Tsigevn

Tsigevn is a world without magic or advanced technology, and for now its scale is small-ish—it started with an island split between two warring nations, Sáharía and Shêlan, and has so far expanded to part of a nearby continent and the rise and fall of the first two empires in the region, Célibría and Hloras. Then a different area originally part of a different world got smushed in. The articles here are expanding very slowly, since I keep getting sidetracked.  

Azure roof tiles glinted bright against the duns of the sun-scorched valley and hills. It was a pleasant view, seen from a pleasant house, high up on the hillside, with wide openings and an elegant balustrade to catch the cool breeze blown off the river below. The room was homely in a writer’s way, filled with tables, bookcases, cushions, and not a few empty plates forgotten amidst the strewn notes and piles of more carefully tended books.   Khurmad moved away from the entrance and tried to guess which of the half-shadowed figures at work was in charge. A woman draped with South Sakaphian cloth in a scholarly Naskuyan style glanced up, saying, “You’re from Ëmbuhlÿbod Press? I’m Aritlis of T’emuprin.”   Nodding, Khurmad joined her. “Madjase Khurmad. Pleased to meet you.”   “You were the leading contributor to The Hlorasan Novel and its Evolution, weren’t you? Is premodern literature your area?”   “My career started there. You know how it can go: you start with the stock character of the soldier in Hlorasan comedy and wind up at ancient tin-mining methods.”   Aritlis laughed, a little ruefully. “Then Ëmbuhlÿbod sent just the right person. It’s probably the only publisher to take on a world encyclopedia.”   “The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Tsigevn. I don’t think you provided many specifics.”   “Ah, well with big projects you have to start small, unless you want to scare people off. The plan is to collate previous encyclopedias and works, without any restrictions of scope,” —Aritlis’ voice rose and her gestures to the maps and scattered notes grew increasingly animated, distracting her colleagues from their work— “from prehistory, to the rise of the Hlorasan Empire, to its successor states today; the civilizations of Sakaphe, the tribes and kingdoms of Lashtana, the societies of Xirraneqet—it will draw on sources from all over the world, though obviously Vèkyan material is more accessible. And it won’t only be another history; our approach will be to present all the little elements of what makes a society: Naskuyan festivals, Sáharían bards and epics, the geology of the Artruan Plateau. In the end, it will be a complete catalogue of our world, its geography, its history, and its peoples.”   “Quite a grand ambition.”   She answered with a smile, more wryly unrepentant than sheepish, “Perhaps not one achievable in a human lifespan.”   Khurmad sighed and gave a half-reluctant smile in return. “Where do we begin?”