Journey's End

The five stone figures that make up Journey's End, each one half again the height of an adult, are the most well-known statues anywhere on the Vastland's Long Coast. Yet they were also a secret kept from oceandwellers for nearly a century after rediscovering the Vastland. The monument is a depiction of the Songs of Journey, the saga of how the ancient River Culture bands traveled from the mountains to the river delta.

Architecture

The five figures are nearly rectangular slabs of stone, with facial features and limbs roughly shaped.  In contrast to the awkward form of each figure, intricate images are densely carved into their arms, legs, and torsos.  These pictographs stand as the oldest existing sample of writing.  Many of the pictographs are identifiable as the source of some modern characters.

The figures stand in a ring, all in the same posture except for two, which each have one hand raised to the shoulder.  The figure with the right hand raised marks the beginning of the saga, with the symbol "death" inscribed on the palm.  The figure with the left hand marks the end, and the palm bears the symbol "life".

History

The lore surrounding the five figures claims that they were made by Source of Life, believed to be represented by the fifth figure. That would make them all more than twelve thousand years old, which is admittedly difficult to credit. The Valdians of Chawso are careful about the statues, opening them to public viewing only during the festival, which may account for how well they have been preserved.

Tourism

The monument is the focal point of an annual festival celebrating the historic migration. Dancers paint themselves with the same images as are on the stone figures, and perform the saga using some of Chawso's streets as the river.

As part of the festival, it is considered good luck for babies to touch the "life" symbol on the upraised left hand of the final figure. To prevent this tradition from destroying the figure, the monument's caretakers assign one of their number to touch the symbol at the beginning of the day, and transfer the luck to the babies' hands by proxy.

"I have never felt so cheated by my ancestors.  I wonder who was the last living person on the ocean to know this existed."

Type

Monument, Large

Parent Location

Chawso