The first (and most complete) version I have heard is sadly and likely the least accurate, as it came from the lips of several women in the Roots of the city of Iskandra. I do not imply that they themselves are unreliable, but the distance of the slave race (or the morrokin, as they are often called) from their gipsy ancestors is quite large, and it would be foolhardy to assume their traditions have not changed. However, I have heard variations of the same belief from other sources, and hints of variations from others, enough that I am convinced that it is a valid descendant of a legitimate gipsy belief.

"Those women explained to me the morrokin understanding of the duality of humanity, or, the difference between men and women. Hidden in their words was much that dealt with the state of mortality, along with its virtues and dangers, a discussion in which I will not engage myself now. But on the surface, their philosophy can be stated thus:

"A man is a traveler, an astral vagabond in search of light and truth, who has become trapped on earth by the labyrinth of the mortal elements. A woman is a native being of the mortal realm, one to whom the labyrinth is naught but familiar halls, and though she seeks the light and truth beyond the walls of her home, she has no engine with which to pass beyond. Thus, the gispy cultures, in past years, revered marriage and the union of man and woman, because they believed each is crucial for either to progress.

"But it is not of such progression that we are now interested. We have allowed our attention on ancient Cilan to wander and it is time to repair our interest."

It is truly sad that intercourse with the gipsies in those days could not lead to more productive ends than slavery and slaughter. So much that was good and true in their cultures seems to have been lost, even to the discerning eyes of the modern age. It appears even Saxo was at a loss concerning them at times.

"The Cilanese are a peculiar people. It is commonly held that the gipsies do not frequent that marshy land, in fact I myself have written it in this book, but if one examines beyond the understanding of the common man, a different picture emerges. The lore of a place, of a culture, has an infinitely more accurate memory than any of the folk who claim that place or culture.

"Ignoring even the obsure hints and tales that waft only in the cold humidity of Cilan itself, we can find hints of what seems to be the truth in many of the various stories that are told on any given night, in any given ale house, in any of the cities of the world. I admit, I have listened to my poor friend Fiero Dul tell many of these stories, and at the time, the were nothing more than pieces of disassociated culture, the result of the more common intercource between men that has come in the wake of the Merchants League.

"A good example is the bizarre tale 'The Fox Groom,' which I'm told is a favorite in the high pass inns of the Tubalothes, though in actuality it originated in western marches of Cilan. Though it seems unlikely that any reader is unfamiliar with this very common story, a brief summary seems in order."

An odd lack of foresight for someone like Saxo.

"In the story, the heroine sends her brave betrothed off to some distant war, from which he never returns. The distraught heroine braves many dangers and seeks out the supernatural powers of various oracles, all of whom tell her the same thing: her lover will return, but he will be a vagabond, a lost soul. The heroine returns and works hard to provide a home for her vagabond lover. Some days later, a fox comes to the home looking for food. The heroine, believing it to be her betrothed, woos him and marries him. Of course, in the end her true lover returns, indeed a vagabond as the oracles insisted, only to find his true love devoured by the fox.

"Remembering that in Cilanese (and to a lesser degree, Iskandran) lore, the fox is characterized as the epitome of the lost soul, the vagabond, makes one part of this story easier to comprehend. But even without such knowledge, we find in this tale a hint about the early days of Cilan, one that we find in other stories as well."

I will have to find this "Fox Groom" story, and the others he is discussing. I wonder what they are?

"As should be expected, there are any number of tales and legends to explain the appearance of Enuk's Wall, the vast, mortal-made barrier that sealed the realm of Isumbras from the lands to the north.

"The prevalent story, though even this version has many variations, is that Enuk was a half-god king from across the sea, summoned by the gods to Isumbras to defend it from invasions from the north. After years of warfare, Enuk saw that the hordes from the north were too numerous and he finally called upon the help of elemental mountain spirits, who crafted for him the wall. With the consent of the gods, Enuk had himself encased in the wall, so the power of his spirit and prowess would make the wall impenetrable and unscalable.

