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Showing posts with the label legends

The City of Sun and Moon

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Tamosa has earned its nickname of the City of Sun and Moon  (also referred to as the City of Light and Shadow ) due to its unique geographical and historical features. Situated along the coast of the historical land of Maritesia, Tamosa is bathed in warm, golden light of the Sun, even in the snowiest of all days, particularly along the beaches of Figuayre Daphoy. The sunny weather also attracts tourists and locals alike, making it a bustling and vibrant city. Thanks to its location on the sea, Tamosa's nights are often illuminated by the soft glow of the Moon. The reflection of moonlight on the water creates a picturesque view, giving the city an ambiance that adds to the city's charm and allure. Tamosa has a rich history that is closely tied to celestial symbolism. The people of Maritesia, over generations, have developed cultural practices and traditions that celebrate both the Sun and the Moon. Festivals, art, and even local myths and legends pay homage to these celestial bo...

The Carrack's Nest

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Once upon a time, just outside the bustling downtown of Tamosa on a promontory overlooking the vast Atlantic Ocean*, stood a house like no other. The Carrack's Nest ( Ninho da Nau  or Ninho da Carraca ), an imposing Maritese Gothic mansion, was named after the ancient and majestic carrack ships that sailed the oceans in times immemorial. By day, it appeared to be just another historic landmark, with its intricate maritime-themed architecture blending harmoniously with the coastal landscape. However, as the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon's pale light bathed the world in an eerie glow, the Carrack's Nest transformed into something altogether different—a mysterious and haunted abode. Local legends whispered tales of ghostly apparitions and haunting sounds that would echo through the night. Many believed that the spirits of ancient sailors and mythical sea creatures roamed the halls, their ethereal presence creating an atmosphere of trepidation and wonder. It was sai...

The Omniapolis

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The Omniapolis  (also known in Portuguese as a Omniápole  or a Omniápolis ) is a nickname for Tamosa , referring to the city's extraordinary concentration of urban, cultural, economic and geographical functions. The name is derived from Latin omnia ("all", "everything") and Ancient Greek polis ("city"), and may be translated as "the city of everything" or "all-city." The term reflects the perception of Tamosa as a city containing, within a single metropolitan system, every single type of urban environment and activity. The nickname emerged as a description of Tamosa's exceptional breadth. The city combines a historic Atlantic port, financial district, international airport, major seaport, resort districts, skyscraper centres, theatres, casinos, film studios, music venues, Olympic facilities, football stadiums, mountain resorts, forests, beaches, agricultural plains, lakes, caves and extensive island territories. Its geograph...

An ocean of mystery

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The city of Tamosa has long been an ancient port with a particular affinity to the oceans and, as part of the lost continent of Atlantis, possibly even its most important city, or even further its capital. Scholars have not yet been able to definitively answer whether or not this is the case, however—but they have suggested that the city was once the capital of a long-lost Atlantean civilisation, guarded by a mythical giant whale known as the Myreid Matriarch (in Portuguese,  Mireida Matriarca ). This mighty whale was perceived in an interesting and complex manner during the times of antiquity, for some viewed her as a protector and guardian of the oceans, while others venerated her as a vengeful and monstrous creature. In myth and legend, she was said to inspire a sense of awe and respect with her enormous size—but also to be an indomitable force of nature, both confounding and threatening sailors with her unpredictable and destructive powers. She was both admired and feared, symb...

The Clover of Tayava

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Once upon a time there was a large, rolling promontory projecting itself into the open ocean. This wide landscape was home to a small tribe whose mythology revolved around the concept of Nature, for which there were four gods, representing the four elements of Nature: the god of earth, the god of wind, the god of fire and the god of water. One day, the inhabitants of the tribe were searching for food and, stepping foot on clovers with three and, in rare circumstances, four leaves, a heavily skilled hunter and fisher, Tayava ( ȴʚȷʚ̃ȵʚ , also spelled in Portuguese as Taiava ), found a clover with five leaves — she regarded it as a sign of good luck, as nobody had ever found one such rarity. Because the tribe also depended on leaves to eat —besides the animals they hunted for fish and meat— ,  the folks who were with her were indifferent to the five-leaf clover she found in the middle of the hill. As Tayava saw the newly-found five-leaf clover as sacred and the others saw it as food, ...

The Nine

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(Note: None of these mountains are in Tamosa.) I have walked the lines on maps that other people call impossible. I have stood at the lip of ridges where the air tastes of snow and of salt at the same time, and I have listened to rivers begin their long argument with the sea. In our Maritese stories those ridges are not merely rock and ice: they are the Nine Pillars of the Xayandic Ring (also known simply as the Nine), the great high places that bind the inland waters to the ocean and mark the limits of cycles. In what follows I will sketch the shape of those nine three-thousanders of the Xayandic Ring and explain why, to my people, nine is not a number but a vow. The Xayandic Ring ( Anel Xaiândico , also known simply as the Ring, or Orla Xaiândica  = Xayandic Rim ), as elders still call the geographical macroregion of over four million square kilometres that corresponds to what is now Portugal, is a geomythical frame: nine peaks placed like beads on a necklace, encircling the isla...