Prophecies of Aa Konta

Type: Article — In-Universe Historical/Religious Text (Full Text) Author: Perry Jones Published: Aug 22, 2023 Source: Medium and creator-provided detail (uploaded documents) Status: Canon (published/confirmed)

A collection of prophetic visions attributed to the shaman Aa Konta (165–230 AD) of the Gherallis tribe, presented as historical/religious text discovered via an engraving on a stela near Wetrock. Told in the first person, the visions describe imagery Aa Konta lacks the vocabulary for — oil derricks, railroads, automobiles, tanks, aircraft, orbital habitats — using "iron" as a catch-all term for technology beyond his era. See The Prophecies of Kila Vas for a separate, dedicated cycle of visions specifically prophesying that city's founding and growth.

The Frame

"I stand in the sky above Wetrock. Below me the rock glistens. Stones have been moved and gathered to form pools around Wetrock. Men and women from many nations gather here, to listen — to listen to me! My voice echoes beyond my time, it travels, I fear."

Vision 1: The Warcamp

"I stand beside the rock that glistens. In the sand, many iron chariots are at rest. Many men are here, warriors. Warriors of the east, of the man of shadows; he who rides the iron chariot, he who directs the storm. It is a warcamp.

A man removes a parchment from his clothing. It is longer on one side than the other. The parchment is thin and white, not like parchment at all. He spreads it out before the other men. Strange writing covers both sides, many lines, many colors, he points at the writing and colors and speaks. Then he adds markings and colors of his own.

He stops speaking and turns his head. He looks at where I am standing but does not see me. He turns back to his warriors and speaks some more."

Vision 2: The Iron Derrick

"It is a tower of iron, like a tent but without the cloth. It stands several men tall. At its feet is an iron goat. The goat bucks. Each time it bucks the black desert blood is drawn closer to the sand from far below.

The iron tent tower with no tent stands over a narrow and deep well. It draws not water but black blood of the desert from far below the sands."

Vision 3: Iron Horses and Camels

"Many come with iron horses and iron camels. They unload the iron camels and build iron towers across the desert. The men dig deep into the sand to find the black blood of the desert."

Vision 4: The Canyon and the Iron Horse

"I stand at the lip of a canyon. Below men scurry and dig in the ground. I know this place. It is the canyon of diamonds and colored stones in the north. My people and other tribes trade for these diamonds and colored stones, we make jewelry and crafts with which we adorn with these stones.

The men digging for these do the same. They send them to large villages far away. There men make jewelry and crafts just as we do, adorning their work with the stones of the desert.

The men have built a fierce iron horse across the desert that chugs and, snorts and smells. It huffs and pulls many iron chariots behind it. This iron monster runs on iron poles the men have planted along the sand.

The men load gold and iron, stones and diamonds into the iron chariots this beast pulls. The beast is big and fearsome. Smoke as from a cookfire flares from a big nose on its head."

Vision 5: The Iron Bird

"I see a dark path in the sand. It is wide and very long. It seems made of mud but like rock.

A great iron bird stands at the end of this path. The bird runs. It runs faster and faster then leaps into the air.

The iron bird soars into the sky. It flies far and gets smaller and smaller.

I stand and watch until I see it no more."

Vision 6: The Childbirth

"I help give birth to a baby. I take the baby into my arms. I am wearing strange clothes, blue, a blue robe. I look down. I am a woman!

I have the baby in my arms. I turn to a man beside me. He wears a blue robe as I do. A blue mask covers his mouth and nose. He takes the baby. The baby cries. The mother asks if the baby is happy. The man places the baby in the mothers arms. I awake from this strange dream."

Vision 7: Wetrock Runs Dry

Source: Medium (original published version; not included in the 2025 upload).

"Wetrock is dry. The waters no longer serve the people. East, a storm gathers. Iron rain falls. The storm travels west growing more magnificent and terrible. Lightning falls to the ground. Many chariots are destroyed.

Fire sweeps through the storm destroying its enemies. At the head of the storm, a man of pale skin rides a chariot of iron. He and his followers sweep past Wetrock, gathering to themselves the riches of the sands and drinking deep of the black blood beneath.

This refreshes them and they ride a long ride, many months. They stop only when they reach the northwestern sea. At the village of the fishers, this man will one day establish a new home, and the waters of Wetrock will once again nourish the sands and refresh those who stop at the rock."

Vision 8: His Father's Wisdom

"I stand in the sky above Wetrock. I look. I see my father squatting on the ground. I am a young boy squatting near him. We are looking at each other.

