Jarec made a living as a sailor on the Choralinthor Bay. That body of water had been friendly to the humans living upon its shore ever since Faralinthor had covered Esrola, and after an initial sweeping had shaken off the Closing, allowing fairly regular trade by boat and ship between the cities on its shores. Choralinthor was the favourite deity of most of the Islander families, followed by his associates and friends of Sea, Air and Land.
The Arthain family had run a couple of small vessels at a time through most of the history of the Godking's reign, and claimed a tradition back before the curse of the Closing. Their house lay amid a typical Islander fisherfolk village on a tidal canal opposite the main city island of Seapolis, about two miles away. Within their community the Arthain had transported their sea-harvest to the more lucrative markets lining the mainland shores of the Mirrorsea Bay, returning with goods not available or more expensive on the Islands. From these beginnings they had started a regular trade venture, with branches of the family living in the ports of Nochet and Rhigos, but the centre of the family's venture still was here on the Islands. Jarec was the second son of the family head, and rather than manage the stead and entire business, he had served on one of the family ships for most of his adult life, finally upon his marriage to Estrid gaining command of the vessel he had piloted for the last three years.
The Deasciath had been fisherfolk for their entire history, but they also had a tradition as pearl merchants and boat builders. Their Waertagi ancestor gave them an edge over other boat builders around Seapolis when it came to hull design and an understanding of the waves, and was frequently invoked and consulted by the family. The Deasciath hall formed the core of a village on the northward shore some 8 miles west of Seapolis, above a tidal lagoon which offered anchorage even to medium-sized Mirrorsea craft when Brastalos chose to fight it out with her kin. Estrid was the fourth of seven children, and the second daughter. She had been prepared to a spiritual life, as a possible successor to the spirit woman of the family, but when one day the Arthain family came to order a new vessel, she made the aquaintance of Jarec con Arthain, which affected her spirituality somewhat. Jarec returned more and more often, until Estrid was married to him when Freca was on his way into life. Part of her dowry was a small relic shrine to contact her ancestors.
Married life must have inspired Jarec, because he started a successful business shipping Heortland wool to Nochet, and Esrolite grain and pottery back to Heortland. After Freca's birth (in the Deasciath house) he moved his family to relatives in the Wharves District of Nochet, a quarter dominated by folk of Islander stock.
Nochet was as busy a city as ever, with all sorts of strange people and undertakings going on. Jarec spent most of his time in town with his wife and son, but he also entertained a growing circle of aquaintances and friends, mostly from the other pilots and travellers, but also including merchants and even sages. One of his friends introduced Jarec to an odd fellow named Dormal, a visionary according to his friends, a lunatic according to the majority of the people who knew him. Dormal was a middle-aged traveller who had seen most of Maniria, and he had participated in several strange events, including even one Tournament of Luck and Death to determine the new host body of the Godking. Dormal spoke almost a dozen languages, including the major non-human ones spoken in and around the Holy Country, and he had been a scholar of sorts. He spent long days and nights in the lectory of the Great Library rummaging through half-forgotten manuals from the Jrusteli Age, and even older tomes, and he had researched the Only Old One's Fleet of Black Ships enough to gain his sagehood from a paper he claimed to have written while he was snowed in for three weeks in the Skyreach Mountains.
Dormal was curious about anything connected to sailing, and he could spend entire evenings interviewing (some people even said interrogating) sailors or boat-builders. When he had learned of Estrid's ability to speak to a Waertagi ancestor (he never let on how he had learned that) he was eager to learn about this individual's experiences, and spend many an evening in Jarec's house, in casual conversation with Freca's parents watching the boy play with replicas of Jarec's ship, as well as with a couple of models he used to bring along, for inspection by Estrid's ancestor. Since Dormal had gifted Jarec's family richly and proved to be a good friend, Estrid did contact her ancestor twice for Dormal, the first time just giving judgement (quite harsh, actually) on a couple of Dormal's designs, the second time spending almost an entire night in vivid discussion of ship-building minutiae even Estrid's older brothers (who continued the family business of boat-building) would have found irrelevant.
Jarec followed Dormal's project with friendly interest, but kept to his profitable route connecting Nochet with the Heortland ports rather than join the ship-building project Dormal had convinced the Godking to support - or tricked, as common opinion went. Jarec did sail escort for Dormal's "tub"when he started his famous first voyage, though, actually as a gesture of grief for his friend. He was overjoyed when Dormal returned from a voyage deemed impossible for more than 600 years, over to Handra and then out to the Threestep Isles which no man had seen in at least this time-span. Upon Dormal's triumphant return the Godking ordered a fleet of ships built, and this time Jarec joined the action, leaving his vessel and trade routes to the able hands of his Nochet relatives.
Jarec was a captain in the Godking's fleet accompanying Dormal on his second voyage, later that year. In Handra they were joined by local people who had adopted Dormal's techniques on his first visit, and set sail further west. After losing two complete crews to the spears and torches of superstitious natives on the Ramalian shore just trying to purchase some food, and beset by Dark Season storms, Dormal's fleet took anchorage in one of the many bays of the island of Alatan. They were ambushed by that Island's ruler, Jobar, too, but in a couple of battles they first fought him off, and when that did not deter Jobar from harrassing them further, campaigned against his ragged force of hillmen and slew the self-styled King of Smelch. His successor was more sensible, and spent a lot of time with his guests, admiring their vessels. After Sacred Time they set sail again to the West, to the land of Zzabur, to further combat his curse. Their arrival at Pithdaros and then Noloswal caused great commotion, and the local Shipwrights' Guild and the Duke greeted the combined Kethaelan and Handran expeditionary fleet enthusiastically. Jarec contacted several merchant houses in Noloswal, and prepared deals for Heortland wool and Rightarm Isles pearls in exchange for iron ingots and other western produce. Heartened by this progress, he remained with Dormal's fleet for next year's expedition to Brithos.
Following ancient maps obtained at Talar Hold in God Forgot, Dormal led his fleet on westwards, along the Pasos archipelago and across the Neliomi current to the Vadeli Isles. They did not spend too much time among this pitiful brown-skinned people living in the ruins of once fabulous palaces, but set out for the fabulous Island of Brithos, mother of the Western peoples.
End of Glorantha Digest V3 #20
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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