THE

BOOK OF GHOST

SHIPS

“In Evidence of the Alliance” edited by General Constantine Forward and introduction by Theodore Brunelleschi

THE SIX BOOKS.
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I. THE EMPRESS
BASED UPON THE DIARIES OF JOSE ORLANDO ADDITIONS BY SIMEON JAPES

II. FATA MORGANA
AN EXTRACT FROM THE MEMOIRS OF GRAND DUKE FOTHERINGAY

III. MAPPA MUNDI
BY HENRY CHROME

IV. HENRY OF MAD
BY THOMAS LOAN

V. THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH
BY THE EMIR OF TYRE

VI. THE LIGHT OF ETHEREA
BY MIRABELLA

Forward In light of what was known of those people and of their fate, Northlanders were known to have lived a pretty precarious existence all-round, untouched it appeared, by most contemporary influences that tiresomely affect the ever-changing rendition of our own world. In addition, without laying shame or scorn on those who were prepared to bring down the charismatic realm that was Thuranbrow, otherwise known as the “great forest” no other way appeared other than to have listed the hardliners in a manner that would “name and shame” them, in other words ridiculed them. This of course was seen as throwing caution to the wind but in order for the forest to survive there was no other way. However, this theory does seem unlikely! In some respects it amounted to taking the bull by the horns, hoping a little dialogue might gently dissuade the inevitable from happening! With all that was happening upon the fringes of the Northlands, I felt the time had come to review the complete work one more time - The Tall Ships Saga -bearing in mind present circumstances and all that. Throughout and wherever possible, I have justifiably defended the original text (if such a thing was ever possible); attempted in my efforts to maintain discreet neutrality; and only adding asides wherever the text (written in the Gothic hand) required additional clarification. Sadly, for those sceptical about the Northlands and its remarkable people such tales can only appear trite, trivial or even perverse! Critics have gone as far as calling “far-fetched” even and remarkably “distant from our own worldly troubles!”

Far from being so and evident by each of the six narratives – amusing in some ways; perverse in others – the stories not only reflect the kind of problems the authors were up against at the time while attempting to drip-feed the narratives to the Alliance, but of the impending gloom that was sweeping through the Northlands fast, attributed by and large by that soulless freak, Sebastian Gruel, emperor of Urban-rug. The constraints imposed upon these people to attain a precise vision of what they witnessed was happening to their wonderland was limited by a set of rules all too difficult to adhere to let alone to have functioned. In other words the Sagas were and open challenge upon modern hypocrisy opening doors and windows previously thought shut – upon too some of our most intimate and sinister feelings. It is by this scrap of evidence and information alone made available to myself upon which I based the manuscript.

Happily, Samuel Small (1812-1899), a unique fellow in every way when it came to documenting the life and works of trolls, gave away more in what he regarded as superfluous as he did with what he deemed appropriate! I cannot vouch for being anywhere as thorough in my observations as the great scribe himself, but somewhere in this humble vision of a pious Order attempting to make sense of a world running amok, I do hope you might find something of the manner in which the characters in these narratives were formed. And though some were not directly connected to the Northlands – inadvertently these adventurers found themselves being drawn into the camp for better or worse! If only Small had been a century later in his findings with the advent of e-commerce and the world wide web at his fingertips, his entire body of work would have certainly taken on another dimension that we as travellers of digital technology have come to expect, and conceivably opened up Northlanders to a greater part of our ruthless universe.