Stories are told of the numerous locations and treasures hidden in the vast Si Wong Desert. Ones where explorers sought out the local rumors to find anything from shipwrecks, secret caves, or even creatures said not to exist. These fallacies are what drives the madmen into the storm. Into torn masts and capsized caravels. For the sake of honor, knowledge, greed or simply to satiate curiosity.
Of course, there are a handful of historic fables with negative outlooks on desert exploration, but many of those have largely phased out of existence. The first one that comes to mind is the story of four individuals who got stranded in the desert- a rich man, poor man, a strong man and a weak one. Shipwrecked, they scavenge for survival, but not one survives. There was expected to be a fifth man to accompany the aforementioned crew, noted to be the smart one. But he never boarded the ship. And depending who tells the story, there's even a complimentary sixth who was too dimwitted to find the ship in the first place. Regardless of the appended nonsense, this fable's moral was to illuminate the Si Wong Desert as the danger it proceeds to be- not that many take it seriously.
Plenty of classics such as this one have been fabricated. Most famously, a love story with a happy ending that never happened and a major contribution to history so horrid it was overwritten. Their endings both embellished to further lure gamblers into the sands. Why? To populate the markets. That, or to fill the graveyards surrounding shipwrecks with those foolish enough to believe them.
All of this and still, we return to the same questions: Why do sane individuals risk their lives for the thrill of an adventure? For another few moments of adrenaline or a dopamine rush? Is it animal instincts or hereditary greed? Not that those have to be mutually exclusive, but one does wonder. And when I have questions, I need answers. Answers that no one here can seem to give me. So to the desert I go, I suppose.
Throughout my journeys, stories continue to be told of the numerous locations and treasures hidden across the vast desert. Ones where explorers sought out the local rumors to find anything from artifacts, great wealth, or even wisdom said not to exist. These fallacies are what drives us into the storm. Into torn masts and capsized caravels. For the sake of honor, knowledge, greed or- apparently- to satiate curiosity.
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Tales, Scripts, and Accounts
FanfictionA non-chronological collection of ATLA-accurate lore that tells the history of Neilu and Shi Ban Dao. Both are long lost to time by the Era of Aang, but what each brought the Four Nations will always remain significant to history. These sections are...
