RHYSTHARI ARCHITECTURE

[Squeaks]

Rhysthari, the swamp-dwelling lizard-folk, and their various friends, charges and allies, house themslves deep within their beloved swamps. The outer areas of the Swamp are fecund - fostering many lifeforms, not all of which are under 'control' by any means. There are things that live in Nidon Hal that even the Rhysthari tread carefully around.

In the 'deep' or central swamps, the beasts that occur tend to be large and more sedate, although they will not tolerate intruders unless invited there. AMonsgst their weaving forms lie the homes of the Rhysthari - the deep-thinking, philosophical lizard-folk that ae the greatest healers in existence; it is said there is no wound to man, beast or world that they cannot cure, and their knowledge is firmly locked away i n the swamps and the cities of the Rhysthari.

Here follows an account of the Imperial trader, Maran Arnford; a man who was allowed to visit one of the ziggurat cities of the Rhysthari - for reasons he never explained, even on his death-bed when pressed by large quantities of money for his 'secrets'.

'The ragged boat finally drew us through some of the densest foliage yet; a grey, twisted tree type that hang dank with trailing seed-pods and let off strange vapours; vapours that made me want to sneeze and yet further made me the calmest I had ever felt then or since.

In the water, at a dangerous looking angle was the top of a ziggurat, maybe 30 metres high out of the water - I was to ffind out quite how deep this structure was, after spending days in this damned chamber they sat me in, leaving me with a one-eyed lizard who's brains had been pickled for the last thirty years. The stench of the slime on his body was repulsive, yet I felt no sickness from it - the air was of such cool and purity that the stench meant nothing. Thank the gods.

The top of the structure was all metal...solid copper, with silver and gold filigree; beautifully detailed work, with many scenes, some of which were allegedly predictions of a thousand years ago; yet to be proven, if they ever were to be so - of course, my thoughts on predictions area little less sacrosanct, but there is something about that place and those images that haunts me.

Finally, they motioned me into the water, then mimed holding their breath and swimming down. They took my hand a nd literally dragged me under. I had no idea how fast or far we went, but each time I thought I would die, they dragged me sharply into some strange foliage structure; here they had trapped air, and my head burst into reality again, for me to suck gasps of air into my laboured lungs, before they dragged me down again.

As we travelled - admittedly, not straight downwards - I began to see the rest of the ziggurat; it was immense, massive, ALL of it lined in these beautiful carvings, lit by a fuel that seemed to be able to burn underwater. Everywhere I looked were Lizardfolk, and I saw the mass of enormous creatures pass by in the distance.

Eventually, they dragged me to the last of the air pockets. They made motions with their hands that left me cluess, then unceremoniously dragged me down quickly, to be pulled under the ziggurat, to emerge in the centre , through a hole that allowed access to the city within the sheel; a whole city was actually inside this thing, with but one entrance, and that was not somewhere a human could easily go.

I emerged from the central pool, to be introduced to a stone room, lined with more carvings; a squalid grey stone was the matron of this place, but then, this was essentially the public entrance and wasn't deisgned to anything but utilitarian. Having spent quite some time down there with this idotic creature I mentioned before, I was drawn up into the city. I will not say more than one thing about this; it was stunningly beautiful; jungle gardens, green lamps, the whole place lit up, with plants and flowers of enormous size cramming the streets and walkways. I mean, there must have been ten, twenty thousand of them in there, and I was greeted by every single one as I wandered down what must have been a town street - at this point I was still in the 'countryside' - I hadn't even come naer the top levels and their wonders! For the life of me, I will never reveal what it was I did or beheld there, but it was the making of me, and the wisdom I encountered was stunning. We are nothing when help up against the Rhysthari - I doubt even the elves themselves are, to be frank.

[Wizenhimerman]

completely in love!