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Marrishland has a long and violent history. Several civilizations have risen and fallen, here, and the book tells about events during one of the most turbulant periods - a period whose events determine whether a civilization survives or dies.

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Arrival of the Mar Wints (ca. 4000 A.C.)

The first people to arrive on the Marrishland subcontinent were one or more tribes of wints who crossed the channel between the Gien Peninsula and the Novichnevich Peninsula approximately 4000 A.C. These wints left no written record of their civilization, but are generally known as the Eslafeni (ice-walkers). Historians disagree on the means by which these settlers accomplished such a feat.

Some scholars claim a bridge of land once spanned the channel and that the nomads crossed this sometime before its disappearance. The explanations they offer for what happened to this bridge, however, leave something to be desired — especially since the channel has been navigable by seafaring ships for at least the last several centuries.

Others claim that a particularly harsh winter froze the water of the channel and that the Eslafeni crossed before it melted the following spring. This theory assumes, of course, that the tribe migrated across the north pole in the midst of what would have been one of the coldest winters in history — an act tantamount to mass suicide.

Most scholars believe the Eslafeni accomplished the crossing in small, primitive fishing boats after discovering the subcontinent either through luck or deliberate exploration. This would have meant finding harbor along the coast of a rocky peninsula that, due to its complete lack of natural harbors, has never had a port built on its coast. That, of course, assumes that a crude fishing vessel could successfully cross the rough waters of the channel. While this is not inconceivable, it is difficult to believe that an entire tribe would attempt such a dangerous crossing unless under exceptional pressure to leave the Gien Peninsula behind. Since virtually nothing is known about any of the wint tribes who lived on the Gien Peninsula before the Gien Empire conquered it (in 4002 I.D.), it is relatively easy to concoct a hypothetical situation that would drive the Eslafeni to such a desperate migration.

A few scholars maintain that the Eslafeni somehow used magic to cross the channel. Less is known about this particular tribe's magic than has been surmised about its ability to build seaworthy vessels. Wint magic — such as that wielded by the heileni of Aflighan and the urbamancers of Kafthey — has little in common with Mar magic. Wint sorcerers are able to form mystic groups of like-minded magic-wielders whose cooperation makes them far more powerful than the sum of their membership, far exceeding that of even the most accomplished Mar wizard. This theory, of course, runs into many of the same problems as the ship theory. Whereas the latter invents some terrible threat that might convince a tribe of nomads to risk a nearly suicidal transpolar sea voyage, the former postulates some ocean-crossing magical power on the basis of virtually no evidence. Certainly, the Mede's historical records contain a little information about the Eslafeni magical tradition, but it certainly isn't enough to justify broad assumptions about its capabilities.

(Contributed by Weard Leif Gesyk)