by Jeffery Low
Come, my new friends. Let me tell you my story.
My hatching name was Grey Mist Morning. Human cultures have many names for my kind. My human father often called me a "kamenin". I have heard the Avallonians call me a testudo while the Atlanteans say I am a chelonian. My people have no special name by which we call ourselves. We simply are.
I hatched on the sandy beach of the island known to my people as the Snout of Ogmar. It is all that is left of Ogmar, The Ancient One, after he chose to sink back into the sea in the time before now. While listening to the old ones who were my parents tell me stories of their travels throughout the lands of men, I grew to adolescence, and within a year I was strong and nearly full grown. After their spirits departed their shells, I abandoned my birth hut to begin my own journey, filled with the wisdom they had imparted to me. Since that day I, like many of my kind, have traveled the lands of men. My people have no permanent settlements of our own, you see. Only the short time with my parents and learning their life stories constitutes our way of life. After that, the young of my kind are left on their own to survive until the call to return to the Snout and find a mate.
What's that now? My name, Tohaku? You are correct. It is from the land of Horai. The first culture I came across was a man named Hasegawa Hideyoshi, a sailor wrecked upon the Snout of Ogmar. He was sick and wounded, so I helped him to recover and survive. In return, he taught me about his culture. As he recovered, he gave me the name Tohaku and adopted me as his own son.
In time, we managed to signal a ship and bartered passage to Port Nyanzaru. I traveled with him for two years and he taught me to defend myself, as his father taught him, in the way of the kensei. He also taught me the art of ink painting and to find and embrace the peace it provides. It was during a sea voyage in our third year together that my new father's spirit departed his body. He was honored by the sea tribe of the Seasprite Dancer, with whom we had been sailing during this time, in their traditional way and was given to the sea. I bade farewell to the tribe of the Seasprite Dancer when we made our next port in Agartta.
I've had many travels since then. I have made it my life's mission to study different cultures. I also continue to paint the vast landscapes I encounter as a hobby. Someday I hope to show my own hatchling the paintings in the book as I saw them.
I have traveled from Agartta to the plains of Mu where I lived with the nomads, a fascinating culture. The mystical forests of Moar were a home as I learned the ways of the Aeonians, as well as the steaming jungles of Bres were I hunted with the jaguar-men. I have seen the gleaming tower of Artorius Rex in Avalon and lived for a year with the batiri in the fetid swamps of South Zazamanc. I have shared wisdom and survival ideas with a guzi tribe in North Zazamanc for several years, becoming a warrior-priest in their culture. I briefly visited the frozen halls of the fair haired peoples of Boreas, but even their summers were too cold for me to stay long.
My life is now half over as 37 years has passed since my hatching. My people consider a life of fifty years to be a full life. I already hear the call of Ogmar, to return for the Mating time. So long as I can resist, I will continue my travels. So now I am here in Chult to find out more about some of the cultures deeper into the interior of this vast land. I am happy to have you all as new friends and hope to help you learn as much about my people as I do about yours.
I thank you for taking me into your tribe. I will always strive to be a worthy member.
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