There was once a prosperous kingdom ruled by a powerful king, wise queen, and a compassionate princess. The king and queen dispensed justice and mercy while teaching their daughter all she would need to know to rule.
One day an evil servant of the king named Estralog tricked a citizen of the kingdom into committing a terrible offense against the king. Estralog boldly rode into the castle yard and demanded that the king punish the offender with death, hoping that the king would be merciful and bribe Estralog to drop his case. The princess watched this from her balcony and was filled with compassion for the citizen and outrage at Estralog. She announced that she would satisfy the demand for justice by taking the punishment for the citizen on herself. Filled with anguish, the king pronounced judgment on his only daughter. A single tear fell from the princess’s eye to the floor of her balcony. As it hit the floor, a fierce, cold wind swirled upward and froze the princess in place. It grew stronger and drove all others from the kingdom. They settled in an inhospitable, mountainous terrain past the southern border of the kingdom and called the place the A-Beru. A strange new moon—only the thinnest edge of its former self in the upper-right quarter—rose over the frozen plateau to the north and set in the south. They scratched out a miserable existence on the steep mountainsides but stayed, resolutely, waiting for the punishment to be completed and the cold to end. Estralog recruited followers to seek the kingdom payment that he still felt was due him. Unable to raise enough to eat, some followed the moon to the south out of the mountains and found a huge forest with more food and game. They also encountered a fierce tribe living in a swampy region on the western edge of the forest. They formed a new kingdom that they called the Peesh-rak, but they pledged to remember where they came from. The A-Beru sent warriors to protect against the swamp tribe. The ladies-in-waiting of the frozen princess, now called the Dovarsha-Issen, formed a new diplomatic corps, called the Viszudar, to maintain unity and harmony between the kingdoms. The thin edge of the moon moved to the lower right quarter. Still hungry and now unhappy with a tiered social system that developed, some left the Peesh-rak and crossed a great river. A portion of them entered a vast, arid grassland that gave way to scorching desert. They called the kingdom the Marutu and pledged to share all they had with each other and with the other kingdoms. The lower-left edge of the moon appeared. Others followed the great river to the south and found a lush, tropical landscape that ended in a gentle sea. They learned to fish the sea and the river and called the kingdom the Kishtar. They valued those who developed new ideas. The bright thin edge of the moon rolled to the last quarter. Then a new moon with the whole edge glowing formed and was followed by another new moon with an even-brighter rim. Still the center remained dark. Truth rotted into legend, was copied into fable and then forgotten by many. However, some stood strong in the knowledge of the Dovarsha-Issen and looked forward to the day of her release.
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