The Tomes of the Touched

The Tomes of the Touched are an unusual collection of musings, a diary of sorts, kept by a man that most who read even a small portion of the Tomes would declare to be quite insane. And yet there are pieces, glances if you will, of a world lost to the Banishing and the Forgettings. Many references to events during the God Wars are corroborated by other sources, including the Ôxêum Codex. Another interesting aspect of this is that the Tomes seem to reference the Codex by name, but the Codex was not given that name until its discovery in 251 F.E. and yet the Tomes are assumed to be written during the Age of Warlords. This is just one of many facts that confound scholars, making some call them obvious forgeries while others declare this proof that the visions of the Touched are true, albeit extremely difficult to understand.

Adding to the extreme difficulty of understanding the Tomes is that the text is written in a multitude of languages, many of which defeat translation. Languages tend to switch by paragraphs, and very often seem to be following different conversations within the writer's head. A conversation might trail off in one paragraph, and then appear to be taken up again many pages later. In a rare conversation with the great dragon Gersvoresh’kûmjotu’kî the topic of the Tomes was broached, and Gersvoresh’kûmjotu’kî was kind enough to translate a section previously untranslated (which is found below, where it starts with "doom" or "fate" written in eight languages and the final word meaning "Fate Speaker"). In addition to the quick translation, she admitted to having once met the Touched and advised that his words not be ignored.

The Tomes are first discovered in 502 F.E. on the Island of Kaludor, but the one Tome recovered is quickly lost, with only a few pages brought to the Êdân. The circumstances of the find, its loss, and all other details are secrets held by only a few. As the existence of the Tomes becomes wider known over the centuries it is often assumed that the Tomes and their discovery was somehow connected to the island of Kaludor being over-run by demonic forces. The timing is certainly coincidental, but the truth remains unknown.

The following is actually a more lucid moment than many for text from the Tomes.

Moztoko, Mypepar, Simtum, Emvîkrôbu, Tûrevivevên, Fatum, Omnarê, Doom is my Mood in the winter of my Birth, the end of all. Dance in the womb! Dance amidst the emotional Soul! The blood of my mother steams upon my newborn brow, the witch of eternity and promise of potential unfounded and wicked, the single eye — my father if you need know, the swirl, the sworl, the whorl, father not of Dragons but of the dragon’s Nest and me and you and her — incestuous whoremonger? You misunderstand me, you, yourself, whores and mongering in general, mongrel mongering dumb monkey with a twitch you speak of as a mind. If or when that sad, puny, pruney, and shamed, flickety-flash of lightning trapped within your skull is able to stand under understanding, of seeing, of feeling, of tasting the slick of the blood of Life, come again and speak to me, and I will tell you more, of when Doom is my Mood, in the summer of my Death.

My Sincere Apologies.

No, not you.

You. Dugmantar?