My father speaks. He says to avoid that which blasphemes the gods of the sky and the desert, to avoid that which blasphemes the spirits of the canyons and places and sands and waters. He tells me to avoid that which blasphemes the creatures that share the desert with us, that share the world with us. He tells me to avoid that which blasphemes my people or other people or the great spirit, the creator god.

He speaks of ancient wisdom and tomorrows sorrows. He tells me stories of peoples and places and times and wars. He tells me about women and men and says that I am trusted to learn all this and not misspeak nor misuse the knowledge and wisdom given to me. I agree.

He says that the path of the brave is a hard path of courage all men must follow. He tells me to listen to my heart. My heart, he says will guide me throughout my days. If I listen to my heart I will grow old and be content all the days of life. He tells me that if I refuse to follow the hard path of courage, then the easy path of folly will govern my days, and I will be unhappy, discontent and miss my calling. He says this path is easy to follow but hard to live and impossible to be content upon. The path of the brave is the hard path, but the only path for true men. I assure him I will follow the path of courage.

Yet, today, some of what I do and say are those very things my father warned me of long ago. A man of light is with me. He turns to look at me. He speaks, "Heed the words of your father. He was old and full of wisdom. Today is tomorrow, some of his wisdom is no longer accurate, you are young and new and already wise. You follow your heart and when your heart tells you that what you say or do is right, follow that path for that is the path of the brave, even if it seems that the words of your father you hear in your head are saying that what you do is blasphemy. The gods always stand with those who follow the path of the brave. It is a hard path, but the path of the foolish is harder still though each step is easy and quick. Your father was a brave warrior of wisdom and of the spirits, but some of what he said in your youth may no longer be true to you today."

I honor my father. I honor my mother. I honor the spirits of the sky and the land. I honor the spirits of peoples. And I honor the spirits of courage and truth who guide my steps, even if my father once would have said it is wrong."

Vision 9: We Are All the Same

"I stand beside Wetrock. Far away I see the sand turn red with the blood of men. I weep. The red grows and grows. Many men die.

I see the world from far above the sky. It is round like a ball. It hangs in the blackness over nothing, yet though it is so black, the sun is so very bright.

I turn. I see other balls of blue, green, white and red. They hang in the blackness also. I see each ball closer and closer. Upon each ball I see men and women, peoples and beings of many kinds, shapes, sizes. I see many interests, hopes and wants. I see anger and hate and warriors marching and fighting.

I see we are all the same."

Vision 10: The Spirit of Wetrock Speaks

"I turn. I see the spirit of the rock, of Wetrock. It speaks.

"You have much wisdom. You have visions of gods and places and men. These visions are true and is the gift of the gods. Speak of your visions with truth and boldness. Let no man dissuade you from speaking your truth. Many of your visions occur when you are near this rock. Many of your visions have this rock as prominent within your vision.

You, and others who see far things here, may be tempted to build a shrine upon this place. You may seek to build a temple or hide it behind walls. Do no such thing. It is a rock. It is a rock that glistens wet with water that drips from a wall. Honor the water, respect the rock. But it is a rock.

You honor Wetrock by keeping it open and free for all men, for all vistors, from all places, from all peoples, from all nations. Build no temple here, do not enclose it behind walls. Place no tent over it. If you must, place a stone pillar nearby. Write upon the stone as you choose. But the stone pillar must be humble and the words you inscribe upon its surface must likewise be humble and full of grace and wisdom. Tell this to the people, that all generations that follow will absorb your words and heed your advice.""

Vision 11: The Old Man and Ta'ula

"I am startled, I awaken. My heart is troubled. I do not recognize this place. I try to turn, to sit up, but my body is frail and weak. My joints ache, my bones are sore.

"Grandfather! You're awake."
"Who are you my child?"
"Grandfather, I am the daughter of your sister's daughter. Do you not know me?"

I think, but my sister's daughter is only 12 years of age and has had no child. I must be within a vision.

"Yes, Father, you are in a vision," speaks a woman's voice, but I do not see her. I lay upon a mat of cloth filled with straw. It is comfortable for an old man. The cloth is red with black squares, my robes are tan and red, old and dusty. I do not recognize my robes.

"You are wearing the robes and clothing of a trusted elder, of the wise man of your tribe," the woman's voice says again.

My granddaughter brings me a bowl of soup. I struggle to sit upright but it is hard. My breathing is labored and difficult. She feeds me, telling me stories, she is delightful. I fall asleep.

Again I awake, startled. My body aches, my joints are sore. It is nearly dawn. I see a young maiden in the dim light. She is not my granddaughter. This maiden is young, red hair — and naked. She stands up from a bath.

