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The Traveler's Companion

by EJGRgunner

"Traveler's Companion: An Excursionist's Guide to the City of Nexus, The: There is no book in the history of the written word more thorough, more scrutinized, more read, more beloved or more exactingly crafted than the Traveler's Companion. Currently in its 39th edition (revised), it is the definitive authority on all things Nexus, containing the collective knowledge and wisdom of generations of authors, dating back past the days of ancient Hollow, all the way to the halcyon era of the Imperial Shogunate. In a city where fortunes are won and lost on wits and cunning alone, there is no item more essential to understanding, nay, we dare say to surviving, the intricacies and nuances of Creation's greatest metropolis than the book you now hold in your hands. Thank the Dragons, the Gods, and all manner of spirits for your good fortune!"
- From The Traveler's Companion: An Excursionist's Guide to the City of Nexus, entry concerning The Traveler's Companion.

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Rumours

• The fact of the matter is, the XXXXNAMEOFATHIEVESGUILDXXX writes, publishes, and distributes the book to hotels in order to lure tourists to their territory, where such easy marks are quickly liberated from their change purses.

Secret

• Originally published under the name Encyclopedia Nexusuca, the Traveler's Companion does not in fact date back to the days of the Shogunate, or even the days of Hollow. The Companion was originally created by a clever treasure hunter and forger who wanted to "bulk up" the collections he sold at auction. The illegitimacy of the text was soon discovered, and the "originals" were soon deemed worthless.
  
  Some enterprising young scholar or merchant realized that such an encyclopedia had potential. The treasure hunter's descriptions of major landmarks, tourist traps, etc. were not without insight, and a book detailing the many wonders of Nexus could be invaluable to the tourist trade, reaching an untapped market for authoritative and practical information on the city. Using the Encyclopedia as a model and a foundation, the entrepeneur penned The Traveler's Companion to the City of Nexus (2nd Edition), printed the book en masse using cheap paper and cheaper bindings and made a tidy profit off the sales to hotels and tourists before retiring to a villa in the Hundred Kingdoms. All subsequent editions of the Companion were created in a similar fasion: some dedicated or industrious young Nexican discovers the current edition, identifies the flaws in the current version, revises it, and publishes a new edition.