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An Old Friend Sleeps
May 31, 2017


My old friend passed away two days ago. It seemed almost a dream when I was informed by an aide that Herida had suffered a heart attack and then just an hour later another aide telling me that she was gone. I was frozen in my chair, the hospital was solemn but buzzing with activity as people went about their tasks. I had nothing to do, no crisis to tackle, no party to wrangle with and certainly no policy to be looking over. No the only thing I had to do was sit there in that hospital chair and think about the marvelous woman that this world has lost. That had been difficult for me, in years past when I was the Archon or even Tararch and before that as MoA, I would simply drown out my feelings by burying myself in my work. Now all I had was time, time to reflect on the relationship I had with Herida and the memories we shared over the six decades we had known one another.

Her mother and my father had been neighbors growing up in Cinnia in the southern portions of Tisiphone. My father had always said that Herida's mother had been one of the most brilliant people he had ever known and that her untimely death when Herida and I were just eight had been a great loss for the world. Her death shaped her daughter, Herida was obsessed with doing what her mother had done, oceanography. Saving the oceans from humanity became her calling and she was truly spectacular to watch when she gave one of her rather famous passionate speeches about conservation. Growing up on the island meant that we were near the ocean every moment of every day. Herida always joked that whenever she went inland or to the mainland, where she could no longer see the sea, she felt sick. Our friends called her a legged mermaid, one who had been cursed to walk the land but who needed to be near the sea to feel free. Herida embraced this idea and 'swam' with it.

That's when a nurse had come over to ask if I was alright. Her act of kindness was by no means unwelcome but it had taken me off guard since I had been lost in thought. I remember stumbling over the simplest of words before just absolutely tearing up and letting the orbs of sadness fall into my lap. That nurse stayed with me for nearly an hour before she was called away to her own tasks. I sent some flowers and a hand written thank you note the next day as a sign of appreciation for her kindness. My husband would have done what she had if he had been there, Pericles had been in Sartoria on business and was catching a flight home the following morning. Thankfully he would be with me on the day of the funeral.

I have to admit that yesterday and today are the emptiest I have felt in a long time. Losing a friend like Herida would be like if the world lost the moon. A partner you never imagine you would be without. We told one another everything, asked the other for advice and always sought advice on our most difficult decisions from one another. The beauty that Herida would have brought to Parthenopias as Archon would have rivaled that of the First Archon. 'Beauty and Radiance upon the Waves'. Truly.

Pericles is calling me to supper so it is best that I end here for the night. Till another day when these pages are turned once more.
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Cinnia - a city on an island off the coast of mainland Parthenopias. In the south, southeast of Genora.

Archon the elected Head of Government of Parthenopias
Tararch the deputy-Head of Government selected by the Archon (essentially a VP)
MoA abbreviation for Member of the Assembly (like an MP) they are elected representatives of the lower house of the Parthenopian legislature.
A Proposition
June 5, 2017


I was visited today by a woman. She had raven black hair with the brightest golden eyes I had ever seen, her smile shown with the radiance of the sun while her eagerness reminded me of Herida. Her name was Iras Asenath, a young archeology major at the University of Letopolis in Reshara. Her visit was unannounced but Pericles had reminded me of my own fascination with Reshara. I had done not one but two semesters abroad there when I was at university. It is hard to not get nostalgic about those days, those were the days one could go to school without worrying about is it safe or not. Those were the years of not long after independence for Reshara when they were rapidly rediscovering their national identity and Parthenopias was recovering from the Peninsular War. Those were the years when I was young and as my friends put it 'free spirited.' I would spend days at a time at sites helping to restore old temples or uncover long lost ones. As such it didn't take much for Ms. Asenath to convince me to return to Reshara in what could be described as the the greatest search in their history. The search for the ancient city of Rokh.

I remember sitting in my Resharan Antiquity 3110 class at the University, Professor Iuseneb Nehasy lecturing us all. A rather short old man with white bushy hair that he was almost always unable to tame, bushy eyebrows and beard to match. Though as I sit here recalling his appearance I can't remember a day that his beard wasn't well groomed and well kept. I believe that was actually the neatest thing about him, even his office was messed to kingdom come like a storm blew through their only an hour before. It was in his class that I learned about Rokh for the first time. I also remember him lecturing us foreigners about how exactly to pronounce the name, (Roh-ck). It defied our own linguistics since the 'k' was before the 'h' but it was ancient Resharan so it was vastly different than Parthenian.

