艾都华·桑唐基罗的瓦斯塔亚田园调查手记 Eduard Santangelo's Vastaya Field Journal

（关于艾欧尼亚北部杂合生物的观察、推论与反思的手记

(Being a journal of the observations, theories, and ruminations of the chimeric creatures of northern Ionia as recorded by the esteemed

艾都华．桑唐基罗：

EDUARD SANTANGELO:

绅士、探险家、纪年史学者）

Gentleman, Explorer, Chronicler)

我第一次结识杂合生物瓦斯塔亚人，是在我踏上艾欧尼亚的海滨沃土之后。我最初的目的是为了寻求解药，医治一种皮尔特沃夫特有的心病，萎靡倦怠——这是一种绵柔漫长的百无聊赖之情，起于进步之城先进成熟而且富丽堂皇的日常生活，而本人也有幸在此作为一个小有名气的作家讨口饭吃。

I first became acquainted with the chimeric creatures known as the vastaya upon landing on the fertile shores of Ionia. There, I had hoped, would I find a cure for a uniquely Piltovan malady known as the doldrums – a soft boredom for the ins and outs of everyday life in the dependably shining City of Progress where I make my living as an author of some renown.

在艾欧尼亚温暖神奇的腹地——非土生土长的地图绘制员通常都不会探索的腹地——我开始了冒险之旅，出发寻找我认知范围以外的东西。某种惊奇、诡谲、美妙、震撼的东西。

Within Ionia’s soft and magical bosom – a bosom generally unexplored by cartographers who were not born upon its vast shores – I endeavored to find something utterly beyond my scope of expertise. Something wondrous, and magical, and beautiful, and terrifying.

当我发现了瓦斯塔亚，我立刻就知道自己不虚此行。

Once I discovered the vastaya, I knew I had found that which I sought.

我见到第一只瓦斯塔亚人是在一个宁静的深夜。当时它正在我的营地乱翻，寻找可以果腹的东西。我醒来的时候差点吓跑了它，不过靠着一捧甜糕和一段母亲教我唱的枕边小调成功地安抚了它（作为一名高音歌唱家，我精通音律，随时可以演唱悠扬舒缓的小曲撩人心弦）。

I met my first vastayan creature in the dead of night, as it rummaged through my camp for something it could stuff down its gullet. Though it nearly sprinted away in fear upon my waking, a handful of sweetcakes and the sonorous delivery of a soothing bedtime melody taught to me by my mother (I am a soprano, and thus uniquely well-equipped to serenade others with songs of relaxation) convinced it to stay awhile in my camp.

虽然它像人类一样用两条腿走路，但它的身体特征却是许多种其他生物的杂合，有些特征我只在书里读到过，也有一些是我在各地旅行中有所见闻的。它长着猫一样长长的胡须和尖尖的鼻子，身上覆盖着蟒蛇一样的鳞片，四肢拥有比尔吉沃特咸水兽般的力量（因为它很快吃完了甜糕，所以我才有幸见证，它易如反掌地把我举过头顶，确认我的睡袋里没有藏着其他糖果以后才把我放下）。

Though it walked on two legs like a human, its features were a chimeric combination of several other creatures I had seen either in books, or on my myriad travels: it had the long whiskers and pointed nose of a cat, the scales of a snake all over its body, and the physical strength of a Bilgewatrian salt beast (which I discovered when, upon finishing his sweetcakes, the creature lifted me above his head with the same effort I might expend to scratch my nose, and held me aloft until it determined I was not hiding more candies in my bedroll).

少顷，这只生物逃进了黑暗之中，我知道自己的目标了：我决定继续探究这些瓦斯塔亚人（当地人是这么称呼它们的）。

The creature fled into the darkness shortly thereafter, and I knew what I had to do: I resolved to learn more about these vastaya (as the locals refer to them).

下面大家看到的文字，就记录了我在这片神秘大陆的旅途中遇到的形形色色的瓦斯塔亚人。

What follows are my notes on the varieties of vastaya I encountered in my travels across the mysterious continent.

如果要我提出关于这些生物起源的猜想——作为一位物理科学领域的博学绅士，我认为自己还是有资格提出猜想的——我的论断是，瓦斯塔亚人并不局限于某个具体的品种，它们在分类学上属于更宽的范畴，应该划分出一个瓦斯塔亚目，或者是瓦斯塔亚门。

Were I to hypothesize about the origins of these beings – and being a learned gentleman of the physical sciences, I consider myself more than qualified to do so – I would theorize that the vastaya are not an individual species, but a taxonomic classification more on par with a larger order, or a phylum.

