Friday, August 1, 2014

Portent I of Awakening: a riddle in rhyme

In the novel Awakening, there are 23 portents fortelling the events of the unfolding saga.

These and other riddles in rhyme are gathered in the Portents Directory for you to explore.

Enjoy!



A village in the forest dark
Despairing glade past desperate sea
Well met the friends and chieftain lone
All left with nowhere else to flee

So stumbled they upon a star
Northeast for elvish homeland slain
A man for western evil come
And mer southeast for ocean rain

With exodus of faeries north
And village south for nymphs to hide
So bound the binder bid to bind
Thus six good lives the city plied

The builders five were all but felled
When flesh did tower gray as stone
Their minds eternal jyagaweh
All vested now for binder lone (I)

The dragon mage shall bring them all
To find the star as evil rears
So builders dread its looming death
And bloodlines lost to coming years

The master there shall be bestowed
Each tower bared to hungry eyes
Betrayed to grief and turned to dust
As evil readies light's demise. (II)


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

Share your interpretation!
Comment below with your take on this portent.


This is the granddaddy of all prophesy. Said in ancient times, it heralds the original creation of the magic city A'lara, as well as the eventual return to the city that drives the plot of Awakening.

This genesis prophesy is the first one I ever wrote for the saga, and it is the last portent of the Golden Age, when the merfolk shared their interpreted prophesy with the landfolk.



Download the Prophesy Appendix:

The merfolk culture is built on the prophetic Gift. Nearly all men produce a portent every twenty days, and they devote their lives to interpretation. For more about the role and inner workings of prophesy, check out the Prophesy Appendix above.



Alongside every prophesy is an attribution block. This block contains a byline giving the name of the person who said the prophesy, and a dateline giving the day the prophesy was first said. Here is the attribution for this portent:
Lovynge Njyae Dynde XVI
Wndelyo Njyae Dynde XVI
Venkwn Njyae Dynde XVI
4:3:2:1/10, 7:3:1 IX
V:I 3:2:3:5/2, 3:2 IX
V:II 2:2:2:2/5, III:IX
The portent attributed here references multiple events that come to pass in sections called tatters. An additional tatter dateline has been added to the attribution for each tatter, noting the date when that segment of the portent will come to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: The tide of grief and forfeiting soul...

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