The Travels of Sahmir Iravani

I have long been a traveller of exotic lands, before I came to this strange place I would take passage aboard the great dhows of my home-land and set sail to lands full of exotic peoples and places, returning home to gift the local sheiks with exotic goods and tales of lands far away to bring the knowledge and customs these strange people possessed home so that, god willing, we might understand his world a little better. I am unsure whether I shall ever return to the sun warmed lands of my birth but I still feel that I must complete gods work, and as such I shall write about this strange new land in the best details that I can, in the hopes that I may one day find my way home to share my tales.

Dear reader, you shall have to forgive the inexact nature of the early details of my arrival to the shores of the land I now know as the grail-world. My method of arrival could be described as unconventional at best and I spent much of my early days here in a state of confusion and delirium, driven by thirst and injury but survived thanks to the will of god and the help of a kind man known as Hadrian. Without his selfless assistance I doubt I would be alive to write these words today and for that I am forever in his debt.

The first impression that a foreigner will get when they arrive is the weather. Simply put, there is a lot of it, mostly in the form of rain and wind. This gives the entire region the fertility of the great river banks of my homeland but means that everything is caked in a constant sticky mud and that ones clothes require constant drying and changing. In fact the only sand here is on the beaches and the abundance of water means that death from thirst is nigh unknown, it is a truly a land of plenty blessed by god.

While the inhabitants of this land want for little there is still danger in traversing the forests and fields. While travelling is not met with the same trials and tribulations of the desert there are great beasts lurking within the forests depths, a few brave souls of this land hunt the creatures in the forest for their pelts and hides; I shall be writing more of the fascinating flora and fauna of this land in a later chapter.

The people are strange and speak in the guttural and harsh 'trade language' not dissimilarly to the barbarians upon our own northern borders. The weakness of their sun has left them with a pale complexion and their hair and eyes are fair when compared to our own. The relative cold of the climate means that they wear all manner of strange garb suited to their climate and they do not cover their hair in the respectful manner of our people; but one must understand that they have yet to hear the teachings of god and we must forgive them their ignorance.

The cuisine here, if one may call it that, appears to primarily consist of heavy foods that sit in the stomach and stick to the sides, even what the locals describe as a 'light meal' will often leave one clutching ones stomach in a state of lethargy usually reserved the deviant languishing in the hashish den. Their food is generally over-salted and under-spiced, washed down with a foul tasting brew that they insist is beer, I am still somewhat sceptical of this claim. I have yet to see their wine, let alone taste it but I have been informed by the local bar-tender that it is “only for the posh lot up in their bloody castles”. Which I presume is a sign of quality. Only time shall tell.

Religion seems curiously absent from the daily lives of the people here, instead they seem to be obsessed with a quest for something they refer to as the 'grail' and appear to put all of their faith and attentions into individuals they refer to as 'grail lords'; they appear to be ordinary men of extraordinary power. I have encountered this form of hero-worship among more tribal societies in my travels but have yet to see it practised amongst a peoples so relatively advanced. I must admit my interest is piqued, as misguided as their heathen beliefs may be I feel I must learn more of these so called Grail Lords.

As of writing, I have encountered only two towns, Camaar and Spero, I have not been here long enough to understand the enmity between the two places but it appears that they are some form of city states, not unlike the merchant states across the sea from my own land. Camaar appears to be more commercially minded, with vast fields and large stables stuffed to the brim with livestock. Spero on the other hand appears to be more militarily inclined with vast armouries and strong soldiers, at least from what I have been told. Both cities seem locked in some form of competition, where-by they attempt to one-up each other every month. Yet they somehow appear to maintain strong trading relations and do not seem to be engaged in any military conflict. It is a most fascinating relationship that I will expand upon in later chapters.

I am just beginning to settle into my new life in this realm, I am unsure if or when I will ever be able to return home but perhaps this is a blessing, god has seen fit to give me the opportunity to truly understand these curious peoples and I shall do all I can to document and describe this new land, in the hopes that one day it will be useful to someone.

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