Nalil 6, 5675

When reading ancient legends, one always finds things that don’t match reality, are too good to be true, or involve impossible events. The Legend of Nidiz is one such legend, and purports to be the sworn testimony to the Great King from the sole survivor of the very first expedition against the Dark Magicians in the year 4557, a soldier named Nidiz.

Nidiz provides good details about Etnyben, but one of the first issues someone would notice is that Nidiz claimed it only took five months to reach the fortress. However, the route he gives, heading south from Atalan and sailing east along the coast of Etnyben is against the wind. It would take at least a month longer, if not more, than it took us to sail here over the top of the world. Nidiz also claimed it only took a few weeks by foot from the entrance of the Bay of Ivil. Considering our rate of progress by ship, I cannot believe Nidiz recorded the correct amount of time.

So what might explain the errors in a sworn testimony? I have no speculation of my own, but I know the three prevailing theories given by scholars of such things. The first theory is that Nidiz made an error when recalling the events for his sworn testimony. It took him over a year to return to Atalan, and it is very possible he misjudged on some of the lengths of time. The second theory is he purposely exaggerated the speed of the expedition. Nidiz was a proud soldier. Perhaps he was trying to honor his fallen comrades with exaggerated details.

The third and most controversial theory is that Nidiz purposely left out important details that would explain their increased rate of travel around the world. The theory suffers heavy ridicule since one does not keep details from the Great King, but it does bring up an interesting question. What if the first expedition against the Dark Magicians had outside assistance and was sworn to secrecy? If the Lunari assisted and demanded secrecy, not even the Great King would find out. Whether such a thing is possible, I cannot say. I doubt I will ever see a Lunari since they keep hidden at Iswa, but if I did get to speak to one, I think the Legend of Nidiz would be among my first questions.