Tara the Traveler

A lot of uncertainty considers the life of the bard, the story, and the legend that was Tara the Traveler. In the following text all knowledge, known and speculative, will be presented for the reader, and they may choose which Tara they believe to be true.
The Traveler’s description is the same in all stories, and even in stories that does not mention her name, and therefore accounted for as a tareisk-tale. The Traveler was a woman, with dark hair, burned clay-colored skin, and reddish-brown eyes.
The physical description would fit most of the people in Vishel-Rin.

The Traveler

Many stories have been told about and by Tara, something they all share is her origin - to some degree.

Early life and childhood

Tara was born in Vishel-Rin, in a town and to a family lost in time. Ever since she was able to understand she loved stories, myths, legends, and true history, and as much as she loved to hear stories, she loved to tell them. She never got bored with a story, and she would always ask to be told a story until she was able to recite it from heart and memory.
Her home, Vishel-Rin, was - and is - a geographical landmass with countless smaller nations and realms. These were often in war and battles with each other, however, as residents of Vishel-Rin they all shared a common history and culture, despite the apparent aggression. The people were bound together by the actions of The Wanderers, these were nomadic tribes, independent from all nations in Vishel-Rin, and owed allegiance to no other than themselves. The Wanderers traveled from nation to nation bearing news and stories, and anywhere they went people were obliged to offer them cover from the night, and food and beverage if they needed it. As a trade for safe housing, The Wanderers offered to tell stories - true and fabled - and brought the town news from the world.
A Wanderers' purpose is to walk the land and bring news, history, and stories to the people they walk among, and as important it is to tell it is even more so to listen. To listen to the stories the people offer them, memorize them, and tell them again. And when a Wanderer troupe came to visit the town where Tara lived, she wished they would never leave. They could tell stories for days and days, and years even, and she listened to all of it. During those days she barely slept, she listened. And listened and listened.

Joining The Wanderers

Tara was a young girl when The Wanderers found her town. Wide-eyed and curious about the world, and the history around her. When The Wanderers were getting ready to travel, she begged to come along. Begged to become one of them, be told the stories, and be lectured in history and how to retell it all. Some stories say The Wanderers refused her begging, and turned her away, only for Tara to trail after them, listen to their stories from the shadows, and remember every single word told by the fireside.
Other stories agree that The Wanderers did refuse her and sent her back home. Yet she kept following them, and every morning and every night, she kept asking, kept following, and kept listening. They passed through seven towns like this, and for a month they kept sending her away. In the end, she got her way. After a month of begging, and listening in the dark, they offered to teach her, and she never stopped listening.
In other retellings, The Wanderers agreed to take her, if she could recite and retell all stories, they told her during their visit to her city. And she began to tell, she remembered the stories, she remembered all and spoke, word for word, about the legends, myths, and histories. She spoke an entire day, only pausing between retellings, and The Wanderers listened, they never interrupted, but sat in silence as she spoke. As she said the last word in the last story, the sun set behind her, and The Wanderers looked to each other. There had been no mistakes in her retelling, no missing beats, she told the story as they had.
The Wanderers took her with them and taught her about the world, the world of the now, the world of the past, and the world in change. And in addition to stories, they taught her music. She never thought anything could give her life as telling stories did, but music. Music did so much more.
Music was a story and told a story. It was alive, creating life, and when her mentor took the rhythm of music and an ancient myth and combined them, the world fell silent. She thought she had listened to stories before, but compared to this new experience, she had never been awake before her mentor stroke the first beat on their bodhran and began chanting the ancient story.
She practiced every day for years, becoming a young woman while practicing the bodhran. And as with the stories and the listening she never got tired. Every time she played the bodhran a fire was lit in her, and it blazed brighter for every beat, and every song and every story she paired with her rhythm.

Traveling alone

Tara traveled with The Wanderers for years, crossing Vishel-Rin, meeting new people, listening to their stories, and taking their stories and writing them into songs. She collected stories, searched for them, and connected snippets of broken stories together to form a whole.
For years she traveled through Vishel-Rin, and though she never got bored of the stories of her people, she wished for more. Yearned to travel to the outside world and collect foreign stories. She broke away from her Wanderer troupe and left for the world. Left for unexplored stories, hidden legends, and other peoples' myths.
She journeyed across the border-mountains that served to isolate Vishel-Rin from the world and traveled into the Kingdome of Caerimanos.
She traveled, as she would have in her own lands, from town to town, visiting farmers on her route. Telling her stories, sharing her music, and collecting whatever they would give her.

The story of Tara the Traveler becomes more muddled and harder to follow since her immigration from Vishel-Rin. Her journey and adventures and story across Caerimanos are more uncertain, in some telling Tara herself is the hero of the stories, in others she is merely the storyteller.
Time has worked its way, what and who Tara the Traveler truly was uncertain. Most likely she was from Vishel-Rin, most likely she knew, or was inspired, by The Wanderers, and most likely she traveled to Caerimanos. If the stories were or are about her, and not by her, is uncertain, but wherever she has been recorded to go, fantastic stories would follow. Either by her telling or by her doing - or perhaps both.

Tareisk-tales

Stories of Tara The Traveler are called tareisk-tales. These include stories about her, stories she collected, and those in between.
When diving into the tales and stories of The Traveler, one must consider at least two versions of the fabled figure. In recent years some controversial scholars have suggested dividing "Tara The Traveler" in two, "Tara" and "The Traveler". Tara is the storyteller, and The Traveler is the hero, or rather, the main character in Tara's stories.

