The desert of Kataretes Sands is only partly explored.

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.----      - ---     --     ---   -----   - --       ----  ----   -     ----.
 )                                                                         (
(                             NewOrigins Events                             )
 )                            November, Year 1                             (
(                                                                           )
 )      A few commoners are talking about a conflict between enemies       (
(     happened in the desert of Great Volbuz Desert where many soldiers     )
 )    will never fight again. This battle will be known as Battle near     (
(                     the mountains of Boldur Heights.                      )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(     Handful locals are rumoring about an encounter between combatants     )
 )      happened in the desert of Great Autarkirmos Desert where many      (
(       soldiers will never fight again. This battle will be known as       )
 )              Battle near the ocean of Great Lochash River.              (
(                                                                           )
 )                         .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                         (
(                                                                           )
 )    Some pilgrims are talking about the town of Basingmoor that lies     (
(       in the Great Ialihn Desert desert, where a faction massacred        )
 )                                 guards.                                 (
(                                                                           )
 )                         .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                         (
(                                                                           )
 )    A few dockers are rumoring about the city of Hymnoaros that lies     (
(          in the Great Antanoatos Desert desert, where a villans           )
 )                          extinguished guards.                           (
(                                                                           )
 )                         .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                         (
(                                                                           )
 )    Dozen scouts have heard about the village of Newwood that lies in    (
(      the Great Birmington Desert desert, where a faction annihilated      )
 )                                 guards.                                 (
(                                                                           )
 )                         .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                         (
(                                                                           )
 )    A few adventurers are talking about adventurers who attempted to     (
(     put to the sword Family of Ogres (1913) roaming the mountains of      )
 )      Dunham Mountains near ocean of Great Mirain River. But all of      (
(                      them were slain by their prey.                       )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(       In the desert of Ektromarx Sands, near ocean of Ugubal Lake,        )
 )       Giant Scorpions (289) who continue to cause horror to local       (
(                               inhabitants.                                )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(         In the desert of Great Ametanimos Desert, near jungles of         )
 )     Antanoatres Woods, Undead (2253) who continue to cause fear to      (
(                            local inhabitants.                             )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(       In the desert of Great Autarkaros Desert, near ocean of Great       )
 )     Yaer River, Evil Warriors (648) who continue to cause dread to      (
(                            local inhabitants.                             )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(     In the mountains of Hornwood Heights, near volcanoes of Basington     )
 )     Peak, Family of Ogres (127) who continue to cause fear to local     (
(                               inhabitants.                                )
 )                                                                         (
(__       _       _       _       _       _       _       _       _       __)
    `-._.-' (___ _) `-._.-' `-._.-' )     ( `-._.-' `-._.-' (__ _ ) `-._.-'
            ( _ __)                (_     _)                (_ ___)
            (__  _)                 `-._.-'                 (___ _)
            `-._.-'                                         `-._.-'

The mountains are still two weeks away…
I don't know since when,
But, whatever you do now,
I'm all in anticipation of the mountains.

Here the wind of freedom blew,
Easily carrying away fear…
And, whatever you think now,
I am mentally there, in the mountains.

We won't have much time.
There are not enough routes for us!
So that the meeting will come sooner,
I will give all my strength to the mountains!

Peaks in shining white…
And everything else is nonsense!
And, whatever I do now,
I live
by waiting
for the mountains!

Kongs are not friendly at all.

What, exactly are you up to, we were asked. "Sneaking" we replied.

Englefart realised that production is good. But production with TOOLS is better!

Englefart shouted to his production manager. "Produce More Tools!"

Decisions, decisions decision: do we stay or do we go?

Only fried birds are good and welcome. Giant rocks grill cafe will open doors soon!

Where to go next? 

Water is life. And again we have to look for it to survive.

Damn Sphinx won't move away.

Now the demon demands a human sacrifice. All for the sake of the harvest! At least, no orc will get hurt, right?

some friendly relationships established and while hunting for the fur we found some treasure. pretty good month, a part of mismanagement of the deliveries.

