Excerpts from a leather binder inscribed with the pyrograph "Hraela's Homework".

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Hraela Hlegazteng
Senior Editor Professor Onsaro Adelbramp
Historical Ordination 101
Winter's Rising, 294 AR

A Field Exercise in Ordination

In Preparation for Litigating Litte

Observations on Space & Censorship

[Title in Progress]

Thanks to his surprisingly agreeable nature and unsurprisingly desperate lack of volunteers, the infamous Roberick Bertrum Litte has taken me on as one of his expedition's undergraduate assistants. Besides gaining a stipend and some field experience, I will get the chance to work on my own personal studies. Litte is tight-lipped about himself and anything other than the archaeology objective, but he can't stay that way for long. When the time comes and he opens up, I'll be within earshot, prepared to catch and record any seditious ideas and casual sacrilige sacrelige hearsay heresy he may spout about the Ivory Tower University or its accepted curricalcum curriculum.

From the number of aneurysms he's caused some of the older instructors, he sounds like there's nothing salvageable to him. But I think he might still be a tinmine of material for Ordination. He writes and reconsiders history passionately- his ideas just needs a bit of cleaning-up. I won't actively tease it out of him, nor do I want to hand him his own noose. But if my records are "juicy" enough to make Professor Adelbramp do more than offer me a passing grade, I won't be reluctant to hand them over to a committee or three. Their They're in the right to do what they need to with him. To be honest, I still don't understand why he even works at the University still- as the same old tired story goes again and again, he was expelled more than a decade ago.

This piece will include two main kinds of text: direct quotations from Litte and other relevant parties (including rough timestamps in talecks when possible), and observations or annotations on other parts of the journey in my voice. Heavy textual analysis will wait until after the expedition is concluded and I've returned home with my raw data.

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These milk-drinkers don't know what a real winter is like. Everyone but the fattest of the drivers is acting like they're freezing to death, and it's getting annoying. At least they're staying away or quiet after I gave them a glare. Except for the scrawny, pale boy from my Introduction to Foreign Languages class. I think his name is Kuudo or something else doltish. All I know is that if he tries to sidle up next to me for "warmth" one more time, I'll give him a lesson in speaking with the oldest language in the world: fists.

At least I can educate the lot of them in the finer points of Gertish religion. Smelling the child-fires in the lower city made me yearn for home again. The smallest of the men and older boys will be skating across the first black ice on the northern rivers and making it sing this time of year.

Litte still refuses to do more talking than he does writing. His scribbling is constant except for when he needs to switch to a new piece of partch parchment or an entirely new booklet of them. I wonder what he's writing, and if I can get anything more useful out of that.

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Expedition Director Litte's friend is insufferable. I've never had the displeasure of meeting a more smarmy, unclever, and casually dismissive man in my life. I was disappointed to see Sarq patch up his arm so smoothly after that vile "training" stunt he pulled.

I do at least respect his taste in knives, though. The blade has excellent edge geometry and was obviously oiled and honed to a fine edge just earlier this morning. His steadiness and stabability stability while delivering such a lengthy draw-cut to himself was also admirable, though not an indicator that he;d be any good at using it in a fight. I also recognized a few pieces of ornamentation upon the grip and small hand-guard which spoke to me of a marriage between Gertish and Esgodarran symbolism, but I am loathe to express my interest to him to find out more.

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Hate.

Crimson fury.

The splintering of river-faces under crackling flames,

And the ruthless drawing of knives across beating blood-roads.

May every pint of piss in this kindling-house turn to adder's venom.

One thousand red-hot nails hammered in Goebno's name.

Two dozen stag-hearts for the hound at Nahlia's feet.

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Perhaps I was too hasty in judging the people of Janskurf's Place. It is a tourist trap, there's no denying that, and they make no attempt to. But they are actual Gerts. I counted ten Veezonders and at least twice as many people with a Hoehpleg accent. The brew-mistress herself saw kinship in me and greeted me in our own language when I came red-faced and frothing to them. She introduced herself as Machtel Protstra- I didn't think any of the descendants of Protjaas came this far south. She proved her authenticity with a bottle of malt wine. I wept to taste it. It brought me back home, to the odor of fresh fish giving way to the smells of cooking fires and sea salt at dinner time. She said drink like that was too good to waste on customers.