"Another, less fantastic tale is similar in theme, though not in execution. This version suggests that Enuk was the king of the last tribe of Narti to immigrate from the north. In the most common version of this tale, his people came to Isumbras fleeing moral degeneration. They settled in the mountains north of Cilan and prospered for some time until the sinister fingers of wickedness began to creep into their society from their northern heritage and intercourse. Thus, Enuk assembled the good men of his kingdom and together, for nearly forty years, they build the wall. Enuk himself died some time before the completion of the wall and, like his mythical counterpart, was buried in the wall itself as a symbol of purity and goodness standing against evil."

From Asdod's Architecture of the Old Worlds: "Enuk's Wall is an astounding feat. It is nearly fifty miles long, over five hundred feet at its tallest point, and seamlessly integrated with the rocky mountains in which it dwells. For years, adventurers have sought a weakness in it, a way through the fabled treasures of the north, to no avail."

Enuk's Wall completed--approx. 1750 prior

[And back to The Golden Horn]:

"Though it might seem expected to continue to pursue the more imperialistic Iskandran Narti, let us instead return our gaze to the vast, forested land of Cilan and the people who claimed its marches.

"The truth is that the misty lands of Cilan are in some ways as mysterious as the far of dominion of Castille. The people there are almost religious isolationists, who seem to hold themselves above those around them. If one is able to read the tomes of history that are now held as scripture from those early days, one learns pieces of that distant puzzle, though admittedly, the histories have been dismantled and spread about and now make little sense without the proper knowledge.

"If their lore is to be believed, Cilan was once an active, thriving colony of whatever far-off kingdom had sent them out. There does seem to be some proof that the immigration into the region came in part because of some war or aggression, but it is clear, at least to the Cilanese, that the first immigrants were sent into Isumbras with the purpose of establishing a foothold on it."

It is odd that such imperialism was capable of the kind of isolationist implosion that seems to have followed. How is that the Iskandran Narti seemed to develop their inherited worldview of growth and the Cilanese Narti turned in on themselves? Likely, there are answers to follow.

[This is from a story that I read once. I have seen it in print several times, from several different sources. Because I was just quoting from Saxo Merkado, I will use his version]:

“I once heard of two brothers who came to the Wild in search of something. I don’t remember what. The elder brother was jealous of the younger, who was accompanied by his beautiful, loyal wife. She would not leave his side, even in the Wild. Though he pretended brotherly kindness, the elder hated his brother and could think of nothing but the body of his brother’s wife. Her breasts were so round, her skin so pure. Whenever she moved or breathed, his hatred burned more brightly and presently he knew she must be his. But he would not take her. Her passion must be as willing as his to satisfy his lust, so he devised a plan. He drew his brother away and murdered him, thinking to blame it on the denizens of the wood. The wife would turn to him for comfort and the silk of her skin would his. But the Netherwild was more devious than the man, and when the noble wife came to the brother’s cries, she saw her husband standing over the broken body of his brother. She could not know that what she saw was but a shroud, a cloak that had been cast over the elder brother’s skin. He himself did not know at first, but he was cunning and quickly realized the enchantment. He did not understand, but he wasted no time on it. The woman fell to the trick and the killer knew the warmth of her passion. He led his prize from the Wild and they lived together for many years, though the woman often spoke to her priest, concerned how wild and violent her husband had become. I heard the man finally succumbed to the guilt of what he had done. He confessed himself to his brother’s wife, then left and sought his fate and death with his brother in the Wild. The poor woman killed herself.”

"And of course, whether Iskandran or Cilanese, the Narti, shortly after their immigration, encountered the Netherwild."

In one of his strange omissions, presumably fueled by the belief that no one would ever be ignorant of the Netherwild, Saxo brushes past it. Have I seen a good description of the Wild anywhere? I have been exposed to it in countless stories and writings, but has anyone actually sat down and described what it is? Does anyone, even now, truly know what it is?

