Ruminations and Report on Shatterspear's Current Ecological State

Ruminations begin.
 
There is a beauty to the fires of Shatterspear. They fight against being washed away. The people here worship among their gods To'onkoromano'oa, The Man of the Fiery Earth, in a similar manner people worship assorted thugs and organized crime syndicates. Take this offering of smoke and food and turn your eye away from us. Their leader is a plucky little thing. Pretty words. Pretty skin, where it isn't scarred across by those strange golden cracks. They're nice to everyone they meet, I think. Never saw them be anything but agreeable. They hired me on to help catalogue the natural wildlife. Said they'd heard of me from a friend, Sadida Ocala, who recommended my services. We discussed my prices and my terms, about the things I should focus on, and I left. It was all very respectable and polite, but it was the strangest thing I'd ever felt. Like that Mistborn Prince actually gave a damn about me. Don't think I liked it. Seemed like they had a decent head on their shoulders, though.
 
Ruminations end.
 
---
 
Report begins. Subject of the report is the riparian coastland surrounding the city of Tauavea, with special consideration to potential agricultural benefits or complications.
 
The surrounding areas of Tauavea are among the most reclaimed as its new capitol and portal nexus. The fire elementals have been dealt with properly through force or diplomacy, and the land itself is showing excellent signs of recovery from constant volcanic activity over the course of a year. The soil itself is thick, loamy, with a heavy ash layer that has been incorporated into its alkaline soils quite well. Already there are saplings and new growth that would have otherwise required at least five to eight years before reaching this height, but this is not in and of itself too unusual, for Shardscape chronology can fluctuate easily, especially so shaped by belief.
What interests me more is not the land, but the waters. Normally volcanic eruptions such as this should have decimated marine life and reshaped rivers, yet the coastal waters of Ali'Awea seem not just untouched, but vibrant. Like the ocean itself is rejoicing at this Rekindling effort. I had visited Shatterspear before its cataclysm, albeit briefly, and I do not recognize these waters or this land by any stretch of the definition. It is as if the air itself is lighter, as if the land itself is listening along to the beating heart of its people, and singing and drumming to their songs, dancing to their rhythm. I saw the Mistborn Prince doing a traditional wave-dancing along the shore, leading a group of younger children--for they themselves seem barely not a child--and when the waves seemed to be cresting bigger with an approaching storm, I would swear that the Prince seemed to soothe the waters back with a stern glare. There was a thrumming in the air, and then an apologetic gentle lapping. I do not know what to make of it. I still do not.
 
End report.
 
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Rumination begins.
 
The Begotten Gods are no mystery, really. Gods formed from the belief of a god. The idea of a thing made manifest. But what is the limits of their power? How are their forms so sporadically manifest? What is it that makes them gods? What makes Begotten gods different from any other potent magical source of power, such as the Fey, or Trueborns? I have seen great deeds and terrible acts of power in my journeys, each often as different from another as one can be, and yet we categorize these things sweepingly, with no regard for what it might mean.
 
Why do we separate Begotten from True? They are both gods. And what is the difference between a force of nature or will and a god? They each reshape realities to their whims, while mere mortals quiver and beg mercy. I do not understand these things. Maybe in time I will. Maybe in time I will dissect the body of something that was once a god. Maybe I will find that it was not so different from anything else, after all. Maybe I could find an answer to where a source of power may be found, and be used by any with the mind and will to seek it out.
 
(The last sentence is blotted out with ink.)
 
Rumination ends.
 
--
 
Report begins: Subject of the report is the eastern tributaries, and a census of the endemic amphibious reptilian semi-sentient life known as The Wyrlecc that live in these waters.
 
(The reports continue, detailing the myriad of wildlife across the Shatterspear Peninsula and how they were affected by the events 3 years prior to writing. The addition of ruminations were not compiled into the final series of reports given to the Principality of Shatterspear's governing body.)