Letters of Intention for Succession

Evasion of Toy Land

To whom it will concern,

There is precious little about me that is special. The most unusual thing about me is that I'm here on Truyu and I didn't arrive here through any fantastical means. I wasn't dying nor did I have some horrific mental disorder necessitating the services of a god. I am not some sort of royal reject, neither king dethroned nor illicit child of a wealthy lord. This makes me uncommon here since, to get to Truyu, you must either come in contact with a Truyian on your home Ground (a near-zero chance) or bribe and network your way here. Even for most advantaged individuals, the summation of their connections, intentions and means is barely enough. You have to have a really good reason to give up your life to get here.

My parents cared about me about as much as any Kray parents care about their children. They both worked on patrol ships. They were traders of goods and information. We had a bout of time when we were grounded at Toy Land due to some bullshit going on up in the sky. It was during that time that I became enamored by the Ephemeral towns. Of course, once you're on Truyu, running into a Truyian isn't so difficult anymore. And so I did.

I must back-track just a tad. I've mentioned Toy Land now, and in my last letter: Intercept. Toy Land and Intercept are Ephemeral hubs on Truyu. They don't have direct connections to the Museum. Toy Land is located between South Central and West Central and Intercept is located between North Central and East Central. Toy Land harbors most of the Ephemeral towns while Intercept is a little more governed, has smaller towns and embassies. They're both ports for trade.

Almost all trade occurring at these hubs is affiliated with mercenary service, drugs illicit on all other Grounds, and rare objects. Intercept is best known for the knowledge trade and mercenary requests while Toy Land harbors every drug you could imagine. And research and medical equipment. Toy Land also harbors the most skilled of doctors. If you have an incurable disease, it is curable if you make it to Toy Land. In the Ephemeral towns, a medical truck moves slowly down the street singing a little tune. Your kid break a bone? Well, the parents just come out, wave down the truck, and the kid gets fixed right up. It's all 'free', as long as they give up a few minor bodily fluids for study. On Kray Ground, we have medical hubs called hospitals for that sort of thing and you can't just come as you are and expect to get good service.

So, I'm here because I felt like it and I was lucky enough to be born to parents who were coming here anyway. Not very exciting, I know. What's more, Kray are the most common non-native Ephemeral on Truyu. So not only am I neither royalty nor medical wonder, but I am the most typical sort of Ephemeral here. Really though, you get tired of being around ostracized royalty and that sort after a while. The royalty does too. Those who stay eventually stop talking about it. It just doesn't matter here.

When I begged my parents to let me stay, I'd assumed I'd be in Toy Land forever and see them every few months, relay them a message every couple weeks or so. It really was like that when I first started out. It was an easy agreement. Getting to North Central is a little more of a story.

My parents were as corruptible as any Kray and with me living in Toy Land, they would sometimes stay for weeks at a time and partake in the vulgar depravity that naturally comes to a place harboring every drug known to man. I was still so enthralled by Truyu itself that I hadn't latched on to the darker scene yet, and they wanted it to stay that way. It wasn't long before my parents drifted apart from each other due to their overindulgences. It is a difficult topic for me to touch on, but it is reality. Watching their partnership fall apart, enabled by my living arrangement, bothered me immensely. Between their discouragement and mine, I stayed away from the darker parts of Toy Land for longer than most. I also looked to Intercept: a place of education and honor.

As I conclude my brief commentary on Toy Land, I must note that the name is something special. It was not designed to be a place of simply fun and games. But it is meant to be a joke. It is a very dark joke. A Truyian once relayed it in this way:

"All of existence started out with something like a hiccup, a laugh. A running gag. A joke that went too far the instant it came into being. A never-ending jest. We are part of it. We are part of this jest. You can fight it but it can not be stopped. Give in. Life is a joke and we are the comedy. Toy Land is exactly what it sounds like. It's a laughing stock. It's a joke. Within it, one finds a blatant, crass reflection of what it means to exist."

In every quadrant of Truyu, there is something you cannot have. At Toy Land, you can have anything, and may the Museum save you if you if you proceed to take. Perhaps I am special in one way: I escaped Toy Land. People ask me about Toy Land sometimes, those at Intercept who have never been. And when those at Intercept ask me what toys are in Toy Land, I tell them: people.

If you end up on Truyu, there is a very good chance you will first end up in Toy Land. It's a largest port and a seductive one at that. It drew me in, even if it did not keep me. Don't give in there. There will be many more opportunities for you to experience madness and ecstasy. Believe me.

While I think you should go to Intercept, even if you don't head that way, don't stay in Toy Land. It's hard to go anywhere aside Intercept from Toy Land. This is something tricky that the Museum has arranged to corral us Ephemeral. It might be the most insulting thing the Truyians have been a part of. I must forgive them, for we actually are close to outnumbering the Truyians here and they live very different sort of lives. Therefore, Intercept is the natural progression out of Toy Land. It is the next step towards the Museum and the world of Enduring.

In my next letter, I suppose I will tell you of Intercept. It is a place of great impact for me and is where I learned what I was, how I could be, and what I wanted to be a part of. I was found there. Intercepted, if you will.

Ludlow, ancillary of North Central