Continuing the theme of various research done in the course of downtime, the Scribes now note the topics covered in certain texts and artefacts recovered over the past months:
First, more than a few codices were retrieved by the Survivors of the Tel and their comrades from the Sixth House of the Attine-Klackons. While Bartholomew Pettibone looked in particular into the magical writings ("knottings"?), Raoden pursued the more onerous task of magically reading and summarizing two other texts with the help of a mysterious "Bob" personage, as a prelude to his next task of summarizing and organizing the wider collection.
1) The Klackon Spellbook(s)
Looking into the magical writings recovered from the Sixth House, Bart found that what had seemed at first to be one spellbook was actually a spellbook-and-a-half. The works are a combination of typical Klackon khipus--strands of silk knotted in complicated patterns to form words and thoughts--accompanied by elaborate drawings on silk-paper of what seems to be a kind of platform or dais with intricately ornate interior, surrounded by abstruse mathematical formulae.
Bart recognizes in the sketches the "translation platform" he and his companions encountered, and it can be surmised that the wider collection has further notes on the device. But as to the spellbooks and magical-research, the Klackon magic-user developing his or her sorcery was obviously taking "translation" as the inspiration for magic. The first book is complete, and spells may be learned from it normally; the second, in which the principles of teleportation were being worked out, is not quite finished--perhaps the work could be taken up by an enterprising enchanter?
First Principles of Matter Translation, by Itzkatl Xhoa
Drawing on the observations of the "translation platform's" operation, and mathematical-philosophical developments of the underlying formulae that allow it to function, the sorcerer-author turns their mind to replicating such "translations" without recourse to any device other than a thinking and knowing mind, directing the energy of the universe through arcane channels. The "first principles" thus developed allow somewhat limited kinds of "translation"
III. displacement
IV. dimension door
Translation and Farcasting, by Itzkatl Xhoa
Building on the First Principles, this book works out the formulae for "farcasting" matter that has been translated into energy to a distant location, directed by the "coordinates" held in the mind of the spellcaster (rather than in the "mind" of the platform). Unfortunately, this work was left incomplete--probably by the disaster that overtook the Sixth House--and any magic-user wishing to utilize the half-developed sorcery would be advised first to refine the formulae.
V. teleport (incompletely developed; attempting to cast the spell as it is written will no doubt incur interesting results)
2) Experiments Toward the Creation of Ancient Warriors
Amongst the broader collection of Sixth House khipus, one in particular stood out immediately as "of interest" to the Survivors of the Tel. Casting his eyes over the various works with eyes enhanced by the magic of read languages, Raoden saw one strand that claimed to contain Experiments toward the creation of Ancient Warriors--which perhaps also called to mind certain encounters of a different kind in the Necropolis of the Tel.
To "set the scene", the khipu opens with a description of the dread-warriors of the nomadic Doulii-Klackons, the nomadic war-hosts that laid waste the land in days of old, most memorably as the Immortal Columns fought by Dalan II.:
... And when they marched all together, they covered the face of Ardha, rank upon rank upon rank. And the warriors were the vanguard and the rearguard and the bodyguard of the Shahbanat, and they marched to left and to right. But in the center of the column went the helot-drones who carried the brood and the baggage, and drove with them the proxx and the dlakolel, and too they bore the Mandat where the Shahbanat reclined.
The helots were fed on the dross of the midden, while their Princesses ate the offal of the proxx. And the Shahbanat and her brood and the dores of her pleasure ate the flesh of all beasts of Ardha and Ocean. But the bones and the blood were given to the warriors, and these they mixed in great cauldrons, and thus with the secrets of their warrior-sororities did they make the melas zomos, the "black soup" by which they nourished their strength.
And mighty was that strength! Each one was equal in strength to a Bulrathi or more, and a single rank could stand against an entire Human host, while a lochos of warriors would lay waste a walled city with ease. Nor did they die when struck down, but their bodies were carried back to the taphoi where they lay in rest, and then stepped forth made new with the next rising sun ...
Following that short historical summary, the author continues with a brief report of the discovery of a great underground "life-manufactory" (found by use of the "translation platform" and "... detailed elsewhere ..." according to the text). Within the dome-complexes of the manufactory were discovered various biological creations, among them Klackon-like insectoids.
Beholding this, the natural-philosopher Xixitlatzali and his apprentices and assistants theorized that this--or manufactories of the same sort--must have been used to create the dread warriors of the Doulii, and so they began cataloguing insectoid-type creatures held in great vats within the mysterious domes, and taking samples of such creatures back to their laboratory-workshops in the manor of the Sixth House for extensive experimentation.
The experiments, detailed in this account, consistently failed to produce any drug or agent that could be used to develop "dread-warriors", but did develop at least one especially powerful nerve-toxin that would be extremely dangerous to fellow Klackons or to the aloof and inimical Hlyss, and other insectoid creatures, while being inert to mammalian physiology, among other more venal discoveries.
