A Sack of Failure

    The Thirteen Realms are strewn with the detritus of fallen civilisations. The Nup Shullet are mostly remembered for the necroplasmic garbage bags they used to contain their failures. When they failed to recognise their worst idea of all in time their society collapsed and its people were dispersed. Ironically only these Sacks of Failure – which could be viewed as monuments raised not to success but incompetence – give any idea of the Nup Shullet’s former wealth and influence.

    Most people now avoid the Sacks, for bad ideas are very contagious, and any damage to a Sack risks contaminating vast tracts of land with manufactured pop songs and worse. Yet these Sacks have great significance for the Hanaji Sages, who seek them out and sit before them while contemplating new ideas. If they feel drawn towards a Sack, they know their thoughts are misguided or wrong, and need rejection or revision. If the Sack exerts no influence, they know their thoughts are harmless but pointless; and if the Sack repels them they know their thoughts are worth pursuing. Whatever the truth of these beliefs, the Hanaji are admired as some of the most constructive thinkers to inhabit the Thirteen Realms.