The Talking Stones
All stones on ligaru were enchanted at the shattering and were given a mind of their own. Stonemasons discovered the stones could only speak out their thoughts when one would carve specific holes for the wind to blow through. These stones then became an integral part of the culture and daily life of the average whistleblower.
History
It is believed all stones were once one but broke into all the stones we know today during Breaking of the Stone. The history of the talking stones starts around 150 A.S., some mountain dwellers near the riddle cave noticed a whistle was coming from the mountain. they decided to replicate the weirdly shaped cave with a smaller stone and noticed a similar sound when held in the wind. The first "talking" stones were born. In Whistleblower lore, all organisms are believed to have a soul as long as they can express themselves through sound. It was long thought that stones were soulless but this discovery proved otherwise. Around 200 A.S. the first great stones started to be carved, The stone of Theven and the Rock of Es are often seen as the oldest still standing great stones.
The wind
The wind has much importance in the lore of the talking stones. It is believed that the wind is the language of nature, a way to communicate with plants, birds, the sun, and the stones. The stones themselves know the language of nature very well but only have no way to express themselves. Around 150 A.S, people in the Vugdal discovered that by carving holes in a specific way through the stones, they would speak when wind flowed through them. When they found out that nothing would happen when humans blew through the stone, they came to the conclusion that the stones only answered to the wind.
Verse of the WindIt is the wind of what I speak,the flow of all that's strong and weak.The tongue of nature and of man,the way to talk to stone that cantell us the tales of old and far,bring news over Opstin and star.But stone may only tell its mind,the wind is really whats behind.
The location and direction of the stones also change the sound and stories of the stone. It is believed that every location brings its own wisdom and the direction it turned in determines the winds coming through, and therefore errands it brings and places it knows about. For example, stones turned with their backs to the west may tell stories from the sisters. The wind is clearly very important to the stones, it's their medium to talk through, and much of a stone's wisdom is gifted through the knowledge of the wind.
Great stones
Great stones are large boulders often found at town centers or at windy/high points that often provide their wisdom to the interested people. mainly every village houses one great stone and some stones obtain widespread fame across the island. For example, Theven, Es, Orokstone, and Pebel all house a famed rock and have to thank their large stone for their respective location. The last two mentions even get their name from a stone!
Another notable stone is the Enkelstone. this colossus is of similar size to other great stones but has moved more than 70km to come to its current resting place in the north. It was supposed to sit upon the isle of Enkel but no boat could bear its weight. Now, the stone just looks out, in desire, to the isle forever.
In the history of all great stones, there has been one breaking. The elder boulder at Hurdun, on the low heath, was thought to be one of the wisest stones on Ligaru. It once told a tale, however, it was so existential for the nearby inhabitants that they decided to crack and break the stone into uncountable pieces so that it would never utter a word ever again.
Tellings
If the wind rushes through a mighty rock, and it starts whistling, what does it talk about? The rocks don't have much business with humans and are therefore not very useful for the people of Ligaru. It may tell stories about the stone's past, the nature surrounding it, and the horrors of the shattering. Large and wiser stones will tell stories they learned from the winds; incoming weather forecasts, current weather in other parts of the world, and happenings of nature overseas. By far the main speech of the average stone on a regular day consists of riddles, bad jokes, and nonsense.
The larger the stone, the wiser it becomes. This means that a great stone will probably not tell you a bad joke and a pebble will utter only bad jokes, on a good day. The largest stones you might imagine are the mountains. There is one mountain able to speak, the Riddlerpeak, with a natural cave going through the mountain. The whistles of this mountain are often too wise and complex for humans to even comprehend. Only some people were able to understand the peak in recorded history, although many claim they can. They do this to assert their higher knowledge and wisdom.
Comments