Eddling: The Ogre of Eddling

Transit

Hapsprat is on the eastern edge of Eddling, and is accessible by train and bus. Bus travel is best purchased from the neighboring city of New Ricland for only 3 scrip. This is the cheapest method of reaching Hapsprat, if time is not a concern; it can take anywhere from one to two hours to get from New Ricland to Hapsprat, considering traffic and weather conditions.

Train travel is the fastest, though service is unreliable; Hapsprat is small enough that trains only visit once or twice a day at most. It can also be expensive, depending on where you purchase your ticket from. All the same, travel from nearby Porriwat takes only 15 minutes.

Once you reach Hapsprat, the Museum of Eddling History is hard to miss. It is easily walkable from the train and bus stations, and there are plenty of local taxis that will drop you right at the muesum’s front door.

The Place

The Ogre of Eddling currently resides in the Museum of Eddling History, in the town of Hapsprat on the eastern edge of the country. Hapsprat is a small and humble town, with a steady carpentry industry thanks to the nearby forest. It would likely have remained smaller and humbler, had the Ogre of Eddling not been discovered in 1352 and the Museum of Eddling History not been established in 1599.

Discovered by a woodcutter who fell into a ponor, the Ogre of Eddling is a fantastically well preserved Ogre. It was almost completely covered by limestone, and for the first twenty years of its exhibition was shown to visitors via an extended spelunking tour.

In 1375, a team of Rough Masons, in conjunction with a team of Blessed Biomineralogists from the Chapel of Holy Land, carefully extracted the Ogre from its limestone prison and began an extensive study of the creature. Similar studies have been repeated since, as technology and procedure has advanced, and it is because of the Ogre of Eddling that we know so much about these ancient beings.

Currently, due to a study of both the metal and surviving flesh components of the Ogre, it is believed to be anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 years old. It is in remarkable condition for its age. Attempts to reactivate the Ogre proved unsuccessful in centuries past, and scientists of the time concluded that some fundamental piece was missing, and the Ogre would forever more remain little more than a statue.

Due to recent advances in historical knowledge and modern technology, many historians believe the Ogre could once more be awoken, but the Ogre of Eddling was labeled a Historical and Cultural Artifact of Significance by the Eddling crown in 1634, and petitions to revoke this title have been met with serious opposition from the citizenry.

Nevertheless, the Eddling Ogre remains a must-see for any number of reasons. The room in which the Ogre stands is full to bursting with ancient relics and tools from the time, as well as one of the most comprehensive detailing of Ogres that I have ever seen. Since the founding of the Museum of Eddling History, scholars and historians of Ogres have flocked to Hapsprat, creating one of the premier locations of Ogre Studies in the world. Archaeologists too have plumbed the depths of the Hapsprat ponor, finding a significant number of ancient artifacts, such as carvings, tools, and even a few preserved skeletons in the limestone.

I will forever remember my first time seeing the Ogre of Eddling. I am not ashamed to say that standing in front of the ancient being was quite affecting; the stories we are told of these remarkable creatures are of hulking monstrosities, misshapen and ugly. Seeing the Eddling Ogre in person made the theoretical, for me, very real.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the Ancient Era wing of the Eddling Museum was the Ogre’s size. Like many people, I have a somewhat mixed view of the ancient Ogres, having heard stories of their imposing nature and hideous appearance. Seeing the Eddling Ogre in person, standing next to it, or as near to next to it as the green courdrons allowed, I was struck by how small it seemed.

Immediately on the heels of this realization was laughter, as the Ogre stood a good head taller than me. It’s posture was even slightly slouched, while I was standing straight;¹ How could I think the Ogre small? Nevertheless, the Eddling Ogre has been measured multiple times across the centuries, and — accounting for the different systems — it’s height has remained a consistent 2.52m (8’ 3.25") tall.

I was also amazed with how clean and polished the beast was. When I imagined the Ogres of ancient times, I always envisioned a fairly slapdash affair, with gangly limbs and scraps of metal attached in random places. Instead, while the Eddling Ogre does show signs of wear and the erosion of time, there is no mistaking its careful shaping. Before it was consigned to its limestone tomb, it must have been quite beautiful. The multiple artist recreations of the complete Ogre certainly are, with an unearthly simplicity and marbled peacefulness that make them worthy of any artist’s brush.