一言蔽之，虽然可能会有许多长的差不多的瓦斯塔亚人（这个结论来之不易，我尾随那只猫——蛇——猿小孩回到了他的村落，结果被他同样外貌的同胞粗鲁地赶走了。可能他们错把我当成是不怀好意的侦察兵或者食物链顶端的掠食者，所以接下来他们又尾随我回到了营地并收走了我全部口粮），但是不同的部落和种群之间，外观和行为的差别还是非常巨大的。

Simply put, while many vastaya look similar to one another (as I discovered after following the cat-snake-ape boy back to his village and being rudely chased away by his identically hybridized brethren. Presumably they had confused me for some sort of nefarious spy or apex predator, which explains why they followed me back to my camp and subsequently relieved me of my foodstuffs), the different tribes and familial groupings often look and act in drastically dissimilar ways.

首次遇到瓦斯塔亚人以后，我采用了寻水溯源的方法，沿着它们村落附近的呢喃河（我给取的名字，因为水流声非常大，而我和许多老先生一样爱好冷嘲热讽）继续前进，因为我知道其它瓦斯塔亚部落一定会被水源所吸引。不出所料，几天后我就发现了一个完全不同的部落。这一群瓦斯塔亚人长着水獭一样的毛茸茸的小脸，让人忍不住想要抓在手里捏一捏。不过他们从腰部往下却变成了海豹的尾巴。

Days after my encounter with the vastaya, I – by following the Whispering River (so named by myself because it was infuriatingly loud, and, like many sophisticates, I have a penchant for irony) near their village, and knowing others would certainly be drawn to such a water source – discovered an entirely different tribe. These vastaya had the squeezable, furry faces of otters, but the lower girth of seals.

我试图将自己的眼镜作为象征和平的礼物献给他们（因为我发现它们之中有许多都带着袋子，里面装满了发光的小玩意，所以我猜测他们可能是一个以物易物的群落），未果。于是我开始跳起即兴创作的“我为和平而来没有恶意”的舞蹈（这种舞步主要强调对膝盖的运用，而我的膝盖骨绝对是冰清玉洁）。在舞蹈的启发下，我的瓦斯塔亚人伙伴们接纳了我，还喂我吃了一顿温热的晚餐，具体的菜肴嘛，我只能将其形容为三成熟的不知道什么鱼味的肉。

After I unsuccessfully attempted to give them my glasses as a peace offering (many of the creatures carried packs full of knickknacks and shiny bits and bobs – perhaps they were a mercantile society), I began an impromptu “I come in peace and will do you no harm” interpretive dance (this particular jig was all about knee placement, and my patellas are positively pristine), which inspired my companions to take me in and feed me a warm supper of a meal I can only describe as slightly unraw not-quite-fish.

虽然它们在我手舞足蹈的祈求和平仪式上没有说话，但后来在它们礼貌地要求我递过一杯淡黄色咸辣粉末的时候我才发现，它们可以流利地讲我的语言。它们的口音和方言我从没听过，不过我可以毫不费力地听懂它他们讲的每一句话。至此，我的求知欲赶超了我之前的食欲，于是向它们提出了一连串关于它们历史的问题。

Though they said not a word while I performed my ritualistic gyrations, they later revealed, upon politely requesting I pass them a cup of yellowish powder that smelled of salt and fire, that they spoke my language fluently. Their various dialects and colloquialisms were unfamiliar to me, but I could, with very little effort, understand exactly what they said. As hungry for knowledge as I had previously been for food, I hurriedly queried them about the history of their kind.

我了解到，瓦斯塔亚人的起源可以追溯到很久很久以前，在艾欧尼亚的一处世外桃源，一群人类为了躲避虚空世界大战（我曾就这一题材写过许多长篇典籍，物超所值，皮城各大书店均有销售）。这群逃难的人类遇到了一支智慧的换形生物，它们与大自然中的魔能高度协调共鸣。这两个族群之间的配对共生，最终造就了我所认识的瓦斯塔亚人。斗转星移，两个族群配对产生的后代来到了各个不同的地区定居，因此也选择了不同的形态，有的成为了艾欧尼亚地区长翅膀的人形生物，有的则成为了恕瑞玛大漠中肢体繁多的拖沙兽，还有的成为了弗雷尔卓德的覆鳞海牛，脸上总是一副受尽委屈的痛苦表情。

I learned that the vastaya’s origins could be traced back long, long ago, to a hidden corner of Ionia where a group of humans fled to escape the myriad horrors of the Great Void War (a subject upon which I have written numerous tomes, all of which can be found at the better Piltovan booksellers for more-than-reasonable prices). These refugees came into contact with a tribe of intelligent, shapeshifting creatures who were greatly in tune with Ionia’s natural magicks. The pairing of these two groups produced the creatures I eventually learned to refer to as vastaya. Over time, the offspring of these pairings settled into a variety of regions and therefore adopted diverse forms, from the winged humanoids of Ionia or the sporadically-limbed sandshufflers of Shurima, to the Freljordian scaled manatee with a look of perpetual discomfort on its face.

