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What Is This Place Called Ranucan?

 

This article will most likely be of interest to those familiar with the work of writer Vadim Zeland. The first Ships Fly Up album is called Journey to Ranucan. But what is this strange place? Let me try to explain.

 

Earlier, I wrote that despite the conscious effort involved in writing music, the most beautiful melodies and musical ideas seem to come on their own during the creative process. If we follow the theory of Transerfing of Reality by Vadim Zeland, they come from what’s known as the Space of Variations. I also draw the names for my compositions and albums from there.

 

When I finished the first album and it was time to give it a title, I tried to clear my mind of everything extraneous and focused on contemplating silence. I knew the album already had a name — the right one — I just hadn’t yet grasped it from the Space of Variations. After a brief “tuning in” to Eternity, the name came to me, along with its accompanying story.

 

This process is hard to describe: it’s as if one second your mind is empty, and the next, the knowledge is there. It truly feels as if it came from somewhere outside yourself. That’s how the word “Ranucan” emerged in my consciousness.

 

Ranucan is a mysterious and enigmatic place — I’d even call it a settlement — where powerful mages live, though they don’t reside there permanently. These mages are wise beings with vast experience, and their abilities far surpass ordinary human capabilities. If you find yourself in Ranucan, your Strength, Knowledge, and sense of the World grow. There, you may encounter the mage inhabitants. I don’t know where this settlement is located — perhaps not even in the material world we’re used to.

 

Journey to Ranucan — that’s what the first Ships Fly Up album is about.

 

Just recently, I suddenly had a thought: the beautiful place from the dream described by Vadim Zeland in the first book about Transerfing is Ranucan. For those who haven’t read it, here are a few quotes:

 

“But one day I had a dream, as if I found myself in a nature reserve. I was surrounded by indescribable beauty. I walked around, admiring all this magnificence.”

 

“The unique nature of the reserve simply stunned me. Why hadn’t I been here before? Like someone under a spell, I walked without a specific purpose and gazed around. The perfection of the surrounding nature couldn’t be adequately expressed in any words. So my mind was filled with a kind of ecstatic emptiness.”

 

“Soon, the Caretaker appeared before me again. The stern expression on his face had softened somewhat. He gestured for me to follow him. We climbed to the top of a green hill, and a view of a wonderfully beautiful valley opened up before us. There lay a certain settlement. Toy‑like houses were nestled in greenery and flowers, as if illustrating a fairy tale. You could look at this whole scene with tenderness — if it didn’t seem somehow unreal. I looked at the Caretaker questioningly, but he just smirked into his beard, as if to say: ‘That’s not even the half of it!’”

 

What if this settlement from Vadim’s dream is Ranucan — and the Caretaker is one of those mages who dwell there? This insight came to me just as spontaneously, as if from outside, just like the word “Ranucan” and its description did. I decided to share it.

 

Indeed, reality is so unusual and multifaceted that strange connections can emerge as if out of nowhere. It’s from this “nowhere” that my inspiration comes — just like the music of Ships Fly Up. The journey to Ranucan continues.