Ok I'm writing this before I introduce all the states of Kiillaana because it's on my mind and I want to. I'll tell it in sort of a National Geographic documentary style. Here goes!
Anguadoria- where is it? Well, as you can see from the map above, it's on the east coast. By the way it's the one in bright green, in the center of the map :-). States that border it include New Asia (forest green) to the north, Kibinki (red) to the south, and a tiny bite of Kalitonia (the other light green one) and Kiishla (brown) to the west. Anguadoria is famous mostly for the landscape- it's almost all jungle! Other notable features include surf-worthy coastlines, bright rivers, amazing sunsets, a man-made lake, a cursed city, and, possibly more important than anything else (if you're a musician) Anguadoria is home to Kaywood which is the clarinet capital of the world! Where Italy has its city of Strad violins, Kaywood has its handmade clarinets. No two are alike. More on that later.
Today I want to talk about a region of cities that lay very close to one another and that all have very unique stories. Refer to either the picture above or below. The difference between the two pictures is that the second one has the Catin quarters outlines with a dotted line and has the border of the jungle superimposed on it.
First though, a little Binko lesson. Binko is the native language of Kibinki, which is the state south of Anguadoria- the red or salmon-colored state on the map. Right? Right! Binko is also spoken in a country I have yet to write down. The Binko language is very weird, using a lot of letters to make complex sounds. Remember, from the previous post, Tcillah = Chillah. Anyways, you will come away from today knowing at least three Binko words. Ready?
Matl [MA-tull] = City
Anner [AN-nur] = Flooded
Waita [WAY-tuh] = Quarry
OK so looking at the map above or below, notice the black star along the coast? That's Aiibaatland, the capital of Anguadoria. I'm not really going to talk about it today but it's there so you know where it is. I'm going to talk about almost all of these cities at once so get ready. From north going south, we see the following cities and landmark:
In red we see the cursed city of Alles. Hmm, Alles. Let's get this pronunciation right, shall we? Listen carefully. It rhymes with tails. Alles, tails. Alles does NOT sound like Alice, Aish, Aleese, or Alleys. Again, it rhymes with Tails. This city, and its nature, goes back to a story I wrote about a girl who had a bad day. I just spat out the name Alles and it somehow ended up in Anguadoria. I have decided that it is a Binko name. It certainly isn't Catin or Kiillaanian!More on that curse later, when I can relate it to the next city which is...
In pink, we see Annermatl. Now, in case you didn't look at the Binko guide above, it's pronounced [AN-nur-MA-tull] and means Flooded City. Oddly enough, nobody remembers the city's former name. It got this name after Alles became cursed.
Moving right along, you'll notice a blue thing. That is not a city, but a manmade lake so big that it can be seen from great heights. If you have been studying your Binko word guide, then after I give you its name, Annerwaita, you can probably figure out what caused this man-made lake. Yes, Annerwaita means Flooded Quarry. Once upon a time there was a quarry. It contained a substance very similar to marble that was excavated and used as everything from sculpture material to armour to dishes to ornamental embellishments on buildings. Oh all right. I guess it's time to give the history lesson.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a great discovery in the rainforested region of Anguadoria. A large area of a marble-like stone was found and was known for being "as tough as metal" but easily shaped by a chisel and remarkably light. It also contained a metal that was in great demand at the time so many people, mainly a large group of Binko workers, traveled and settled in the valley, sharpening their crafting skills and mastering the art of carefully cutting large slabs of the stone and shipping it off to whoever had purchased it. There were two main cities that the Binko colonized and settled in: directly north of the quarry was a city whose original name has been lost but what we now refer to as Annermatl. Slightly more north about a mile or two was a larger town whose primary purpose was to tend to those who were not stonemasons (or whatever you call a stone-cutter person). This town was named Alles which is a Binko word that has long since been forgotten and the meaning lost (You see, that's the problem with the Binko people. They are always looking to the future and don't care about the past. They simply up and go.). Alles was basically there to give jobs to those who didn't want to work in a quarry and became a town to showcase a lot of work by artists who carved everything out of stone. Alles and Annermatl flourished and became very prosperous, with most of the money coming from the quarry. Keep in mind this is several hundreds of years ago, not long after Dragon-Dodger (oh that's for another day!).
