Mogaro Mutis Travel Journals: The Green Tome
Year 374 after the Doom, 260 after the Conquest, 502 of the Golden Dynasty.
Day 1
After leaving behind the last dusty library and last pile of ridiculous reports, the "Wandering Queen" had set sail majestically from Volantis at dawn, leaving behind gold, tears, promises and a large group of cravens who have choose to live the rest of their lives waiting for the day of their death instead of going out to face it. That is fine, I will not admit hesitation among my men, and above all I will not admit cowarcy, Sothoryos is one of the most dangerous places in the world and being willing to give everything of urselves is the least that will be required if we want to succeed. For every man who got off my ship 10 wanted to take their place, but I'm afraid that many of them have bigger eyes than the stomach reggarding this adventure, without saying that at least half were completely crazy (which is not quite bad, no sane man has ever achieved something that is memorable.) The trip to New Ghis awaits, and crazy or not, I will use this trip to find out which ones are useful and wich I will disembark in the ghiscari port.
Day 5
Today a couple of idiots fought aboard the ship with sabers because of a game of dice and I had to separate them with my whip. None have been seriously injured, but I have no intention of dealing with such stupidities later in Sothosryos. A true pity, one was an exceptional navigator and the other was one of the most promising lunatics. Both will stay in New Ghis.
Day 7
My calculations on the winds become treacherous, the columns of fire of the Smoky Sea distort the air currents while waves of boiling water shake the ship with violence. The breeze that should blow south suddenly blows to the southeast or even to the north, forcing us to pass close enough to the coast of Valyria to see the light of the Fourteen Flames igniting the darkness of the night. In these moments I feel myself full of pride because while others curse or cry out to the gods, we laugh and drink toasting to the memory of the greatest empire that has ever existed. Beeing honest, I almost wanted to toss away the trip to Sothoryos and head towards the ruins of Draconys, to and write the Red Tome before the Green one, and i know for sure that many of my men would folow me. Unfortunately, we have taken precautions for Sothoryos and not for Valyria, so the Red Tome will have to wait. We follow South.
Day 14
My first officer Tei-Nho spotted the city lights at midnight with his Myrinesse eye glass and announced that we should reach the city by dawn. The "Wandering Queen" has reached its destination in two third parts of the time it would normally takes to a ship that size, and we didn't even have to use the oars.
Day 15
The Ghiscari are a fascinating folk, they are people who instead of living the victory of being one of the most prosperous cities in the Known World, rather choose to live in the defeat of the rancid Old Empire. Women who wear tokar instead of the exquisite Naath lace, men who wield bronze swords instead of steel and children who learn the crude ghiscari dialect instead of high Valiryan are proof of the sick obsession that the Brave Masters have with their past, but as the exception that confirms every rule, the noble Ghaez mo Rheezan stands out from the rest of his town as a visionary and a great adventurer, and he has honored us by offering a guide for us to know the streets of New Ghis. While Astapor is the red city and Yunkai the yellow, New Ghis is built with white cobblestones brought from the Old Empire that provide the city with a sober and pristine aura, the streets are narrow but organized and the main avenues are covered by white marble columns ceowned by harpy-shaped oil lamps that are lit at night. In the central market the infamous slave trade is present as in all Ghiscarian cities, but in New Ghis it is not as bloody as in Astapor or as depraved as in Yunkai, olso I noticed that human trafficking is a minor part of the economy of the city. In the center of the city stands the great pyramid, crowned by the harpy of New Ghis that holds in its claws a thuner made of gold and chains made of silver, that has at it shadow the Heroes' Square and the temple. New Ghis is probably what the cities of the old empire where before Valyria destroyed them, a bright city that hides very well the cruelty on which was built.
At dusk, after an exuberant dinner, Gáez took me to the top of his pyramid to talk about the expedition and ask me how I planned to face a challenge that had defeated so many. He was much more interested in speaking than in listening of course, but despite that I felt some empathy for the old ghiscari, who compensated for a lack of caution close to stupidity by being able to observe the Green Continent with curiosity and patience, not in the search for treasure or trophies to show off, but the same thing that inspired my old teacher Lun-Hu, and that now inspires me: A fervent obsession to contemplate something no one has ever contemplated. On the other hand this empathy is also due to the reports of his expeditions to Gorosh, Gogossos, Zamethar and Yeen that made when he was young, reports that have been somewhat more useful than the ones from Volantis and the Summer Islands, because Ghaez in his temerity leaded to death half of his crew in ways that nobody had registered before and that are now useful to know what NOT to do.
