“Here be dragons…”
And spaceships and mountain-dwellers, zombies and sorcerers, magics and mermaids, fae folk and false ghosts, and a whole host of those creatures, peoples, and places seen and unseen, known and unknown.
In preparation for your journey, I’ve created a handy packing list of certain mystical and mundane items that have helped me in my travels:
- A familiar, for no one must tread a realm alone
- A bit of gemstone, especially helpful if you find yourself in the company of fae
- A book of riddles (riddlemancy is a necessary practice of all realm adventurers; you never know when you will come across a wily troll or a mischievous trickster)
- A flask of spirits, for emotional and physical anesthesia
- Beer, wine, or mead (particularly if you meet the Gods or the Vikings)
- A good long story you’ve learned to tell, in the event of sudden bardism or if you are trapped too long in interstellar space
- The love of family and of friends, distilled into a tincture or infused into an amulet, for safe passage, warmth, and a light in lonely places
- A false name on which to pin your mischiefs or to offer up to dubious company
- A jar of soil from your mother country, or the mother country of your soul (good for sprinkling in tea as a cure for homesickness, and for the planting of seeds from foreign realms)
- Salted butter and hard biscuits, for when you need to make allies out of enemies with a pinch of hospitality
- And finally, a spirit of curiosity, of generosity, and a good old-fashioned appetite for wandering
This is of course an incomplete list and I am certain you will expand on it with time well-spent.
Best of luck, from me and my familiars!
Caledonia James 