A child came to me claiming to have found something in the woods. I was hesitant to leave my site behind, we had just found a grave containing human and ketzlat bones but despite my better judgement I followed.
We were deep in the woods and when I was about to say I was turning back, he said we were there. It took me several moments to find it. All the trees in this part of the woods were covered in vines and so was the Monument.
The kid found what we have all been searching for these past few years. Never underestimate kids.— Tir Eran, Letter to a Colleague
Chasing the Past
The site was first identified as being of historical significance when a few minor
Skyfarer artifacts were discovered by the preliminary exploration team. Later, a longer term project was established with a rotating team of archaeologists and scholars. Many of the early finds were similar to those found on
Breharan, small buckles, carved stones, and other small remnants.
Among some of the finds were what appeared to be rotten wood cut into smooth blocks. They were too far gone to retrieve additional information from but the speculation is that they had once contained writing. The type of wood was light and it had been treated with some unknown oil - the only reason there was anything left of it at all.
The Perpetual Verge of Breakthrough
In 49EX - after two years of minor finds - the project was on the chopping block but the scholars insisted something big was around the corner and soon presented a broken stone with an unknown language on it, proving that the
Skyfarers did have a written language - at least that one group of them did, at some point in the past.
Another year later in 50EX - and no more major finds - the project was again in danger of being cancelled. When one of the many children living on the island discovered something while hiding in the woods. This discovery is what would change Outpost 12 to the name it has today, The Monument.
The Meeting Place
Around the Monument was the highest concentration of
Skyfarers artifacts ever discovered; this indicated either that they had settled there or that many of them passed by frequently.
While the exact function of the obelisk is unknown, most scholars believe that the site had cultural or spiritual significance to the
Skyfarers and that they would return to the Monument for meetings or to make offerings. If more examples of their written script can be discovered, it may help establish connections to the modern languages of
Breharan and through that, translate the text on the stone pillar.
"When you stand here, you can almost see our ancestors with us."
Something Else Worth Having
As is to be expected when you flood a location with scholars to investigate a single thing, they started looking at everything else too. They already knew that the
Skyfarers had lived there, they wanted to know why this particular skyisland and not another.
Aside from the potential importance of the Monument, there were rivers when it rained, useful herbs and other plants grew in the wild, and the largest wildlife were some birds - there were fossils of other animals but since the
Skyfarers rode
ketzlat, it is quite possible those giant creatures made extinct whatever else lived there.
The rivers don't flow quickly because they drain over the side of the island through the roots of the trees there, slowing the drainage and keeping the water there longer. This likely also contributes to the diversity of plant life over the island and is the reason why multiple rainy seasons each year hasn't left the island a barren rock.
Comments