Lorevember Day 4: Relics of Power / The Voices of Ancestors(Vaguely) / Sacred Texts
Merriam Webster Word of the Day: Amalgamate
The Contents of This Scroll Are Reserved for the Serving Highfather and the Council of Gentlemen
My name is Lyafus Nownsatr, the 41st Highfather of our glorious church. I am writing this scroll to preserve the following knowledge that now only exists inside of my memory following the burning of the Grand Library in the second year of my tenure. Much knowledge was sadly lost that day, only a quarter of the texts were left untouched and about half of them were completely destroyed with no hopes of restoration. By my order, any and all academics and men of faith started to document what they could remember of the lost texts, in hopes that with multiple different sources for the same text we will be able to restore it as close as we can whilst ironing out any mistakes caused by our mortal minds failing us.
The content of this text, however, were only known to me and my late predecessor who died in the fire whilst trying to save the texts valiantly. For this reason, never take what you are about to read as gospel. It is sure to be littered with missing contents and inaccuracies. And it is merely a summarization of an once human-head-thick book.
With my introduction and warning over, I shall start.
Not much is known about the Lord of Demons, for the general public. We of faith know little more about him. He is not a Demon born of our sins, not a nightmare given form, a punishment issued by our Lords and Ladies, or whatever else the common folk talk about him. The Lord of Demons was once a man, much like us. A King that served our Lords and Ladies just as our Kings did and continue to do so. A devout man, much more inquisitive than his peers.
He ruled the lands he continues to rule to this day, only they weren't clouded by cursed clouds or covered in the ashes of crusaders. However, it was not a paradise either. It was a dry land, where plants couldn't reach the healthy green, they should have, where rain was a celebrated event, and where only the hardiest of produce could grow. And yet during his reign, it was the most prosperous of all the kingdoms on the three continents.
He was a studied man, having roamed down the hallways of our very own Grand Library and its smaller cousins. A third son that was never supposed to inherit nor serve as the spare and was thus left to his own devices. Yet, he did come to rule. His brothers fought for succession when their dying father named the second son his heir. They say the two came to blows at the town square of their capital and duelled at the request of the second son to stop the senseless slaughter of their countrymen. The older brother, tall and broad as a bull. The middle brother, fast and nimble as a snake. They came to clash blows three times before the older brother fell of the platform they were on. He stood up and readied himself just in time for his younger brother to pounce on him, striking as well. The younger brother's sword pierced the older brother through the throat and the older brother gutted his brother across the entirety of his belly.
Both fell and the country fell into chaos. Lords fought one another and to that situation the youngest returned to. He won against a variety of coalitions of Lords that propped up their own kings, numbering around twenty-nine lords, with only the support of 5.
It is speculated that the Lord of Demons later designed his insignia, the pentagram, in honour of these five loyal lords.
His education led to him developing inventions that to this day, five centuries in my day and age, are seen as advanced. He shared some with his neighbours, like the instant painting device that captures the likeness of anyone at a remarkably high price in an instant. However, the more important and most impressive of them, he kept to his own. Tales of devices that cut down the job of a tailor in half and carts that could move without horses and could eat ores such as coal, likely originate from that time.
The rise of his once largely insignificant nation gave him the power and position to demand favours from Lords and even Kings that wanted his alliance. Others in his position would ask for submission or unfair trade deals or coalitions against specific kingdoms or lords. He wanted access to texts he could not reach as a third son when he was studying. And Kings and Lords in their, forgive me for my words, ignorance in matters they wrongly perceived as unimportant or less Lord-like, gave him anything he asked for.
So, he came to know of the Runes of Before. The following description on what the Runes of Before are only permitted to be viewed by Highfathers. The Council of Gentlemen can only be privy to it by the permission of the current Highfather and his predecessor. Additionally, if any other predecessors are still in the land of men and have not ascended to the domain of the Lords and Ladies, their permission is also required. In the event that the Highfather has no living predecessors, he may not Show the Council until he serves his tenure and names a successor.
Runes of Before are carvings on a cave wall left behind by the Lords of Before, the creators of our World. The Lords of Before created our world for it to be their playground, and us mortals to be their playthings. Your fate and life depended on their moods and plays. To be a Godling that served as a mistress for a Lord, or to be a limbless and senseless pillow for a Lord to sit upon, was decided at their whims.
Our Lords and Ladies saw our plight and showed mercy upon us by fighting, defeating and banishing the Lords of Before. However, the clawing of theirs in their attempt to stay left behind scars on our world. The Runes of Before are one of such scars.
It is written in a language alien to us and forbidden for us to even try to understand. There were no records of what their contents are, even before our Grand Library was burnt. However, this did not deter the Lord of Demons. His curiosity was his strongest trait. Not even the alien nature of the language was able to deter him.
For you see, the King theorised that whilst we do not know what the runes mean, we may have once. That one of our ancestors from the Age of Before, nearly a decade-millennia ago, may have. And in his magnificent creativity, he found a way to reach out to those souls who had long since ascended to the grand feast in the domain of our Lords and Ladies.
What he did, I cannot remember. But the result was his mind amalgamating with the mind of his ancestor. Whatever happened then, we do not know but we speculate that the mind of his ancestor was unhealthy, damaged by the Lords of Before so much that the decade-millennia in the domain of our Lords and Ladies was unable to heal it. Because after the merging of their minds, the King went crazy.
He was deluded. He believed that since the Lords of Before were our creators, we should serve them. That we rightfully belong to them. That our Lords and Ladies were thieves. And that if he helped them return, he would ascend to be among our real creators.
Whatever he read on the Runes of Before granted him his power and abilities but also cursed his flesh to lose its skin forever, exposing the red insides outside and for his kingdom to be cursed by our Lords and Ladies. He fled to his cursed lands and since then has been plaguing our continent with his demons and curses.
This is as far as I can recall of the original book.
