The Stairs Han-Shi Tanong

## The Stairs of Han-Shi Tanong

the closest we have ever come to finding out what lies beyond…

*The Walls of the World… Up from the seas they rise, terrifyingly colossal, encircling the whole of Tumiun. They are the edge of all that is known, reaching their heads of stone far beyond the clouds and piercing the heavens above. And in all the eons of history, no one has ever seen what lies beyond them and returned to tell the tale.*

*But, many hundreds of years ago, an Avaniman monk by the name of Han-Shi Tanong gathered a group of Dwarves from the continent of Vindikfill. On the relatively tepid shores near the foot of the Walls in the east of the world, they set out on a quest unlikely to succeed. Han-Shi, being of distant dragonblood, had seen in a flying dream glimpses of a paradise of unimaginable beauty beyond the Walls of the World. Thus, he decided to follow in the footsteps of Khan the Legend in an attempt to conquer the unconquerable.. But when he could not convince the dragons to carry him so high, and climbing was too risky even with the help of mages, it was the Dwarves who came with a plan. The folk known for their ingenuity with pick and stone, mere years after they successfully dug a channel through the heartland of Vindikfill, were eager to take on yet another daunting task. Together with Han-Shi, who offered more gold than labour, they would hew steps from the stone itself and build a great stairway to the top of the unclimbable cliffs. And so they began their dangerous work, step by literal step. The Stairs of Han-Shi Tanong they are called, or Nizuboshaiden in the tongue of Avanima, the Sunset Steps. The story tells of Han-Shi chasing the light of the setting sun up the steep stairs, never quite able to keep up. But in his dreams he flew in sunlight, far above the confines of the Walls.*

*In that time of construction, there were many closely following the progress of the project, but there were also those doubting the intentions of the ambitious monk. Perhaps the Builder never meant for us to see what lies beyond, they would say. Maybe they were right, maybe these Walls were built to keep us in, as crude as it sounds. Though it could be even worse, for what if these Walls are here to guard us, not to keep us in, but to keep something else out? Something that we are better off never learning of? All valid questions, and questions that may soon be answered, or so they thought. For nearly two decades, though only in the warmest months, the steps climbed ever upward, growing taller by the day. The topmost steps are said to reach higher than even the tallest mountains in the world, and to be high enough to catch a glimpse of the tops of the Walls, on a clear day. And though the winds grew meaner, stronger and colder in these new heights, the Delvers and their unwavering leader dug on. But one fateful summer evening, as the sun sank into the westerns seas, the project would be cut short.*

*At these heights, Han-Shi would often go climbing by himself, as the Walls grew less and less steep by the mile. He would return to the high camps before nightfall, telling glorious tales of what he had seen. Tales of majestic colors on the winds, and sounds of far off music, and the sweet smell of grass in sunlight. He told the Dwarves that, near the highest places of the world, he seemed to walk almost in dreams. He urged them to continue the work on the steps while he climbed ahead with naught but pick and rope. The Dwarves agreed, but while they dug higher and higher, their leader ceased to return. Search parties were sent up into the snowy heights, but the end of summer was nearing, and the Dwarves soon returned down to the base of the Walls, unsure of what to do. Arriving below, they found the battered body of the monk washed up on the black shore. They say his face bore an expression of bliss, and that his arms were outspread, and that his clothes were all missing.*

*It remains uncertain what happened that day, all we know is that no other has come as close to conquering the Walls as that monk and his companions did. Han-Shi Tanong was his name, and his name will live on for long after we are all gone and forgotten. The Stairs are one of the great Wonders of Tumiun, and to see them wind upwards, disappearing beyond skyward horizons, is indeed a truly wondrous sight. Every year, near the end of summer, a group of monks brave the rough waters to reach the beach where the stairs begin. Some make the steep climb, tightly holding the same chains the Dwarves attached to the rockface all those hundreds of years ago. They light lanterns as far up as they dare to climb, to honor those who built these legendary steps. And in the time since Han-Shi's death, many others have tried to finish his quest for him, which does make us wonder…*

*When will the fools of the Far Lands realize that Zai-Khanar, the Great One, cannot be tamed? And when will they understand that these parts of the world are not as desolate and deserted as they think? By now they must surely know we have been watching, learning about their ways from the safety of our homes here, in the shadow of the Walls…*