A Gazetteer of the Eleven Cities

A Gazetteer of the Eleven Cities is the major contribution to posterity made by Pholyan writer, geographer and thaumatologist Kaydre Ysparo. It is a lengthy account of her journey around the Eleven Cities surrounding the Sea of Jars and their broader environs and is esteemed by many researchers for the thaumatological slant of its contents.

Contents

In her book Ysparo recounts a grand tour around all the Eleven Cities, beginning in her native Pholyos and moving on to Loros, , Ramoros, Oluz, Halumay, Elpaloz, Andymalon, Dyqamay, Dypholyos and Tyros, in that order. She also toured areas of the Alluvial plain, briefly visited southwestern parts of The Empty Quarter, and considered other settlements such as Dyelpaloz

Thaumatological significance

Ysparo's book is esteemed as a largely unpraralelled catalogue of sights of interest to thaumatologists. An active researcher in the field, Ysparo in fact slanted her trip towards such matters and it is an ongoing point of contention among her latter-day colleagues whether her trip was motivated by that research or whether her subsequent work for the Brotherhood of Rooks was inspired by her discovery of the extent to which pre-Wesmodian religion continues to shape the culture of the Eleven Cities. The book includes lengthy sections on such magical places as the stone circles of the Alluvial plain, the Cult centre of Ajqyod at Mount Ruaj, the Flockstone of Black Billy Wood, all the surviving customhouses of the Commercial Guilds, Halumay Bullring, the Sea dragons skeleton preserved at Fire and Fortune, the mysterious empty spots in the cities where the temples to Maryas once stood, and much else besides. Although the book is not entirely exhaustive and contains some apparently contrarian asides, the extent to which Ysparo correlates and raises the similarities between these sites has been called some of the most thorough and productive thaumatology ever undertaken in the Eleven Cities.

Availability

Ysparo's most famous book has circulated in the cities for over a century, though these days most intact copies belong to private collectors who tend to be very selective about who they show their collections to. Scribes who possess copies from which to make transcriptions are rare and can charge accordingly, so the manufacture of new copies is even slower than might be expected from such a lengthy piece of work. The Brotherhood of Rooks is known to have produced copies so that two could be sent to each of their chapterhouses, and various other major institutions also possess copies; getting a proper look at the book can be a fraught, expensive process. Most thaumatologists believe it is worth the effort, however.