The Discovery of Water

Edasso Viusna first visited Kriiza in the year 234 Blessed, and it was on this visit, as detailed in the introduction to the extended second edition (published in 266 Blessed), that he obtained the powers of a seeker. Viusna made During a second visit a decade later, Viusna discovered the symbol for Water; upon his return, he published The Discovery of Water as an account of his journey and a guide for future seekers, which is thought to be the first written study of .

Purpose

This text is an autobiographical account of the discovery of the symbol for Water, and is produced for the benefit of future scholars of this and other symbols; it also contains an appendix detailing the ritual of binding with an Amulet of Symsight and explaining the process for creating future seekers, to continue the author's work.

Historical Details

History

Before Viusna's discovery, the existence of Kriiza was known (and considered to be of religious significance) but its relevance to life on Fraxinal was greatly underestimated. His discovery spurred a new interest in visits to Kriiza, and was the first step in the creation of symbology as a usable system of magic. Although Viusna was well-educated in his youth, he only committed himself fully to a scholarly career after his first visit to Kriiza, in an attempt to gain the knowledge and understanding necessary to contemplate a symbol in its pure form.

Legacy

The Discovery of Water set the precedent for seekers to publish monographs detailing their processes of discovery for the benefit of future symbologists; moreover, the journey described in this book inspired Viusna to create a university that could encourage and nurture further study of symbols. New imprints of the first edition, which focuses just on the Water symbols itself, have been widely published and distributed, but access to the extended second edition (with a preface and appendix describing the creation of seekers) is more restricted.

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The Discovery of Water

Introduction to the Second Edition: My first journey to Kriiza

I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that my discovery has changed the world, and will continue to do so, but when I first stepped foot in Kriiza, I had no such lofty goals. Rather, I had heard of this strange new world which nobody seemed interested in exploring, and as the dashing young adventurer I saw myself to be, with enough wealth to bribe my way through a restricted-access Gateway, I intended to take up the challenge. The Gateway in question being known to open only for a day at a time, once a season, it had been used for only short visits; I committed to the prospect of spending three months in Kriiza.
We knew that there was fresh running water, and I reasoned that there must also be vegetation, so although I had enough in the way of supplies to last me for a few weeks, I intended to forage for most of my food. This was, of course, my first mistake, and one which might have proven fatal, for as we now know, there does not seem to be any plantlife across the areas of Kriiza accessible to us. However, in one of those curiousities of fate which so often prove fortuitious, I soon realised that I did not feel hunger during my time in Kriiza, and although I partook of my rations for as long as I could, when I ran out of food, I continued to survive, with no apparent ill effects. Yet my surprise at the absence of plantlife was nothing compared to my shock at encountering what I believe to be sentient life, of the sort I had never seen on Fraxinal.
I do not know how long I had been in Kriiza, that strange land with neither night nor any visible sun to mark the passage of time, but I had not yet depleted my rations, when I saw the creature. The first sign of its strangeness was its uncertain size: I saw the creature at what I judge to be a distance of several hundred feet, and at that distance I judged it to be a huge statue or carving of rock, on the basis of its relationship to the surrounding natural features; but as I slowly approached, its size remained unchanging, despite the changes which should have been occasioned by perspective over such a range, and by the time I reached the creature, it was a mere - mere! Yet still noticeably taller than me - seven feet in height. Its features were almost human, but not quite: its features too sharp; its long hair remaining motionless despite the breeze; its hands slender and elongated compared to my own; and of course, its skin and hair the colour and pattern of stone. As I say, I had thought it a statue, and it remained motionless as I approached; but when I touched its surface, marvelling at what I judged to be a wonder of craftsmanship, I felt its thoughts in my mind.
I believe we communicated like that, wordlessly, for several hours, if not days. Much of what we discussed, I do not recall, although I feel that it sought to obtain as much information from me as I did from it; much of what I learnt, about the nature and potential of symbology, is interspersed amongst the chapters which follow. It explained to me that our world, our human societies, had reached a state of knowledge which meant we could be trusted with the secret of seeking symbols; it told me of what it planned to do to me to give me this ability, and warned that I was not the only visitor to Kriiza to receive such a gift directly. Its instructions for the creation of the symsight amulets and the ritual of binding have been added to this second edition as an appendix; for my own part, when I came out of whatever trance its magic had imposed on me, I was missing my left eye, but found myself able to gaze upon the world through a new eye placed squarely on my chest, as I had been promised. (Would-be seekers need not fear: the loss of an eye is not a necessary part of the ritual as it is conducted on our own world, as my own apprentice will attest.) Although I had not seen the creature moving, it now held one arm outstretched, offering me the amulet it held in its hand. Even so soon after the transformation, I had a sense of seeing the world differently through my new eye, and there was a haziness to my vision, as if what I was seeing was some sort of illusion or mirage; but as my readers will perceive, without a stronger theoretical understanding, I was in no position then to comprehend the symbols of the world around me. No, for that, I needed to return to my native world, and to my studies, to prepare for a future journey; and it is to this second journey to Kriiza that I must now turn.
Edasso Viusna, 266 Blessed

What follows for the larger part of the monograph is a complicated theoretical and philosophical account of Viusna's subsequent decade of research and second visit to Kriiza and his lengthy contemplation of the landscape, and particularly its rivers, interspersed with information gathered from his earlier studies, which resulted in the discovery of the symbol for Water.

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Type

Study, Scientific

Medium

Vellum / Skin

Authoring Date

246 Blessed = 1868 I.A. (1st ed.)