Submitted for the consideration of the Earls Assembled at Holm-ir, by their loyal servant and man of the Tribe of Patrekan, Ranger Vsekan.
[Editor's note 1: the term Earls Assembled is sometimes translated otherwise. This partly stems from the disagreements on how to translate this aristocratic title of these lands. In other works, these nobles may be called "princes", "counts", or "thegns". Their gatherings are sometimes also called "the Princely Congress" or "the Princely Court".]
The crimes of which I am accused are far outside my desires and far beyond my capacities. I have never engaged in sorcery, nor do I have training therein. I have not engaged with any foreign nation, for I have not encountered any. I hope to explain the past year of my life and thereby to clarify to your Excellencies the circumstances leading to what we see today.
I am the eldest son of my father, Vsokan, who served Earl Mladekan loyally throughout His Excellency's invitation at Ir-karbat, Gradabah, Gornahar, and Polustogr. My father was released honorably from my lord's service upon His Excellency's ascension to Ozerstogr. Soon after his arrival in Polustogr, to meet his quota of servants to His Excellency the Great Earl Stareshan at Holm-ir, my lord sent me. I was then sent to the Ranger School.
[Editor's note 2: the term "invitation" is disputed. Given the nature of aristocratic succession, behavior, and separation from the daily life of the subject people, there are a number of suggested alternative terms, including "service", "residence", and "protection" or "defense".]
Upon completion of my training, the Great Earl Stareshan dispatched me to the eastern frontier. I was to continue the work of the Rangers along the River Qabaar, establishing an outpost two months' travel away from the current easternmost outpost, Misragr, and to document my findings along the way. I was issued a team of twelve serfs, as well as a boat with supplies.
[Editor's note 3: such boats have been found by archaeologists at several sites. They tend to be about forty feet long, powered either by sail or by oar, and with enough room to move sizable amounts of trade goods or supplies. For more, see Morskovich's painstakingly (and soporifically) thorough examination of the subject, *Workhorse on the Rivers: The Vessels of our Ancestors*.]
I began by traveling towards Misragr, which takes about four months down the Qabaar. I began in the winter, to travel in spring conditions to my destination, and to allow the summer for construction at the site. My arrival to Misragr was uneventful, and there the invited Earl, His Excellency Molodkan, warmly hosted me and granted me the supplies I would need for our two months of travel. After about a week at Misragr, I began the key part of my travels.
Beyond Misragr, the taiga continues far. For three weeks, I saw emerald coniferous trees, with low grey clouds, frequent fog and rain, and occasional snow, and great mountains in the distance. I did not ever see the Qabaar branch, although I saw a number of small mountain streams flow into the Qabaar. Often along the banks, despite the thick fog, I would see all forms of poultry and game: buffalo, deer, goats, mink, squirrel, chipmunk, rabbit, ermine, otter, beaver, bear, and wolf among them. In the river I saw fish the size of a man, swimming against the current. Although these animals contemplated me with interest, they did not approach the boat.
Eventually, the forest thickens. The trees grew in size as I traveled eastward, and their canopy eventually obscures the sky, even over a river as mighty as the Qabaar. The day became pitch black, and I had the serfs mount torches on the boat so I could see our surroundings. Such ecology continues for several days of travel. From this darkening canopy, some form of nettle-ivy appears to grow. I noted the form of the leaves and flowers when I first saw it, and directed the serfs not to touch it. In spite of my instructions, some of them attempted to pick the leaves or grab these vines. They had painful burns on their hands for several days thereafter. I felt that was punishment enough.
Two of the serfs, stupid and superstitious, fearful of the dark forest, riled each other into a frenzy and attempted to jump overboard. I imagine they hoped to swim to the shore and return the way I had come, through an unfamiliar dark forest – clearly they were not very bright. I caught and subdued one, and branded his left shoulder blade that evening for insubordination. A second succeeded in jumping overboard, and was drawn into the depths at an unnatural speed by what appeared to be powerful currents, but may have been plant or animal life. There were no more attempts by any of the serfs to jump overboard after that.
