Kamagua and the Tuskarr

 After recovering from the shock of my last missive from Caius, I thought maybe I’d share some of his more tame observations with you all.  In his travels in the cold of Northrend, he has come across a race of very interesting people.  The Tuskarr live on the coasts of the Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord and the Dragonblight.  The influence of the sea, mainly fishing and whaling, can be seen in almost every aspect of their daily lives.  I’d even go so far, after reading some of Caius’ observations, as to say these livelihoods are as much a spiritual observance to them as a means of daily sustenance.

Caius sent me a picture of the village of Kamagua to share with you.  The structures they build even resemble the fish and whales to whom they owe their existance and are made with support beams of whale bones.  I found the Kamagua Inn especially interesting.  It is mostly dug into the ground with an above-ground appearance similar to an angler fish, right down to the lantern dangling above the entrance shaped like the fishes maw.  I’m not sure how long it would take me to get used to descending into what seems to be the mouth of a creature to settle in for the night.  Caius says the dwellings are very warm and cozy though.

The Giant Sea Turtle that travels between Moa’ki Harbor and Kamagua is in at the dock.  I am in awe of these great animals, and I have yet to lay my own eyes on one.  Caius tells of the smooth ride offered on the “decks” attached to the shells of these magnificent creatures, and the speed at which they glide through the water.  I can’t help but wonder if the Tuskarr got it right when it comes to traveling on the seas.  Ships built by man and elf seem so clumsy and intrusive by comparison.

Caius was very impressed with the harmony in the Tuskarr communities.  He writes that they are very family oriented and that the communities are very tight knit.  Every member of the community is expected to do their share to make sure the community is secure and well provided for.  Everyone helps out with the various chores that make the community run well.  I can see how beneficial this way of living would be.  In this way the health of the community is assured as all are protected and provided for…and everyone is too busy to cause problems   This “rule of providing” applies even to guests in their villages.  Caius writes that while he was staying in the Tuskarr villages, he had many jobs to do that helped the locals in their daily lives.  He aided them by performing many tasks that they either were too short handed to manage easily on their own, or that seemed suspiciously designed to test his moral fiber.  He must have done well for himself as they call him “friend” now.

Caius writes that the Tuskarr seem to be a very spiritual people.  Their Shamans are very highly regarded and consulted in all matters of importance.  They conduct rituals to heal, to aid in the catch and to adjust the weather.  They offer guidance in the areas of marriages, births, deaths and many other occurances of importance in daily life.

Caius noticed that the spiritual or revered places of the Tuskarr are usually marked with beautiful kites.  He has yet to find out if these are offerings to the spirits, beacons for any tuskarr travelers or simply weathervanes.  But I must agree with him on their beauty against the northern lights.

I’m hoping to hear from my intrepid cousin again soon so I can share more of his observations of the peoples and places of the frozen north.  He mentioned something about “Dragon Shrines” in closing this last one and I’m eager to read what, exactly, he meant by that.

~Zyrena

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Tags: Borean Tundra, Giant Sea Turtle, Kamagua, Northrend, Tuskarr

Post Cards from Caius – Northrend Travel

 Hi All.  Zyrena here again with more interesting things from my intrepid cousin, Caius, up in Northrend.  This time he sent me a letter talking about some of the neat ways he’s encountered to get around since he got there.

According to Caius, he can’t fly his pretty white gryphon there yet. While the gryphon has no issues, Caius himself needs to learn how to cope with the colder air temperatures at such a northern climate before he can use her.  Yet another indication that my cousin may be a bit more…umm…delicate… than I had previously realized.  Ah well.

I mentioned the great icebreakers to you all before when we talked about Caius’ journey to Howling Fjord and Valgarde.  The Northspear can get through almost anything the northern seas can throw at her and do it with grace.  But Caius sends home word of another kind of ship used up there to get between the Tuskarr villages.  It seems they employ Giant Sea Turtles.  The Tuskarr tame these huge sea animals and build cabins on their shells.  I noticed from Caius’ picture that they are using a bunch of carrots on a stick to get the turtles to go where they want.  I’m guessing that at each port the magnificent creatures are rewarded for their service.  Otherwise, I’d think they’d get tired of the monotony and just dive.  That would be a rather uncomfortable situation for any passengers I’d think.  Apparently, there are sometimes traveling merchants on these vessles who can take any extra goods to help adventurers lighten their packs and sometimes there are even Tuskarr adept at gear repair aboard.

While wandering one of the Tuskarr villages, Caius came upon some personal water craft that he found noteworthy.  The Tuskarr use small outrigger canoes to go out on the water to fish and to get about on personal business.  These small craft are fitted with metal plating on the bows.  Caius surmised in his letter that this plating must protect the skin of the vessle from shell ice and burgs floating around that are too small to bother paddling around.  The metal plating also had serrations along the keel and bow-sprit.  The only uses I can think of for this would be for traction on the ice if one were to drive the bow into an iceflow, or to dig into the ice after the bow was dragged up on a flow.  Maybe this is how the Tuskarr keep their outriggers from floating away as they hunt over the ice.

The next interesting mode of transportation Caius wrote about is the cable-boat.  I know that sounds odd, but I’m not sure what else to call it.  It is a suspended cable system with a goldola in the shape of a small long-boat.  It has one end anchored above the Tuskarr village of Kamagua in Howling Fjord.  The Kalu’ak, the local Tuskarr, call this “The Ancient Lift” and it runs up from the Isle of Spears to the mainland, just to the south west of Ember Clutch and to the north west of New Agamand.  Personally, I’m not so sure I’d be using something called “Ancient” that travels over open northern waters and traverses such verticle distance.  I’m starting to think that for someone so delicate, Caius is much more adventurous than he should be.

