Flashback [Memorial Library] An Historical Overture: Zeltiva

[Eleret]

Winter 2, 500 AV morning Yesterday had been the first day of Eleret's term as a student in the University of Zeltiva. More than anything else -- more than the food, the architecture, the mostly human population -- it was that first class which had driven home to Eleret just how foreign an environment now surrounded her. The first and last class, by what the professor had said. He had given them a lecture on the importance of history, then recited a list of deadlines by which his students must have papers written, and detailed the requirements for each. Then he had told them all to go away, read, and come back to him individually -- but only when they'd found something worth writing about. Eleret had never met an instructor who implied scorn for his students -- that until they were steeped in history and proven able to write, they weren't actually worth his time. None of the Konti she had ever known would have acted so. It had taken the young woman the rest of that day to quite come to terms with this, and to get over the bout of homesickness it engendered. Today, she thought she had it well in hand. She was ready to learn. And she had a plan. If she was going to learn history at this university, then the best place to start was with the history of the very city she now dwelt in... though that proved to be somewhat easier said than done. It took her nearly an entire bell just to find the relevant section of the library shelves; they were organized differently from those in Mura, and the layout was not intuitive to Eleret. But eventually she found it -- and proceeded to stare a while at the many, many books on the shelves which related to Zeltivan history. Finally, Eleret picked one out, not quite at random; it had a likely-seeming title. Flipping to a page -- this truly done at random -- revealed the truth behind the title: the writing was verbose and eloquent, and its author's word choices quite beyond her capability to follow in Common. She slid it back into its place on the shelf, and tried another. And another, and another after that. It wasn't until her fifth attempt that Eleret found a volume which was simple, straightforward, and appeared to be written with a minimum of unfamiliar words: a book simply titled An Introduction to Zeltiva and its History Before and After the Valterrian.

[Eleret]

Book in hand, Eleret did not return immediately to her desk, but retraced her steps through the stacks. Somewhere along the way... during her search for the history section... she had seen... yes, there. Dictionaries, those invaluable tools for non-native speakers of a language. Eleret stopped before the shelves and let her eyes scan the spines, taking stock of the options available to her. The vast majority were in common, ranging from the small and specialized to massive and presumably comprehensive multi-volume sets. She dismissed those out of hand, only wanting a basic edition, something she could readily carry and use. Finally, the Konti picked one whose spine her hand could easily grasp, one not too thick nor heavy, and placed it atop the history volume in the crook of her left arm. She had one more stop to make, fortuitously just around the other side of these shelves. Here were arranged a veritable wall of inter-language dictionaries and language primers, from Pavi/Common to the oddity of -- yes, Tukant/Symenos. She had read that right. How peculiar; Eleret wondered, briefly, if that tome had ever actually seen use. The Konti herself didn't add to the use count now, but kept searching, coming to the end of the section and making another pass through. She wanted a Common/Kontinese lexion, which kind was apparently thin on the ground here. It would not likely have too many of the words she needed for the history book, but she thought it might serve as a key for any trouble she had with the dictionary. Easier by far than chasing a chain of definitions through the dictionary until she found one comprehensible -- assuming the word which started that chain was in the lexicon. Such were the tribulations of studying material written in another language. Eventually, she found one, tucked away in the corner of a bottom shelf. Eleret added it to her armload, become a stack of three, and moved out from between the stacks. Now she had to figure out where her desk was from here...

[Eleret]

The Konti tried to think her way back through the stacks to her desk; ultimately, she resorted to simply walking up and down the different aisles until she found a familiar backpack resting next to an empty chair. Eleret set her new books down on the desk with a breath of relief, then slid into the chair herself. She shuffled the books around to her satisfaction -- history text immediately before her, notebook and inkwell to the right, dictionary to the left, lexicon above that -- then paused in the act of opening the cover, catching sight of the Eyris bust which overlooked her workspace. It surely couldn't hurt to ask for the favor of the goddess of knowledge. Resting her hand lightly atop the textbook, Eleret focused her thoughts on a brief invocation of Eyris' blessing, polite and diffident in its phrasing. It felt odd to pray to one other than the Konti's racial deities, but definitely appropriate for the situation. Perhaps most of all, the prayer helped focus her own attention upon the subject of her studies, and as Eleret opened the book, that concentration chased other thoughts from her conscious mind. "Zeltiva is an ancient city with a long history," the introduction informed her, "its roots stretching back to before the Valterrian. In the time of Empires, it was home to the Royal Navy of Alahea; subsequently, Zeltiva has retained its prominence in the fields of seafaring and shipbuilding, as well as the love of scholastics which once characterized the Alahean Empire as a whole." A scant paragraph, and already she had to stop to look up words, her practical and Mura-influenced vocabulary quickly outmatched by the scholarly author. Eleret noted the words she was unsure of in her own book, then set her quill aside and turned to the dictionary for elaboration. There were near to ten of them, and between paging through the dictionary, parsing its explanations, and looking up yet more words afterwards, it took her half a bell just to obtain and jot down a meaning for each one. As she had half-expected, none of the mystery words proved to be unfamiliar in concept -- just vocabulary she had lacked in Common.