Stone is a POWER!

too many monsters, too many mistakes, ...

The new place seems a bit crowdy.
And the climate is much more dry.
I don't think it is a good place for mushrooms.

The empire is expanding in all directions. Scouts are bringing worrisome news about events in the neighboring lands. The challenges that those events will bring will require the mobilization of all resources available to the young Empire. Factions in the West are aggressively expanding toward us that cannot be left without a response.

If to put sad news aside, overall everyhting looks quite good. Trade is going well, and soon the first profit will speed up the development. Craftsmen are learning to new levels in their craft, allowing us to be stronger and stand firm against upcoming challenges.

A nice island with plain and desert. Promising ! The occupying faction was lucky!

The first raider groups were equipped with swords and soon they would be able to start killing things. Then the choice between monsters or unfriendly factions.

Sandlings in the forest? and Scorpions in the swamp?  How odd!
Even odder that neither hide nor hair of these creatures is to be found nearby.

Time flies... as do winged horses!

======
Famine
======


Our Eldest's Column
-------------------

A new month, 
  a new wrong turn.
So many new,
  fun things to learn.  

While I was out for a little ride, the little folk finally exhausted the myriad silver pieces we arrived in this world with.  And then, like the good little grasshoppers we are, fiddling instead of storing up for winter, we immediately began to starve.  This is _so_ not going to make a good impression on the big folk we asked to join us.  It is tempting to blame our neighbors, from whom we failed to obtain the necessary permits for begging in lands we shared with them, but truly, this is solely a failure of little folk accounting.  Shall I announce creation of yet another new class of government officials, solely responsible for predicting and accounting for revenues and expenses?  Will that new class of officials be honest enough to tell us whether paying them increases revenues more than expenses?  I wonder if there is a faster way.  Perhaps demons know a shortcut to wealth.  Will the priests let me summon another?

Maybe the famine will distract attention from the disastrous first plundering, and we can try following the demons advice again.  I think we should start a plundering newsletter.


Propaganda Column
-----------------

We have recruited some orcs.  Maybe now fewer than 50 little folk can carry the cubic cubit of iron.

Look, we know some of us don't like the big folk, but orcs and other big folk can help us.  We have only found goblins in 61 deserts (and 4 swamps).  Do you want the little folk to live only in desert and swamp?  Gnomes are little too, but we have only found gnomes in desert and tundra.  Don't you want little folk in the mountains, and forests and plains and rivers and volcanoes?  (Okay, we haven't found anyone in rivers or volcanos yet, but maybe once we get up to recruiting skill 3, or perhaps observation skill 3, then maybe we will be able to see those natives.  We think the river and volcano natives are hiding to avoid paying tithes.)  To live in the mountains, we should allow orcs and dwarves to join.  To live in the forest and plains, we should allow centaurs to join.  And it is rumored that in some woods there are artistically talented elves, though the little folk haven't found any.  Be nice to an orc or centaur today.  This might let some of us live in mountains and forests instead of in these deserts.


LFLF Column
-----------

The little folk liberation front (LFLF) got our own column!  Whee!

MetroGnomes have 400 mouths to feed?  Little folk leaders are incompetent; we have barely half that.  Little folk need new leadership.

Mr. Hagen is a myth.  Does Our Eldest really expect us to believe that he alone saw Good Mr. Hagen, and spoke to him in a magical garden called "The Nexus"?  We tiptoe into more and more lands every month, but somehow none of these lands are the garden in which Our Eldest claims to have met Good Mr. Hagen.  Our Eldest claims the peace of our lands is evidence of the existence of Good Mr. Hagen and the good spirits of Thane's Ring.  Our Eldest claims Good Mr. Hagen and the spirits of Thane's Ring entered the desert gate (which none of us can see, either) one month ahead of us, and rode out ahead of us, seeking out evil and binding it for our safety inside the ring of his armies.  But were Good Mr. Hagen and the spirits of Thane's Ring _really_ just one month ahead of us at the frontier, would we not have found them in the Hymnoaros peninsula where our scouts were blocked by water?  The Thane's Ring spirits should have been blocked and forced to backtrack just as our tiptoing scouts were.  What next?  Will Our Eldest have us believe the good spirits of Thane's Ring swim?