Day 16
The last preparations are ready, the gold has changed hands and assembled at midday tide we leave the civilized world behind. The expedition is form by three ships: The "Wandering Queen", flagship under my command; the longship "Shark" led by Einar Farwind, and the ratchet "Sweet Sigh" led by my second in command Tei-Nho. Einar Farwind is an ironborn from Lonely Light, a far distant island (which I will certainly visit one day) where the only trustworthy ironborn come from. Under the supervision of oficer Yu-Hang, the "Shark" will be mapping along with the "Wandering Queen" and will be useful for exploring the low-lying rivers. On the other hand, the anormous "Sweet Sight" will be in charge of transporting weapons, tools and supplies for the expedition, but in view of the fact that it was designed to transport bedslaves, i will rename it simply "Whale". Many men have asked me why we take food for six months when there is plenty of room in the "Whale" to support us for year and a half, but that aditional space has to do with the little mischief I´m planing to carry out in Gogossos, and until we arive there is no need for everyone to know. Until the time is right, I shall give a different reason to each person who asks.
Day 18
The wind blows strongly to the Southeast so we had to drive the oars to advance at a good pace to Gogossos. Ghezan warned me not to stop in the ruins and to avoid the island in general because he was aware of my rejection of slavery and my contempt for pirates, both things easi to find in the place where his beloved city used to buy slaves that were captured in Naath and Sothoryos himself. Don not matter, that nest of pirates plays a crucial part in the expedition, and when this journal gets published they will be hundreds who will imitate my methods.
Day 21
At noon we arrive at the Isle of Tears, a first glance contradictory name for such a radiant place, rich in vegetation and infested with colorful birds that gracefully flie over the ship without showing any fear. It saddens me to think that it was man who turned this paradise into a place of waile. We desenbark as far as possible from the "pirate's nest" to avoide exposing our ships, and follow the Trail of Tears, a rudimentary path cleared by the corsairs to facilitate access to Gogossos. To not attract too much attention i went with Einar and a docen of his ironborn who are quite comon in the place. The city tales describe it as ruins made of black rock, but even the mere ruins of Gogossos are an imposing vision that reminds the outsider that this was once the tenth free city. If I remember correctly the Nathies erected it as a sacred place, but the ghiscarians took it away from them and then disputed it with the valyrians for centuries until it remained under control of the Freehold, but in contrast to the regious dragon lords who built colossal towers and Black walls like those of Volantis, its current rulers are the Corsair Kings, an infamous pirate union that has controlled the region since the previous habitants were decimated by disease and war. The population is small and revolves completely around the market where slaves, animals and the treasures that fall into the hands of pirates are sold.
Observation: While the black stone in walls and roads looks like ordinary marble some buildings in the center of the city are made of something different. Whatever it is, it has barely been spent by rain or wind, and while the other constructions have benn invaded by the jungle nothing alive seems to approach these buildings. I wanted to stay to investigate, but Einar told me that if we stayed for a long time on the island the corsairs could agree to stop fighting each other and attack us. One of the ironbron called Egil told me he felt the stone vibrating.
The Gogossos brothel was, not to Mogaro´s surprise, the only proprely restored building in the pirate's lair. The Corsair Kings, who were naturally the owners of the premises, had restored a wide manor making the lower level a tavern and the upper ones the brothel itself. It was a simple place, but the decoration was tasteful and had been a couple of musicians and dancers. The place smelled of ash soap and washed clothes.
- Is it normal for the brothel to be the cleanest place in the city?
- Here, aye. Pirates only stop killing each other when they are drinking or fucking, this tavern is why so many captains can meet here without ... "creating conflicts". That´s how the Corsair Kings keep peace here. Since you start chatting, are you telling me what are we doing here Mogaro? When you told yer crew that you wanted to buy slaves, I thought they were goin to mutiny. Did´t know that lorathi were slavers.
- I'm getting tired of telling you that I'm tyroshi. What does it matter to you? Are not all ironborn slavers?
- Not the ones from Lonelylight. Also in the Iron Islands there are thrals, not slaves
-What would be the difference?
- Thrals cannot be bought or sold, and their children are born free.
- It must be comforting to know that wille you are forced to work until death.
- It's more comfortable than this. - Einar layed in the back of the seat an pointed with his chin the women that were attending the tables. The slavers made them do it while completely naked, and any client could take them to the top floor of the mansion if he paid the owner. To make the spectacle even more grotesque, a crowd shouted in front of a cage in the corner of the tabern where an skinny slave was facing with a dagger a walking lizard. Walking lizards were a strange specie of reptile with stripes and sharp claws that walked upright on two feet and were the fiercest thing Mogaro had seen on his travels. The slave was obviously losing.
- Mogaro please, what in the hell are we doing here?
