Again a small section which soon can be revealed on the map, yet is interesting enough to explained here in text.
The spell of the Talming Hills
by Robin
The spell of the Talming Hills and one of the reasons of the demise of the village Talm as described by Rufalo Berskov Student of the Magicians Guild Hall of Specularum 15 Vatermont 1000AC by personal research of the described region.
Talm was an important Town already in the Taymoran era, and was probably even created by them, as seen by the many typical style ruins the village now harbors.
The village already suffered a steady decline of inhabitants after 310AC, and was a village in 440AC seems to have had its final end with the battle of 450AC, and was fully abandoned.
The reason of all these sequences is unknown to most, yet the linguistic history still bears a memory of what has happened here.
What follows is a short tale;
The region east of the River Volaga and Krakatos, and Northwest of the Ocean of which Talm belonged, encompassing Dim, Rak, Thorkos, Sijm(today Locrida) and Ilies(today Kerosinos). In those days an easy place to live with minor confrontations. The Elves and Fey lived to the North and east, and not much humanoids were present.
With the Great Beastmen (Gnoll) invasion in 1000BC, initially not much changed after Halav succeeded to defeat these monstrosities.
The change began somewhere after 760BC, when the humanoids increased in number and taking control of lands formerly held by Elves and Fey.
Battles of 695BC, 544BC, 433BC, 343BC, 201BC, 153BC, 121BC, 309AC proved the region was no longer under actual control by the Traldaran Beyond the battles, many raids and humanoid plunder have had a significant effect on the region.
Something the local populace tried to handle with.
Although no documents could be retrieved of the time, the decline of the population and some peculiar crystals being mentioned growing in the Talming Hills, reveal something did happen a few years before.
A single ruin in these hills of a slim yet architectural marvelous tower suggests it was a creation and hold of some mage.
This unknown mage was apparently a local of the region, not desiring to wander far away, yet also not desiring to harm the locals with effects caused by his experiments.
Examination of this ruin (under the current hindering circumstances explained below) reveals this mage had acquired enough knowledge to experiment with nature itself.
Using ancient techniques (from primitive ancestors thousands of years ago and the Ochaleans more recent) he placed several menhirs in the region several miles from his tower.
The sigils on these standing stones, suggest this mage desired to protect the Town of Talm from the humanoid continuous onslaught and raids.
And also seem to reveal he (or she) attempted to use this acupunctural magic to affect the region itself.
What the intentions of this magical effect summoned had to be, and if they were as expected or intended is unknown, yet soon thereafter a powerful source of magic washed over the region several miles away.
The locals initially never understood what had happened, nor how it would affect them.
In the old archives discovered in the ruins of Krakatos, old documents seem to reveal the overall weakness of the locals here.
It speaks of merchants and visitors coming to Talm meeting their customers as normal.
It was noted that the travel from Krakatos over the Talming Hills suddenly seemed to take so much longer.
The days seemed to pass by must slower, as if they were doubled in length from 24 to 48 hours.
Yet in overall nothing seemed to have changed, children played, adults worked and the elder relaxed or teached. Animals wandered, grazed and hunted as normal.
The amounts of humanoid raids and attacks soon declined.
At least what the mage had promised seemed to work.
What apparently has happened is revealed in an obscure document found in the taxation archive of Thorkos. This document is dated a few months later, and speaks of a farmer south of the Town of Talm which tried to speak with an elven hunter slowly walking by a hundred yards or so away.
The farmer saw him carrying a slain boar and called if he could buy the beast to feed his family.
The hunter looked him friendly right in the eye with a look of misunderstanding and called back.
The farmer was astounded as he heard the words; they seemed to be like as an elder sometimes does; spoken very slowly.
The hunter however called back that the farmer must speak slower as he could not really understand him.
Confused they approached each other and nothing seemed wrong, however when returning the same seemed to happen.
Even when exchanging their relative position, however the effect seemed to be exchanged then.
The Elf had some magical understanding of higher magic and explained that there must be some kind of Haste or Slow magic effect must be active.
Days within the effect seemed to twice as long to those within, yet was unaffected to those outside the area if effect.
This apparent prolonged time forced the people (and animals) of Talm to adapt. Sleeping was done like they did before, about every 16 hours 8 hours of sleep, and was mostly in the darkest and brightest moments of the day.
The document further speaks of taxation issues of the region and that Magicusers and even clerics were called in to research the matter.
The following personal research of the magical effect itself is maybe a bit confusing, as the real time is still as the real time is.
The persons affected by the slow effect, however perceive time going much slower. A full day to their feeling now lasts 48 hours instead the normal 24.
Somewhat similar to those living close to the poles where days and nights are much longer and the sun doesn't set or doesn't rise for weeks, yet here the full day seems to be twice longer.
The slowed person perceived the actions of anything outside the effects active are as being twice as fast.
Outsiders spoke twice as rapid, and moved twice as fast, while insiders seemed to outsiders as slow, and sullen.
The following conclusions are derived from Legal Documentations found in lost archives of Krakatos; This peculiar effect has caused many people to relocate in the decades after the effect started. Spellcasters within the affected reguion noticed that they no longer could cast any spells successfully, and these were the first people to move away. The Town declined and became a village. Less people were able to defend it, and in the upcoming humanoid raids and battles later, the village was eventually overtaken and abandoned in the year 450AC
Animals, like the humans, also rest more when in the region. Humanoids became spooked by the sudden longer days and moved out, often partially blinded due the longer sunlight (in their perceived reality)
Personal current analysis; The whole effect still exists, although encroaching Crystals have pressed the Slow area several miles inwards over the last 50 years or so, and surely will continue to decrease the range of the effect. Apparently this is a natural reaction to this weird magical power.
The whole effect is also memorized linguistically; a person slow in travelling or acting is labeled as "Talming”.
A tedious slow journey is also called a talming journey, and someone being too slow is corrected by calling; "Stop Talming, come on, don't Talm"
Signed by Rufalo Berskov Student of the Magicians Guild Hall of Specularum, 15 Vatermont 1000AC
Noted by Teldon headmaster of the Magicians Guild Hall of Specularum, 18 Vatermont 1000AC
Additional Text; Interesting research Rufalo. However more information should have been supplied. Result; Above average