I guess now would be a good time to introduce the last two cities. If you look on the lower picture you will notice that they're in the Catin quarters. The Catin quarters happened long after the cities were established, but it's good to know where these cities came from. As time went on and this quarry was in full operation, more people moved to the area wanting work. A city about 20 miles south of the quarry was established, again by the Binko. This city is the purple dot right south of the lake on the map. It was named after Mayor Ells, who founded it, and earned the name of Ellsmatl. What does Ellsmatl mean? Ells City! Trust me, Ellsmatl is much easier to say than Ells City. The city that is about five miles south of Ellsmatl is that famous city of Kaywood, which was already there for many years. The musicians and craftsmen of Kaywood by now were hard at work perfecting the modern clarinet using the wood from the jungle trees.
Now we can move on to Part II of our history lesson. As time went on, a few hundred years later, the quarry began to "run dry." The people had reached the limit of the stone on all sides and were now about a half a mile down into the ground. It was getting harder and harder to get stone and before long there was almost no stone left. As the work decreased, many Binko, according to their culture, upped and left to find work in other parts of the country. The Binko may be hard-working, but if they run out of work they simply go to where more work is needed. The city where Annermatl is now was almost completely deserted but as always there were people who stayed. Alles went on as normal but the small town of Ellsmatl was completely deserted.
There were only about five people still living in Ellsmatl when huge waves of Catin immigrants started arriving because they wanted to live in Kiillaana and wanted more unique work. A ton of master craftsmen settled in cities along the jungle border and using the tools that the stoneworkers left behind began to sculpt out of wood. Almost overnight, the small humble city of Ellsmatl was taken over by the Catins. Kaywood also met the same fate and as years passed Kaywood became inhabited by mostly Catins. It was these master craftsmen who helped get the clarinet where it is today and learned how to make everything out of wood.
Now you're probably still wondering about that curse that I said Alles is under. Well, like I said, the city now called Annermatl was pretty much deserted. A few Catins settled in it but a lot of Kiillaanian people moved there too and found other work. As I said before, Alles was a city where people showcased their goods. Among these goods was an amazing piece of crafting- a rose carved from the stone. The maker happened to have some slightly magical powers, as did a lot of people at that time. He was very proud of his work and wanted to offer it to the King of Kiillaana. It took so much hard work and dedication to make and he was very proud of it. All who lived in the city or visited went to the museum to see this rose. It was so beautiful that many wanted to hold it. The maker forbade anyone from touching it. All was well until one night when the naughty and mischievous mayor of the town stole it. He wanted to keep it for himself and was going to show it to the king saying he made it.
In the morning the craftsman was furious at its disappearance and eventually he discovered that the mayor stole it. As he went to the mayor's house to get it back, he saw him running from the back window. The craftsman chased the mayor all the way to the very north end of the city trying to catch him and get the rose back, but as the mayor scrambled up a rocky cliff he slipped. The rose was in his hands. It got smashed to pieces on a sharp rock. It was no good for the king now and all the master craftsman's time had been wasted. The whole town crowded around, having chased the mayor as well. When they saw the broken rose their hearts sank. The craftsman was so angry, more angry than he had ever been in his life. Right then and there he showed his full power. He rose to a great height and burst into flame. He then uttered the following words, which were burned into the mayor's house by lightning, visible even today.
"Your town is now cursed! The weather will always be forever changing! Never again will you be able to enjoy the days! You must work and never stop or your city will fall in ruin!"
And with that he vanished. His stone rose grew very hot and melted away and the mayor was banished by the town. As the people turned back to home, the skies darkened. It happened so quickly that nobody expected it. It then began to rain like it had never rained before. The streets turned into rivers and the water flowed quickly southward, taking everything with it that was not secure. The water poured into Annermatl before reaching the abandoned quarry. The entirety of the two towns watched as the abandoned quarry began to fill with water. They gazed with amazement at the things that were being swept away into this giant hole in the earth. Suddenly, without warning, the water stopped. The people of Alles looked back to see that everything had frozen solid. The weather had dropped almost 50 degrees in about two minutes. The people of Annermatl looked in astonishment at their city, which was now about a foot deep in water.