I digress though from the point. Rokh was the most important city in the ancient Raia Empire that spanned most of modern Reshara. It enjoyed a meteoric rise to power in the 11th century, stable rule for three centuries before an equally as meteoric fall. It's precise location has since been lost to time. Many people have tried to find it, including Professor Nehasy. He spent decades trying to locate it, claiming that it would really give Reshara the identity it needed.

Ms. Asenath was also enchanted by the myth of the city and wanted to find it. She had found an ancient manuscript dating to the 5th century BCE which gave a rough location for the city. It was deep in what the Resharan's today called 'The Wastes' which was a vast stretch of the desert that did not have an oasis or city anywhere within it making it truly inhospitable. It was to be a small expedition of about eighty people who would be taking several truckloads of supplies, they had even pulled some strings to have a bi-weekly air drop for water and other essential food supplies. Of course all throughout her proposal I was dumbfounded as to why she was asking me to come along on this journey. I mean sure I had a Ph.D in Resharan History for the Antiquity period but so did many others. Of course that's when Pericles came in and we talked about it, it hit me like a car hitting a brick wall. Iras Asenath was the daughter of my college love interest Set Asenath. He had tried to find Rokh nearly two decades ago and had died in the search. His body had never been recovered and his expedition was the last to enter The Wastes. I felt a sense of obligation to go along to help Iras the best I could while also feeling an intense and burning desire to find that city. I agreed. We flew out the next day.

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Reshara Country on the south-eastern continent in Artemia. Former colony of Parthenopias 1727-1960.
Rokh fabled capital of Raia. Rose to prominence in the early 1000s BCE before being lost in the 700s BCE. Location has since been lost to history.
Raia ancient Empire that spanned most of modern day Reshara. 1000s BCE - 700s BCE

The Wastes a stretch of desert in Reshara that contains no cities, towns or villages along with no surface water source making it uninhabitable to humans.
Arrival in the Sands
June 8, 2017

The flight was long but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Thankfully the layover in Io wasn't so bad, just a couple hours. As the plane descended into Letopolis, the familiar skyline brought back memories of when I was in university here and in love with Set. I couldn't help but try to hide what little blush there was on my cheeks, Pericles was sitting next to me and he knew quite well of the love affair I had had here so many years ago. A bit of turbulence struck as we were descending which caused one of the flight attendants to careen into one of the other passengers eliciting a bit of a yelp from him. He seemed alright but got quite vocal until Pericles spoke up, quite the gentleman. Pericles was after all six and a half feet tall, far above average for a Parthenopian man. His broad shoulders, brown eyes and peppered hair were quite intimidating if he stared at you, the man quieted down and apologized to the flight attendant.

Iras was for the most part the spitting image of her father. Calm, passionate and dedicated. Pericles had inquired quite a bit about why I felt the need to come to Reshara to help her find Rokh. I mean sure it would be a landmark legacy to be apart of this if they actually find the city, the amount of excavation required along with the deciphering anything present was going to be a several years if not decades long process. Rokh had little draw to me, least not as much as it would have on Resharans. Nonetheless it meant something to me, on a personal level it would be a good way to honor Set. It had been his dream, his passionate speeches to the University to fund his expedition and his life's work to see the city. It was only when Parthenopians were expelled that he had to choose between the city and his love for me. I couldn't let him choose, I wouldn't let him so I ended that love.

This would be something to occupy my time, something to honor the man I loved long ago, and to watch over his daughter. We had stayed in touch after I left him and left Reshara. We were penpals of sorts. He told me how he had uncovered evidence of where a possible location of Rokh might be. It was at the time that I was having my son and daughter along with really entering into Parthenopian politics. Things got away from me and time flew like someone tossed a clock out a window. I lost track of Set and didn't find out about his presumed death until I heard it from a colleague of mine at the University of Rahina.

I hadn't even thought about Rokh since before becoming Archon nearly a decade ago. As Archon I periodically traveled to Reshara to speak to their Kai along with enhancing the special relationship that our nations now enjoyed. Gone were the days of animosity among our general populations towards one another. Now that I'm simply a former Archon I have the freedom to travel, the freedom to explore and go on this kind of adventure. Strange how I would find myself in a country not my own but loved as much, with the daughter of my once loved who was told of me without my knowledge. The journey ahead would be an interesting one not just for the search of Rokh, but for the search to reconnect with a piece of Set. The plain landed with a shaking thud and out of the gate into adventure we went.