Good Mr. Hagen is a myth used by Our Eldest and our elders to keep the little folk enslaved.  Stop believing these lies and join the little folk liberation front.  The little folk liberation front has the best biscuits at our meetings.  And our cucumber sandwiches never, ever have crusts, even if our stodgy old elders think eating the crust occasionally is good for us.


Religion Column
---------------

Death has returned, perhaps as a punishment for our not so little attempt to plunder the lands that were entrusted to us.  Or perhaps just because of the ant and grasshopper thing, but we little folk like being grasshoppers so much we don't want to look closely at that possibility.  If we go back to the slow practice of good government in our lands, perhaps our coffin makers will be able to keep up again, and we can comfortably rest in elaborately carved coffins, not in simple pine boxes painted by Sunday school children drafted to put art on boxes as fast as possible.  Do not plunder.  Plunder = death.  Be wise, kind, and beneficent rulers, then later the land, the gods, and the natives will reward your benevolence many times.  There is no demonic shortcut to happy natives.

Is Good Mr. Hagen recommending the punhi nazg as a religious garment to help us choose the right path?  Theologians and linguists don't agree yet.  We shall fast (fasting was very popular last month) and hope for enlightenment.

Little folk goblin children's evening prayer:
    Bless Good Mr. Hagen and the Thane's Ring spirits that aid him.
    May his campaign to seek out and bind evil bring to all the peace inside the ring of his armies.


Grammar Column
--------------

Dear Miss Goblin Grammar;

As must have come to Miss Goblin Grammar's attention, little folk everywhere are discussing last months article by Prodigal sons.  Of course, anything described as "super tolerant" interests us, since we usually think we are more tolerant than anybody.  (And we aren't tolerating any intolerance.)  And of course any other faction discussing gender interest us, this means we are not the only faction in this world primarily focused on linguistics.  We greet our prodigal fellow linguists.   So this month the public places of the little folk are filled with gossip and opinions about one question: "How is the native tongue of Prodigal son's gendered?"

The most common opinion is that gender, in the language of prodigal sons, mostly indicates whether something is animate or inanimate.  If Prodigal sons' lands are now being settled by the dead, this would indicate "cutting off" what the dead associate their death with.  In this case "cutting off" would have to be like Tibetan "Dan", allowing a wide range of meanings, not all violent.

Some have advanced the hypothesis, that Prodigal sons' lands are now being settled by the living, but it is hard to reconcile "cutting off" what the living associate their lives with together with "super tolerant".  Cutting off life is as intolerant as it gets.

Others believe that gender represents some more unusual classification in Prodigal sons' tongue, perhaps the difference between "voluntary" and "involuntary"?  If so, if the lands of prodigal sons are now being colonized by unwilling slaves (perhaps some faction is exporting their convicts into Prodigal sons' lands?), then are prodigal sons threatening to free these slaves?  Seems a bit of a stretch, but it would qualify as "super tolerant".  Or are Prodigal sons' lands being settled by freemen, whom Prodigal sons are threatening to enslave?  That makes more sense, but doesn't sound tolerant to us, definitely not "super tolerant". 

We would like Miss Goblin Grammar's opinion.  How does Miss Goblin Grammar think the native tongue of Prodigal sons is gendered?

