2nd Trilogy: The Search for Black Alice

 

You know little of Great Mbo, my homeland, and that is not surprising, for no foreigners are permitted there. The Empire has been closed to outsiders for a thousand years, by decree of The God-King, saving the trade city of Bawaaba where outsiders are tightly controlled. So,  I will tell you of my homeland. 

Know now that beyond these Thousand Isles, far to the west is a vast continent of desert and jungle, watered by giant rivers. Cradle of an ancient civilization, and home to mighty pyramid cities, powerful gods, and ancient magics. 

This land, which we call Great Mbo or The Land of Seven Rivers, is vast beyond comprehension. Even if dry land ran from The Northern Reach to the Southern, Great Mbo would still encompass that land and call it a province. The lector-priests claim 5000 leagues span from the eastern borders of the Empire, to the far western, and no man knows the distance from the northern coast to the undiscovered southern sea, save it must be even farther. When I was forced to flee my kingdom and travel to the ports of the north, I traveled for over a year, across thousands of leagues. 

An ancient land, populous, rich, and civilized, with a history that extends thousands of years into the misty past. All united under one ruler, The God-King of Mbo, who has ruled, deathless, for a thousand years.

I was born a princess there, destined to be Queen. My kingdom was small and of no great significance, located far to the south of the Imperial heartlands, deep in Maayo Jaaliba Mbo, on the edges of the Holy Empire where it met the untraceable expanse of the great jungles of The Savage Lands. Of no great power, nor wealth was my Jaamasia, but still it was wealth and power enough for my uncle to lust after it. And for him to take it from me, while I was but a child. 

But now, I am a child no longer. And now we return to Great Mbo and the Holy Empire of the God King. Your destiny finally leads you west toward my home, where I hope you will remember your promise and help me reclaim my kingdom. For reclaim it, I shall. 

I was born, as I say, far from the centers of power, but still, I received a royal education. I saw much of The Empire as I crossed it, fleeing my uncles' assassins. But you ask me to tell you of Mbo, and I struggle to answer. The question is too big for me, and my words too feeble to encompass it. Mbo, as I said, is a vast land. But to understand Mbo you must understand that it is many lands, yet one.

Firstly, it is a land of rivers, great rivers, rivers that put the tiny trickles of these Islands to shame. Rivers so wide if one were to stand on one bank, she would not be able to see to the other side. Rivers that rise and flow with the seasons. It is along these rivers that the vast numbers of our people dwell, and our civilizations grew, great cities with pyramids that reach to the sky. The rivers are our lifeblood, we tend them, link them with locks and great canals, so that one might sail ships with great draught from the northernmost boarders of the Empire to the Southern.

Seven great rivers, seven great peoples, different, but all linked, sharing the same gods, the same language, and many of the same customs.  And all united under one Empire. We are all people of the rivers, we are their children, their rise and fall governs our calendar and our lives, they are the heart of the Empire. This is why the word "Mbo" which means "river" also means "culture" and "people," and "homeland."  All those things are one thing to us.

And we are a mighty people. My Mbo, the Maayo Jaaliba Mbo are the least of these seven, the youngest, the most barbaric, and my kingdom of Jaamasia is small even inside the Maayo Jaaliba Mbo, but still, the Maayo Jaaliba, the least of seven, is more populous, and vaster in extent, than all these Thousand Isles combined.

So we are the people of the Rivers.

But at the heads of our rivers are great lakes, lakes that would be called "sea" in other nations. And along the lakes, we live as well, cities stretching out into the lakes themselves, built over them and part of them, among the reeds and rice paddies, the hippopotamus and crocodile, the swamps and fens. 

So we are the people of the Lakes.

But Mbo is also a land of deserts. Vast deserts, seas of sand and rock, where the sun burns so hot during the day that one can only survive in the shade. Deserts you could ride across for a month and then another month and another month still and still not reach the other side. Deserts with lakes and rivers of brine that bring no relief from thirst. Seas of salt and rivers of brine. Deserts where only the cunning desert tribes dare to tread, and many spirits and creatures that are not men make their homes. We are people united by rivers and divided by deserts.

So we are the people of the Desert.

But Mbo is also a land of Grasslands. Golden grasses rippling in waves as far as the eye can see. The scent of dry earth, sun-warmed bark. Scattered acacia trees that stand like sentinels across the plain, their flat-topped silhouettes etched sharp against a cobalt sky. In the distance, a herd of giraffes, necks swaying as if part of a dance, zebras grazing, black and white stripes flickering like illusions among the grass. A lion’s roar echoing across the open world, ancient and absolute.

So we are the people of the Grasslands. 

But Mbo is also a land of Mountains. Great mountains, dry and arid, not like the wet and lush mountains of these islands. Mountains that only a few tribesmen know the secrets of, the hidden wadis and oases, the secret paths and ways to survive the desolation. Mountains that belch fire, whose tallest peaks are roosts to dragons and other fell creatures of the sky. 

So we are the people of the Mountains.

But Mbo is also a land of Jungle. Great green canopies that fracture light into a dim, green shimmer, flickering through layers upon layers of tangled leaves. Thick air, warm, wet, and heavy with the scent of moss, earth, and things blooming and things rotting. Vines coiling from tree to tree like living ropes, some as thick as your arm. Massive trunks rising like pillars into the sky, vanishing into a ceiling of leaves where birds shrieked and chattered unseen. Endless noise of the hunted and the hunter. The forest floor a mosaic of fallen petals, damp soil, and strange fungi. A never-ending living green world of great danger and great beauty.

So we are the people of the Jungle.

And over all this, over the cities and rivers, jungle and plains, desert and mountains, the God-King rules with his unimaginable might. His endless servants. His priests, his armies, his infinite sea of bureaucrats, his dragon-riding Justices, all dancing in a courtly dance, the complexity and rhythm of which often escapes me, country bumpkin that I am, and would seem like meaningless noise to a foreigner.   

And throughout the river valleys and mountains, lakes and desert, the myriad of gods roam, perform their necessary functions, and are worshipped and tended by the legions of the priesthoods, and have mighty pyramids raised in their honor.

But one thing Mbo is not. It is not of the Sea. Not like these Thousand Isles, the sea is in these people's blood. Being Of the Sea means travelling to strange and exotic locations and encountering strange and new ideas. The God-King is not fond of new ideas. New ideas threaten stability and the Imperial Peace, and the God-King values stability above all. Mbo looks inward, not outward. The sea is not for us. 

This is the land where your Black Alice journeys. And the land we must journey as well.