I am glad that the intrigues of court are treating you well, Bond Sister!

As to my own situation, I must apologize for the lateness of this letter. My situation did not allow me to write for some time. To pick up where my correspondence left off, my journey into the far north following the great triangle current has been going well. There were no more than the usual number of attacks from the sea folk upon my ship, and the deal I bartered with one of their chiefs even allowed a stretch of some hundred leagues to pass in peace.

There was a bit of trouble as we rounded the northern point near the shattered lands where the bronze men make their homes among the arcadian forests of those innumerable isles. A leviathan of the deep of a sort which I had never seen before apparently mistook my ship for a snack! It resembled in some ways those little tentacled creatures the Xuan like to fry up, but of supremely greater size. I’d estimate it capable of dragging under an adult Xuan Wu by size alone, let alone its cultivation.

Luckily, it was not quite ready for me! Its arms were mighty, and its powers potent, but after I had dragged it into the sky and crashed it back into the ocean floor, it fled, wounded by my glory. Unfortunately, our battle sent my ship far off course and damaged the hull, and I myself was feeling a bit winded.

As my crew and I were drifting on the ocean, pondering our predicament, we sighted a strange ship on the starboard horizon. It was an odd thing, not like the bronze men’s ships. Frankly, it looked to be more suited as a river barge than an ocean ship, and it was carved from white stone. If it did not cut through the waves with such imperturbable stability, I would think its makers were foolish indeed. It bore a sigil of gleaming gold upon its sail, depicting a strange insect bearing aloft a solar disc.

Naturally, I hailed them. I had heard from my time among the bronze men of a great kingdom of stone to their west, which only the bravest of their heroes dared to challenge to honorable war. I was intending to search for their lands anyway, so it seemed that Lady Fortune had favored me! I was able to communicate with their captain, a friendly chap who went by the name “Ahkom.” As I always keep some gifts and exotic provisions on board, an offering of preserved meats from the Empire was enough to secure the rights to berthing and the chance to make repairs to the ship.

It was a bit of a trying experience, I must admit. I accompanied Ahkom on his ship. His gregariousness helped once we had deciphered each other's tongues, but that ship of white stone was unsettling. You see, its captain was the only person aboard! Its crew were composed of what in the Stone Men’s tongue translates best to “dregs.” They were shaped like men, but it quickly became clear that they were not. Ahkom found it quite humorous when I tried to talk to some of their number.

Dregs, it seems, are the result of failures in their early cultivation. Their method is dangerous to new practitioners and risks destruction of the mind, reducing them to something akin to those jittering automata the Jin have begun to deploy in their mines. Of course, they still have the needs of men, watching several of them tear into a side of bloody meat like animals is not a sight I’ll soon forget!

I learned more of the Stone Men, or the Kingdom of Khem as they call themselves. The reason the bronze men knew them so little is that their kingdom was closed to foreigners. Only by direct word of their highest priest-who is also their king- could a foreigner be allowed to set foot in the lands of Khem. My friend Ahkom here, was a member of a priesthood which served a god by the name of Pteru, who as their god of travels was swallowed to settle islands in the straights and have dealings on the seas.

A wonderful little work around if I do say so myself.

I found things more agreeable once we had landed on the shores of Akhom’s island outpost, although there were still very many dregs, there were at last other people of Ahkom’s type as well. I must tell you now, they are a striking people. I spotted not a single adult who was shorter than I, and you know that I am not a short man! Their manner of dress would likely make your precious courtiers faint and even the matriarchs raise an eyebrow. Their primary garb is composed of sheer white linens, wrapped close around the body; it conceals little, particularly in the spray of the shore. They seem very fond of jewelry as well, bangles, anklets and an odd thing worn about the neck being most common. Both men and women make extensive use of cosmetic paints and oils which enhance the features and make their skin gleam like burnished bronze.