-- Confused about Gender

Dear Confused about Gender;

Miss Goblin Grammar suspects that in the language of the Prodigal Sons, gender mostly denotes sex, just as in Standard Goblin.  Miss Goblin Grammar guesses that, like August's article from Great Horde, Prodigal Sons' September article was, if not mistranslated, at least poorly translated.  Miss Goblin Grammar thinks Prodigal sons were being ironic or sarcastic when they wrote "super tolerant", and that the irony or sarcasm was obvious in their native tongue, but not obvious in the translation.  Miss Goblin Grammar supposes the Times' translator declined to put scare quotes around "super tolerant" in the Standard Goblin language edition of the Times because some editors frown on scare quotes, or because scare quotes imply some distrust of or disrepect to the quoted phrase.  But the primary goal of language is to communicate clearly, and the primary goal of translation is to communicate the same content as the original text.  So, if Miss Goblin Grammar's guess is correct that grammatical gender in the Prodigal Sons' language is associated with sex, and that Prodigal sons did not mean "super tolerant" literally, but instead were being ironic or sarcastic, then including scare quotes around "super tolerant" would have been a better translation into Standard Goblin.


Obituary Column
---------------

We need not have feared that last months undeath would last.  This month our funeral directors have run out of ornately carved caskets, and are burying the dead in simple pine boxes painted and illustrated by art students drafted to keep up with this unexpected national casket shortage.

Guards rebuff our exploration.  We hope they merely mistake us for monsters, but we fear this is only the start of the aggression...

The peaceful tranquility of horses and cows grazing on green pastures reconcile a bit with the horrors of the scorching desert. Maybe this world is not as unwelcoming as it has presented itself in the first few month. 

The Children of the Four Winds sent out questing knights across the lands (well, humans given horses or camels, close enough) to try and track down the beasts mentioned in the Times. Just how hard was it to find the Living Trees in a desert? Surely they would stand out?

Well, there are threats from the West again! Where am I going to bury you all?!

orcs rumbled across the field
soldiers were going into the last battle
and a young tactician on shield
was carried with a pierced head

here a fireball hit the shield
goodbye beloved novices
four corpses on a field
will spoil the view of  province

Rivers and seas, how many there are in this world

Meet me in the first month of winter with the first rays of the sun on the endless plains of Tritotuspolis near the walls of Stratoakos...

P.S. I'll be in white...

Merewulfs received some information from the north and the east of the country through its intelligence services. "Hm, the reports say that there are a lot of people in the east". His advisors frowned. "Yes, sir. Let us arm ourselves."

Utuk'ku let the silver threads slide in her hands, her fingers playing with the nodes of the net. The artisan had made a fine work, and her magic had added a freezing touch to preserve the catch longer. It was a beauty to behold. The hardest decision came now: take it to the shore and let it fulfill its purpose, or see it languish in a shop for the chance of fetching a few coins.

An ocean in the middle of a desert? How is it even possible? I wonder if kraken can lair in such a salty water.

Lots of city guards have been dying lately, maybe we should find some for us too.
So studying combat might be useful.

Torwin got his plan smooth for the following year.
Planning was not his strongest characteristic though.

Great opportunities in all directions.

Monsters of dreams.
They are everywhere.
In every thought hidden.
Life goes in circles again.
I'm a little sleepy in it too.

No puny guards in Ogre's Range!

It was time to see if the family of ogres would hear the word of Fendahl.

Would they join the ranks of the faithful?

Javelins are dual use... but we think we can use them to take out the city guard and sell then afterwards!

Peace at all costs!

You know, I have one simple request, and that is to have oxen with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!

There is no news here.
Maybe later.

Too many factions are near us.

With reports of a rival organization preventing some of the local orphans from begging on the street corners, Peter orders the rivals to be expelled from his territory.  Wresting control from the Orphans' rivals, Peter's Lost Boys set up shop, allowing the surviving rivals to remain, provided they do not interfere with his operations.  Peter hopes that this indulgence will not come back to haunt him.

They say Holden is the author of all those rumors. 
They even say this rumor also is written by Holden.

Our map is speckled in red, volcanoes and blood.

Among the adherents of the Holden's Witnesses Sect, have never been seen lezardmen

Eagles can fly?

Who is this Holden ? Is He famous or infamous?

They seek him here, they seek him there  
They seek that Holden everywhere!
Is he in heaven, is he in hell?  
Holden nods and smirks, but will never tell.

Oh, look!  There are two sphinx...sphinxes?  Whatever.  Impressive creatures, in any case.