The Tales of Ka-Ess: Difference between revisions
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<blockquote>"None had been so handsome, | [[File:Kaesscodex.jpg|thumb|A rare first edition of the ''Tales of Ka-Ess'']] | ||
<blockquote><poem>"None had been so handsome, | |||
nor greater in prowess | nor greater in prowess | ||
nor ever had been better dressed | nor ever had been better dressed | ||
than the lizard Ka-Ess." | than the lizard Ka-Ess." | ||
:— Ka-Ess, ''The Tales of Ka-Ess''</blockquote> | :— Ka-Ess, ''The Tales of Ka-Ess''</poem></blockquote> | ||
== Preface == | == Preface == | ||
<b>''The Tales of Ka-Ess''</b>, containing the complete works of [[Ka-Ess Lizardkin]], remained unpublished until long after the author's unsettling demise.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 | <b>''The Tales of Ka-Ess''</b>, containing the complete surviving works of the [[wikipedia:Bard (Dungeons & Dragons)|bard]] [[Ka-Ess Lizardkin]], remained unpublished until long after the author's unsettling demise.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, <i>The Tales of Ka-Ess</i> are of interest to historians for their depictions not only of Ka-Ess himself, a minor political figure in the Skaugan navy, but his [[The Fishwives|various companions]], many of whom were notable historical figures in their own right. These included, at times, the [[half-elven]] prince [[Ilabrar Nightbreeze|Ilabrar Nailo I Nightbreeze]]; the [[Tabaxi]] spellsword [[Cheeky Patch]]; the [[dwarf]] [[Ardrick Blackstone]], Archimandrite of [[Kord]]; the [[Yuan-Ti]] [[Evil Snake Cult|cult]] leader [[Sathul Talshill]]; 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 <i>The Tales of Ka-Ess</i> 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 [[the Fishwife poet|Fishwife poet]], remains disputed. | |||
Scholars consider <i>The Tales of Ka-Ess</i> 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 [[wikipedia:codex|codex]] and other relevant sources. | |||
== Index == | == Index == | ||
<b>Part the First</b>: [[ | <b> Previously on...<b>: [[being a recounting of recently told adventures.]] | ||
<b>Part the First</b>: [[Book One|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. | |||
<b>Part the Second</b>: [[ | <b>Part the Second</b>: [[Next Issue|The continuing Adventures of the Fishwives]], their voyages into the Unknown, and the world's mysteries yet unexplained. | ||
<b>Appendix A</b>: [[Places|The Skaugan Main and its Surroundings]], with emphasis on the exotic and forbidden Locales | <b>Appendix A</b>: [[Places|The Skaugan Main and its Surroundings]], with emphasis on the exotic and forbidden Locales with which our Tale is concerned. | ||
<b>Appendix B</b>: [[People|A compleat | <b>Appendix B</b>: [[People|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. | ||
<b>Appendix C</b>: [[Society and Culture|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. | <b>Appendix C</b>: [[Society and Culture|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. | ||
<b>Appendix D</b>: [[Organizations|The Fraternities, Sects, Orders and other such Bodies]] to be found in the tales herein, and | <b>Appendix D</b>: [[Organizations|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. | ||
<b>Appendix E</b>: [[Shanties|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''': [[Compendium|A chronicled Compendium of Lore, Legends, and Languages]], laying bare the vast Tapestry of Riches and Perils in the Skaugan Main. | |||