Certain characters have recently had occasion to require more familiarity with the legendary Hamdi the Voyager, and so the Scribes now endeavor to give a short account of the man--no secret knowledge or mysteries, but the kind of legends a man on the street might remember having been told by the hearth when young, or as others might tell around the bar at the tavern.
HAMDI THE VOYAGER
Hamdi was a legendary sea-captain and leader of great expeditions of exploration to the far reaches of Dirac's Sea and beyond. Like certain other legendary—one might say mythic—voyagers, he is popularly understood to have taken seven great voyages, though legends and scant historic records do not agree so readily with this modern popular notion.
In fact, despite many efforts, scholars and poets have not been able to establish any kind of coherent single legend or history of Hamdi. Traditional stories are happy to mix elements anachronistically and with total abandon. Sometimes Hamdi is accounted a Tsurrian, sometimes a Denyan, or sometimes subservient to the early Souffets of Gadeed. There are even other tales that name him a native of Nous, or even of a northern city.
This confusion affords poets quite a bit of freedom when composing accounts of Hamdi for entertainment, but it makes it difficult to put together any kind of coherent account of his life. Some scholars even argue that there is obviously no one Hamdi, but many, separated by time but all called to the same love of the sea and of adventure. A few even maintain that “Hamdi” must be some kind of title of an especially secretive mystery cult, referencing the way certain Alkari tribes maintain a tradition of Hamdi hero-worship and insist that he will return. Other prophesies of heroic reincarnation or return can be seen in the myths of Saint Nerevar of the North, or of Samrahad Kaa of the ancient Viïs Empire.
What's more certain is that Hamdi is always said to be captain of the blue-painted galley 'Zourqa and accompanied by the golden kyni-falcon Nassr. He is always counted a friend of the Alkari, such that at least one such individual always joined his crew, and that he was romantically involved with Altayra bint Morwe, daughter of an island sorceress; and after her death, that he came into the company of another woman, of strange red-haired and blue-eyed beauty called Hanaïs. Some say that Hanaïs was magically formed for him by a powerful sorcerer-smith.
He is predominantly said to have sailed west, and both northwest and southwest along the distant coasts. Some stories also place him on the voyage into the great western ocean with Sinaboor, though some consider those tales to be spurious admixtures of separate legendaria.
NASSR
No story of Hamdi is complete without mention of his companion, the golden kyni Nassr. Though not all stories agree that Nassr is some kind of bird-ru'un, all stories agree that he is Hamdi's constant companion, and the reason for many of Hamdi's escapes from what could otherwise have been disastrous scrapes. Nassr is said to be an excellent scout, with eyes so keen he could fly miles high and then provide Hamdi with accurate estimations of coasts and reefs ahead.
Certain tales also associate Nassr with a ritual to summon up wraiths and images of the dead, as well as images of smoke provided by the dead. On the one hand, this seems morbid for a popular hero to engage in necromancy; on the other hand, such rituals are certainly well within the capability of modern magicians of power.
ALTAYRA BINT MORWE
According to legends, she was the daughter of Morwe, a magician who had hidden himself away on a secret island. Hamdi “found” the island only because the 'Zourqa was driven to its shores by a tempest, and that Hamdi and Altayra fell in love while Hamdi's crew was repairing their ship. Altayra escaped from her father's overbearing watch with Hamdi, and accompanied the Voyager on subsequent expeditions of exploration. She was later killed—it is generally agreed that this was inside the Tel al Safina—and that Hamdi grieved a long time after that.
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| Hamdi and Altayra departing |
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| Imfawr |
Many tales attest the friendship between Hamdi and the Alkari as originating from Altayra's own especial relationship with that avian people. Though many tales take Hamdi's friendship with the Alkari as a given, stories including Altayra almost universally acknowledge her influence on this relationship.
HANAÏS
Generally accepted as a “replacement” for Altayra, Hanaïs is treated differently according to the intent of the poet. Some regard her simply as another beauty for Hamdi to court after the tragic death of Altayra; some suppress Altayra in order to glorify the tales of Hamdi and Hanaïs; some call her a jealous rival who facilitated the events leading to the death of Altayra so that she might win Hamdi's attention to herself.
Regardless of the particulars of the timeline, many tales agree that Hanaïs was formed by magic. She is often counted as having skin enchanted to withstand the blows of swords, and to be preternaturally good at swordplay—as well, of course, as being enchantingly though foreignly beautiful, with hair of red and eyes of blue. Details differ—was she constructed by Morwe in an attempt to displace his daughter in Hamdi's affections, in a tragic bid to reel her back to his side? Some stories suggest it. Others tell that Hamdi was so distraught by the death of Altayra that his only solace was in his introduction to Hanaïs, who had been formed for him by his great friend Nguien Hua.
KIR-REIS
Sometimes considered a stock character—the Alkari chief of the season to join Hamdi's latest expedition—and sometimes written as a single recurring character, and Hamdi's trusted scout and navigator, Kir-Reis is the name generally given to the Alkari aboard Hamdi's galley 'Zourqa. He typically plays a role of adviser to the Voyager, as well as a dramatic foil when he can descend suddenly from the air on unsuspecting pirates or in other such scenes.
