“For trillions of years we have walked this world, unaware of our past. In a trillion more, we shall walk it again. We now know it is the cycle of things. To unite the world under our banner as it once was – so it shall again be for untold ages to come. One color as our descendants again conquer the ages of trillions.“
Sinii Kadal, first Envoy of the Renaul State, -306y
Widely known amongst scholarly circles, Arregur Siovak’s famous map has been proudly displayed in the Gold Annex of the Grand Chroniclorum since the reign of Didak II. Though battered by years, thanks to the Archive’s preservation efforts the chart is still vibrant enough to captivate the mind of thousands of hungry inquirers each annum.
For most, this is far more between the pillars than they will ever see in a single lifetime. Mankind will surely one day reach the heavens to see the world from this perspective, but until that day arrives, the great Siovak’s work is the best substitute.
Duplicates like this one have been penned since our forefathers rode mighty on the plains, but still demand a hefty price. For the commoner, such a lavish view of the world is honestly excessive.
Nearly seven hundred settlements are marked, and there is no doubt that Siovak traveled to many of them in the flesh. Indeed, many of these cities have reached a legendary status amongst Avatos, with only the most hardened and grizzled travelers hoping to reach them at all. But for even them, wars and hostility of the nations may relegate the grand chart as the only way to observe them, if they even still exist at all. The heavens know that man’s impact in a lifetime is brief and volatile, and no end of cities have been attacked and left to crumble in the sands of time inside our nation. Doubtlessly the same must be said of other peoples, even to the ends of the world.
Perhaps a more existential question is to how long this map will be accurate. Cities and borders are one question, but how much has even the land itself eroded and shifted throughout the cycle? Even since the penning of Siovak’s account it is difficult to quantify. Add the siege that a thousand generations of earthquakes, floods, and shifting rivers can inflict upon even the hardest stone. Even if the chart and generations of copies survive that long, who alive today can attest to their reliability? Will even the world itself fade away or be reborn before this cycle comes to a close?
Eventually, even Siovak’s seemingly immortal tome will likely fade to the ravishes of the cycle. Whether that happens in billions or trillions of years, whoever will become Siovak in the next iteration will surely muse over these same thoughts as well.