The curse of Alles was born. The weather of Alles, even to this day, is unpredictable and can go from sunny to rainy to snowing to very hot in seconds. One things that is always consistent is the rain. It rains in Alles every day and that rain subsequently floods the city to the south, which was renamed by the Binko who still lived there as Annermatl. All previous records of the name have been lost or washed away. Possibly somewhere a sign is at the bottom of the quarry that has the old name of the city... Anyways, all the flood waters from Annermatl would eventually spill over into the quarry, earning it the name Annerwaita. As time went on, people adapted to the Alles weather and Annermatl got used to the almost daily flooding. Annerwaita turned into a beautiful lake against a backdrop of jungly hills. Ellsmatl, which was not really affected by all this, became the northernmost city in the Catin quarters.
Matl [MA-tull] = City
Anner [AN-nur] = Flooded
Waita [WAY-tuh] = Quarry
OK so looking at the map above or below, notice the black star along the coast? That's Aiibaatland, the capital of Anguadoria. I'm not really going to talk about it today but it's there so you know where it is. I'm going to talk about almost all of these cities at once so get ready. From north going south, we see the following cities and landmark:
In red we see the cursed city of Alles. Hmm, Alles. Let's get this pronunciation right, shall we? Listen carefully. It rhymes with tails. Alles, tails. Alles does NOT sound like Alice, Aish, Aleese, or Alleys. Again, it rhymes with Tails. This city, and its nature, goes back to a story I wrote about a girl who had a bad day. I just spat out the name Alles and it somehow ended up in Anguadoria. I have decided that it is a Binko name. It certainly isn't Catin or Kiillaanian!More on that curse later, when I can relate it to the next city which is...
In pink, we see Annermatl. Now, in case you didn't look at the Binko guide above, it's pronounced [AN-nur-MA-tull] and means Flooded City. Oddly enough, nobody remembers the city's former name. It got this name after Alles became cursed.
Moving right along, you'll notice a blue thing. That is not a city, but a manmade lake so big that it can be seen from great heights. If you have been studying your Binko word guide, then after I give you its name, Annerwaita, you can probably figure out what caused this man-made lake. Yes, Annerwaita means Flooded Quarry. Once upon a time there was a quarry. It contained a substance very similar to marble that was excavated and used as everything from sculpture material to armour to dishes to ornamental embellishments on buildings. Oh all right. I guess it's time to give the history lesson.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a great discovery in the rainforested region of Anguadoria. A large area of a marble-like stone was found and was known for being "as tough as metal" but easily shaped by a chisel and remarkably light. It also contained a metal that was in great demand at the time so many people, mainly a large group of Binko workers, traveled and settled in the valley, sharpening their crafting skills and mastering the art of carefully cutting large slabs of the stone and shipping it off to whoever had purchased it. There were two main cities that the Binko colonized and settled in: directly north of the quarry was a city whose original name has been lost but what we now refer to as Annermatl. Slightly more north about a mile or two was a larger town whose primary purpose was to tend to those who were not stonemasons (or whatever you call a stone-cutter person). This town was named Alles which is a Binko word that has long since been forgotten and the meaning lost (You see, that's the problem with the Binko people. They are always looking to the future and don't care about the past. They simply up and go.). Alles was basically there to give jobs to those who didn't want to work in a quarry and became a town to showcase a lot of work by artists who carved everything out of stone. Alles and Annermatl flourished and became very prosperous, with most of the money coming from the quarry. Keep in mind this is several hundreds of years ago, not long after Dragon-Dodger (oh that's for another day!).
I guess now would be a good time to introduce the last two cities. If you look on the lower picture you will notice that they're in the Catin quarters. The Catin quarters happened long after the cities were established, but it's good to know where these cities came from. As time went on and this quarry was in full operation, more people moved to the area wanting work. A city about 20 miles south of the quarry was established, again by the Binko. This city is the purple dot right south of the lake on the map. It was named after Mayor Ells, who founded it, and earned the name of Ellsmatl. What does Ellsmatl mean? Ells City! Trust me, Ellsmatl is much easier to say than Ells City. The city that is about five miles south of Ellsmatl is that famous city of Kaywood, which was already there for many years. The musicians and craftsmen of Kaywood by now were hard at work perfecting the modern clarinet using the wood from the jungle trees.
