The myth surrounding the Ashvista lake
While The Nilid People because of their long and interesting history, it has a huge number of myths and legends, the myth that seems to provoke the strongest emotions is the myth surrounding the Ashvista lake.
While the content of the myth takes place around and on the Field of the Death the reason the Nilid People have named it after the Ashvista lake is that being new to the area they only knew about the Ashvista lake from a map they carried who had the name of the lake but not the local name of a field.
Summary
The outline of the myth surrounding the Ashvista lake is that shortly after the exodus when the main part of the Nilid people arrived in Empire of Dercia they were chased by a large unit from the Principality of Clifia army and during the chase they passed over a field that locally was known as the field of the death and according to the myth that sprung up some time after the event is that after the Nilid had passed out of the field and into the forest on the other side the Clifians were attacked by what where described as specters of dead dercian soldiers.
Historical Basis
While a group of the Nilid people were passing through the area where the Field of the Death is located and scouts of the dercian army had reported of a group of what looked like clifian soldiers in the same area, it have not been possible afterwards to prove that there are any specters connected to the Field of the Death.
Spread
The myth surrounding the Ashvista lake is mostly a local myth, given that The Nilid People in Dercia mostly live in one area, the myth have not really spread outside their area and it is mainly learned people in the major cities that might have read about it.
Variations & Mutation
While the story have changed a bit over the roughly 500 years it have mostly stayed the same, the thing that tends to mutate most when it comes to the different versions is the number of pursuing clifians and the brutality of the specters.
Cultural Reception
Among other cultures the myth is mostly viewed as a nice story, they don't place the same value on the events it describes as the Nilid People will.
In Literature
While there are a number of songs and similar among the Nilid People those are mainly oral stories, but throughout time a few written books have been written about it, mostly in context with preserving the history of The Nilid People.
In Art
Among Nilid People there are quite a number of songs or tales about the myth.
Date of First Recording
970
Date of Setting
789
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