‘A vast underground cavern yawned beneath the basin,

the crust brittle and porous. Could one have stood in

that ancient cave, the rain would have been ceaseless.

Even so, eleven rivers fed into the marshlands that

would one day be the city of Letheras, and the process

of erosion that culminated in the collapse of the basin

and the catastrophic draining of the rivers and swamps,

was a long one. Thus, modest as Settle Lake is,

it is worth reminding oneself of its extraordinary

depth. The lake is, indeed, like a roof hatch with the

enormous cavern the house beneath. So, the pulling

down into the deep of Burdos’ fishing boat – the sole

fisher of Settle Lake – nets and all, should come as

no surprise. Nor should the fact the since that time,

when so many witnessed Burdos’ demise, no other

fishing boat has plied the waters of Settle Lake. In

any case, I was, I believe, speaking of the sudden

convergence of all those rivers, the inrush of the

swamp’s waters, said event occurring long before the

settlement of the area by the colonists. Fellow scholars,

it would have been a dramatic sight, would it not?’

Excerpt from The Geologic History of Letheras,

a lecture given by Royal Geographer Thula Redsand

at the Cutter Academy 19th Annual Commencement

(moments before the Great Collapse of the Academy Ceiling)

Comments recounted by sole survivor, Ibal the Dart

(MT, UK Trade, p.597)