IX

The following passage appears in an ancient scroll preserved by the scholars of Libria.

“Most forsake the journey to Wynenema not long after passing the Great Shitadel in the south, for it is no gilded route. Confronted by a vast, arid wasteland, menaced by serpents of every ilk, it is an intrepid traveler who ventures beyond the southern frontier in search of this shitty of rapture. It is said after a fortnights journey into uncharted land, one is met by the appearance of two moons upon nearing Wynenema – whether through the onset of delirium or by cosmic artifice, one cannot say.

Upon entry into the shitty, travelers are greeted wordlessly by Wynenema’s gatekeeper, and proffered a drink from the fabled brackish stream running through the land. Slaking one’s thirst from this source has been known to impart the deepest sensations of relief, lightness and satiation in the drinker. Less widely known are the means to such a physical state.

It is rumoured the eyes and sphincter swiftly dilate in unison, as the recesses of the bowels unleash torrents of blackest excrement. Some claim the spirit itself is cleansed in this great rectal absolution. The overwhelming relief felt by the shitter is said to be matched in intensity only by the revulsion stirred in a witness.

Alas, this allayment of suffering comes at a cost. The ecstasy of defecating with such fervency has led men to abandon decorum in Wynenema. Sphincters in a state of constant dilation have provoked a culture of unspeakable licentiousness. Practices of hygiene and sanitation are lost and forgotten. Visitors quickly devolve into their primal selves, seeking only pleasure and relief, unshackled by the loss of shame. Once proud shitty dwellers roam debased and depraved, at times on all fours, having yielded the lineage of man for beasthood.

To see men given to such wantonness, one can question, is the cost of bliss and relief in Wynenema too dear? Must we pay such a price, the abdication of basic humanity? Perhaps the answer lay clearly before us – many have entered Wynenema, but none have departed”.