- Buying slaves. - He said with an sour smile - Let's get out of here before I get too tempted to "create a conflict."
Outside the Broothel a group of ironborn played dice and sharpened their weapons. Mogaro had chosen them as an escort because he feared that if he brought his men they would lose their cold and do something stupid. He imagined Tei-Nho jumping in front of the lizard to save the slave. A shiver in his back, it was posible. While his men openly opposed slavery, those of Einar Farwynd only disapproved it. After years of practice the old ways in the Basilisk Islands had made them capable of witnesing the worst things without even flinching.
Outside the brothel the market made his way to the southern entrance of the city. It was the first silent market he seen in his life, nobody shouted the prices because they feared others would make better offers to pouch the buyers, and the guards glanced menacing at eache other as they sharpened their scimitars. Except for the murmur of one buyer or another, only the weeping of the slaves and the roars of the beasts resonated in the market of Goggossos. The biggest attraction was the body of a young wyvern, young because "small" woudn´t have benn the right way to describe it, 30 men had died to capture him alive, but the return trip had been lengthened by a storm and the animal had dead in the ship's hold. They said that the Brotherhood of the Corsair Kings dreamed of taming the wyverns as had been done with the dragons, but so far, the winged reptiles were more interested in eating the pirates than carrying them on their backs. Even dead the animal was worth a fortune, and the parts were removed and axed off to be auctioned in the crowd.
The thing was not working as he had planing, he wanted to talk with the slaves, but the corsairs who guarded them were distrustful and did not allow him to ask questions before buying them. Einar returned to remind him that Gogossos was an area of passage, even the most frequent merchants left as soon as possible for fear of the corsairs assaulting them. The buildings around the market were almost empty, but it always seemed that someone was watching from the ruined windows.
- We can't leave, not yet. Do you know a less frequented place where I can talk to slaves?
- Yes, but you'll like it less than the brothel.
The building where Einar took him looked small in the outside but had a huge underground. Mogaro didn't know what that place had served when the infamous city was active, but he was sure he would prefer to remain ignorant as Einar lead him downstaris and throw corridors to a sealed door with a guard aoutside. soo far, it was already wordt than the brothel, and it was just the begining. It was a storage place for the slaves tha had mentaly colapsed at some point after being captured and now were broken man and women. They were taken away from the rest of the goods to be sold for low price or sometimes even to feed the monsters they had bringed from Sothoryos. Mutis had to gather all his willpower just to abstain himself of stabing the guard and ask for permision to go into the broken slave´s chambers. It cost him a silver. Among those who incoherently babbled, shout and worse, a young woman around twenty daynames sited on the corner of the cell caught his attention.
"I want to be alone with her." He gave the guard another silver coin and waited for him to leave before he look at the woman again. She had and reddish skin, and she had been pretty if she hadn't been covered in dirt and her slanted eyes had not been lost in nowhere. Mogaro will get used to standing for several minutes to get used to his presence.
- What's your name, little one? - The girl gave no sign of having heard the captain. The flies that buzzed around him looked like a corpse, but his chest rose and fell.
- Maho-Je drevo pah? (What's your name, little one?) - This time he felt like he had the slave's attention, but the spark went out quickly. "You must think that I am a corsair" Mogaro thought. He took off his whip from his belt and threw him out of the room.
- Drevo Mogaro, Dopa-ho sagava (name Mogaro, I'm not a corsair) - I accompany the prayer by slowly sending my legs crossed to show him that he didn't want to sleep with her. He offered him his water boot. - "Y´u?" (Y = water; Y´u = drink)
The young woman laid her dead eyes on Mogaro, but inside the Lorathi could distinguish a minimum hint of interest. He drank water from the boot and offered it again. She did accept it but only drank a few sips.
- Ñe'ê ani-porã ku? (I don't speak good the language) - The girl shook her head shyly. It was possible that he had not talked to anyone for days.
- Vove huahe apé (how long you here) - It was a mistake. There was something similar to a sob and his eyes were dead again. "Idiot, way to fast" he thought. There was no word to apologize in Sothorosy, or at least Mogaro didn't remember it, so he wasn´t able apologize. Time was running short so he decide to find someone else. He got up without showing signs of recovering the water and walked towards the door.
- Y´vo mo (Water is yours)
- Kokuhe (A few days ago) - The trick to know if she was listening had worked and, although he was disgusted with himself, he returned to sit down. The young woman was not broken, she had only suffered a lot and I had pased days without knowing anything but violence. Gradually the words went out until they became short sentences at the same time that the girl's eyes began to give sings that they were there and not elsewhere. With trembling hands, she lifted the boot and drank the contents until it was squeezed. Mogaro stood up and nodded his head in thanks. when the man at the door told him that at that point he had to pay three silver coins he passed by. He had to leave the building so that the girl could not see the terrible grin on his face and misunderstand him. Well, she woud have understood that Mogaro was despicable and that was true, but sometimes selfish actions lead to the better for everybody.
