The Ôxêum Codex

While there are several surviving texts from the Age of God Wars the Ôxêum Codex is one of a few that attempts to chronicle events of the time, and while it is not without inaccuracies and is plagued by the bias of its writers it is still one of the finest sources of information about this mysterious age that the peoples of the world ever have. The Codex was discovered by Îulîxus Mevor, aka Ûvîn Lô, more famously known as the "Twenty-Fifth", in the ruins of a city presumed to be Ôxêum in 247 F.E., but the location of the find was not divulged before Îulîxus' unfortunate death. Îulîxus' study of the Codex lead directly to his demise in 502 F.E. but that is another history for another time, and possession was then turned over to the Êdân by default.

The Codex is believed to have been written by at least a dozen different scholars that resided in the city of Ôxêum over the span of two to three decades, and is also believed to have been one amongst many volumes. Due to the number of authors, there are quite a few contradictions within its pages which is ample fodder for scholars to fuss over, such as whether it was murder or an ill-advised affair or some combination of both that brought about the fall of the god Argîn of the Hokandît Pantheon. In this instance further information indicates that it was all of the above and more that brought about the death of such a powerful god, but various factions still like to use pieces of the story to further their own ends.

The city of Ôxêum is accepted to be the capital city of the Vîkrœ Confederacy during the last few hundred years of the Age of God Wars, and they are often considered one of the top powers in the world at the time. The Confederacy formed circa 600 years before the Banishing as several smaller pantheons were pushed out of power, and their followers fell in with the Vîkrœ Pantheon to form a confederacy of peoples to fend off two very lethal enemies: the Sôl Tîgô and the Totukotwonu. These two empires represented two of the five most powerful Pantheons as the world approached the Banishing and both were squeezing the states that were to become the Vîkrœ Confederacy. Upon the formation of the Confederacy a small group of scholars gathered in the new capital of Ôxêum and began to chronicle the events around them.

The Vîkrœ Confederacy manages to hold off the two superior powers for approximately 500 years, including a period where the Vîkrœ develop a method of infusing weapons with a direct flow of energy to the gods via the binding of lesser spirits. For approximately 100 years the Vîkrœ not only held back their enemies on two fronts, but gained ground. Unfortunately for the Vîkrœ the stresses of these bindings were eventually too great for the materials of the weapons to bear, and they were destroyed. There are other versions of the story, but either way, it is believed  the Vîkrœ Confederacy fell to the Totukotwonu less than a century before the Banishing.

With the collapse of the Confederacy the Codex ends, and the real fate of Ôxêum and its people remain a mystery. Despite numerous explorers seeking the city, and a smattering of claims of finding it, concrete evidence is elusive. Historians know it's out there, it was found once, and that the city could hold the answers to a thousand questions, and this is enough to drive men to spend and end their lives in search of a dream fashioned from the stone of the world.