THE VAST LAND OF VIJAYAS

  Know, oh man, that between the years when the first folks from the vast Kingdom of Kalimantan arrived in the Great Archipelago and before the silver-clad pale men from Espa?a sank their wolfish teeth to colonize its islands, there was a glorious time unheard of, when grand city-states and Kenadatuans led by wise datus shone like wondrous orbs in the night sky.

  As one, they were called Vijayas but for the uninitiated they were- Irong-irong whose golden pastoral fields of rice and corn feed numerous land through trade, Ananipay whose Tumandok tribe wove their panubok designs to rival the fine silks of Chi'n traders, Buglas with its inland territories occupied by Taglugar worshipping Atis- famous for their tribal wars, Bo-ol with its thousand and one hills, Kihod's kingom whose rumored inhabitants, the manghihiwits, practiced dark and arcane craft, and Zubu whose great rajah and noble pintados waged war against the raiders from the south of the archipelago.

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  And it was indeed a great and wild time ripe for tales of capricious gods and wayward heroes. It was a glorious age, all but forgotten and hidden from the eyes of the many...but for how long, I ask you? For how long?

  - Chronicles of the Bagani Saga

  Translations by Lamberto Aguilar (A Study of Our Baganis, pages 41-50)