Pages from the Blackleaf Archive
On Roads, The Wood, And What Lies Beyond
While this author hopes that his warnings of the dangers within stay with the readers, now we move on to the true subject of the text: the Roads.
They, like the Faerie Wood, have borne as many names as there are cultures under the sun. And, this author is certain, many more besides. The Labyrinth of Spirits. The Unseen Stones. The Deathlands. The Dream Paths. None identical, and yet all related, for a given definition of the word. While they may change in subtle ways across the world, due to the whims of the Fae or as a murky reflection of the reality beneath, there are features and warnings that always hold true despite the varied biomes.
The Roads are inherently Other. There, magic drifts in the air and things that have never walked the Earth – even in the memories of the longest-lived immortals this author has known – roam. The paths that give name to the space are akin to a world of their own. They weave through the Wood and the Earth as a skein finer than the finest lace. Where magic gathers or the world runs thin, mortals and monsters and anything in between can pass through as blood falls from a pierced vein.
To the untrained eye, such as an adult bereft of the Gift, these passages are hidden. They may live their entire lives unknowing of the magic around them, ignorant of the danger passing through that one spot of twisted grass they unconsciously avoid entails.
And truly, danger it is.
Even a single step into the Roads takes you out of the world you know into something raw, primeval, and uncaring. Whether dirt or stone or – in these changing and uncertain times – asphalt, the passages will lead to unmistakable roadways. No reputable accounts have ever told of a beginning or ending of them, or of any pattern to the construction. They twist and branch and come together in a mandala that defies all attempts at unified mapping.
Exits are unmarked except by mortal hands, thinnings in the world along the trails and, in commonly occurring but rarely seen cases, deeper into the Wood. There, where travelers must rely on luck to return for even the Fates are blinded and powerless, the eyes of the Fae rove to claim the unwary who trespass on their unmarked lands. To wander the Roads is to tread their realm, to risk arousing their ire or suffering their tricks.
Despite the danger, these roads and the world they represent are the lifeblood of the occult. A reality of flowing, unbound magic that can be shaped at little risk and no inherent debt. Somewhere out of reach of any mundane authorities, where even the more supernatural ones fear taking heavy handed actions. A place where thousands upon thousands of years of magi have tread and died, leaving behind the secrets and relics of a bygone era.
Where, for the brave, secrets and riches just wait to be found.
Despite the dangers and the shifting nature of The Roads, some communities of practitioners and our…less human counterparts have forged cities upon patterns in that web. Focal points where paths tend to connect to each other, and where a path made by human hands may twist and grow to join the greater whole. Such places, for as long as they are maintained and in the good graces of the Fair Folk, become sanctuaries where magic is applauded.
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Other parts are twisted and knotted in ways outside our comprehension, scarred permanently by unknown cataclysms. There are even, rumors say, worlds akin to our own, lying in the unknown places that exist beyond the courts of the Fae.
In an effort to remain factual, this author will only discuss the areas he and his associates have personally verified the existence of, and then proceed to speculation and recounting of the disparate tales of the Faelands and what lies beyond.
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Encyclopedia Ephemeral – 2nd Edition
Description –
The cerboar appears relatively similar to the wild swine prevalent in Europe during past centuries, at least from a distance. Anything more than a cursory glance will show that it is, at best, loosely related to anything that walks the Earth.
Each of its eight legs, arranged in twin rows of four, has three separate joints. During movement they bend in ways that seem impossible by Earth standards. There is no properly defined foot, merely a thick pad of ‘skin’ that constantly wears away and regrows. Their hind end is smooth and rounded, with no openings or projections of any sort, excretory or otherwise. The ‘head’ is also rounded and indistinct from the rest of the body but possesses a mouth that peels back in six flaps. At the base of each flap is a crystalline tusk, the color and specific properties depending on diet.
The cerboar lacks defined teeth. Instead, their skeletal structure extends directly into the motile flaps, extrusions serving a similar purpose.
While they lack any defined sensory organs, smooth pits in their skin are repeated regularly around their center of mass and appear to serve as focal points for their abilities. Their skeletal structure is composed primarily of metal, while their skin is largely similar in both appearance and texture to the minerals in their primary diet. The flesh, what little there is, is a deep cerulean. It is utterly inedible.
Their stony skin appears to serve as waste removal – gradually growing and then cracking off when it grows too thick. Reproduction is rare, and only possible during periods immediately post-shedding, before the orifice is covered again.
Habitats –
The creature is mostly found in the more mountainous sections of the Roads, subsisting primarily on exposed mineral seams that then become concentrated into their bodies. Though rare, they are sometimes found in the forested regions as well. No specimens have been reported to survive removal from the Roads for longer than a month.
Capabilities –
The creatures are blind and dumb, but far from harmless. They possess mild psychic abilities, thought to stem from the pits in their stoney skin, which they use as an instinctive form of dowsing to discover accessible mineral veins. These also alert the creatures when another living thing is looking at them, which seems to drive them into a rage.
Their tusks are extremely sharp but are not particularly long, rarely extending more than twenty centimeters. They are used both for self-defense purposes, uprooting obstructions, and shattering ore to feed upon.
Uses –
A cerboar instinctively seeks out the minerals they are fed in infancy. This leads to their use as passive mining assistants – the magical nature of their feeding can concentrate even astonishingly diluted ingredients into pockets within their bones and sensory depressions. The tusks of any well-fed specimen are unusually durable compared to other crystalline objects, with niche uses in dowsing, as spellcasting foci, and occasionally as daggers.
Special Notes –
Despite their threat to the unprepared, a Cerboar is little danger to any studied mage. Due to their scarcity and use in reagent production, hunting is heavily restricted around all major extra-dimensional enclaves. Poaching is often punishable by death.