Mason Ventures Company Unearths Another Rich Quarter!

Slade Mason's enterprise at the Great Rift continues to bring more mineral wealth into the light of day. Gold, silver, various gems, and other minerals continue to flow from the untold depths of the deepest canyon on the continent.

The Great Rift is over twenty miles long and over three miles deep, though it is unusually narrow for a canyon, only a mile (without man-made cutting) at the widest. The Gray and White Rivers both flow into the canyon, but complex rock layers quickly draw the water away. It has been a landmark of Kenrick since time immemorial.

Mason states, "That's a lot of ground to cover, if you pardon my pun.  We still haven't fully explored the deeps. There are hundreds of mines working everyday, digging out the treasure in Getha's skin."

Mason first made headlines back almost thirty years ago, during a Lion Scout expedition as a youth.  He slipped from the trail and fell into the depths.  Quick thinking and luck saved him when he hit a shale scree and made a controlled fall (called a glissade) to the bottom.

"It's another world down there," Mason stated.  "Beautiful, like the depths of a cave, but lit far overhead like a cathedral.  One could feel truly at one with the divine there, and for a time, I thought it would be my final place of prayer."

Despite multiple fractures and a minor concussion, Mason made an agonizingly slow climb up ancient trails and small scree falls.  He augmented his meager rations with moss and lichen ("It tasted terrible," he stated) and eventually reached the trail of a search party.  He had been missing for nine days.

The incident changed his life focus. He devoted himself to the schools of engineering and chemistry.  He sought out others of his ken and started a company, Deep Prospects, in the old mining town of Delbham.

He sought to bring the science of mining into the current century, but met resistance along the way. Much of that resistance stemmed from the age-old tales regarding a devil that had been buried in the canyon.

"I've seen the bottom," Mason said.  "It was frightening, yes, with tonnes of rock overhead, the threat of slides a constant worry.  But it was beautiful as well, like any part of the world not yet touched by man. The unknown is frightening, and the bottom of the Rift was an unknown for a very long time.  There is no devil buried there, only the devils that men bring in their hearts."

Mason sold Deep Prospects and used the money to revitalize Delbham.  This drew more workers, fresh blood from all over Kenrick and even other countries.

"I give Midorian gold and silver; they are more than welcome to help me dig it up."

Mason Ventures was soon born and even more mines opened up.  Criticism drew to Mason regarding overworked laborers and safety violations, but it was pointed out that deaths dropped 50% in the first five years compared to the old mining methods.

"The wealth is there for everyone. All workers have shares in my company and they receive a plump pension when their work is done. My job, my duty is to bring this treasure out for the world." ▲

S. Carrington, journalist for the Whitford Times.

On Magic

No one believes in magic anymore.

Who needs to these days, after all? We have unearthed the secrets of physics, we've learned the language of mathematics. We can explain the movements of the heavens and the dance of atoms. Who needs magic when we have penicillin, motor vehicles, and firearms?

Yet there are strange unexplained phenomena in the world. For example let us consider the Broken Bridge that once spanned the Great Rift, deepest canyon in Midorian. To this day scientists cannot explain how it was built. There is no evidence of seams or joints or mortar. It's almost as if it had been drawn directly from the cliffs on either side. It's in ruins now, crumbling away to the bases.

Similar construction can be seen in the remains of the Waterwall, the dam that once spanned the mouth of the Imperial Valley (and unwisely blown to smithereens by the "esteemed" Sir George d'Taneria). No seams, joints, or mortar on an even larger scale than the Broken Bridge. These are just two examples that can be found in Midorian.

Now let us examine the old stories, fairy tales as they are called.  These often speak of magic as a rule.  according to these stories, magic built the monuments I mentioned before, as well as many others (the perfectly geometrical canals of Old Minara, for example).  Then there are the myths surrounding the great Dragon Queen, ruler of both men and dragonkind.  It is told that she commanded power beyond belief and commanded dragons in her armies.  No one believes in dragons anymore either, other than the wild drakes.  The mythological description of such creatures are impossible by the rules of biology that we know.  Thus perhaps the rules they followed were shaped by magic.

What if the rules have been changed and no on has realized it?  What if the change from magical to mundane has been hidden from us, perhaps purposely?  We've come farther in 2,000 years than we have in the previous 20,000.  It seems an abnormal, sudden progression, as though nature is struggling to fill a vacuum.  What happened to drive magic and dragons away into exile?  Did it happen when the Dragon Queen was deposed, or was it a slow change in the centuries after Queensfall?

It's an answer I hope to discover.

J.E.D, Jurriane 14, 1922 QF (Queensfall).

Introductory Lecture

General Archeology in the Imperial Valley
Professor James E. Deacon, Triun Archeological University
Introductory Lecture

Good morning class. I do hope everyone has settled in. If you haven't seen Nurse Marianne about your inoculations, I highly recommend you do so at your earliest convenience.  One experience of what we lovingly call the "swampwater purge" will make you wish you had.

If you are here at this university, in this class, I expect it is out of a need to learn the facts about the history of the Imperial Valley.  If, in fact, you are here in hopes of finding treasure and adventure, you will be disappointed.  We do not follow maps to buried treasures and X does not mark the spot.  Archeology is patient, methodical work.  It involves a lot of digging, cleaning, labeling, and organizing.

I can guarantee you will be utterly sick of the sight of potsherds in four years, and if you aren't, well, Dr. Danera will be happy to have you on his team.

You likely have noticed the military presence on campus.  From here, the border with Nystand is barely one hundred miles away.  The entirety of the Imperial Valley is considered disputed territory, including the city of Triun. The latest war over this area happened only a decade ago. I'm sure you remember hearing about it. The military is here to protect us, but we must also learn to protect ourselves, especially out in the field.  Sergeant John Benton teaches classes on gun use and self defense.  It is a sad but necessary fact of the work we do here.

It is not only Nystander guerrillas you need to worry about.  Ever since the fall of the old Imperial kingdom, the valley has been wild and dangerous.  First it was a wasteland, now a swampy marsh after that bloody fool Sir George d'Taneria dynamited the Waterwall that once dammed the river. As a result the valley is choked with swamps and the creatures that reside within, including wolves, alligators, swarms of ticks, and the most vicious species of poison ivy known to man.

That is why our work here is so important. Every day the vegetation grows thicker; every day the old cities sink deeper into the mud.  It is our duty as scholars to learn about the past and record it for posterity.  We've only scratched the surface of the wonders secreted away in the valley.

At the back of the room are the books required for this class.  Of these, O'Connell's Guide to Dig Protocol is the more important.  You will need to live and breathe this book as you study and eventually join archeologists at the digs.  Tomorrow I will begin the history of the Imperial kingdom, so read the first five chapters of Midorian History, Part One. Thank you, that is all for today.

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