我本想要留下并向这群水獭人了解更多，但我的一个问题好像是犯了他们某个大忌讳，结果我就被唐突地扔出了村落，它们的友好和善意也荡然无存。为了让大家避免犯同样的错误，我最后问的问题，是关于最初两个族群的配对究竟是纯魔法层面的，还是更加实质（别误会）性的接触。

I wished to stay and ask more of the otterfolk, but one of my questions seemed to cause great offense, and I was unceremoniously ejected from the village and the creatures’ good graces in one fell swoop. My question, for those looking to avoid the same mistake, regarded whether the pairing of the two species was purely magical or more (shall we say) physical in nature.

我的冷静随着补给一起一去不返了，但我却从未放下对冒险的渴望。我再次向着新的方向出发，此时我的防身武器只剩下一腔豪情壮志和华丽繁复的词藻。数月里，我只靠艾欧尼亚丰富的水果蔬菜维生，幸好这些食物就明晃晃地挂在枝头或落在地上，就像边境市场货摊上的东西一样可以信手拈来。

Relieved of both my supplies and my calm, but never my thirst for adventure, I again struck out in a different direction with nothing to protect me save my gumption and multisyllabic vocabulary. Months passed as I availed myself of Ionia’s plentiful fruits and vegetables, picking them from the ground and trees as easily as one might procure an item from a stall in the Boundary Markets.

我只能靠日出和日落计算时间，而且也很开心地忘掉了那些我曾经习以为常的皮尔特沃夫繁文缛节。再后来，在艾欧尼亚浪荡了许多时日的我，身上有味儿了。

I marked time only by the rising and setting of the sun, and happily forgot all those cumbersome Piltovan habits to which I had become accustomed. To wit, after many days spent ambling across Ionia, I had developed something of a stench.

我停了下来，宽衣解带（事先先确定四周无人——一位绅士从不会强行让别人看自己裸体）然后走入一汪湖泊。湖水泛着浆果和青草的清香。

I paused, disrobed (after checking to make sure I was alone – a gentleman never forces his own nudity upon others) and stepped into a nearby lake that smelled of berries and grass.

在那里，我看到了整个人生中最美妙的景象，即使我能活到一千岁，也不会再见到比这更美妙的事物。

It was there that I saw the most wondrous thing I had ever seen in my entire life, and will ever see should I live to be a thousand.

比我见过的任何瓦斯塔亚人都更接近于人类，比任何人类都更接近自然之美，我眼前这只生物，正在湖对岸洗澡，她长着狐狸的耳朵和尾巴，不过身上不着一丝——这里不便描绘得太过具体以免引起年轻或敏感读者的不适——让她看上去非常非常像一名人类女性。

Far more human than any vastaya I had yet seen, this creature, bathing on the opposite shore, had the ears and tail(s) of a fox, but she was unclothed – and I shall leave my descriptions vague so as not to offend my younger or more sensitive readers – and otherwise very, very much like a female human.

非常像。

Very.

泡在池塘里的我只能模糊地看到她的身影，张口结舌，水痕沿着我憔悴的躯体往下淌，我脑海中拼命搜寻问候的词语。也许我可以自称是知名作家，为她诵读一些热情洋溢的评论。或者，我可以为她唱一支我创作的，专为这种情况准备的民谣情歌。

I caught but a glimpse of her as I soaked in the pond; my mouth agape, rivulets of water streaming down my gaunt frame as I attempted to come up with the perfect words of greeting. Mayhaps I would introduce myself as a writer of some renown, quoting her some of my more effusive reviews. Or, I might serenade her with one of the many romantic ballads I had composed and memorized for situations such as this.

然而还没等我想好，我身后的草丛突然一阵骚动，吓我一跳。我本能地回头看看动静的来源，但没有任何东西露面。我转回身，发现那个光彩夺目的狐狸女子已经不见了，只留下一个不知所措的我，脑子里全是疑问，嘴边挂着第一句话“噢，我的梦，我的爱，我盼望的侣伴”，满脸抹不掉的尴尬。

Soon however, a rustling in the brush behind me gave me a start. I turned to confront the rustling out of instinct, but with no threat brave enough to show itself, I turned back to find the glorious fox woman was gone, leaving me with nothing but questions, the first few bars to “Oh, My Love, My Dream, My Prospective Bedfellow” bouncing around my head, and a decidedly embarrassed look on my face.

