The Sibilant Myth

[Random_White_Guy]

The Sibilant Myth
By Celybuin Hui'nalyw

Sibilant Forces engaging with Melek insurgents at Kl'syyk, Maribeh 16th 7788

It is a common thing I have learned since awakening in this desert to disregard the remnants of the Sibilant Empire as a savage breed of cruel and merciless luddites. Of thrown spears, of backwards and immoral black magic, and of the monstrous foe to simply be cut down. Of Backwater Slavers incapable of higher thought.

There is such a romancing in the Archaeological mainstream of the Collosi's sage wisdom etched of Formoria, of the Orentid's black-marred history in and around Ephia, of the Caliphate's ancient and splendid past, each passing age washing away of all wrongdoing and distilling among the imagination of the Refugee. History though is not pristine, it is not clean, nor pretty. It is easily swayed - particularly when Ephia is so freshly reminded of Red Hill.

That is not to say I sympathize with the Sibilant by any means. Yet I feel it is a glaring oversight to perpetuate this Myth. That thought the Sibilant who once ruled over not one ring, not ten rings, but the entirety of the so called City of Rings, merely cast aside as fleeting.

For as said in History of the Rings: The Sibilant Empire-

"While...the whole Society is martially bent, necessary for...oppression of...species, diplomats...assassin-thieves are also known..."

And as said in Introduction to Ancient Languages-

I have been, in my research blessed to read the strange alphabets of... the swirling symbols of the Ancient Sibilant... The... The fascinating High Caste Cuneiform

And as said in Eye for an Eye -

The Warmblood Envoys...not...and turned to ... ... the Dishonored Dead!

This lends easy credence to hypothesis. There is a reason they work so ravenously past the Spindlebridge and wherever the auld Ziggurats are found. They too are undertaking Archaeological works parallel to the Astronomers of Q'tolip in search of new tools and the Cinquefoil Rose in search of the DQWR.

Gaze upon the Empire. Multiple language spanning numerous castes, an Empire encompassing the entirety of much of the once lauded City of Rings, aeons of rule and discovery and culture and more left behind in fragments. Pieces of enchanted equipment ranging from High magic to lowest spear. Primitive Tools discovered and the history brought back to life in recreation of archaic Engineering by Machinists using old bundles. The fact modern-Sorcerers yet adorn in fetishes of snake, of lizard, and of Skull-Helm etched of Gold.

That they had Envoy with the "Warmbloods" mentioned in one text, Diplomats in another, it suggest political influence with other, non-slave, entities and a more complex glimpse of the political landscapes of the eras.

And yet there is a presence within this City remaining still, and so much more buried beneath that has yet been yet discovered. Ignored. Overlooked.

All predicated on the Myth that The Empire is to be disregarded, while their own Sibilant Excavators daily labor across the Great Ash to find something. Something that so far no one in this College could tell me what. No Nadiri could tell me what. No Student. "They seek the Cup" is all it circles to - but it seems so much more. Millenia of knowledge of their Venomancers, their Priests, their works of Sorcerey robust and unknown. But the Myth is that we best disregard them.

A myth that I for one will not proliferate, as I continue my investigations.

What do they search for presently? And more importantly what of the other civilizations enduring in their Era may be gleaned to their own workings? And has it any use or practical implication in the modern era, akin to the Collosi Shield or otherwise?

End Volume I

[Random_White_Guy]

The Sibilant Myth: Volume 2
By Celybuin Hui'nalyw

Sagebrush Scouting Corps engaging during Ash Storm with Sibilant Remnants at Kl'syyk, Maribeh 28 7788

Compounding this thesis, that the Sibilant Empire does in fact hold consideration, I present for consideration the Ziggurat of Kl'syyk. Located beyond the Spindlebridge and a contested ground between the Sibilant and its lesser once-slaves - The Melek, Kobold, Goblin, and more. Though I would not sully any other researcher's travels to this battlefield there are a few etchings taken which stand to justify the premise of the previous volume and expand to future considerations.

The first of which comes from a Monolith and lends curious imperial context.

Here is...Outpost of Empire... In these Temples...Taken. Behind Walls...Praised. And in dead land...Watch Held...Kept for...Thousand Years... so Tyrants do not return

It is not uncommon in imperial dialect to consider the othering of a foe by any means, as so often seen in Purple League political discourse. What is curious though is for all the aeons of knowledge of the Sibilant in the past, and in the modern era the discontent and howling of Enslavement and more - Their history speaks of Warding, for Thousands of years, against Tyrants. It is often said the Wheel turns in this College, and in the most basic form do we see it laid before us. For even the Lizardfolk, the dreaded Empire, feared a Tyrant or Other.

Building upon this block though brings further emphasis to the thesis - Such an outpost and other locales of the Great Ash Desert are targets of consideration and Excavation, by the holdouts and remnants of the Empire. And those Excavations are targeted - not unlike other Digs, by those who would prevent knowledge from being discovered. As highlighted herein.

