Witch of Lurago Chapter 3: The Barrens

Several characters have referenced the Barrens and never in a good way. So where and what are the Barrens?

As you know by now, Rootstock Saga is set on a future earth. Land masses and oceans have shifted from their present day geographical coordinates, shoreline shapes, and elevation. But Earth is still Earth. Hemispheres. Poles. Trade winds.

Most importantly, the future earth has far less habitable land than we have in our cycle. All Rootstock Saga settings (so far) have all been in the Western Hemisphere. Tallu, Rhynn (Innis), Bresca, Larad, the Ten Kingdoms of Erusa, and Wodi.

What lies to the East is, without question, forbidden. Few venture there anymore because any who do die. The Great Serpent ensures no one survives the Barrens.

But wait.

Human nature. We explore. It’s hardcoded in our DNA. From the deepest oceans to the highest mountains. From the densest forest to the most desolate desert. To the moon and back. And beyond. If we can find a way to get there, we do.

So why, in Rootstock Saga, does the human race shrug and turn away from the entire Eastern Hemisphere as if it were irrelevant?

Several reasons. The most compelling of which will wait for the final book. But as for where we are now in the story, suffice it to say the characters perceive what they are meant to perceive of their world.

The Barrens. The forbidden lands to the East. An ancient wall thousands of miles long marks the boundary not to be crossed. But the wall is old and crumbling. In some regions, it’s hard to discern whether there was ever a wall at all.

Who built the wall is a recurring and unanswered question. The Wall isn’t insurmountable but crossing it is generally attempted only by the foolhardy or suicidal.

Eventually, curiosity succumbed to self-preservation, because sickness is a stronger deterrent than any wall. Any who venture beyond it sicken and die. Even living near the wall affects those like the Dimini.

Radiation? Or lingering biohazards? Or an illusion?

The Endless Ocean. You won’t hear it referenced as such until the last book of the series (I think), but it’s the oceangoing explorer’s equivalent of the Barrens Wall. Those who sail east from Wodi’s shores or west from Tallu never reach the shores on the other side.

The Rootstock Saga characters know the earth is round. They understand that they should be able to circumvent the globe. But no one ever has, though many have tried. Given centuries of fruitless attempts, they stop trying.

Imagine the Vikings, Columbus, de Soto, Balboa, Lewis & Clark, and explorers like them set out and never returned.

Eventually, even the most adventurous of us would think twice.

Accept the boundaries or die.

How different might our cycle have unfolded with just a touch of that restraint?