The Various Vermin of a Veduka City - The Journal of Anther Strein

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As little as I care for them, it must be admitted that it is far from fair to think of cities as sterile things – although they invariably displace a good deal of native wildlife, in its stead they play host to a curious range of urban creatures. The teri, the dulgi and the gwaemul are but a few of the animals ubiquitous to cities across Proesus, apparently thriving in the presence of sapients. It would be remiss of me not to make some account of them, as mundane a description as it may seem to any city-dwellers - for whom the animals are a daily fact.

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The Blind Creatures of the Caves Below - The Journal of Anther Strein

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A great many creatures inhabit the caves carved by the river, as can be inferred from the blind, pale corpses that occasionally emerge at the other end. The cave platypus, navel salamander, grey vollyvog and the sunken blindfish are known only from these caves. One might shudder to ponder what other nameless creatures abide there, groping blindly to feed on the nutrients conveyed to them by the river, and on each other.

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Grændels Stalk the Sunken River - The Journal of Anther Strein

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We had paused in an eddy by the bank for lunch when she emerged from the murk, not a height from our boat. Had I not chanced to be looking in that direction I might have missed her entirely. She lurked just below the surface, the eyes pointed toward me from the centre of her wide, spade-shaped head. She was utterly still - until she raised her head, ever so slightly, for her slitted nostrils – the nostrils only – to breach the surface. They opened slowly, took our scent, and then closed; she receded from sight once more. She had not made a single sound or movement that, if I hadn't already been aware of her, would have betrayed her presence. That deadly stillness, if one has witnessed the speed and ferocious power with which the female can erupt from the water, is as menacing as any roar. We elected to take our lunch on the move.

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Familar Faces: My Kin, the Paluchard - The Journal of Anther Strein

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I have lacked both the time and the energy to write anything since my last entry. Over the past week we have been engaged in a hard slog to make up for lost time; first through the outer reaches of the Erefal Wood and then descending into the basin of the Veduka Rainforest. As one approaches the rainforest, the erefal trees become gradually stunted. More light filters through from above, and the undergrowth takes proportionate advantage. Smaller trees become more common - eucalypts, palms, and raintrees - until eventually, the erefals give way entirely to lush jungle. As I hoped we would, we came to a series of old game trails sloughed by other Paluchard. Still, it has not been easy going.

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The Humble Ovix and the Changes Wrought in Her Form - The Journal of Anther Strein

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The ovix echidna is farmed throughout Proesus for its meat, milk and eggs. This has been happening for a very long time, far longer than any surviving record has existed. The ovix’s diet – somewhat expanded, depending on those keeping it – ordinarily consists of ants, termites, and the larvae of other insects. Many who keep ovices also keep an ant farm as feed. The most common choice is the friendly ant (Amicus utilis), a species which has itself been thoroughly domesticated.

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The Habits and Hazards of the Mighty Rowax Ape - The Journal of Anther Strein

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The rowax may be the only remaining species of ape. Muscle-bound, with greyish skin and a coating of red hair, the rowax can stand as tall as six metres. Allied to a fierce and burning curiosity, an intellect ranking high among the beasts of Proesus, and a general lack of inhibition in directing each of these attributes toward the harm of others, one begins to see how the ape may pose a serious danger.

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The Austia of Leafshrine - The Journal of Anther Strein

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This is my last week in the village of Leafshrine, a tiny community of Austia (Teensies explorator) deep in the Erefal Woods. Although I have worked with Austia before, I have never spent so prolonged a period living among them. The Austia, as a civilized species, have endured discrimination from as far back as history goes - owing chiefly, I believe, to their insectoid nature.

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On Concurrent Cake Decoration for Divorce Ceremonies

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In Haber, cake decoration takes place during the ceremony, artistically incorporating events and symbols important to the couple. Lesha is the cake artist at a divorce ceremony where a clash of cultures results in disaster.

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Foreword - The Journal of Anther Strein

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When I first heard of Anther Strein, and of the famous Theory for which she is chiefly responsible, I was sitting in a lecture hall at the University of Manifold. I was about to fall asleep. I was wrenched rudely back to full consciousness by the sheer audacity of the assertions being made before me. Only once I had assured myself that the words emanating from the professor at the front of the room were not, in fact, generated by my own semi-conscious hallucination, but were uttered in complete sincerity, did I begin to realise the full impact of what I was hearing. The elegance of Anther’s ideas and the fundamental truth behind them struck me deeply; they cast new insight on everything I knew of the living world. I wished immediately that I had learnt of them much earlier.

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The Journal of Anther Strein

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Anther Strein is a travelling naturalist in the science fantasy world of Pendant. In her studies of the astounding animals and plants of her surroundings, a question has often nagged her - how did such diversity come to exist, and how does it adapt to the ever-shifting conditions of the natural world? A dangerous idea is forming at the back of her mind: one in which gradual change, rather than instantaneous creation, is the main driving force of the natural world.

Join Anther on her journey across the continent of Proesus, as she records her observations of bizarre animals and plants and unravels the mysterious relationships between life, magic and natural selection in an enchanted world.

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