Creelings

Also known as smallfolk, thumblings, gnatties, wee men. The biggest creelings usually grows no larger than a human thumb, and many are much smaller. They often live in fortified "towns" tunneled out of fallen logs, or built of mounds of sticks and earth, though there are some creelings who have developed more advanced forms of architecture, culture and transportation.

Creelings generally avoid larger beings like humans, because of our propensity for picking on things that are smaller than us. In the past whole Creeling villages have been taken captive by wicked humans (and other beings) and forced to toil as slaves. Despite this dark history, there have been notable alliances between Smallfolk and "Bigs" as they call humans and others of our size. The Creelings proved to be valiant allies in the war against Malabron long ago, and they have remained friendly with the Tain Shee.

Creelings have a liking for the stuff that "Bigs" discard. They put our refuse and unwanted junk to clever uses in their building and home furnishing. Many stories have been told of the resourcefulness of Creelings, and the clever ways they have learned to live and prosper right under the noses of humans without us being any the wiser.

-- from Redquill's Atlas and Gazetteer of the Perilous Realm.

Far Lands

The Far Lands of the Realm are those which one hears about but can never visit, because no matter how long or far you search, you can never find them. Here are a few of the Far Lands. I'm afraid I have no maps of them, or directions on how to get there:

Dark Aunc, where immense flocks of crows peck at the blue sky and carry it away piece by piece, leaving a starless night that slowly grows a delicate shell of blue again. And then the crows return ...

In Outer Oub, everything is made of sound. In Inner Oub, utter silence reigns.

Yederne, where rivers, hills, and trees fall in love with the traveler and follow her wherever she goes.

In Tirreth Dree, the festival country, there are no workdays, and the jugglers and street musicians rule.

Dread Errefal, with its scorpion armies and fountains of blood, is also said to have the nicest beaches.

Why does everyone speak English?

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Why does everyone in the Perilous Realm speak English? a reader asked me.

The short if cryptic answer is that they're not speaking English, they're speaking Story. If someone from France came to the Realm, she'd probably find everyone speaking French. A Japanese person would hear everyone speaking Japanese. It should be remembered that The Shadow of Malabron is really a translation into English of a story written in story, so to speak.

There are, however, numerous indigenous languages in the Realm that a visitor might have chance to hear spoken, including Eldish, an ancient tongue spoken by dragons, elementals and other creatures of wonder. It's said that anyone who can speak a full sentence in this obscure tongue will feel a strong connection to the earth, like an electrical current humming in his bones. Or there's Portentic, an ominous-sounding language of low, guttural syllables favoured by wizards and witches. They copy down their secret spells in this language, and often use it when we mere mortals come snooping around, in order to awe and intimidate us. Another odd language is Carc. The entire vocabularly of Carc consists of one word: carc. What exactly carc means depends on how you pronounce it, and to whom, and where, and at what hour of the day or kind of weather. So one must be very careful using this language, since carc, depending on changing circumstances, might mean I come in peace at one moment, and my goodness you really fell off the ugly tree, didn't you? the next.

One of my favourite Realm languages is Babbelese. Anyone can speak it fluently without any practice or lessons. All you have to do is open your mouth and go. Anything you say, even a string of slapped-together grunts and other assorted noises, means something in Babbelese. You often hear minor background characters in a story speaking it, in an undertone, just at the edge of the main action.

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Spindlefog's business card

unthunk

The unthunk has been described as a "humped, spiny boulder with arms and legs, two tiny eyes and a gaping crevice of a mouth in the hump where its head should be." Some travellers have reported unthunks with one eye, or three, or with extra limbs, or with no mouth, or with bony plates instead of spines. But most sightings of the creature conform to the description above. Keeping in mind that most sightings are of brief duration, while running the other way.

According to most sources, there are two sizes of unthunk: regular sized (standing about 7 feet tall) and the giant-sized (anywhere from ten to twelve feet tall). Whether they are separate species, or simply juvenile and adult versions of the same species, is not known.

The unthunk is a solitary creature that usually dwells in the desolate barrenlands known as the Screaming Wastes. Mostly living things cannot long tolerate the terrifying howls and moans heard at night in the Wastes (and for which they are named), but the unthunk doesn't seem to be perturbed by these sounds, leading some naturalists to speculate that the unthunk has no organs of hearing. It does, however, have a very large mouth, and has been observed ingesting everything from cacti to livestock.

The unthunk is unpredictable, to say the least. It has been known on many occasions to shy away from humans, but there are also several verified cases of the creature stalking and attacking people. There are also a few reports of unthunk seen fighting in the service of Nightbane.

-- from Balthazar Budd's Flora and Fauna of Wildernesse