Change came suddenly.
All at once. Change was all around. Painful and sharp and breaking.
Tearing through histories and lives and people.
We had known them. Seen them in their difference. Like Deep Sea Darters to Light Wave Coral we were aware but saw no need to share their shallows. Our peoples were both older than the Grey Canyons and could continue as we always had, as we always were, as we always would.
But chaos fell from above. Out of light and into darkness. Change and pain, the same and forever linked in death. Unavoidable, inevitable death.
Then quiet. Peace, tentative at first. Uncertain tentacles reaching out with hope, believing in the end of the destruction. Peace filled with promise and all too short-lived.
Over and over, rolling waves of destruction.
No current to follow that would lead to peace, brave Karra sought other ways to end the torment. The loss to great to go unreturned. But they too lay with the eggs of broken Bowls. So many severed lives. Lives who had more streams to swim. Lives who had yet to taste salt on their lips. Lives who exist then, now and always only in our hearts.
Commentary
This short piece of prose was collected and recorded by yours truly. Peacekeeper H'Spe, in an attempt to help broaden the scope of our awareness and create a more varied tapestry of life in the
Peacekeeper Territories. The translation was performed by the Nebrug Institute, a group of Peacekeepers dedicated to the study of these allusive members of The Alliance.
This particular piece was originally created in Coralic, a form of record-keeping unique to the Nebrug. The author is unknown as Nebrug are notoriously bad about putting their name to things. It talks about a war which is better known as
Education Conflict, and was something of a territorial dispute.
References
There are several elements of this prose which have been translated but may still be foreign to those unfamiliar with Unity's oceanic ecosystem. A lot of the references used by Nebrug have a tendency to be specific to their own experiences and often lack the universality of more skilled authors.
| Reference |
Explanation |
| Deep Sea Darter |
a large blue-finned fish which lives in the many underwater canyons of the Southern Crags |
| Light Wave Coral |
Pastel-coloured coral found in the shallows around the southern islands the Nebrug call home |
| Grey Canyons |
Found in the Eastern Depths, believed to be the oldest part of the oceans of Unity |
Type
Memorial Prose
Author
Anon
Original Form
Coralic
Translated by
Nebrug Institute
Collected by
Peacekeeper H'Spe
Collection
Experiences of Change
That piece of prose is so heartbreaking, oh my gosh. ;_; 'But they too lay with the eggs of broken Bowls.' This line really got me. I am tentatively going to say I like H'Spe, for now... They seem to at least be willing to acknowledge the culture of others...
Explore Etrea | March of 31 Tales
Thank you! Of the Peacekeepers, H'Spe is far more open-minded and liberal than most.