Regardless of the specifics of the saga, Kir-Reis is always counted an Alkari of the Denyan Islands, which is part of what grounds the Hamdi legends in the vicinity of said isles, and of Old Tsurr and early Gadeed. He is often picked up in the opening scenes of an epic, setting the stage for an exchange between himself and Hamdi to inform the listener (or reader) of the argument of the forthcoming tale.
HAMDI THE VOYAGER – A TALE
There was a certain woman who was cousin to the king of Tsurr where it lay in the shadow of the Tel al Safina, and she was heavy with child. But when the time came for her labor, the child would not come. For weeks she waited; finally, in desperation, she boarded a felucca bound for the isles of the Alkari where a great soothsayer lived, who might help her with her troubles. But she needed no soothsayer, for as soon as the felucca sailed out onto the broad waves, the child moved in her, and she was delivered of a fine son aboard ship.
She called him Hamdullilah—‘Thanks be to God!’ which is also ‘Ebxhariste’ in another tongue in which the Voyager is known—or ‘Hamdi’. This child had known, even in the womb, that those born aboard ship are destined for a life at sea, and he had heard the song of the ocean, and knew that fate must call him there.
So it was that he grew to be a fine lad who served aboard many a ship faring in the waters north of Gadeed, and when he had grown into manhood, he easily came into possession of a ship with the patronage of his royal cousin. Though he went on many trading jaunts along the near coast and to the Denyan Isles, he craved adventure and the unknown, and prayed the Lords of the Sea for a chance to prove his mettle. But when it came, it almost proved his match.
Sailing his blue galley, the Zourqa’ up into the Denyan Isles and going farther than his wont, his ship was set upon by a galley of fierce Shen Sakkra. The armored hides of the Shen, and their ability to swim across the gap to board the Zourqa’ almost allowed them to capture the ship, but before they could finish the job, a great storm welled up and drove both ships close against the islands. And a mist arose with the storm, so that none could see whither they were sped; and Hamdi’s Zourqa’ was beached on an unknown island when the storm finally cleared. What had become of the Shen, no one knows.
As the crew of the Zourqa’ assessed the damage to the ship, lookouts saw that they were being spied upon—but the spy turned out only to be a beautiful young woman. She warned them against doing any violence to her person, for fear of her invisible bodyguard Imfawr. Presenting herself to Hamdi after being discovered, she named herself Altayra and explained that this was a secret island, held invisible by the powers of her magician father Morwe—and that he would no doubt be displeased with the intrusion.
Having taken a liking to Hamdi, Altayra suggested a way to soften her father’s inevitable anger. He should first obtain a certain secret herb that Altayra knew about that would make him immune to the mental dominations of her father. He should then also set out to befriend the Alkari refugee Reis who was a friend of Altayra’s and allowed to dwell on the island’s mountain in seclusion.
When Morwe arrives at the Zourqa’ then, Hamdi should flatter him, but challenge him to a duel of wizards for the right to remain and repair his vessel. The herb will render Hamdi immune to her father’s psychical powers, while Reis holds an amulet that will allow the Alkari to banish demons, so that when Morwe summons such creatures, the Alkari can send them away again.
All played out as Altayra had foreseen, and Morwe allowed Hamdi to remain—‘For the time it takes you to make seaworthy your vessel, and not a moment longer! And be ware that you touch not nor speak to my daughter, for she is more precious to me than all the wealth of Zalkyria!’ And with that, Morwe returned to his fortress of solitude. But he did not know, or suspect, that Altayra had already spoken at length with Hamdi, and had fallen in love.
All the while that Hamdi’s crew repaired his ship, Altayra slipped away from her father’s house to spend time with Hamdi and his men; and Reis too helped with the repairs, eager to be away from the island at last. Now, Hamdi had been wary of Altayra’s growing feelings for him, afraid of angering a powerful magician. But he couldn’t deny that he too felt a growing affection for her. Therefore, when it came time to cast off, he had her hidden in the bow of the ship.
But Morwe had guessed at all this in his secret heart, and he went to see the departure of the ship, and sensed his daughter’s presence aboard the fleeing vessel. He reached out with spells of wind and lightning to call the ship back; but because his daughter was aboard, he had little heart in damaging the galley, and with every spell he flung, his daughter answered with a word of power that further broke the magic. So Hamdi escaped from the secret island of Morwe, having stolen away his daughter Altayra, and they were guided back through the belt of mists by the keen senses of Reis.
They had many other adventures after this, for the storm that had driven Hamdi to the island had also driven him far off course into waters uncharted by him or the men of Tsurr at that time. They encountered an island with a tribe of flesh-eating dzor giants; drove off an akho with extract of the tsi’il’s glands; were feasted in the halls of Mn the Ancient, hidden deep within the fire mountain of an island with strange beasts; and many other such tales.
But suffice it to say that they did eventually return to the south. And when they did return, they found the land much changed! For Tsurr had been sacked (though not yet razed) by the armies of the Kzinti, and a New City was being built by a man calling himself Souffet—but the line of kings had been wiped out. As a cousin of the old king, the Souffet saw Hamdi as a rival and feared him. He would eventually send him away on a quest for a glittering cloak, far to the west, as a pretense to see this potential rival into exile, perhaps to be killed along the way. But that is yet another tale for another day. For now, let it be said that Hamdi and Altayra lived together happily in Gadeed for a time, before setting out once more on another fantastical voyage.
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