The last reports concern dissections and experiments into certain egg-like biological structures and pale beetle-like creatures possessed of a paralytic venom in their stingers. ...
3) The Black Book of the New Moon's Shadow, by Tulket ibn al Rahm
Not a Klackon text at all--though accompanied by khipu-strand notes and annotations--this aged codex, held now in a gleaming case made from true-black dlakolel chitin, is a copy of one of the codices composed by the legendary demonologist Tulket ibn al Rahm, whose Clavis Arce Lune earned him both renown and infamy in his day.
The Black Book is a lesser known work of nature similar to the Clavis, being a description of certain of the Demons known to dwell in the shadows of the Fortress Moon, and an explication of how one might attempt to command their allegiance--at the summoner's terrible risk!
- el Iylat -- "the Wearer of Forms"
This demon can only be summoned when the Fortress Moon hangs above, and always departs as the Moon sets--and thus clearly dwells within. It can appear in any form, though regardless of its appearance it attacks with a stroke of lightning, even when there is no storm. It is known to offer secret knowledge--or lies?--in return for allegiance to itself. Some legends declare that the Iylat is also the Urh min Gothuz, while others maintain that the two djinn are quite different - el Rulanh -- "the Headless Ghilman"
The Rulanh is a warrior-demon that can be summoned with certain brooches or magical arrowheads, among other means. It appears as a headless suit of armor that lays waste all before it. Some say it is a kind of ru'un, and no demon at all - el Kelb el Tindhalas -- "the Crooked Hound"
A kind of hell hound, the Tindhali Kelb is a demon that seems to exist permanently in a state between the translation of matter and energy. It is a favored demon by assassins, as it can appear anywhere, and rarely leaves a victim alive - el Notul -- "the Ragged Shadow"
Superficially similar to the dreaded biridlu mantle-creature that dwells in certain underworlds and smothers its victims, the Notul is a winged shadow that descends on living creatures and attempts to steal the warmth of their breath. It can sometimes be distracted by a fire or other heat source
The Klackon annotations indicate that Xixitlatzali (see above) and his servants encountered the Notul during their investigations of the biological manufactory, and so studied this codex to ready themselves in preparation for encountering other demons; and also that the discussion of the Tindhali Kelb aided Itzkatl Xhoa in drawing out the principles and formulae of translation.
 |
| a depiction of el Rulanh |
4) The Eye and the Mirror
The final two items of note in this report were recovered on a quite different expedition, one not into the Tel al Safina, but into Medina al Taht ("the Undercity") beneath the very streets of Cothon itself. From within the vaults of some kind of crypt-shrine and vampire-lair, the company retrieved, among other things, another of the strange orb-like "eye" devices, this one marked with script, as well as a curious plane of greenish zortrium, polished on one side to a reflective mirror-finish, and marked on the other side with a set of strange logograms spiraling in toward a central point. This apparent mirror is scratched and marked along its edges in a way suggesting that it had once been fastened into a frame of some kind, and it was noted by Heijo that it was still touched by traces of magical dweomers.
Raoden, again using his sorcery, was able to read languages on both devices:
The Kzinti script on the eye, formed of combinations of what appear to be dots, commas, apostrophes, and other such claw-like marks, reads fairly simply:
So cast now your gaze | on the coy kzinret
And your harem will grow | even greater than the Patriarch's
Meanwhile, the logograms on the "mirror" proved far more curious, evocative of some incantation of magic, or of praise to a Demon, or one of the grimmer Heroes. The particular references and kennings are mysterious; furthermore, the outer symbols of the spiraling kennings are clearly arranged in some meaningful pattern, but one which will take some further examination. As to the literal translation:
Bel Wasat, Bel Phage, Hufrat min al 'Elam, Murtadi al Fuligin, al Da'ira, Kelb al Jahim, Rab al Bayt al Aswad, Nadhir fil 'Ufuq
Or translated to the trade tongue:
"Lord of the Center, Lord Eater, Pit of the World, Wearer of Fuligin, the Circle, Hound of Hell, Master of the Black House, Warner at the Limes"
On the face, it would appear that this mysterious Bel Wasat or Bel Phage is some kind of Demon, though reflection on the legends of the Heroes would remind one that more than a few such are grim lords who demand dark rites in order to protect mortals from the worse hungers of the demons. Given the vague nature of the titles or kennings, the meaning of the spiraling logograms could be further investigated in two obvious ways (and almost certainly in other ways not immediately to mind for the Scribes!):
- Research the kennings themselves to understand just what or who it is they refer to, and what connection they bear to various legends, or
- Investigate the pattern of the outer logograms to divine what revelation is secreted there
A third topic of investigation, perhaps separate from the symbols themselves, would be to attempt to divine just what kind of enchantment the residual dweomers once imbued to the "mirror".
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