Novels

The Lane is one of the several wandering locations of Windawill. You will rarely find it in the same place twice, and you will likely only fall upon it by random chance.

If you want to seek out the Lane, you should wander the backstreets and alleyways of Yopshim, Dimasi, or Almeda. If this is your first time visiting, be sure to close your eyes tightly every few minutes, just to be sure you haven’t stumbled across it by accident; many tourists reach the Lane only to wander out again without noticing.

To get to the Grayglass Domes, one must first reach the Saltwater Plains. There are multiple ways of doing this, but the most reliable and comfortable way for most tourists is to reach either the town of Mémré or the city of Damasi.

Tours to the Grayglass Domes operate out of Damasi on a weekly basis, run by courteous and knowledgeable guides with years of experience. The Brushwik Tour Group is my preferred company, but I am also quite experienced as a tourist and don’t require much in the way of amenities or structure. Newcomers to the Grayglass Domes could instead opt for Anwyn Tours, a reasonably priced company that provides well curated tours that cover each of the Domes in full. Anwyn Tours is a good choice if you don’t want to miss anything.

If you don’t have much money, you can charter a flow-stone bus to the Alep Dome for the fairly cheap price of 4 dales, and wander the Domes yourself. This is a relatively safe option if you take reasonable precautions.

I found myself considering whether or not to include the great land of Windawill in this book. While there are certainly less hospitable places for travelers to wander, there are few full of more mystery or strange ways. A small land, few travelers are allowed entry into the Conference’s territory. Fewer still return eager to tell tales of what they experienced. As such, the majority of what I will convey is a combination of rumor, hearsay, and subtle suggestion.

I myself have found travel to Windawill becoming more and more difficult. For any number of reasons, many points of access are becoming harder to access. Ports are closing, doors are locking, and the once friendly land has become colder to visitors these days. It has become more and more common for travelers to require native friends or known travelers to be accepted to Windawill.

Currently, there are five well known and reliable methods for reaching Windawill: (Editor’s Note: One week before the printing of this edition, the Administrators of Windawillian Travel (AWT) withdrew all envoys, embassies, and travel agencies. The remainder of this section is therefore likely inaccurate. Please check for recent events and laws surrounding Windawill before making any travel arrangements.)

Humg is, of course, easily accessible by any major reputable airline. When I visited, I was able to purchase a discounted ticket to Humg Major International Airport for only 200£. The trip took only three hours, thanks to a steady tailwind, and baring the usual slight turbulence, was largely uneventful.

Once you have arrived at Humg, your next destination will depend entirely on the sort of experience you want to have. Those who enjoy throngs of people and an unending atmosphere of vibrancy will likely need only follow the throng of tourists to the mess of shuttle busses outside the main terminal which will take you to the thickly urban downtown neighborhoods.

Those who prefer more contemplative or spiritual festivals should instead look for the smaller but no less numerous Ripjin drivers. Once you find one and procure their services, you should tell them to take you to the quieter and humbler northern districts.

Travel through Humg is handled through taxi and bus services. During the Month of Grand Festivals, personal cars are prohibited, so please do not rent a car, even if you plan to travel outside the city.

Being a natural phenomenon that stretches over twenty leagues, transit to the Upside-down Storm is accessible from multiple towns, cities, and locations across Chikurry. The most commonly visited location, and therefore the best equipped to handle large numbers of tourists, is Fulldin’s Point, a small bay that extends into the storm along its south-eastern edge. There are regular bus services to Fulldin’s Point from both nearby Klendin and Redgar’s Falls.

Travel from Klendin will take anywhere from three to four hours and will cost about 30 stone. A round-trip ticket from Redgar’s Falls will take an hour both ways by bus, and can be purchased for as little as 10 stone. Some locals offer horse-drawn carriage rides to Fulldin’s Point, which is well worth the 50 stone price-tag, if you have a half-day to spare.

If you want to longwalk to Fulldin’s Point, I’d suggest starting from Redgar’s Falls, though if you have a few days-worth of hiking in you, Klendin is not a terrible option.

