Hello there everyone! Xaphon Zessen here, but you can all call me Xap if you like! For those of you who don't know me, I just recently got promoted to the rank of reporter for the Atys Chronicles and took a trip around Atys with the help of some fine homins. In case you missed my previous announcements, I'll give you a quick recap so you get to know me a bit better...

Before you start wondering why my surname sounds familiar, you've probably come across some of my family; I've got brothers and sisters and cousins and aunties and uncles all over the place! So what happened was, when I was growing up my Momma wanted me close to home after seeing all my brothers and sisters go off into the wide world to get jobs and so forth... In order to stay around Pyr, I got a job in the Atys Chronicles office there, doing odd jobs around the place and generally helping out the field operatives. Now between you and me, some of those people couldn't find Zora on a map if it were labelled, if you know what I mean. What with me having family all over Atys, I get to hear a lot of what's going on from all the lands almost before its happened; armed with this information I slowly but surely worked my way up the ranks. Finally all my hard work has paid off; after writing some articles for the higher-ups when they were feeling lazy or under the weather, the boss finally agreed to promote me to Field Operative! It was the happiest day of my life, I can tell you!

This is where you all come in; I've heard that all you guys and girls love to hear what's going on around the place... you know, anything strange or interesting and you're climbing the walls to find out about it nearly. Since my family means I have an ear to the bark all the time, and as a Chronicler I'm in a position to let everyone know what's going on, I can help you out in that respect. All I ask is that you do me, my family, or a friend of mine a little favour every once in a while. Handy for everyone, huh?

To celebrate my promotion, I decided to have a trip round Atys to take messages and gifts to all my relatives, and of course I also got to meet all you wonderful people as well! After meeting up at Pyr and getting to know each other a little, we made the first leg of the trip - to Fairhaven via Zora - under the guidance of Elusha, a quick-witted Tryker who seemed to share her countryfolk's love of excitement. In Zora I met my Cousin Xyrius, the Ambassador there, and when we finally got to Fairhaven I managed to relax at the bar for a little while with some fellow travellers and try out the famous Stinga Rum. It was a bit of a surprise for me to make the whole trip without any harm coming to me and then being laid out by a drink at my destination!

After spending the night sleeping off the Stinga Rum and doing a bit of paperwork at the Fairhaven office of the Atys Chronicles, I met a fresh party of homins and we set off for Yrkanis. The knowledgeable Thara led us safely through the maze of Heretics Hovel with no problems and we reached Yrkanis in short order. After introducing some of the homins to my Auntie Xatheus, the Ambassador to the Matis, I went to meet some other family in Yrkanis and spent the night there in one of the mighty trees.

Finally I set off from Yrkanis on my way home to Pyr so I could meet Lanist and finalise our deal. The fearless Kirijoleth led us between some of the most vicious creatures of the Desert; it was quite an experience I can tell you! To my surprise though there were no casualties and we were soon back on my doorstep, as it were, and after a quick welcome from my Aunt Ulryon at Cerakos Gate, we were rousting Lanist from the bar.

As he had promised, he put on a race for the homins while he sobered up. Six contestants raced from Cerakos to Canyon Road Workshop in Dunes of Exile and after a hard and fast struggle, Thewizard returned first with Kilgoretrout in a close second. I hear the prize was typically extravagant, as Lanist tends to be to the winners of his tournaments.

After the race, Lanist and I said goodbye to everyone and we headed back to my place to talk business - not only did we finalise our deal about who will announce what to you all, but he also asked me to look into something for him. I'm going to poke around and if I hear anything worthwhile, I'll let you all know!

Keep an eye out for me around the place - some of what you see here in the News section of the Chronicles will probably be from me, but not all of it... There are others working here at the Chronicles; while they'll tell you what's happened after the fact, I'll tell you as soon as I hear about it!