Its eye was perhaps the most affecting to me. I spent hours staring at that strip of black stone, and I could not help but imagine a flicker of red deep in its depths. I couldn’t escape the sense that this strange monster could stand upright and take notice at any moment; not an object, but a slumbering being. The history that this creature had seen; the echoes of our ancestors before they walked upright, the strange magics and arcane technologies that they had borne witness to, the cultures and people that they had long since forgotten…

It is one thing to see the sublime in the majesty of a waterfall or the expanse of a starlit sky; it is quite another to see it in the empty polish of a sleeping giant’s eye. At once, the Ogre seemed much larger than I first thought. I was stunned by the ephemeralness of our own world; it’s easy to believe the things we see around us — the buildings, the culture, the technology — will last forever. Surely, if it lasts longer than our own lives, it might as well be a permanent fixture on our world; but when I looked into the eyes of an Ogre, a being was old enough to see the first civilizations of humanity, I realized how fragile our world truly was.

I thought of all the laborers and craftsmin who toil daily repairing roads and sealing cracks. I thought of how hard we all work to maintain the traditions and stories that fill our lives. I thought of the stories I used to tell myself, and how hard it was to learn new stories. I thought of the stories I kept, and how even if I wasn’t really lying to myself, I wasn’t wise enough to be certain of the truth.

Of course, even if the Ogre of Eddling does not bring into sharp relief the lines between past and future for you, it is still an amazing historical artifact, well worth the trip.

The Museum of Eddling History

As should be evident from the name, the Ogre of Eddling is not the only exhibit in the Museum of Eddling History. There are several other exhibits pertaining to the history of Eddling, from the early eras before the province was officially founded in 1322, to the more modern history of the early 19th century. I’ve composed a small list of the exhibits you definitely don’t want to miss:

The Armor of Sonn Tramar

Gifted to the Museum in 1920, this suit of armor was one of the three sets historically worn by the knight Sonn Tramar, during their service to the Eddling crown. Somewhat unique among historical figures, Sonn Tramar has a roughly comparable amount of myth and documented fact written about them. This has been a boon to sociologists who study trends in how the truth blossoms into legend. While the armor itself is a marvel to behold, the Museum also has a comprehensive collection of documentation about Sonn Tramar’s life, both historical and fantastical.

A Timeline of Carpentry

Carpentry and woodworking are core industries in Hapsprat, and a comprehensive history of the industry in Eddling is one of the central attractions of the Museum. From axes and saws to the industrial mills and machine tools that now supply the region, the history of Eddling’s carpentry is a tale well worth exploring.

The Peddlin Runner

The first commercial train engine to run across Eddling, the Peddlin Runner was put into operation in 1805 and retired in 1872. As a part of the exhibit on trains in Eddling’s history, the Peddlin Runner is in remarkable condition, polished and refurbished so it looks as though it could carry on its duties without concern; excepting, of course, the changes in track grades over the years. With its efficient design and low-price tickets, the Peddlin Runner is likely the machine that started the train-revolution in Eddling.

A Timeline of the Rennigs

Rennigs is one of the largest food cooperatives in the known world. Founded in the early fifteenth century as a farmer’s guild, Rennigs’ history is one of constant struggle. Rennigs has been a mainstay in several major historical events, including its impact on the Rolling Wars and its innovations in food distribution during the Coldhill Famine. The Rennigs Union is one of the most powerful unions in the world, and has influenced the Eddling government to make significant changes in its foreign policy. Using Rennigs as a lens through which to view Eddling History was a brilliant idea.

The Art of Cloe Rolthein

Cloe Rolthein is one of the most famous artists from Eddling, and their mastery of color and shape has inspired multiple artists to new and great heights. From her earliest paintings, such as the Rose Recumbent and Lord and Lady Laughing, to her more modern experiments such as Color in Three and Shapes Aggressing, Cloe Rolthein’s work is a collection of masterpieces. Not content with just showing her work, the Museum delights in comparing her art to that of her contemporaries, showing how they inspired others, and how others inspired them. This exhibit highlights how difficult it is to separate an artists from their fellows, or from the time they work in.

