Great Trek

Dora the Explorer

When Dora was a little girl, she dreamed of traveling all over The Double Acres. Dora wanted to see the whole world. But before Dora could go on her road trip of a lifetime, she needed to find a map of the whole world. Dora waded through the Wild Swamp and over the Crown Mountains. Dora saw some of the strangest things in the Wild Swamp. Unusual lights kept her awake at night in the mysterious swamp and the locals were stranger still. The mountain folk gave Dora a tour deep underground where dwarfs mine the shiniest and most precious things.
When Dora saw the sky again, she strolled down the sloping Slinking Hills alongside wild goblin warg riders toward the coldest tundra she had ever seen. The Western Wastelands were barren and desolate.

Can you say D-E-S-O-L-A-T-E?

Dora did not warm up until she ventured into the Stubborn Forest. Dora had never seen such magnificent trees. Their beauty was only surpassed by the breath-taking Ambrosia Lake. Ambrosia Lake didn’t remind her of the lake she grew up near, Lake Chu. It glimmered with a soothing reflection tainted with amber hues belying a succulent mystery on the bed of the lake. Dora wanted to discover more of the other-worldly Ambrosia Lake, but continued her journey through the Stubborn Forest and its lakes region to the port of Maw. Dora boarded the biggest boat she had ever seen and crossed the Crystal Sea to the Forest Cappe, land of the elves. The elves make their home in the old trees, blurring the line between their town and the forest around.
When Dora crossed into the Highland Hills, she started to feel the familiarity of home once more. Here lived more common people, farmers and ranchers.
Dora continued east, to the Port of Peyt. The Port of Peyt sits on the mouth of the Endri River in the Bay of Plenty. Peyt sends trade boats far and wide, from the grand city of Volaris at the foot of the Crown Mountains on the Endri River to the elves in the Forest Cappe, across the Crystal Sea, and to the villages scattered along the shores of the Desert of Nan.
Dora ferried with the traders of Peyt to the Desert of Nan. Dora made her way across the vast desert, meeting people that lived a very different life with so little water. The sand people saw her safely to Respite, the gem of the desert, far to the north at Oasis Harbor. The desert city was lively but less opulent than the other cities Dora had visited. Here, the people learned to do more with less and valued the experiential joys of life more than troves of treasured trinkets.
Dora completed her circuit around the Double Acres as she crossed back into the Peaceful Plains. Dora returned to her home outside of the city of Vellum, where her halfling kin continued a quiet life working their little farms and sleeping under open skies. Dora was congratulated on completing her journey and welcomed home.

Wanderlust did not fade from Dora’s dreams.
Dora would spend hours gazing at the horizon and wondering what lie beyond the Desert of Nan and the Endless Ocean. When Dora sought a map for the world beyond the Double Acres, she could not find one. People told her that there was nothing more than the Double Acres. But Dora dreamed of more. Dora asked the cartographers. Cartographers are people that make maps of the places with go.

Can you you say C-A-R-T-O-G-R-A-P-H-Y?

Dora studied ancient texts that predate the Naturalist Association in the library at Saruli in search of a world beyond the Double Acres. Dora read Narrat’s History of the World. Dora read Arties’ Knowing Your Place: Where the Gods Want You. Dora read Garl Goldstitches’ Ecognomics: How to Make and Lose a Fortune.

How many books did Dora read? Can you count them? ONE. TWO. THREE. That’s right! Dora read three books. You did it! You did it! You really really did it!

Dora found mention of an age long past. An age when the Desert of Nan didn’t have an intensely arid climate. An age when the Peaceful Plains extended to the Endless Ocean. An age when great ships sailed to a land of wealth beyond the water’s horizon. An age when the world was more than The Double Acres. But, alas, the closest thing to a map she could find was a reference direction, beyond the scope of the document now held in the lands of The Double Acres. Dora had found her calling in life. Dora would rediscover the lost lands of yore and make a comprehensive map herself!
Dora needed the greatest sailing vessel this age had ever known. Dora needed help and turned to the most prolific shippers of The Double Acres, the traders of Peyt. One merchant family in the Port of Peyt agreed to aide Dora in her excursion. The Arice family built the biggest and sturdiest ship to venture across the Endless Ocean. The Eden carried Dora into the unknown.
Dora voyaged over the Endless Ocean for ages. One day, Dora spied something darkening on the horizon, but was disappointed to see it fade as the ship advanced.
Finally, Dora reached a shore shrouded in heavy mist. Overcome with joy of finding the New World, Dora lost herself in the beauty of it all. Majestic clouds rolled over the shore, depositing vibrant rainbows in their wake. The Endless Ocean drained itself as a rushing waterfall into nothing. Dora soon found herself nowhere.
Dora stood ashore agog of the majesty of this land.
Dora forgot what she was here for.
Dora forget where she had been.
Dora set to learning where she was and decided to make a map. Dora crossed the nowhere to the edge of an infinite abyss. Dora found her way onto the mainland through Ocean’s Gate and began her journey on the New World. She started at the mouth of Moonshine River and traveled south across the Glacial Grasslands.
Dora drew ever closer to the overwhelming immensity of the behemoth that is the Heaven Piercer. She was captivated by the sheer size of the mountain. Dora found the Heaven Piercer a curiosity, with it's abruptly flat top and oddly regular nooks and ledges dotting its side.
Dora waded through swampy wetlands on the west side of the Heaven Piercer until she came upon a lively forest aflame.
When Dora reached the southern coast, she found a quaint little island she thought was shaped rather like a dog.
Dora pushed her way through a thick and dank forest as she circled eastward to a peculiar clearing. Dora tapped her way over the largest stone she had ever seen, where no trees could spread their roots.
Dora had to watch her step when she rounded the smaller Cloud Tickler and nearly fell down into the caverns that shone a sickly but mesmerizing colored aura.
Dora carefully made her way back to the northern shore, where jagged rocks clawed there way out of the water. She would have to sail back out the way she had come, through the Ocean's Gate.
Dora did rediscover the lost lands of yore and make a comprehensive map herself!