Now we can move on to Part II of our history lesson. As time went on, a few hundred years later, the quarry began to "run dry." The people had reached the limit of the stone on all sides and were now about a half a mile down into the ground. It was getting harder and harder to get stone and before long there was almost no stone left. As the work decreased, many Binko, according to their culture, upped and left to find work in other parts of the country. The Binko may be hard-working, but if they run out of work they simply go to where more work is needed. The city where Annermatl is now was almost completely deserted but as always there were people who stayed. Alles went on as normal but the small town of Ellsmatl was completely deserted.
There were only about five people still living in Ellsmatl when huge waves of Catin immigrants started arriving because they wanted to live in Kiillaana and wanted more unique work. A ton of master craftsmen settled in cities along the jungle border and using the tools that the stoneworkers left behind began to sculpt out of wood. Almost overnight, the small humble city of Ellsmatl was taken over by the Catins. Kaywood also met the same fate and as years passed Kaywood became inhabited by mostly Catins. It was these master craftsmen who helped get the clarinet where it is today and learned how to make everything out of wood.
Now you're probably still wondering about that curse that I said Alles is under. Well, like I said, the city now called Annermatl was pretty much deserted. A few Catins settled in it but a lot of Kiillaanian people moved there too and found other work. As I said before, Alles was a city where people showcased their goods. Among these goods was an amazing piece of crafting- a rose carved from the stone. The maker happened to have some slightly magical powers, as did a lot of people at that time. He was very proud of his work and wanted to offer it to the King of Kiillaana. It took so much hard work and dedication to make and he was very proud of it. All who lived in the city or visited went to the museum to see this rose. It was so beautiful that many wanted to hold it. The maker forbade anyone from touching it. All was well until one night when the naughty and mischievous mayor of the town stole it. He wanted to keep it for himself and was going to show it to the king saying he made it.
In the morning the craftsman was furious at its disappearance and eventually he discovered that the mayor stole it. As he went to the mayor's house to get it back, he saw him running from the back window. The craftsman chased the mayor all the way to the very north end of the city trying to catch him and get the rose back, but as the mayor scrambled up a rocky cliff he slipped. The rose was in his hands. It got smashed to pieces on a sharp rock. It was no good for the king now and all the master craftsman's time had been wasted. The whole town crowded around, having chased the mayor as well. When they saw the broken rose their hearts sank. The craftsman was so angry, more angry than he had ever been in his life. Right then and there he showed his full power. He rose to a great height and burst into flame. He then uttered the following words, which were burned into the mayor's house by lightning, visible even today.
"Your town is now cursed! The weather will always be forever changing! Never again will you be able to enjoy the days! You must work and never stop or your city will fall in ruin!"
And with that he vanished. His stone rose grew very hot and melted away and the mayor was banished by the town. As the people turned back to home, the skies darkened. It happened so quickly that nobody expected it. It then began to rain like it had never rained before. The streets turned into rivers and the water flowed quickly southward, taking everything with it that was not secure. The water poured into Annermatl before reaching the abandoned quarry. The entirety of the two towns watched as the abandoned quarry began to fill with water. They gazed with amazement at the things that were being swept away into this giant hole in the earth. Suddenly, without warning, the water stopped. The people of Alles looked back to see that everything had frozen solid. The weather had dropped almost 50 degrees in about two minutes. The people of Annermatl looked in astonishment at their city, which was now about a foot deep in water.
The curse of Alles was born. The weather of Alles, even to this day, is unpredictable and can go from sunny to rainy to snowing to very hot in seconds. One things that is always consistent is the rain. It rains in Alles every day and that rain subsequently floods the city to the south, which was renamed by the Binko who still lived there as Annermatl. All previous records of the name have been lost or washed away. Possibly somewhere a sign is at the bottom of the quarry that has the old name of the city... Anyways, all the flood waters from Annermatl would eventually spill over into the quarry, earning it the name Annerwaita. As time went on, people adapted to the Alles weather and Annermatl got used to the almost daily flooding. Annerwaita turned into a beautiful lake against a backdrop of jungly hills. Ellsmatl, which was not really affected by all this, became the northernmost city in the Catin quarters.
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