我本来决定要将那发出声响坏我良宵的东西殴打至晕厥，没想到原来是一个人类，是从来自远处村落的浆姜果商贩，虽然他的姜果看上去很美味，但我并没有品尝，因为我还不确定自己能否抑制住把姜果拍到他笑脸上的冲动。

The rustler, whom I was determined to beat into bloody unconsciousness for scaring the love of my life away, turned out to be a human merchant from a distant village who specialized in selling gingerfruit – an apparent delicacy I chose not to taste as I was uncertain I’d resist the temptation to smash one into his smiling face.

沙伊（他的名字）一脸严肃地告诫我不要在这片池塘里洗澡，因为池里的水和偶尔在湖边洗澡的那名狐狸女子都会对我的健康产生威胁。我告诉他，吓唬一个赤身裸体、情迷意乱的男人更会对他的健康产生威胁，他听了之后只是笑了笑。

Shai – for this was his name – chastised me for bathing in the pond, informing me that it, and the fox woman who was sometimes known to bathe there, would be hazardous to my health. I informed him that sneaking up on naked, enamored men would be far more hazardous to his, but he merely laughed.

我穿好衣服以后，这名商人同意带我回到人类文明世界中，而且还回答了许多问题。作为代价，我献出了自己的帽子（金如士男装店，零售价五十三银轮）。

After I dressed, the merchant agreed to lead me back to human civilization and answer a few of my questions in exchange for my hat (Jeanreaux’s Haberdashery, retail price fifty-three gears).

他告诉我说，他们家已经认识这个怪女子好几代人了——所以说她和其他瓦斯塔亚人一样，寿命比普通人类长。有一些瓦斯塔亚人据说能活上千年，还有一些则在传闻和传说中是永生不死的。沙伊告诉我这些生物在艾欧尼亚当地的叫法，其实在此之前，我一直都管它们叫“幻塔斯玛”，现在这位商人嘲笑了我的命名方式。因此我才把之前的记录统一从“幻塔斯玛”改成了“瓦斯塔亚”，主要是出于人文关怀的角度考虑，因为能和我的辞藻相提并论的，只有我的谦逊。

He informed me that his family had known of the strange woman for generations – that she, like the other vastaya, have far longer lives than we humans. Some have been said to live for thousands of years, while others, rumors and legends say, might well be immortal. It was Shai who informed me of Ionia’s name for these creatures – up until this point I had referred to them as “phantasma,” until the merchant scoffed at my nomenclature. I have retroactively changed all mentions of “phantasma” to “vastaya” purely out of cultural empathy, as my vocabulary is matched only by my humility.

我们一起走了数日，他会偶尔停下来闻气味，就像是一只追捕猎物的猎犬一样。我问他这是在做什么，他只是淡淡一笑，告诉我说这是在寻找宝藏。虽然他这种莫名其妙的举止有点让我嫌恶，但是她这种如同狼犬一般嗅探的行为突然让我想到一个问题，我也立刻就问了他：如果说瓦斯塔亚人是人类与古老换形祖先的融合，那么如果这种血脉在繁殖扩散的过程中被稀释到极限会怎么样？假如说，一个人具备瓦斯塔亚血脉，但又不足以显现出杂合的动物形态，会是什么样子？

We walked together for several days. Occasionally, he would stop and sniff the air like a starved bloodhound. When I asked him to explain his behavior, he would merely smile and inform me that he was looking for treasures. Though I found his vague demeanor a very special flavor of infuriating, his doglike sniffing led me to a thought which I immediately shared with him: if vastaya were the amalgamation of humans and ancient, shapeshifting ancestors, then what would happen if that blood were to become extremely diluted through reproductive diaspora? What if, say, one had vastayan blood, but not quite enough to take chimeric, animalian form? What would happen then?

这时，他停下了嗅探，睁大了眼睛。看着我，笑了笑说：“那样的话，他们应该也可以变换形态吧，你不觉得吗？”然后这个狗杂种就变成了一只猪，从地里拱出一块丝光松茸。

It was then that he stopped sniffing and his eyes widened. He looked at me, smiled, and said, “Well, they’d be able to change their shape, wouldn’t they?” before the bastard turned into a pig and unearthed a silktruffle.