[Eleret]

The first chapter of the book proved to not involve the history of Zeltiva as such at all. Rather, it discussed the geography of the city, both its location and its internal composition, and what that meant for Zeltiva. Eleret puzzled her way through it nonetheless, the geography being nearly as useful to the foreigner as the history she was nominally here for. Her first page of notes quickly filled up with an unorganized mix of paraphrased information and word definitions. Even the words she wrote were a jumble, predominantly Kontinese with a smattering of Common mixed in where the Common word was required. Her notes were far more terse than the original prose of the author, distilling what she felt were the most important details from each paragraph: Zeltiva -- lowlands between Zastoska Mountains and Matthews Bay Matthews Bay -- has best harbor site in Mizahar Mirahil Pass -- only land route to Zeltiva, between highest peaks Old Quarter -- pre-Valterrian buildings, city northwest, many occupied by University almost no farmland = food shortages sea essential to Zeltiva for trade, food dependence on ocean shaped Zeltiva economy, livelihood, culture sea central to Zeltiva life / existence, directly and indirectly Eleret paused at the end of the chapter, both to give herself a break and to take some time to assimilate the information it had contained. In many ways, she thought she could draw parallels between Zeltiva and Mura. Mura existed half in, half out of Silver Lake according to the nature of its denizens, who themselves straddled the line between terrestrial and aquatic. Zeltiva existed out of the water, at least to the best of Eleret's limited knowledge, but it depended on the ocean for its continued existence, despite the purely terrestrial nature of its mostly human population. Though the author didn't detail how Zeltivans regarded the ocean -- probably because that wasn't part of history so much as anthropology. The student wrote a reminder to herself in the margin of her notebook: look for cultural text on Zeltiva. She would want such a book anyway, to give her better insight into the city she was visiting. But the task at hand needed to be completed first.

[Eleret]

The second chapter discussed more of what Eleret was interested in -- history. But if she had thought the introduction and first chapter slow going, this was even worse. By the end of just the first page -- and that only half a page, what with headspace and the chapter title -- she could all but feel the new words all jumbled around in her head, and the new sentences spilling out almost as soon as they were read. It would have been easier by far if the textbook were in Kontinese -- but it wasn't, and she could not change that. It was past time to take a break. The Konti stood up from her chair, the feet scraping slightly on the floor as it moved back, and stretched up towards the ceiling. Several joints cracked or popped, indicators that she had been sitting too long -- and when Eleret looked down a line of shelves towards a window, she realized it was in fact nearer to noon than not. Between finding the books and working her way through the Common vocabulary, the majority of the morning had already passed her by. For sake of more activity, she walked down towards the same window, leaning against the frame to look out at the winter environment outside. There was no snow on the ground; though winter had only just started, she wondered briefly if the coastal city would see snow at all. Then Eleret straightened up and walked back, though not by the same route; she passed between a different set of shelves instead, examining their contents and tucking the general subject away into memory -- the better for orienting herself in the future. She came back to her desk and stood behind the chair, feeling a moment's inertia against sitting back down and resuming her studies. Rather than go against that, she took a step back and ran through a series of stretches in the space before the desk, the mild physical activity helping to stimulate her thoughts as well as her body. When the sequence was completed, Eleret sat back down without hesitation and reopened the history book to its second chapter, checking that she had a new notepage ready and fresh ink on her pen.

[Eleret]

She started over with the first page of the second chapter, reading from the very first word. It was easier now that she'd stepped away, even for so brief a time, the words sorting themselves out somewhere below the level of conscious thought. She still had to work her way through each sentence at a time, checking many words against her earlier notes, or in the dictionary, or in the book of translations. But she did progress, remaining focused upon her task and goal. Though at one point, Eleret thought she might want a second book of notes, or maybe two -- the better to organize the information she'd taken down. The word definitions mixed in with the actual historical material might not be best for when she went to review later. But she'd decide on that later. For now, she read, and wrote. pre-Valterrian history Zeltiva important as home of Alahean Royal Navy Navy = all ships belonging to a government center of shipbuilding, sea travel knowledge protected by mountains during Valterrian some buildings survived -- Old Quarter, University The Konti wrote another note to herself in the margin of her page -- to look up more on the empire of Alahea. This book had rather few details on that subject, just some sweeping generalizations. Reaching the end of the chapter, Eleret flipped back through her notes and realized that she had written some things down twice -- once for the introduction, and again for the latest chapter. But that wasn't a bad thing. Comparing her notes against the thickness of the chapter she had just read, the Konti shook her head. Had the author really needed to use so many words to convey that information? It would have been much easier for her to get through if he'd been more succinct.

