The Lichen Messiah

  • Linear Location

    Oratunga, Blinman, SA, Australia (31°2'29"S 138°36'44"E)

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Text of the Marker

The part of the story installed here:

The Lichen Messiah

This Lichen gwome, of which this entire viewshed was just one facet, was known as [dшen Ꭷelчør agótdg]. Like many lichen names, it was a word of experience, meaning it could not truly be written or spoken, only conjured up. While the evidence is only suggestive that such was also their name for this particular sight, it is clear that the lichen themselves considered this one of their most beautiful vistas. In fact, they would from time to time concentrate their energies to transform the surface into a kind of formless mirror which did not reflect light or sound, but only that quality of the universes called ferylemt—which is as different from Time and Space as they are from each other. Enraptured together, the Lichen citizens would take in a view not so much similar as analogous to what we see now.

The lichen of [dшen Ꭷelчør agótdg] were also legendary for their caustic, acerbic wit and consequently, their tongue was one of the most difficult to translate. But perhaps for that very reason, the nearby hóngsedaun (the largest Interpreter Village destroyed in the creation of what we call Glass Gorge) was equally notorious for their relentless pursuit of knowledge. Indeed, they were the first to discover the notion of The Lichen Messiah. The Lichen Messiah is ultimately a colloquial expression—their word more accurately means “the one who is the way that our words are returned to us alone.” And when the term was revealed, there was the feeling that the lichen were quite upset that this particular word was exposed. Indeed, this entire landscape would have flushed with anger and rippled with dull reflection, as prophecies were read and maps scoured for hints of that Messiah. With the interpreters gone, the lichen are mute, at least to outsiders, but many have speculated as to who the Lichen Messiah might have been—and few can forget the story of Nobunaga-Ventreven at the lichen gwome of [Stoan Orange Glef]. Of course, others say it was Eliala Mei-Ning herself—a debate said to begin the first of the great schisms of the Lichen Faiths.

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