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Rahina is the Capital City of Reshara
Letopolis is a coastal city and largest city in Reshara
Io is a coastal city in eastern Parthenopias. last major airport on the way to the south-eastern continent.

The Exodus as it is called was an event in 1971 when the Resharan Conservative Government kicked out all Foreigners. This ended in 1978.
Endless Sands
June 10, 2017

The Wastes, truly something that lived up to their name. Nothing but sand, endless sands. It took a couple days but we finally arrived to the first site that Iras thinks might be the location of Rokh. The mountains that rise up in this part of the desert only resemble those in the heartlands of Parthenopias. The way the sharp tan figures breach the heavens above truly is magnificent. The dunes come up to either side of this desert spine, the wind whipping the sand into every crevice. I must admit that it was much like the sand that was being sent into every crevice on all of us. My graying blond hair certainly seemed to attract a disproportionate amount of sand so I had to tuck it beneath a scarf. Fortunately sunglasses helped keep these blue orbs from drying out too much in the noonday sun that seemed to beam upon the Wastes for most of the day.

We arrived at the base of the mountains early last night and quickly set up some kind of camp, this morning however we noticed something on the horizon that chilled most us to the core. A sandstorm or as the Resharans call them, Ramalia or in Parthenian it would most closely be translated to sand wall. It was moving towards us but very far in the distance, the decision was made to move as much supplies as possible into a cave that was towards the lower third of the mountain. Some minor exploration of the cave done by Iras and her team earlier in the year had revealed some writing in ancient Raian near the cave entrance and she believed there would be more further in.

By nightfall the storm was upon us and was quite a sight to behold, somewhat terrifying I must admit. Iras wasn't kidding about the detail found on the carvings, they seemed as though they were just a couple centuries old rather than nearly two and a half millennia. I fully intend to explore more of the lower caves tomorrow with some of the others. I have a feeling that there might be clues to the location of Raia here.

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Treasures of Stone
June 17, 2017


It has been over a week since we were crowded into the small cave so as to get out of that monstrous storm. Two of our four vehicles have been totaled by the sheer force of the winds assaulting them with sand. The other two vehicles feel as though their outer paint coats are coarse and sandpapered, though with the wind they were sandblasted quite literally. We have fortunately been able to radio out to our oversight team in the village of Vahnik on the edge o the wastes, they will be sending out two more vehicles and then towing the two disabled ones back on a flat bed. All in all it is rather expensive, fortunately the expedition has a mysterious group of anonymous backers who have bank rolled them. Iras isn't sure who they are or at least she isn't saying, either way I'm not sure how I feel about these people I know nothing of.

I spent the first day in the cave simply reading through the various cave writings and indeed they were Raian. It was interesting, mainly the writings dealt with a warning to outsiders that within the mountain lie the 'center'. We weren't sure if we were translating that part right as the carved runes were ground down and unclear. Some in the expedition didn't want to continue into the cave in fear that there might be traps and such but considering the great age of the place along with the fact that traps had not been uncovered at any other Raian sites we decided it was likely safe.

The second day in the caves was more interesting. As we descended down what must have been a cave carved into a corridor of sorts we came across a large stone door. It was circular in nature and had carvings that looked maybe a century old but in reality were likely as old as those near the entrance. Our x-ray machine couldn't penetrate the stone and so we were met with one of two realities. The first was that the door was not a door but an intricately carved wall and thus impassable. The second was that the door was either so thick that the machine couldn't scan past it or there was lead behind it. Neither prospect was good and we hoped it was the latter of them.

The storm broke in the second evening and I spent three more days in those damn caves at the stone door of sorts trying to decipher the meaning of what was written there. Once we did decipher it we were left with a rather cryptic piece. "Beyond lies the Center. Here lies the beginning but not the end." None of use know what this means and what Raian texts have been deciphered through out history have never referenced the Center or have they spoken of things like this. Either way this trip is turning out to be more fascinating than I thought it would be. We very well might just be on to something here.

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Vahnik - A city in Reshara on the edge of 'The Wastes' and is serving as the Operational HQ for the Expedition.
Post coming between 9/29 and 10/1 so stay tuned for her explanation as to why it has been so long.
Did you end up ever posting about this, Parthenopias? I'd be interested to read that.