Excerpts

The Bogeyman will get you if you misbehave - Common admonishment made by parents to misbehaving children, especially along the Apple-Acorn Trail




“Yes, the Ancients were a people of great skills and power and technology. Of this there is no dispute.

And in addition to the many pieces of technology of the Ancients that we have been able to salvage, they also left us many other things – the Grey Wave, the mysterious Steel Forests to the north, the ‘Dope Hog’ and the Orange Death, to name but a few – that continue to bedevil us.

But to say that these so-called ‘Bogeymen’ of children’s stories truly exist is beyond ridiculous! Indeed, I daresay that it is borderline sedition and I will not stand for it in this city!” - Count Larote of El Condad doh Atlanta, addressing a group of concerned citizens




Dear God – their numbers seem to be endless!

I am now down to 35 Mareens out of an original 50. And the fort – hah! ‘Fort’ indeed! A small collection of ramshackle wooden buildings surrounded by an equally ramshackle wooden and dirt fort overlooking a minor trail in the middle of nowhere! And they called this a ‘Fort’. Hah! – and the fort has suffered extensive damage from their attacks.

But we are strong! We are vigilant! We are well-trained! After all – we are Mareens! Oo-rah!

But these attacks – bloody that they are – have given us much useful information on these ‘Bogeymen’. Like all of us, we had thought that these creatures were mere stories used by our mothers to make sure that we eat all our vegetables and clean up our rooms.

But that’s no longer the case.

I am staring at one of the corpses as I write this. The creature before me is about five feet tall and slight in build. Its fingers and toes are capped with horrible claws – like that of a mole – and the skin is an unusual translucent colour. I can even see the blood vessels! Hair is rare, if not completely non-existent. But its eyes – aye, those are the worst. Huge in size, they appear to be the size of my fist and appear to my untrained gaze to be mostly pupil. The teeth – as three of our fallen Mareens found to their horror – are knife sharp and there may even be some kind of venom in their saliva.

Their cries still give me nightmares. Like the hissing of cats and the growls of wolves combined together in one foul utterance. Gavin is convinced that the shrieks may even be a language of some sort. I know not of such matters; only that I am tired of their cowardly attacks. Give me an enemy that I can see! Give me an enemy that has the courage to attack us directly, not digging up from the ground to yank us screaming down into the dirt!

I have sent a runner two days ago to bring reinforcements; they should have been here by now, which indicates to me that either the runner has been killed by these foul beasts or that the reinforcements have been delayed.

No matter. The last few attacks by the beasts have been beaten off in every case. I am confident that we can survive –

Damn.

I’ve just been informed that another attack has begun.

I will continue this entry when I return.

- Final log entry of Captain Brendon, Commander of Fort Springwell. Despite three days intensive searching, the bodies of Captain Brendon, the fifty Mareens and the ‘Bogeymen’ corpses were never found.




Pope Gregory IV & Pope Andre III
Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei
Joint Papal Bull
To their venerable Brothers in the Episcopate
the Priests
the religious families, the sons and daughters of the Burlingville Catholic Church and Quebeker Catholic Church
and to all men and women of good will

The following are a list of censures of excommunication against the perpetrators of various offences, absolution from which is reserved solely to the Popes.

(1) Apostasy, heresy, and schism.
(2) Piracy in the seas.
(3) Plundering shipwrecked vessels, and seizure of flotsam and jetsam.
(4) The falsification of Apostolic Briefs and Bulls.
(5) Violence done to travellers on their way to and from Churches.
(6) Violence done to cardinals and bishops.
(7) The molestation of ecclesiastical judges.
(8) The usurpation of church goods, or the sequestration of the same without leave of the proper ecclesiastical authorities.
(9) The publication and dispensing of myths and falsehoods of Bogeymen as statements of fact and truth-hood.




“There is no ‘Bogeymen’. They are nothing but stories given by old women to frighten small children. Only weak-willed men and fools believe in such stories and those among our rivals and enemies who continue to claim these stories to be the truth deserve the scorn they so richly deserve.” - Diwan al-Jund Omar Majeed, Sayedid Caliphate




“The voices! They come! Oh – the sweet music! I am coming! They come! THEY COME!” - final words of unknown lunatic in the Sisters of Charity Hospital, Trade City of Memfis, shortly before committing suicide by repeatedly ramming his head against a wall.




“Bah! We Yoopers are not afraid of any person, kingdom or beast. So there is yet another foul beast to slay? Let them come! One at a time or all at once – it makes no difference to me.” - Unknown Yooper Ship Captain of the Thunder Bay fiefdom, Valtakunta of Yoop, to six shiploads of raiders just before setting forth to the northern reaches of the fiefdom. The remains of the ships was found two months later. No bodies were ever recovered.