Maps - Kalimo's "cut"

One of many maps, crafted by Kalimo, the First Cartographer.

1. Cloudy vasts. Yaraga never ventured so far into the heart of Hal', where dust turns into clouds. What lies there... Who knows?
Yaraga believe there is nothing there but clouds. Not even soil.

2. Deeper travelers venture into the heart of the continent of Hal', the more surreal the landscape becomes. Rocks —truly— hover and fly, small as pebbles and huge as islands the size of a city, embraced by clouds' fleece.

3. As they saw the second continent, Arzuli called it a "dried-out biscuit", entirely composed of flakes and layers. On one hand, this is a treasure find for prospectors. On the other - it’s neigh impossible to reach these canyons without getting lost or dead. Therefore, these lands remain untouched.

4. In the North of Hal', the only settlement established by those who arrived from Agan has taken it's root - Vayerth. Desperately clinging to its newly conquered land, the province is attempting to wall itself off from the continent as Silent Daim guards itself from cold. For Hal is an alien and wild land, remaining untamed.

5. The world’s sky is guarded by a vast belt of stones and stars frozen in time. A congregation of cosmic dust and shards.
Yaraga call it the “Moon of Serpents” — in their tales, it is one of two enormous serpents guarding all that is.

6. On his maps Kalimo, the First Cartographer, often includes notes referencing legends of places and landmarks. Fledgling travelers frequently mistake these notes for history, confusing fairy tales with reality...
...or, perhaps, they mistake reality for mere tales.

7. Charting a course between Agan and Hal' is a special challenge. The shortest route is a direct one, but that means sailing through the Ayleri archipelago.

8. Archipelago ilands turned out to be more than just top of land curves on the seafloor — they are peaks of something akin to enormous fjords hidden beneath oceans' waters, of which even the Aylery themselves know very little. Whether there’s even a seafloor down there - no words are spoken...

9. The North of Agan, a fragment of the supercontinent, is warded off from frost by towering cliffs, which Yaraga named “Heavens' Veil” as they arrived to this land.

10. These same cliffs are the source of most of the rivers known to living ones. The largest of them is the Great Stream.

11. That place where Yaraga finally managed to cross the mountains is now called “Mar Sheteran,” the Hermit City. It is the northernmost city of all.

12. However, there are caves within the body of those rocks. Deep, winding, frostbitten.
They are not marked on maps — Yaraga can not survive cold — but they too might lead into the snows of the North… Someone might just as well follow such a path.

13. There are countless fissures and caverns within earth’s body. And they are filled with water — raging and roaring. This is the underground torrent — Talvu, mother of all rivers.

14. ...and somewhere down below, deep, deep down, there are even more caves. No one has seen them, and no one has ever been there — only the craftsmen of Seven Families claim they found siphon shafts that extend to terrifying depths. They have adapted these shafts into wells into which the remnants of their dreadful craft end discarded.

15. Beyond the Heaven's Veil nothing but snow is to be seen. Nothing — but a single peak. It is named “Gray Vagabond” or “Snow Wanderer” — base of this mountain is never visible and its shape varies from teller to teller, year to year... It is impossible to say how far away it is or whether it’s real. Yet it is there.

16. A year is the time between two appearances of the Midday Star. It is depicted as a cross: poles indicate the year, and “wings” represent the annual shift of the magnetic fields flow, which determine the seasons.

17. Kalimo is known for his strange habit — all his maps bear a monstrously large typhoon rising above the horizon.
It is not part of the world, it is merely a fairy tale. This tornado-shaped cloud, half the size of the sky, is called “The Beast’s Clime”. It is often seen in dreams - and dreamers say the wind sleeps there.
Why Kalimo keeps depicting it with such consistency... even he himself might not know.

18. Kalimo, the First Cartographer.
He is depicted with his “hilay” — a halo ornament, a symbol of mastery in one's craft. His hilay is shaped after the “star compass,” into which he tries to record the world’s ever-changing magnetic fields, at least somehow.

19. One of the minor symbols is a black circle with a bird. A bird flying into the darkness is a symbol of the unknown.