让我惊讶的不仅是遇到了一名换形者，而且还在短短几个月内遇到了三种不同种类的瓦斯塔亚人，虽然说幸运总是垂青如我这般有学识之人，但未免也太频繁了。当然，我还是不得不指出，“会变猪的男人”相对于“妩媚撩人的狐狸女子”来说是一种倒退。

As utterly shocked as I was to meet a shapeshifter – to have, what’s more, met THREE different varieties of vastaya in only a few months is beyond lucky, even for a deserved scholar such as myself. I couldn’t help but note, however, that “transforming pig man” was a considerable step down from “voluptuous fox woman.”

照这样下去，我遇到的下一种瓦斯塔亚生物可能会像是一只站着走路的蟑螂。

At this rate, the next vastayan creature I see could likely resemble a walking roach.

最近几个月，我一直在艾欧尼亚尽全力搜索不同种类瓦斯塔亚人的信息，希望能够为符文之地的动物区系建立一套完善的瓦斯塔亚分类名录 。

I spent the last several months scouring Ionia for any and all information that I could collect on the various vastaya species in an attempt to create an all-encompassing taxonomic guide to Runeterra and its fauna.

虽然我已经收集到大量关于瓦斯塔亚人的信息，但还有许多有待发现的东西——我怀疑自己如果将研究范围局限于艾欧尼亚，就只能看到整个门类多样性中的冰山一角。

Though I have accumulated an incredible amount of information on the vastaya, there is much left to be discovered – I suspect that in limiting my search to Ionia, I have uncovered a mere fraction of the overall diversity to be found within this classification.

但目前还是应该翻过这一页了——我已经敲开了瓦斯塔亚的大门，接下来就等待别的记者进入这片领域了。今天，我将注意力投向了符文之地的其他神秘生物，它们的故事都还鲜有人知。比如恐怖的活体兵器，暗裔。比如堕落腐化的实体化身，虚空生物。比如传说中难得一见的小仙灵，约德尔人。这些故事必须为世人所知，而为了遵守我的承诺，我将踏上探索的旅程。毕竟，只有我能胜任此行。

Still, for now, it is time to move on – I have merely opened the door on vastaya, and it will be the job of another journalist to step through it. Today, I draw my attention to the other creatures of Runeterra whose stories have yet to be told: Those horrifying, sentient weapons known as Darkin. The corrupting creatures of the Void. Those illusive fae creatures of legend, the yordles. These stories mustn’t go untold, and on my word, I shall be the explorer to do it. Indeed, I may well be the only one who can.

编辑注：

EDITOR’S NOTE:提交本期手稿两周以后，桑唐基罗先生以个人名义返回艾欧尼亚，他自称是为了 “询问更多关于狐狸女子的信息——单纯为了第二版的需要。

Only two weeks after submitting this manuscript, Mr. Santangelo embarked on an unofficial return trip to Ionia to, in his words, “Ask further questions of the foxlike woman – purely for the purposes of a second edition.”

几周以后，我们收到了桑唐基罗先生的来信，内容如下：

Several weeks later, we received a letter from Mr. Santangelo reading as follows:

“我遭遇了不幸。我被一群蛮横无理的家伙绑架了，他们自称纳沃利兄弟会，怀疑我是一个皮尔特沃夫的间谍。荒谬，本人名节高远、才华横溢、身手矫健、风流倜傥【篇幅所限进行删节】，这种指控对我来说是一种侮辱。

“I’ve experienced the grand misfortune of being kidnapped. My captors – a surly lot who call themselves the Navori Brotherhood – suspect I am a Piltovan spy. Naturally, being a man of the world with varied intellectual, athletic, and romantic skills such as [edited for brevity], I was insulted at the accusation.

不过我依然还是说服他们拿我当做人质索要赎金，而不是当场处决。所以麻烦你们，请寄来一些珍贵的矿石，或者食物、武器。数量上请参考我作为一名作家对于你们的价值，我将感激不尽。当然，具体花费多少财富赎回我的自由完全取决于你们的选择，但我相信你们一定会变卖出版社，并说服所有股东倾囊相助，作为最低额度。显然，你们的花费将是值得的。”

Still, I convinced them to hold me for ransom rather than execute me outright. If you could, then, send some precious minerals, or food, or weapons in an amount befitting my abstract worth to you as a writer, it would be most appreciated. It is, of course, YOUR choice as to how much to spend on my return, but I imagine you will have to bankrupt the publishing house and all of its investors, at a minimum. Still, the price will obviously be well worth it.”

收到这封勒索信以后，我们寄出了桑唐基罗先生新书的全部预期利润，包括：一把零钱和一块过期的甜糕。

Upon receiving this ransom note, we subsequently sent Mr. Santangelo the projected profits of his new book: a handful of pocket change and a spoiled sweetcake.

此后他再无音讯。

We have not heard back from him since.