It was strange though, that I saw no mortals at all, there were only dregs to do the mundane work. Ahkom explained this to me by the fact that his outpost was not great enough to host a temple of the gods upon it, and as such there was no need for ‘sleepers’ here. Inquiring on this I found more of the Kingdoms structure revealed. It is well and good to say that cultivators stand above mortals, this is objectively true after all. However, the people of Khem see the society of mortals and the society of the Awoken to be entirely separate. Mortals have their own governance and society within Khem, connected only by the priests of the gods. Only once a year when youth present themselves to the temples to attempt cultivation do the mortals of Khem directly interact with cultivators.

This lead to further questions to my erstwhile companion of course, and I swiftly came to realize that there had been some misconceptions between us. When good Ahkom spoke of his gods, he was not referring to a great spirit dwelling beyond the material world, but instead something more akin to our own ancestor, the Reveler. I came to this realization after Ahkom had asked of my own people, and I spoke of Him. He even found the idea of our ancestors' jaunts in avatar form to be unsurprising.

Except of course, that these ancestors were men and not beasts. A troubling assertion, but not one which I was able to politely interrogate. In any case, I stayed with them for some weeks making repairs and learning just how vigorous and friendly my new hosts could be. Delightfully, I found that for once, I had found people who share our views on the sharing of joy and love. Not a single angry husband or wife to be found! It seemed that only certain religious roles required such bindings.

My visit was extended though, as I found myself receiving an invitation to Pteru’s temple, it lay only a short distance off the coast of Khem, and was the closest a foreigner could come to that land without their King’s permission. The hierarch of Pteru, that being his active representative in the mortal world, was interested in hearing of the Empire.

Allow me an aside on Khemnian kingship, it is an odd triple thing. At the top is the King of the Gods, the mighty ancestor who founded their land, but below him is the ‘Greater Pharaoh’ who is his descendant and takes the part of actively ruling the realm. He also ‘becomes the God’ at some point, which I did not quite understand. A euphemism for the afterlife or ascension perhaps? Regardless beneath him is the ‘Lesser Pharaoh’ who rules the mortals, he is the exception to the rule excluding cultivators from mortal life, for he must also be descended from the King of Gods. There seems to be some limitations on his ability to cultivate though. Once again I could not properly interrogate.

But, leaving that conundrum aside, my visit to the Great Temple! It was visible from the horizon, a great complex of gleaming marble and gold, taking up over a third of the not small, island's surface. Below it was a beautiful terrace overlooking the harbor, containing a city of marble and painted in riotous color, flanked by a pair of statues some two hundred meters in height, depicting a young man with green skin and hands outstretched in welcome. Naturally I could sense the power in the guardian statues, those welcoming arms would become a barrier of truly mighty proportion if things were violent.

I glimpsed the mortal settlements lying on the far side during my stay as well. They had their own, much more modest harbor, but to my surprise, despite Ahkom’s disregard for mortals, they did not seem any less prosperous than the mortal folk of the Empire. Perhaps more so than most places. I suppose there is something to be said of leaving them to their own devices, protected from the actions of cultivators.

The Hierarch of Pteru,was a jovial man, which seemed common among his followers. There was some confusion when I thought he was a woman, but no, I was assured that the Hierarch is always a man when acting in an official role despite whatever he may have been born as. This was also true for the Pharaoh at the time I visited, I learned. In the past, it had sometimes been the other way. They said something about the rising of Aseti and the setting of Amuret. Theology confuses me, but apparently, the mantle of King of the Gods sometimes shifts between the gods. That seemed quite unstable to me, but my hosts seemed to regard it as normal.

I was feasted quite well in the week that I stayed at the temple, receiving close attention from the Hierarch as I was questioned about the Empire. I made sure to give him a good impression of us. He seemed much disappointed by the distance which lay between us, but he also resolved to see one of his sons pay a visit. I made sure to warn him of the Jin. It was easy enough. I just told him that our Emperor had a similar arrangement to their Pharaoh and that any ships should dock among the Xuan.

Wouldn’t want those flat heads on the coast making a poor impression.

In any case, once I had taken my leave to sail south, I was free to compose this letter to you, Bond Sister. By the time it arrives, I should be only a few months from port. So, following up from your last letter, tell me about this business with Crown Prince An.

Excerpt from a letter by Zheng Lu, King of Explorers