"Of course, almost immediately after the inception of this second (and in their minds, much more grievous) exile, the soon-to-be Iskandran Narti encountered the westernmost tribes of gipsies [properly called the Asanir].

"I have expended considerable time and resources to learn why the gipsies never roamed, in their perpetual nomadry, in the swamps and forests of Cilan, and indeed still do not, unless their need is dire, but alas, I have overturned nothing but muttered stories of ancient fears and lands that are both sacred and cursed. I have gleaned that in the old days, in the early years after the Migrations and before, gipsy boys of the western tribes were sent into the the swamps in order to receive their first tattoos (which were inscribed on the inside of the right thigh, or so I've heard, the somatic point representing the physical body) from some unknown source. If this ritual was indeed followed, its practice has long since died."

I'm sure that I read elsewhere that gipsy girls received their first tattoos in the same place, but at their father's, or nearest paternal male relative's, hand. I think at Merkado's time, this was the case for both boys and girls.

"Like everything that is aboriginal to the realm, any clear history of the gipsy tribes is nothing more than rumor, conjecture, and a patchwork of ancient lore."

Ironically, Saxo's description here applies now to his own time, even with his copious attempts to prevent such a haze.

"It is unclear, even to the discerning scholar, how much time passed, but, using evidence and logic, it can be determined that it must have been a fair amount: when the Cilanese Narti appeared in Isumbras they were colonists, fleeing some manner of oppression certainly, but a peaceful oppression (if such a thing exists); when the Narti who would become the Iskandrans came into the region, they were surely refugees from some kind of war or aggression, and thus, their state was much more desperate. On the other hand, the Cilanese colonies had had ample time to develop their civilization and culture enough to act as they did next.

"As the to-be Iskandrans moved south, finding some hope in the lush land of their kinsfolk, the Cilanese colonists, who had over the years become severe isolationists, closed their borders and forcibly repelled the migration of the Iskandrans. Of course they did not know it, but their actions at that time would lead to one of the major currents of action that would mark the history of the region. Pushed to their limit, the Iskandrans were forced to turn west onto the barren moors and, with every step, their tempraments hardened and became more bitter."

It seems clear that the shock of encountering the Netherwild, and the resources required to defend against its malice, must have contributed to the Cilanese response. History is always wont to villify, but there are always reasons behind actions, and I've found, more often than not, those actions are selfish, but not overtly evil.

"It is well nigh impossible to understand exactly how the division of land during that first wave of Narti migrations was adjuticated, as in this case, the fog of history is augmented by the equally thick fog of emotion and the two, if I may briefly mix my metaphors, do not ferment well together. But a careful examination of the original records of the time, mixed with the application of a small bit of wisdom allows the distinguishing scholar to present an image that can, with reasonable faith, be assumed to be at least partially correct."

Unfortunately, by this point, I have no way of verifying Merkado's sources and his assessment of the situation, which has been echoed by others, has passed through history as the truth.

"The first Narti appear to have been colonists from some Northern empire, sent to explore the vast and fertile lands south of the Frostgate. They came, as everyone knows, through Enuk's Pass, though is was certainly not called that then. I have seen or heard of many different names given to the pass in those days, which demonstrates the ambivilence of the colonists as a group concerning the venture. The names include 'the Lonely Pass,' 'the Ravine of Silver and Gold,' 'the Road to Stagnation' (or oddly and alternately, in one source, 'the Road to Illumination'), 'the Grey Way,' and even 'the Birthing Canal.'

"It must have been very clear to them in what direction they should expand and settle. To the west, there was nothing but seeming desolation onthe moors, while to the south was a lush forest and swamp, that appears to have been similar to the environment in their homeland (which has been, incorrectly, referred to as 'Nartisia'; all sources agree that the original kingdom was named simply 'Nart')."

Nart is similar to the elemental word for "South," which is "Narat" (or "wind on the left hand of the Sun"). I have never heard of a kingdom called Nart, neither in history or lore. From which kingdom did these original colonits come?