[Eleret]

Eleret sat back in her chair, taking up her notebook and slowly scanning through the pages she had written. The material seemed mostly straightforward, as if her mental grasp on it had solidified with the second chapter. It was all still new, but she felt better about continuing now than she had at the previous chapter transition. Nonetheless, she waited for a few moments, leaning her head back and closing her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. Inwardly, Eleret set the new words and information aside, letting the rhythm of her breathing clear her mind. After a few moments, she nodded to herself, then opened her eyes and sat up to confront the textbook again. She returned her notebook to its proper place, opening up to a new, clean page. The last section of the text dealt with Zeltiva's post-Valterrian history -- not just one chapter, but several, together making up almost a full half of the book. Truth be told, she wasn't completely enthused about tackling all of those pages. But the Konti was determined to finish what she had started. So she began with the first words of the third chapter, and let the difficulty of parsing those words consume her attention. post-Valterrian history Zeltiva protected only partly from Valterrian troubles all ships of Navy lost survivors included some ship builders, sailors -- knowledge of ships, ocean rebuilt ship industry over 100 years, explored ocean and coast over again finest ships in Mizahar established contact with other cities Zeltiva became trade center 450-451 AV -- Kenabelle Wright and Seafarer travel entire Mizahar coastline Yet another note for further research went into the margins after Eleret finished that section -- to look up Kenabelle Wright and that undoubtedly remarkable expedition. The student then paused to simply look at that short reminder, sighing slightly. She had three such now, and was still on her very first textbook. And -- she glanced down towards the window, noting without much surprise that noon had passed and afternoon was well along, if the intensity of the winter sunlight was anything to gauge by. This whole endeavor was going to take even longer than she'd thought. Despite the late hour, Eleret didn't feel particularly hungry at the moment, so she continued on. At least now, she had far fewer pages left to struggle through than ones already read... the end was in fact in sight.

[Eleret]

One whole chapter dealt solely with the history of the University, something which piqued Eleret's interest -- it was the University, after all, which had inspired her to come to Zeltiva. That seemed to have a little more immediate relevance than the history of the city at large, however interesting said history was. Though she didn't intend to focus on the University's history in her studies, she wasn't about to skip over it either. University of Zeltiva existed before Valterrian reputation for academic excellence before and after Valterrian most buildings destroyed, except in Old Quarter reopened in 20 AV teaching basic skills gradually built up to present course list, separate branches: College of Applied Skills, College of Navigation, College of Scholars It was almost a surprise when Eleret turned a page and found nothing on the next. She had finished the entire tome, at last. Turning over the back cover, she set the text aside, folding her hands on the edge of the desk and simply reflecting upon the material she had just read. For all the connections she might draw between Zeltiva and Mura, in their mutual dependence upon the water, there was a major difference between them. Not only in the race which dominated each city, but in their history -- Mura dated only back to the Valterrian, to the ascension of Avalis and the creation of the Konti, while Zeltiva's past extended further still into history. Eleret flipped through her notebook until she found the brief mentions of Alahea interspersed between definitions of words and her own passing thoughts. She recognized the name from her early lessons in Mura, but their emphasis had been more on what came after the Valterrian -- particularly with respect to the White Isle. Here she had the first inklings of how much else there was to learn about the cataclysm -- the depth and breadth of history which had preceded it. A history in which Konti had played no role. She wasn't sure where best to start on that broad subject, but as Eleret turned these thoughts over in her head, she realized she did have a plan for what to do next. And it didn't involve books at all. No, her very next step would be to go to the cafeteria and get something to eat... the better to fortify herself for another foray into the dense contents of scholarly texts. Eleret smiled wryly at the thought, then collected her things. She returned the books all to their places, making careful note of where they had been so she could use them again, then departed the library in search of food. But she would be back, oh yes.

[Arcane]

Rewards and Treasure! Experience Points +3 Writing Lores [Book] An Introduction to Zeltiva and its History Before and After the Valterrian [Location] Zeltiva: Wright Memorial Library Geographic Content of Zeltiva History of Zeltiva History of University of Zeltiva Miscellaneous Language Studies - CommonSee comments for details Comments It's rare to find someone reading/studying to find out the history of Zeltiva. Good job on that Regarding the "Language Studies" thing, this just means that you should shelve this thread somewhere as part of "evidence" should you want to request an upgrade in fluency for Common.