"Grandfather, I did not mean to wake you. Are you hungry? Are you cold?"
"I am old," I reply.

She laughs as only young maidens can. She pulls on a tan robe of our tribe and steps outside the tent. I recognize it now. After a moment the girl returns. She has tea she says.

"Drink," she says, "we just traded for this from a caravan that passed us two days ago."
"Have I been asleep that long?" I ask.

That causes her to laugh loudly.
"No, no, grandfather. You have been awake. Do you not remember?"

I struggle, but I have no memories of this time, I tell her so. She frowns and then tells me a story of a young boy and a dog. She laughs as her story concludes. I smile, it is a funny story.

I ask her name. I ask if she is my granddaughter by birth, by family. She says no, she is Ta'ula, a friend of my granddaughter Miriam, whom I remember from my last vision.

"Sleep now," she says and I hear two voices speaking the same words, Ta'ula and the woman I heard earlier. Then only the woman's voice speaks, "Sleep Father, you who are well-esteemed. You must return to your own time and place, you are still young and you have much work to do."

I fall asleep."

Additional Visions (Uncertain Placement)

Two further visions were provided without clear indication of where they fit chronologically or thematically within the cycle above:

A Cold Forest, and a Strange Chariot

"Trees, great massive trees. The air is cold, much different from where I live. The scents of this place are odd and unusual but comforting. I recall them somehow. The sunlight sneaks through the leaves of these great trees like beams of sunlight passing through clouds.

I am beyond these trees, in a clearing. A man and woman have set up a tent here. Two children are playing with a small dog. They are all wearing much heavy clothing. A strange iron chariot is nearby. It has walls and a ceiling.

I am inside this chariot. It is strange. The floor is covered with a tan cloth. There are hard seats also covered with a tan cloth. A panel with a handle stands across from a panel that I can see through. I see through it to the children playing beyond.

Near me is an iron basin of shining iron. A curved piece of this shiny iron extends over the basin. I turn a handle near the base of the curved piece, water gushes from the end of the curved piece and into the basin below. I am startled."

[Continues directly:] "I am in the great forest again. Now I am soaring above the trees, they zoom past at great speed below me. I see lights on the horizon, beyond the lights I see a great sea, there are many iron canoes upon the sea, very large canoes. The lights are from many buildings, long houses and high towers of iron one can see through, this iron is nearly as clear as the air, but as strong as iron. Many iron chariots of many colors, sizes and shapes, travel along long straight paths between the many buildings. I have never seen so many buildings or so many people in one place. All of it is as crowded as a market."

The cold-climate setting and forest imagery do not match Aa Konta's own desert homeland, nor Kila Vas's coastal-desert geography — likely depicting a distant land unfamiliar to him, possibly Jonesboro or elsewhere on the northern continent.

The Prophecy of Aircraft and Spacecraft

"The man of the iron chariot peers ahead. He grows angry. To the southwest, the wall of green stops him. A man marches from the green to fight a leader of the man of the iron chariot.

He lifts his staff to the sky and iron birds take flight. They poop much poop on his enemies. Their poop turns to iron eggs. These eggs burst into flame and kill many. He stares at the moons and laughs. "I am coming!" he shouts. He raises his arms and from the storm behind him great dragon eagles spring high into the sky. They soar high above the clouds, into the blackness beyond. They chase down and eat many enemy birds and eagles and scrape their talons against the land leaving furrows of death and sorrow behind."

[Continues directly:] "From the eyes of the iron eagle, a man stares. He stares at nothing. Only blackness abides. There are no deserts, no mountains or seas. There is not the blue-gold of sky, nor the white of clouds, only blackness and the glare of the sun which never sleeps."

Entities Introduced

• Characters: Aa Konta
• Peoples/Factions: Gherallis tribe, Kaolsani people
• Locations: Wetrock, Shapas Desert, Dielvan Wac Desert, Kranmor Canyon, Arkanzaia (uncertain)

Worldbuilding Significance

This article strongly corroborates and enriches the Shapas Desert / LMT resource-expedition material found in the ChatGPT export — suggesting the game's lore was developed consistently across both the Medium articles and ChatGPT sessions, just from different angles (in-universe primary source vs. narrative history).

Open Questions

• See Aa Konta for specific flagged cross-reference questions (Perold Jones identity match, Kaolsani/Kaolsan connection).
• Where the "Cold Forest" and "Aircraft and Spacecraft" visions fit chronologically relative to the numbered visions above is not specified in the source material.