"It would make sense. Just look at the evidence! Ancient fabled figures never have the amount of detailed description, it's just 'the young lady' or 'the pretty maid', never a full description. But wherever Tara is mentioned she is described. Whereas 'The Traveler' never gets any physical attributes, they are just 'The Traveller'!"
"You imbecile!! Your theory doesn't fit. What about stories where Tara is described as The Traveler, or the very popular epic 'Traveler's final dance', where The Traveler is described as a woman, with dark hair and red eyes?"

— Arguing scholars

Not many scholars have accepted this division, and still, two fractions dominate the discussion of The Traveler. Firstly: Tara The Traveler was a traveling bard, who gathered people on her way and adventured through the world, making stories where she went. Secondly: Tara The Traveler was a traveling bard telling and collecting stories, sharing them with the common people.
Alongside the two main theories, a third theory exists - or fourth if the dividing of "Tara The Traveler" is counted. This theory is as old as the two dominating the field, however, it has never gotten any public support. Few scholars suggest that "Tara" was not a single person, but a group of people traveling the world collecting and retelling stories - much like the Wanderers. Instead of the singular "traveler", they would be called "Tara the Travelers".
They accept that the group might have originated from Vishel-Rin, and most likely derived from the Wanderers but not belong to them by the time of the first stories.
The following story is a very popular tale and is told both for children and adults. The build of it is very characteristic for a tareisk-tale, starting with a stranger, The Traveler, walking into a village, and being told a story by one of the villagers.

Light in the Woods

There are multiple versions and retellings of this story, but two of them are more common than the rest, only the ending varies. The two possible endings will be marked with ‘::’.
The Traveler came to the small village. She was welcomed into the homes, invited to eat and in return she told stories.
The villagers were happy to have her, for too many nights had been dark and sorrowful in the village.
One of the wives told her: it started seven days ago, she said, it's forest, it swallows our people.
The Traveler paused, swallows? she asked
The woman nodded, seven days ago, it swallowed a small boy, he wandered into the woods, and we did not find him. When night came a blub of light came from the woods. It glowed between the trees, and the boy's mother ran to it. And it swallowed her too. On the second day we took to the woods again, to search for our lost, but in vain. That night, two lights glowed between the trees, and the wife’s husband ran to them, saying he heard her calling. And it swallowed him too.
On the third day, without hope, we searched the woods for the lost family, boy, mother, father, but none were found, and we went home. This night, three lights glowed between the trees, and we all heard their calling. This night the father’s sister ran into the woods. And it swallowed her too.
The fourth day, we did not search for them in the woods. We tried ignoring the trees, and the approaching night. But the night came, and four lights glowed between the trees. And the sister’s cries were the loudest, and her daughter ran to them. And the forest swallowed her too.
The fifth day the sister's husband set into the forest alone. He came back in vain, and when the night came, five lights glowed between the trees, and he ran to them. And the forest swallowed him too.
Six days have gone, and two families have been lost. On the sixth day our priest had had enough, and when night came, and the six lights glowed between the trees, he wandered into the forest, light in hand, and prayer on his lips. And the forest swallowed him too.
And on the seventh day a young kind stranger, with warm red eyes, dark hair, and a broad smile, came to our village. Your happiness is welcome, but the forest will swallow it, so leave now, kind stranger, or be led astray by the lights between the trees. The rest of us are leaving, the souls are lost in the forest, and our light cannot find them.
::The Traveler thanked the woman for her story, promised to tell it to the people she met, to warn people of lights in the forest. She wove the story to song, and left the sorrowful village, retelling the story to the road, the birds, and the people she met.
::The Traveler looked to the forest, and then to the sun. It was near sunset, and she was not going away. I am a traveler, The Traveler said to the mournful woman, I have traveled through dark forests before and found my way back to the light. I have no prayer and no family in the woods, but I will find yours if you let me stay till the night falls and the light glows between the trees.
The woman let The Traveler stay, and would stay by The Traveler's side until night, but when the seven lights glowed between the trees, the woman would not leave her home. It will swallow you too, she said, but The Traveler smiled, nodded, and strode into the forest. The fearful woman watched the lights from her home. By now, she thought, it would have swallowed the kind Traveler, but then a light went out. Only six lights glowed between the trees. An hour passed, and another light disappeared, only five were left. Two hours had passed, and four lights were left, by three hours, three lights glowed. By the fifth hour, the night sky was starting to lift, and only two lights could be seen. In the sixth hour, a single light still glowed between the trees, and as the sun could be glimpsed on the horizon, the seventh and last light was extinguished. As the sun kissed the sky eight people walked out of the forest, a small boy, his mother, his father, the father’s sister, her daughter, and the sister’s husband, the priest, and The Traveler. And the forest never swallowed a person again.

Legends & Myths

The Traveler has been said to do many heroic actions, however, the truth of these claims is not certain. Maybe Tara did do as the legends say, or perhaps truth has been lost to time.
No scholar claims to have certain proof of the actions of Tara the Traveler, they have theories, ideas, and maybe hope.
Tara walked the lands of Kaarisan, sang songs, told stories, and listened to the people on her way. She collected hundreds of stories that have now been written into words. She gave the world its history, myths, and legends, whether she played an active role in those legends is not clear.

"Aaah..! You want to know about Tara the Traveler? The storyteller, the myth, and the legend, yes. You have come to the right place. I have studied her stories my entire life, and I have never found any historical figure to be more enticing, fascinating, and of course, fantastically mind-splitting confusing."

— Baraendox, librarian

Circumstances of Death

Uncertain, untimely

Birthplace

Vishel-Rin, unkown town

Place of Death

Fields of Caerimanos

Gender

Female

Eyes

Clear reddish brown

Hair

Dark, probably long

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Burned clay

Height

175