Note from Page Rrðcsemr - The great "Scavenger Hunts" of the Library have always been entertaining to us Pages. We spend so much time jumping about, throwing books into neat little holes, but we never get any time to sit down and read. While I was looking for a particular tome on how one can make a stew by cutting their hair, I was naturally curious when I found a little brown book on the ground. It was quite an entertaining tome! As I said, we rarely get any time to examine the books we so meticulously care for. I've sent it off to the Huntsmaster, here's hoping he'll enjoy it! In the meantime, here's a little excerpt to spread the joy of reading. Heehehehee!
To those knowledgeable of the more obscure crafts, the lands of the Hellenic Republic are quite… intriguing. Of course, there are the scenic yet fascinating beaches frequented by those of a more ordered and technical disposition, and the great hearths full of not-quite-fire one may find in the hills when the sun is not-quite-down. But these pale in comparison to the Greater City one can find folded within the streets of Athens. Lesser Athens, called that due to it being "tucked below" the conventional city, is truly a sight to see!
The Way inside is simple; construct a doorframe in the quieter alleyways. Take 3 cubits of the sort of vine one finds growing on a trestle and wrap it around the entryway until none of the wood can be seen. Take two rods of any metal but gold, and smear them in either olive oil or honey; whichever is more convenient. Stab them into the cracks between the pavement, one cubit from your entrance. Does this sound arbitrary? Good. The Universe meant it to be like this.
Entry is simple: grasp the doorway and push. Once you hear the snapping of vine and wood, turn and see the wonders of Lesser Athens! By tearing open the entrance, you have unfolded the city and revealed many more places of interest to lose yourself in.
Most who enter in the southern areas of the Greater City inside the Little Cracks (the exact location is irrelevant, as tearing open the very idea of a "location" tends to send you to where you need to go) will find themselves in the Garden of Hairs. They say a Goddess was about to bed one of her many immortal lovers, when the smallest scrap of her cloak tore on the folds of Lesser Athens. The little hairs of the cloth scrap sunk into the fabric of the city itself and began to grow. Their mere association with the Goddess, who many think was one of beauty, cause the hair to emerge like plants out of the soil, creating wonderous shapes and designs. If the merest scrap of something simply associated with this deity could create a place of such unusual beauty, imagine what she could make with her true essence!
But the Garden of Hairs is just one of many places in Lesser Athens an explorer could see. Opening your Way in the northern reaches of the city may bring you to the Temple of Whimsy, where fantastically unique colors and patterns float and flow freely through the air! Scholars say that as Gods tire of ruling mortals, they will slowly drift to sleep, sometimes for eons at a time. Their dreams and imaginations are so powerful when they slumber, their esoteric thoughts seemingly come into existence! If one were to bring a net or bag with them into the City, perhaps they could even capture one of these idle thoughts…
Entering elsewhere, one may find the old Bubbled Clock of the Archbishop. This is where a great priest of the more Christian side of the Devout decided to proselytize to the myriad inhabitants of Lesser Athens by building a great timepiece, using a single shard of his God. Floating in a magnificent bubble, it was made to show all of the Greater City the magnificence of his lord! Unfortunately for him, most of the denizens of the Greater City just considered it a new and convenient way to tell the time. They say the Archbishop still dwells inside the great clockwork machinations of the Clock, weeping over the people's ignorance.
All of these attractions, and so many more, can be found in the magnificent folds of Lesser Athens! Though this beautiful city does provoke a thought: could there be more like it, in the other historical settlements of the world? What if one were to try to unfold, say, Cairo? Or Roma? This humble author is in no place to say if there's anything to be discovered elsewhere.