Accommodations

Hapsprat is a small town, and so only has a few hotels for travelers to stay at. The King’s Bed is the largest, with a wide variety of rooms for rent; but with travel to Hapsprat being such an easy and relatively swift prospect, I would advise finding accommodations in nearby Porriwat or New Ricland. Both towns have more hotels and tourist services, as well as a wide variety of restaurants and sight-seeing opportunities.

Consider the Bloombag Inn in New Ricland; one of the oldest hotels in the city, the Bloombag Inn has a great rustic style and comfortable rooms. The dining room is its own restaurant, though its daily menu only has two or three options for each meal. The limited options are made up for by the quality of the food, however, and one free meal is included with every room rental.

In Porriwat, the Sundown Inn is my place of choice to stay. Authentically Rekek in its style, the walls are made from dried cedar wood that once housed mud-termites. The mud-termites’ digestive juices react with the wood to create the inn’s distinctive peppery smell, a cozy scent that never fails to calm and soothe me after a long day.

While the Sundown Inn doesn’t provide food, there is a breakfast traveler-chewery not two doors down; Redstove. With high-quality ingredients at an excellent price, Redstove is one of the better traveler-eateries in the city. They close after lunch-hour, however, so plan accordingly.

Things to Do

Daytime

Hapsprat is a small industrial town, with little in the way of fancy art galleries or extravagant sight-seeing. All the same, while I could spend a full day in Hapsprat, absorbing the exhibits of the Museum of Eddling History, I recognize that not everyone is so readily satisfied with a single attraction.

The caves under Hapsprat are perhaps the most obvious alternative; tours are still given regularly, two or three times a day. For only eight tin, you can see some of the most beautiful natural limestone structures in the world: The Ballroom is a large cavern filled with limestone stalactites and pillars that suggest a room with dangling garlands and a pipe-organ at one end. The Blue Gardens are a small collection of limestone terraces made from the mineral springs deep in the caves. Also look out for Painter’s Brushes; stalactites and stalagmites made from the water run-off from the Typine river; the multiple mineral deposits from further up the river have resulted in a marbled limestone of many dazzling colors.

If you are a lover of Eddling cuisine, one of the greatest tourist-winswaks I have ever been to is in nearby New Ricland. Allisa Winswak is adverized as a ‘demonstrative dining experience,’ to show travelers the pinnacle of Eddling cooking. As with any other traditional winswak, you are expected to bring a collection of simple ingredients; but rather than cook them yourself, you give them to an assigned personal chef for your party. The chef will then cook the meal at your table while performing traditional folk-songs and ballads, using their utensils as both tools and musical instruments. If you want to see what a true master of the chef’s art can do, Allisa Winswak is the perfect place to eat.

Evening

Hapsprat is small enough that there is no distinct “nightlife” to consider. There are night-time tours of the caves, but I find them far less interesting without the sunlight slipping in through the small cracks and holes.

Porriwat, on the other hand, has a thriving nightlife, with countless opportunities to spend your time and money. The Hot Spot, on Dourglane between Oakgram and Onslane, is a popular dance club with nightly performances by local DJs and musicians. Right next door is the Fable Bar and Grill, a tourist-restaurant that serves their own house-brewed ale along with a wide variety of quality late-night plates.

The Porriwat Symphony plays every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at the Rimsbull Pavillion on Ellonane street. Their program changes every month, alternating between foreign classic and traditional local music, so be sure to visit again if you are a lover of orchestral music.

There are several excellent parks and gardens in both Porriwat and New Ricland, but the Sparkling Gardens in Porriwat come alive at night. Populated with flowers, bushes, and trees that are sought out by nocturnal species, the Sparkling Gardens are home to a wide variety of night insects and animals, including fireflies, night-jays, hedgehogs, and glow-ants. This turns the gardens into a dazzling display of color during the evening hours, and well worth a visit if you’re in the area.