天邈汉化组翻译【资深】
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Kirkwall once lived on the edge of the Tevinter Imperium and was home to nearly a million slaves. Stolen from elven lands or shipped from across the sea, all slaves fed the Imperium's unquenchable thirst for expansion. They worked in massive quarries and sweltering foundries that produced stone and steel for the Empire.
The city's complicated past is not easy to forget, history having earmarked many corners of the stone city. A ship approaching the harbor spots the city's namesake: an imposing black wall. It is visible for miles, and carved into the cliff side are a pantheon of vile guardians representing the Old Gods. Over the years, the Chantry has effaced many of these profane sentinels, but it will take many more years to erase them all.
Also carved into the cliff is a channel that permits ships into the city’s interior. Flanking the channel are two massive bronze statues—the Twins of Kirkwall. The statues have a practical use. Kirkwall sits next to the narrowest point of the Waking Sea, and a massive chain net can be erected between the statues and the lighthouse, closing off the only narrow navigable lane. This stranglehold on sea traffic is jealously guarded by the ever-changing rulers of the city as the net trolls taxes, tolls, and extortions in from the sea.
—From <In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar>, by Brother Genitivi
柯克沃从前处于德凡特帝国边境。是大约一百万奴隶的家园。不论是从精灵那儿拐来的,还是从海外运来的,所有这些奴隶都不断填塞着古帝国无可抑止的扩张热望。他们在巨大的采石场和闷热的铸造场中做工,为帝国生产石材与钢铁。
这座城市复杂的过往可不会轻易被忘却,历史的印迹遍布于石城的角角落落。驶近海港的船只在数里开外就可以看到这座城市的象征:一堵威严的黑墙,峭壁上还雕有代表上古之神的邪恶卫士群像。多年以来,教会已毁去了许多这样的渎神卫士像,但要将它们全部除去大概还需要很多年。
峭壁上还刻蚀出一条河道,以便让船只驶入城内。河道的侧面有两座巨硕的铜像——柯克沃双子。这对雕像有着非常现实的作用:柯克沃的位置接近惊海最窄的海峡,可以在雕像和灯塔之间架起严密的锁链之网,隔断这唯一一条狭窄的海路。这座城市不断改换的统治者都会极为小心地保守着这条海运的束缚带,因为这张网能从海上带来税赋、通行费与索贿。
——摘自教会学者杰尼提维修士所著《求索知识:一个教会学者的旅程》 |
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