A long conversation followed. How they needed this alehouse, no matter how displeasing it was. No livelihood like this could be had in the towns, certainly not for a woman like her who enjoyed the power she had. The journey home was too great a task. She claimed, with startling accuracy, that the best her girls could hope for in Deneroth was a life of peddling and marriage to a fat old turnip-monger. Had my family not been so lucky to afford having me adopted into one of the tiers, I wouldn't have ended up much different, she said.

I realize now, with some shame, that those barbaric views of our people are in part perver preserved and reproduced thanks to certain artistic programs and portfolios found in the ITU itself. I was warned to keep in mind what I acculturate to. She also pointed out how very like the stereotype my fury could have seemed, if I had gotten the outburst I wanted. We parted on better terms, with an arm-shake and hopes to meet again on better terms.

I am still not happy. But I am not angry, either. Now, apparently, I must leave the backroom and look after my drunken companions. The greasy man even got Litte to try a mug.

Opportunity knocks.

Excerpts Concerning the Nature and Treatment of Coherent Shambler Disease.

"Also known as Rioter's Syndrome and Saint Wido's Dance, this affliction of the body is a reminder to all on this earth that the powers of heaven are creative in their cruelties indeed. Through the touch of the spittle or humors of one afflicted by this disease, another may within a matter of hours join them in a state of bodily dissociation. From the neck down, one becomes an entirely feral creature bent toward the destruction of his fellow man, relinquishing all assets of civilization and preferring to deal grave bodily harm to others not so afflicted through the strength of his own hands. From the neck up, the afflicted becomes an inconsolable wretch, sobbing and shrieking at the evils which he is unable to will himself to cease. They are infused with a hellish might and resilience, such that only swift and blunt force trauma to the crown may permanently cure them."

- Arstokhlus, Ecclesiast of Porylus Mons


"The misinformation surrounding this disease for so long has caused nearly as much human suffering as the disease itself. While it may be transferred through saliva, this seems ineffective unless the fluid makes direct contact with an open wound. Considering the state of distress of the sufferer, a bite is wholly unlikely to occur. Rather, the disease enters the body through some other means which has yet to be determined, though ingestion of contaminated food or water, or the inhalation of certain vapors, are the most likely culprits. In either case, a population is infected well in advance of any symptoms manifesting, making an outbreak even more difficult to predict and then contain.

The afflicted remain in full control of their mental faculties as the malady runs its course, even retaining control of the head, neck, mouth, eyes, and vocal tract. More often than not, due to the slow, shambling gait of one's body while in a "neutral" state meant to conserve energy for an outburst of surprisingly quick violence, a person may warn others well in advance of their own condition, such that the worst may be averted and the unfortunate detained. Exceptions to this are of course the most famous and commonly reproduced in media, such as the large-scale infection at Ul-Qib, which was taken by many as an excuse of certain behaviors, leading to an impromptu rebellion against the highly unpopular governor of the city."

- Sark ad-an-Rish, Court Scholar at Nambar


"It truly is fascinating, the disconnect between body and mind in this syndrome. As I write, my patient attempts his very best to maintain civil conversation with me, even as the adrenaline pumping through his veins causes his limbs to push and fight against his restraints to the degree that I fear muscle and sinew will soon tear away from bone. Though deeply apologetic and prone to bouts of melancholy, he is fully cognizant of his body and what has happened over the last four days. Indeed, his remorse may have been the deciding factor in him providing me his consent for these tests. Perhaps the disease is infectious in spirit by some means, for I find myself giddy, and must force myself repeatedly to remain within the bonds of ethics and professionalism while faced with this truly extraordinary opportunity.

 He explains that one morning, he simply woke up attempting to strangle his sibling and lacking the means to stop doing so until a much larger group of kin was able to drag him off. The process of transporting him to the authorities was a messy affair which at one point involved three relatives chasing after him as he hopped with rope-bound legs across a field in an effort to ineffectually body-slam a random farmhand. I shall continue to run tests on his sense of touch and other extensions of his nervous system while the local judiciary attempts to work through his case. If his condition can be substantiated to those magistrates unfamiliar with the Dance, he hopes that he may repair the rift with his family- while under constant restraint for the foreseeable future and being fed using a very long-handled spoon, of course."

- Mersind, expelled biologist of Serminwurth and amateur anatomist


"In my entirely professional opinion, I would opt for a pickaxe through the brain."

- Roberick Bertrum Litte, Professional Dropout at Ivory Tower University