Priestess,

Given the relevance of these events to all Grook, I am sharing this update publicly. Perhaps others have uncovered salient details in this mystery. Aside from my personal interest, I continue to believe that understanding what was done to us will shed light on the greater question of Memory and the convergent streams of Time.

The thread of Memory that I have opened on Ulangi continues to manifest new fragments that can be accessed by my race. I have not experienced or heard reports of any new ill effects and so I tentatively consider my method of achieving these remembrances to be a success.

I will begin with a factual account before broaching into speculation. The three fragments I have experienced thus far have been disjointed in time, the third seeming to occur far earlier than the previous two. This latest fragment has revealed a great deal of the geography of what I have speculated to be our ancestral home. Bandar Selat is in fact part of an archipelago, neighbored by Bandar Selam, Nanga Tu, and Asem'wah.

Of Bandar Salem I have learned the most: in that earliest fragment it is occupied by horkval. They had a settlement there called Kr'kach, located near some mountains. A narrow straight divides Bandar Salem and Selat upon which there is a small spit of sand. The recollection was of two horkval soldiers discussing the arrival of a woman upon that spit via a small boat, and their discussion of a plan to draw her attention away from their own island. They meant to show her the other islands which were apparently unoccupied at the time.

The middle fragment chronologically was the first that I recalled and that which I shared with you previously.

The latest of the fragments chronologically seemed to be the aftermath of that first fragment. It took place upon a hill on Nanga Tu. From the hill I could see Bandar Salet - a far larger island - to the northeast. The hill was densely populated with a variety of buildings.

The memory was of an execution of the boy and his mother; I speculate that this was due to the Grook boy's use of the powers that I described in the earlier fragment. The executions were ordered by Her Majesty, the Hive Queen.

Much still remains unclear, and I move now fully into the realm of speculation. Who is this woman who arrived in the archipelago? Could she be who is responsible for our origin? I find it probable that it is her arrival that set the events leading to our origin into motion. Could she have subverted the horkval, become their Hive Queen? Did she use the islands for experimentation in magic?

These islands do not match the description of any I am familiar with. It is possible they are of another plane entirely, but so far my working theory is that they are part of or near to the scattered continent of Therophage. If that is so, could the woman be Himalia, that ancient sailor and wanderer, and the archipelago where and with what she has been occupying herself these long millenia? This may seem a flight of fancy, but determining the woman's identity may provide another angle by which we can unravel the mystery. Only that she is significant am I certain.

And what of Asem'wah, that place of dread and terror? I cannot yet say. Perhaps more will be recalled in time.

That is all I have learned so far. May the information be of use to your own inquiries.

- Aroan, Epopt of Wintertide

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Valnuary, in the year 918 AF.