Or that’s what I thought until I read on farther int he letter and saw the next two modes of transport he tried up there in the frozen north.  I mean really.  A Gnomish float plane with a cable hook on the back?  What do they use that cable hook for anyway?!  I’m not really sure I want to know.  I also couldn’t help but notice in the picture he sent me that the pontoons have maniacly grinning faces painted on them.  That must be to show the state of mind of any pilot crazy enough to fly one of these things.  And the plane hardly looked big enough to be carrying around a draenei of Caius’ stature.  May the Naru help him if they happen to encounter any low flying water fowl!  I really am starting to doubt the sanity of my cousin.

One more paragraph and I knew we had come to the end of Caius’ mental capacity.  He’s not “adventurous”…he’s insane!  Apparently Gnomish flying contraptions are not quite exciting enough.  Without a picture from an incredulous by-stander in Valgarde, I never would have believed this next one.  Caius writes that he was sent up above Wyrmskull Village to see a man called Icehammer.  That man sent him on a couple assignments having to do with massive harpoon guns.  At the end of the last mission… at the end of the last mission Caius was sent back to Valgarde.  Not by horseback, not back through Utgarde Keep… but…. on the back of a harpoon.  Yes, my brilliant cousin, the renouned priest, fired himself out of a harpoon gun.

I think I have to go and lay down now.

Until next time, have fun and keep safe

 – Zyrena

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Tags: Ancient Lift, Icehammer, Northrend, Tuskarr, Valgarde, WoW

Postcards from Caius – First look at Howling Fjord

 Hello again.   Zyrena here today.   My cousin,Caius, left for Northrend a while ago and he’s been sending back pictures of things that he found interesting.   I thought it may be nice to share some of them with you so that you can see what some of the areas up there are like.   So every now and then, we will include a set of his pictures so we can all enjoy his travels together.   Sarra and I have been going through the packages and thought we’d start at the beginning of the journey to one of the ports of entry to Northrend.

Menethil Harbor is out in the Wetlands of The Eastern Kingdoms.   Nice place if you like crocolisks, gnolls and raptors apparently.   Caius complained bitterly about them and the dampness.   He did, however, say he really liked the harbor.   The picture he sent is very beautiful.   He also noted that the people, for the most part, are friendly as long as you are careful in the tavern.   There are two docks here.   One has a ship that travels back and forth to Theramore in Kalimdor and the other, the one of particular interest to us today is where the icebreaker Northspear docks when coming in from or departing for Howling Fjord in Northrend.

The journey across the sea is very easy according to Caius.   He hardly noticed the time passing until the chill of the north started to penetrate the hull.   He says the time seemed to slow down at that point.   Personally, I think he just needs to stop worrying about how his robes match his belt and get something warmer to wear up there.

As he neared the coast, he noted some of the local wildlife that seemed to be having a better time with the temperature than one certain poor Draenei priest.

The fjord that is the entrance to Valgarde was impressive.   Caius said the icebreaker handled the wild currents with no indication that she felt them at all.   Such a large ship, built to handle the ice of the northern waters, rode the froth and turbulant currents with ease.

The small fjord that the Northspear travels to go in and out of the harbor is winding and the walls are so close in places that Caius said they almost scraped the hull.   Apparently the defences of this harbor are unconventional and harsh.   I never would have believed the story Caius sent us if he had not included a picture.

Apparently there are great barbed chains hanging in the channel that can grasp an enemy ship and hoist it up the very cliffs, there to be left to the mercy of the defenders.   I am unclear as to who the defenders are exactly, as the ship in the picture looks like the ships I have seen in Booty Bay, Theramore and Stormwind. But I know that the Bloodsail also use ships of similar configuration.

Caius noted that the wildlife is different in Northrend.   I guess because it’s colder there the animals have adapted in different ways to their environment than they have here in the more southern climates.   One picture he sent to me was of hammerhead sharks.   I’ve seen such things before, but they were not as big nor as bold as these specimens seem to be.  

As the Northspear pulled into the harbor at Valgarde, Caius said he was startled to find the enemy so close and actually attacking Valgarde.   He took a picture of what he thought was an interesting village on the way into the docks, only to find out later that it is occupied by a race of very large people calling themselves “Dragonflayers”.   These large warriors are using worgs and dragons to attack Valgarde from the neighboring village, Wyrmskull.

The people of Valgarde are doing everything they can to hold off the attackers long enough to create a rallying point for new arrivals in the area.   The repair crews are at work night and day to keep up with the damage.

Not everything in Valgarde has been left in ruins.   But this is due to the monumental efforts of the repair crews and the defenders who work in shifts round the clock to keep their little foothold in Howling Fjord.   Along with them are the dockworkers, quartermasters, field medics and others all giving everything they can to keep Valgarde on the map.   Caius was greatly impressed by the efforts of this fine group.   He sent too many pictures to post here, but we have selected one to give you an idea of what Valgarde actually “feels” like.

And ever curious about the livestock of the area, Caius couldn’t resist commenting on the fact that turkeys seem to be everywhere in Valgarde….I have to say it…Takes one to know one

That’s all we have for now.   But sometime soon we will post another of Caius’ packets to show you a little more of the frozen north.   Until then, keep well and talk to you soon.

–Zy and Sarra

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Tags: Howling Fjord, Northrend, Valgarde, WoW, Wyrmskull