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Ep. 1.75- Shipwrecks and Silence
“The Selkie language is the only language I know of in which silences are not only used to accentuate a point, but hold as much structure and meaning as words. This has made translation attempts difficult, but I will do my best.”
-Excerpt from The Language of Selk by Cabernat Twillis, 1842
“The village of Undaine was built on shipwrecks.
At its origin, Undaine was just one of many rest stops for the indigenous Selkie population. (Note: the closest Selk translation is ‘shedding harbor’.) They cast their skins off on the shore, stretched their legs, and bartered their treasures. They gathered beneath full moons to sing their histories and mark the changing seasons. They erected a few humble structures, but only the necessary bare bones. The sea was their true home and they would always return to it.
Selkies are, rightly, protective of their histories and culture. It is a wonder they have allowed scholars to record any of their oral history at all. Because of this, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the first shipwreck arrived, but educated estimates place it at around 400 A.D. (note: Selkies maintain a different record of time and years. According to a very rough translation of the Selkie records, this time period would be referred to as The Rime.)
The wreck was devastating, leaving few survivors. After only a few days of what must have been a harrowing journey through dark forests, they somehow found themselves many hundreds of miles away.
Despite their miraculous transportation, they remained in dire straits. It seemed they only traded one brutal coastline for another. Many lost consciousness on those shores and surely would have died of starvation or exposure had it not been for the approaching crest of Selkies, who took pity on them. They brought scores of fish ashore with them. They shed their skins and wrapped them around the unfortunate castaways. They sang lullabies and tenderly nursed the feeble strangers from the brink of death. (note: it is believed that one of these first survivors was an early ancestor of the Twillis family. While impossible to confirm, it seems a likely cause for the many strange powers possessed by the Twillis line.)”
-Excerpt from A History of Undaine, vol. 1 by Isla Fairchild, historian
-SOUND CREDITS-
under water ambiance.OWI. WAV by lenayrossouw -- https://freesound.org/s/707574/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
SFX_UnderWater by Perel -- https://freesound.org/s/173439/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
SFX_Submerge by Perel -- https://freesound.org/s/173438/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Turning Pages by vartian -- https://freesound.org/s/425467/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Get full access to Alice’s Substack at alicelefae.substack.com/subscribe
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By Alice LeFae“The Selkie language is the only language I know of in which silences are not only used to accentuate a point, but hold as much structure and meaning as words. This has made translation attempts difficult, but I will do my best.”
-Excerpt from The Language of Selk by Cabernat Twillis, 1842
“The village of Undaine was built on shipwrecks.
At its origin, Undaine was just one of many rest stops for the indigenous Selkie population. (Note: the closest Selk translation is ‘shedding harbor’.) They cast their skins off on the shore, stretched their legs, and bartered their treasures. They gathered beneath full moons to sing their histories and mark the changing seasons. They erected a few humble structures, but only the necessary bare bones. The sea was their true home and they would always return to it.
Selkies are, rightly, protective of their histories and culture. It is a wonder they have allowed scholars to record any of their oral history at all. Because of this, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the first shipwreck arrived, but educated estimates place it at around 400 A.D. (note: Selkies maintain a different record of time and years. According to a very rough translation of the Selkie records, this time period would be referred to as The Rime.)
The wreck was devastating, leaving few survivors. After only a few days of what must have been a harrowing journey through dark forests, they somehow found themselves many hundreds of miles away.
Despite their miraculous transportation, they remained in dire straits. It seemed they only traded one brutal coastline for another. Many lost consciousness on those shores and surely would have died of starvation or exposure had it not been for the approaching crest of Selkies, who took pity on them. They brought scores of fish ashore with them. They shed their skins and wrapped them around the unfortunate castaways. They sang lullabies and tenderly nursed the feeble strangers from the brink of death. (note: it is believed that one of these first survivors was an early ancestor of the Twillis family. While impossible to confirm, it seems a likely cause for the many strange powers possessed by the Twillis line.)”
-Excerpt from A History of Undaine, vol. 1 by Isla Fairchild, historian
-SOUND CREDITS-
under water ambiance.OWI. WAV by lenayrossouw -- https://freesound.org/s/707574/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
SFX_UnderWater by Perel -- https://freesound.org/s/173439/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
SFX_Submerge by Perel -- https://freesound.org/s/173438/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Turning Pages by vartian -- https://freesound.org/s/425467/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Get full access to Alice’s Substack at alicelefae.substack.com/subscribe