The Tales of Ka-Ess

A rare first edition of the Tales of Ka-Ess

"None had been so handsome,
nor greater in prowess
nor ever had been better dressed
than the lizard Ka-Ess."
— Ka-Ess, The Tales of Ka-Ess

Preface

The Tales of Ka-Ess, containing the complete surviving works of the bard Ka-Ess Lizardkin, remained unpublished until long after the author's unsettling demise. Criticized by poetic authorities as grandiloquent, longwinded, grandiose, and delusional, Ka-Ess' excruciatingly detailed accounts of his own minutiae nevertheless have afforded historians insight into daily life in the Skaugan Main during the third century Valanthe.

Despite the work's questionable artistic merit, The Tales of Ka-Ess are of interest to historians for their depictions not only of Ka-Ess himself, a minor political figure in the Skaugan navy, but his various companions, many of whom were notable historical figures in their own right. These included, at times, the half-elven prince Ilabrar Nailo I Nightbreeze; the Tabaxi spellsword Cheeky Patch; the dwarf Ardrick Blackstone, Archimandrite of Kord; the Yuan-Ti cult leader Sathul Tashill; the Kothan Admiral Bragen Minotauros; Ka-Ess' political patron The Marquis de Rothshyr; and a host of other sailors, politicians, artists, scoundrels and sybarites of the period.

The works included in The Tales of Ka-Ess take many forms, including formal rhyming and alliterative poetry, scholarly entries, journals, notes, Draconic hieroglyphics and obscene pictograms. Most historians and philologists believe that the varied nature of its contents suggests that the original codex was assembled from fragments rather than written as one unified narrative. The influence on and perhaps authorship of the work by its editor, the so-called Fishwife poet, remains disputed.

Scholars consider The Tales of Ka-Ess to be an incomplete document, containing many lacunae, contradictions, and omissions; this is unfortunately but necessarily reflected in this publication. Nevertheless, this annotated and illustrated edition of the Tales represents the most comprehensive effort to date to create a complete history of The Fishwives' lives and adventures from the material available in the original codex and other relevant sources.

Index

Part the First: The great Achievements and Exploits of Ka-Ess the Rakish and his merry Fishwives, where they travelled and what they found there, the Foes they outwitted and slew, and their great Fortune thus attained.

Part the Second: The continuing Adventures of the Fishwives, their voyages into the Unknown, and the world's mysteries yet unexplained.

Appendix A: The Skaugan Main and its Surroundings, with emphasis on the exotic and forbidden Locales with which our Tale is concerned.

Appendix B: A compleat Accounting of the Characters of our Tale, both great and small, and the divers Fashions in which their lives and those of our Heroes intertwined.

Appendix C: The Kingdoms, Societies, Races and Cultures of the many Folk of the Skaugan Main in the time of Ka-Ess, and their many Rites and Traditions both mundane and arcane.

Appendix D: The Fraternities, Sects, Orders and other such Bodies to be found in the tales herein, and the Manner in which to the Fishwives they were disposed.

Appendix E: The Chanteys, work Songs, folk Ballads, fo'c'sle Songs, Jigs and Reels typical of rough-necked Skaugan Mariners during the golden Age of the Fishwives.

Appendix F: A chronicled Compendium of Lore, Legends, and Languages, laying bare the vast Tapestry of Riches and Perils in the Skaugan Main.