The girl cost him ten silver coins and a rum skin. Einar asked him again when they would leave and the captain, for a change, did not silence him and tell him his plan for the the next day. Before the sun rose, they woke the woman and tried, at their best Sothorosy, to explain what they needed from her. The girl who had already suspected it from the previous chat accepted and accompanied them to the center of the market where the first tents were rising. They wandered through each one of the the stalls, to all inhabited building, even for some of the boats in the coast, and every time the woman pointed at someone, Mogaro bought it. He bid in all auctions and pay double or even triple for those indicated that have already been acquired by other buyers. Soon half of the market went to him with his slaves to see if the crazy lorathi actualy bought any slave the bed slave pointed, even for the injured and sick. Mogaro was the center of attention that day, and when his purse became empty, he told everione that he had more gold stored on his "Errant Queen" along with ivory and some pepper from Volantis, so if they reserved the slaves for him, it would all be paid as soon as they brought the slaves to his ship.
When nightfall arrived, the nameless slave had already stopped pointing people and a large caravan left the ruins of Goggoss heading for the beach. Mogaro Mutis, his escort, the slaves and the entourage of meno he owed along with 60 of they personal guards. When they reached the coast, the slavers were very pleased to see how the crazy Lorathi, ordered Einar and his men to take the longboat "Shark" and bring from the "Errant Queen" the pepper and ivory he had promised, but they plesment come to an end when, instead of their paiment the "Shark" brought 40 ironborn armed to the teeth that advanced with hostility while the sailors of the "Wandering Queen" that Tei-Nho had hidden among the vegetation bahind them pointed their rear with repetision crossbows.
- What is the meaning of this Lorathi? - One of the corsairs asked - Are you foolish enough to think that you can steal here and live to tell?
- Sorry pirate, but I don't see why i should pay with gold what you paid with blood.
- Allright, keep them, I will not risk my life for a lot of malnourished slaves, but be aware, if the Corsair Kings find out that you are freeing slaves on their island, there will be no place in the 14 seas where you can hide from their whrath.
- Oh, I'm sure they´ll find out ... but not from you. Kill them
The fight was brief. The scimitars of the corsairs were no match for the chainmail and breastplates of Einar´s irinborn while the bolts of the repetition crossbows reached all those who tried to flee. While they stripped the corpses of valuable things and threw them in hols they had been digging since dawn, Mogaro aligned his new slaves on the coast and contemplated them with pride. 105 men, women and children from the same village as the broken woman, arrived on the Isle of Tears just four days ago. He try to make them understand his rough Sothorosy.
-Je dopa-ho mo, Tekove záço! (You are not slaves, you are free people), A´so vai-porã, sagava capim! (This place is bad, it is the home of the corsairs), Ju´e Mogaro ygára! (Get on the boat / canoe of Mogaro.) - A fierce-looking man who had been brande with the demon mask of disobidiente slave on his forehead went ahead of the rest and yell to Mogaro
–Oimehápe? (where?)
- Je-toca (Your home)
Year 364 D.M .; 250 AD; 502 G.D.
Day 22
Today we put in move the second phase of the expedition. After spending years in different cities reading and listening to testimonies, I came to the conclusion that all expeditions had sufered large casualties or even failed for the same reason: Determination. The men who are brave enough to explore the Green Continent are usually the promising lunatics I refer to at the beginning of this journal, and thanks to their courage and will-strength they have managed to go further than anyone else, but what is not mentioned is how all had to pay a high price to do it so, and for every one who managed to make discoveries, a dozen perished or had to give up before achieving anything. At this point in the journey you should think of me as the encarnation of arrogance, and it may be true, but i can ashure you dear rider that i am not so arrogant as to challenge Sothoryos only with my willpower.
This is why we saved a tribe of natives in the first stage of the trip. For six months we will stay in the lands of the Guarã tribe (that's what they call themselves) on the western coast learning their language and the way they have survived in the Green Hell for generations. When we get ready, we shall sail along the rivers as further as we can and then continue on foot onto the heart of the continent.
About the atmosphere on the ship, morale has risen incredibly since Tei-Nho told them that I was planing to save the slaves from the beginning, and even more now that thanks to the natives my crazy strategy may actually work. As the last action of the day, I ordered fixed course to the West.
Note: The "broken slave" is called Jurema.
Authors note: For the Sothorosy language I use words from the Tupi Guarani speaked by Amazonian native, but with terrible conjugation.