Then, the forest thinned and I again found myself in a boundless taiga. Here, some disturbance on the river bottom evidently disturbs its silt, turning the water brown and unsafe for consumption. I had a week remaining in my travels eastward, and ordered the serfs to briefly dock the boat at the beach on a bend in the river. This part of the taiga seemed to contain deciduous trees as well.
I ordered the serfs not to consume anything I had not checked first. With that, I began to explore the forest, searching for a source of clean water. I found one within about a mile, and filled half a dozen water skins. Upon returning, I found that the serfs had failed to follow my directions, once again – one of their number had somehow found an apple tree among the forest, and decided to eat one of the apples. I told the serfs not to move, and that I would return to carry out judgment once I had loaded the water skins into the boat. I left the dogs to guard the serfs.
Yet, once I had returned, the serf who had eaten the apple had doubled over, dropping the half-eaten fruit and gripping his abdomen in excruciating pain. Hoping not to see any more of the fools hurt themselves, I ordered the serfs to carry their companion into the boat and to set off further to the east. But it soon became clear that this serf felt a pain impossible to describe in words. Almost immediately, after I continued traveling, he began to violently thrash and shout, nearly destroying one of the benches. I lashed him to a railing at the stern and placed a stick in his mouth. This allowed him to bite down instead of screaming. Had he screamed, the serfs would have mutinied sooner.
Days passed and my travels continued, but the sick serf's condition only worsened. His skin and hair began to toughen, his limbs began to shrink, and the irises and pupils of his eyes began to change form. He soon nearly bit through the stick, and on inspecting it, I found the forms of a molar more similar to that of livestock than to that of a man. The alterations to his characteristics continued rapidly, and by the fourth day he took on a decidedly caprine appearance. By the time I had traveled far enough to begin siting an outpost, the serf had become indistinguishable, for all intents and purposes, from a goat. As this process continued, he became ever less receptive to man's language.
This terrified the serfs, and they believed that the stick I had placed into their companion's mouth had somehow been bewitched to induce this transformation. They accused me of sorcery. And they believed that I had brought them two months away from the nearest outpost to turn them all into goats and eat them. As such, they found a number of sturdy branches, attempting to wield them as clubs against me. However, given my training, I easily subdued each mutineer in turn. I bound them all together and fastened them to a tree. I withdrew the lead mutineer and cut out his tongue, feeding it to the dogs. The remaining serfs again understood their position after this demonstration, and resumed their obedience.
I constructed a number of buildings and fortifications on the northern bank of the river, and gathered supplies to store there. I decided to call this site Dalnorek. When the temperatures began to drop, I traveled upriver, slower now for the loss of three serfs – the one who had drowned, the one who had become a goat, and the lead mutineer, who had been weakened by the loss of blood when I removed his tongue and gradually succumbed to illness and starvation over the summer.
I arrived in Misragr over a month late for this reason, and explained the situation to His Excellency the Earl Molodkan. The Earl kindly imprisoned these rebellious serfs, and provided me a new group of conscripts to continue up the river. I arrived back in Holm-ir as quickly as I could. That is why I arrived late, accompanied not by my original subordinates but by new ones, plus a goat and a corpse, and why there are serf tales of sorcery.
If I have committed a crime, it is failure to punish the serfs harshly enough after the fools touched the nettles in contravention of my directions. At that moment, I failed to establish leadership. I never engaged in forbidden sorcery, nor did I liaise with any foreign power. I have submitted to the servants of His Excellency the Great Earl Starneshan the goat that was once a serf, as well as the tongue-less corpse of the lead mutineer. His Excellency Earl Molodkan may vouch for me, and should he so choose, deliver the imprisoned serfs to state their accounts of what happened on my Qabaar expedition, and to identify the body and livestock I have provided. My father, Vsokan, and my lord, His Excellency Earl Mladekan, may testify as to my character and my devotion to this land.
Should I be found guilty, I will bear the execution without complaint. Should I be found innocent, I will proudly lead a larger expedition back down the Qabaar to continue the colonization of Dalnorek.
I submit to your wisdom. My conscience is clear.