...have burned them, hacked at them...Trees can scream...Bark...Howl...We have learned...

It lends to suggestion of the carved works of the Dunewalkers - so often shrouded in Cacti skin, and of old era of Jungle and more such no doubt would have taken the likeness of Palm-Frond, Tree, and more. The early vestiges of a Civilization or Empire, rebuked by those who ever contest encroachment.

Though every answer brings more questions - Be they the Tyrants spoken of? Or is there Another?

Lastly then as we have painted this picture - Of amidst this old and ancient battle ground still contested to this day: Where auld secrets and records kept, contested by former slaves and Dunewalkers alike (Potentially even...the so-called Latent?), a final piece to the puzzle. From the high-dialect.

Log of... St'kuslim...Cunning, Excavator-General.

...Sha-Kul...Abhorrence beyond doubt, whose power...peoples... unparalleled (save...He)...receives missive...St'kuslim... Task it is... prise up things from earth... so...Shackles Broken...our Ancient Charge...restor'd

Ultimately raising in clearest sense that Where auld secrets and records kept, contested by former slaves and Dunewalkers, Excavations undertaken through the Eras. Believing therein would be tools to "Break the Shackles" and means to "Defy the Tyrants"

That amidst the Dunes there lay secrets of the Sibilant, potentially predating their Empire or means by which it gave to rise - still sought, still endeavored for.

And if we blind ourselves to such a pursuit we miss opportunity.

The Sibilant Myth must be extinguished. They are not mindless, they are not merely savage, they are not fodder for Boardworkers.

The search must be considered - For is something that has enticed them to this day from time before time, when Empire stood, or perhaps even before. Perhaps even how it came to rise. Perhaps an answer to stave off our own woes, our foes, or at the very least begin to understand more.

End of Volume II

[Random_White_Guy]

The Sibilant Myth: Volume 3
By Celybuin Hui'nalyw


The Bones of Aeb's Yoke, Tabbah 2nd, 7788

When it comes ultimately to the Sibilant and the Lizards of the Great Ring the question becomes singular as one gazes into the past: The Great Dragons. Terrifying yet majestic, thrilling yet horrific, the entities of which even the once great Collossi took to respect, revere, and fear.

The Great Ones...Fled Before us...Weep before...Dragons...

These considerations aside we drift to the notion of these auld and warring powers.

A day and a half's journey to Aeb's Yoke, if one were so inclined, would find enshrined in odd bindings the Bones of a Dragon itself, large scrawl behind massive throne intoning that the Bones would not be "Used" in War. The implication staggering and disconcerting.

The Collossi who sit so vaunted upon the Brown Tassel, among the Astronomer, among the Great Academy - They were as any other. Be it Builder or Bellicose they knew contention, they knew fear, they knew worry and they knew the hardships of this world in ways that are oft wiped clean and pristine in the scholarly works of history. Refugees gazing upon a fragment of a fragment believing they see the whole story and from kernels of falsehood glean 10,000 tales.

This Glimmering Society that so many raise on high as the zenith of magical study, the peak of engineering creation, the accumulation of all that is resplendent in the possibilities of existence - History paints another picture when it is captured from the perspective of the Empire that was bested by them.

That it is perhaps, no greater folly, to base one's entire study and pursuit on the Idyllic rather than the Real.

That is is perhaps, equally folly, to crave so much to emulate an Empire that has fallen to collapse and ruin.

For Time is undefeated and the realm littered with ancient empires fallen by the wayside.

May the Sibilant serve as a reminder to keep one's feet planted firmly on the ground when undertaking Archaeology of the other Era.

O Zyrkk'al! Above...You range. O! Cipactl! Your Mastery...We Hail.

For upon the Great Ziggurats designs and architecture, it is plain to see they were used as places the Great Dragons may land on high and oversee their supplicants, names carved in stone by those who so often avoid the stone, that they may last for ages. To picture massive claws balanced precariously but effortlessly upon the pyramid, while great serpent rise with wings spread to spew fire, acid, and more into the heavens beyond. A terrifying, wholly awesome, and miserable sight.

...And yet I sit among this Cathedral of Knowledge, filled with books perpetrating the Sibilant Myth, that their empire of diplomats, envoys, dangerous magics, and Dragon overseeing their supplicants be discarded.

Yet while the Colossi vanished, those supplicants yet draw breath - Discarded by scholars as savages, tribal slavers, and ignorant. Armies mustered by Diakos and others facing the Orcs in the South discarded as a fringe threat since "Solved" by abominable brooking with astral horrors of the far and distance space. Armies mustered in the Northeast by Sha-Kal whose archaeological works carve deep into the Coiled Canyon in every passing moment.

Countless Refugee Scholars indulging in imaginative Collosi Fantasy to reclaim their past.

While the Sibilant Empire is still very, very alive.

And working tirelessly to regain what was lost, through blood, through archaeology, and through blackest magic.

End Final Volume