Wolf Hunt - Author's Note
According to the bizarre custom that now characterizes this saga, ‘the misadventures’ of the members of K-Team continue with this fourth chapter. Once again struggling (despite themselves) with the impossible alternative realities generated by the mysterious artefact, donated by the elderly librarian Konrad Lang to Mark Schubert, a PhD student in English Literature, just a few days before. Incredible places where danger lurks around every corner, always ready to swoop on our friends.
Once again, therefore, they must be very careful to take every precaution (but, as we’ve seen, they’ve not always been successful) in this new and difficult task our friends have set themselves. And those who’ve had the patience to follow this saga from the beginning will already be hoping that they will be able to find their friend Klaudia Frieda Wolf, lost for some time now in an alien and dangerous world, and bring her safely home.
However, the place in which our friends will find themselves will be even more alien and fraught with perils than Avernus, from where they’ve just escaped. And this time, unlike the previous episodes in this saga, a further difficulty will be the fact that the language of concepts, previously so adaptable, can be of little help now. In this story we will often encounter words, names and terms that do not have a direct connection with our language. Hence the following table which gives the meaning of the various terminologies used, to be consulted whenever the need arises. The terms used have also been subdivided by typology.
Finally, in concluding this very brief introduction, the vowels of each word are inserted only to facilitate the reading. The language we will soon encounter does not in fact use them so they shouldn’t be pronounced.
For example, Xotrya would sound more or less like “Chtrr”. Breighyrth instead like “Brggrrthh” (with the final hs strongly aspirated). Sfejncz like “Sfnnzs”. And so on.
These subtleties are of little importance for understanding this new story. The reader can therefore safely make use of the vowels if this helps to understand the text. The sense of the story will not suffer.
– Place and population:
Xotrya: the world where Klaudia is located
Breighyrth: ruling class of Xotrya
Sfejncz: population held in slavery; its members represent the lower class of Xotrya
– Animals and other important entities:
Krojsterks: Structures 100-200 metres long and not less than 20 metres wide, moving in the desert of Xotrya. Although they are in every way similar to rocky hills, they are actually huge living beings.
Schlursz: parasite that infests the Krojsterks, the self-propelled hills of the desert. It has the size of a domestic cat but is equipped with a black shell similar to an armadillo; it also has numerous legs like a centipede.
Sratherg: a sort of giant carnivorous worm, with a body a least 10 metres long and two metres wide, with pale brown skin dotted with venomous spines. It has two heads, a couple of metres wide, shaped like mallets. Despite being blind, it has a very sensitive sense of smell with which it identifies its prey, grabbing it with its long talons, similar to a crab’s claws, to smash it in its jaws. Its only weak point is its brain exposed on the tops of both heads.
Rjartecz: Desert predators, similar in appearance to hyenas but at least twice the size, their backs covered with dangerous spines. They hunt alone or in packs and are extremely intelligent.
Gharszonc: huge birds reminiscent of pre-historic pterodactyls but whose head is similar to that of parrots. Of a basically pacific nature, there are two species: the smaller ones can be ridden by two people, the larger ones can carry up to five with the appropriate harnesses.
Ichxwarth: Xotrya’s greatest plague. These are huge cavities that open up in the ground, swallowing whatever is above them, both animate and inanimate. Offshoots of some mysterious and unknown creature that dwells underground, they can also merge with each other, generating even larger Ichxwarth. Their only natural enemies are the Krojsterks, the mobile hills.
– Important people:
Glawix: Grand Councillor of the Brotherhood of Xotrya
Lugolik: Glawix’s orderly and right-hand man
Chorsz: Chief of Xotrya’s army
Gharsz Horsemen: troops chosen for the identification from above of the resources necessary for the maintenance of Xotrya. They ride the flying Gharszonc with unusual skill
Vu-Kreicherz: Glawix’s nickname for the Gharszonc
– Miscellaneous equipment and devices:
Phtjonyz: tremendous mind-control weapons. Just one of them is able to subjugate entire populations to the will of the bellicose Breighyrth.
Arrjacz: lethal weapons of incredible strength, very like our power lasers.
Pra’techx: bollards used to control the crowds; simple stun guns that can neutralize opponents for a few minutes.
Ichxjully: chemical preparation employed by the Gharsz horsemen to fight the Ichxwarth, hurling it from above inside the voracious cavities. The basic components are extracted from the Schlursz, the parasites that in turn infest the Krojsterks, the moving hills of the desert.
Goj’schlurienx: device to detect the Schlursz, the parasites of the moving hills, and from which the precious Ichxjully can be secreted.
– Units of measurement:
Yerdith: wide-scale unit of measure of the time (roughly corresponding to some fraction of our year)
Al’echizg: another unit of time measurement (similar to our handful of minutes)
Gloi’chsz: unit of measure of lengths
Gluoy’rsz: unit of measurement of volumes
And after having greatly confused the reader, all that remains is to hope they enjoy the book.