Trep Haenny lies on the western coast of Chikurry and is easily accessible by bus or longwalk from nearby Kurgilchin. Getting to Kurgilchin is also simple; bus service from central Urdahl is expensive at 20 stone for a round-trip ticket; a cheaper method is to take a carriage or longwalk to Loggden, and then purchase a seat to Trep Haenny on one of the more unique methods of transit in our fantastical world: the beetlehopper.

The Mule Beetle is a fascinating breed of insect, related to the yellow mealworm beetle. Commonly measuring between three to five feet in length and two to three feet in height, mule beetles are incredibly docile, mostly surviving on fruit and decaying plant-matter. They are sometimes ridden as pets by young children, and are common around the Loggden region.

In 1863, Renly Longfinger built the first mechanical beetlehopper, a vehicle designed after the mule beetle’s swimming-like method of locomotion. Intended as a recreation and novelty, the beetlehopper was soon used for evening rides and casual commuting around Loggden and between the nearby towns. While the beetlehopper doesn’t, in fact, hop; its shuffling movement causes a gentle back-and-forth rocking that can certainly give the illusion of hopping to the passengers. If you are easily sea-sick, perhaps give the beetlehopper a pass.

Porra is the largest province in Chikurry, dominating the eastern portion of the country. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to find a flight from a major airline hub, but the more reliable method to reach Porra is to take a long-ferry to the Shoreden town docks in Lush, and take a buss to Porra from there. You can make the whole trip for less than 200 stone during the busy season.

Once you reach Porra, it’s almost impossible to not visit the Mushroom Palace. Roads, bus services, caravans, and even the gentle slope of the hills and valleys all seemed designed to guide you to the palace and its surrounding town, Stone’s Throw; some historians assert the topography was altered to make this happen. The nearby towns of Longfoot, Quillden, and Valleybottom all have easy roads and regular bus services to Stone’s Throw, though if you have the time, I heartily recommend taking a longwalk from Quillden. This road has some of the most beautiful sights in all of Porra, with pastoral fields and gentle hills giving you regularly amazing vistas. All told, the walk should only take you two days.

Gnatted Hollow resides on the northern edge of the Forest of Pich, the largest forest in Chikurry. Your usual methods of transit apply, including chartering a Beetlehopper, sharing space on a carriage, or joining in the fine Chikurry tradition of longwalking.

My favorite method of transit is purchasing a ticket for the Longgaff Ferry out of Braghest. The price should range only from 20 to 30 lap, with round ticket prices being around 40. The journey takes about twelve hours, with food and drink available for purchase. The Longgaff ferry takes after the Gaff sense of hospitality, and there will be plenty of relatively comfortable bunks for travelers to rest in.

People travel for all sorts of reasons, and one of the best reasons I’ve found to visit Chikurry is for relaxation.

I want to make clear; relaxing doesn’t mean boring. Yes, Chikurry occupies a quiet and humble place in the world, but if you seek excitement, don’t count this region out. When I say “relaxing,” what I mean is a place ideally suited for recharging your batteries. A place where you can relax on the beach, go out dancing, or take part in a music festival as you see fit. Chikurry is a pastoral place of some of the best scenery in the world, and is ideal for vacationers who want to experience more of the natural world.

Now, it is not my place to argue whether or not the beauty of our finest constructions compares to that of the natural world. I myself find the two are different enough that finding beauty in one is no barrier to finding beauty in the other, and the beauty of nature is astounding. From the Shimmering Falls of Elgire to the Ice Sword of Kiggian range, our world is full of remarkable beauty and uncompromising majesty.

There are several companies that provide Mirrored Clouds cruises. The differences are significant, so I won’t bother detailing each, save to give you some options:

If you’re on a budget, consider the Royal Vizier Cruise or Whitesky Tours. Both are quite reasonably priced, and provide comfortable accommodations and amenities. Whitesky Tours manages to keep costs low by reducing the number of stops on the cruise, making it much shorter than most other tours, while still making sure you see the most spectacular parts of the Mirrored Clouds. I personally prefer Royal Vizier, as they keep costs low by cutting back on luxuries such as on-board entertainment and high-end meals. This makes a Royal Vizier cruise much less ostentatious than other cruises, and more like a train service.