Introduction
For thirty thousand years, the sun shone on a seaborne people. They strode across the land as its masters. A lord would point, and there would a towering temple be raised. A lady would lay her arm along a line, and there her serving stones would build a mighty wall.
The people sailed across the seas, proud before the power of storms. Their sails and ribbons snapped gold and vermilion in the rose tint of a thousand twilights. Their burnished keels streamed silver water as they lifted clear of the sea, and rode the currents of the air above.
The people laughed and cried, told stories and chanted psalms, and built themselves a paradise on earth, full of majesties subtle and gross. Mighty towers drifted weightless on the wind. Paper forever held the faintest scent of late summer blooms.
No more do the ships sail.
The face of the earth turns crumbling quays before the eye of the sun. The meticulously measured stones have chipped and worn away. The serving creatures still wait in their assigned places, rumbling with magic, awaiting a word of command.
Where once performers and children danced in the squares, only dust and shadows play. The cool, quiet courtyards are overgrown with weeds. The laughter and shouts of merchants and philosophers have faded. Only a whisper of them may be heard, from time to time, if the listener is of a certain mind.
Majesty has left the world.
Among these ruins stands a single slender man, bearded with antiquity, his amber eyes misted with a vision of vanished paradise. He rests his fingers lightly on the dusty stones, and weeps for his mistake.
Introduction
Hail, traveler.
The finest scholars of the Zaikhal Arcanum have carefully selected the compilation of lore you now hold in your hands. In this single volume, you will find the most important historical records in the lands of Dereth. If you were to attempt to collect these yourself, it would take many months of effort. However, even with hard and diligent toil, it would remain impossible to equal this work.
Many of the texts reprinted in this volume are rare, and no longer available to the general public. A few have never been available before this publication, having been locked securely within the vaults of the Arcanum. A few are older works that have been updated to reflect the current understanding of the world. A few have been long known by those conversant in this world's lore, but remained unauthenticated until recently. A handful of new works were commissioned specifically for inclusion in this volume.
It may also be important to note what you will not find within these pages. You will not find explicit guides to the various subterranean ruins of Dereth, nor any of the directions or handbooks available at your local scribe and barkeep. This document is dedicated to the story of this world Auberean, and the story of our people in it.
We hope you find this collection informative, useful, and perhaps even entertaining. There is a colloquial expression that tells us, succinctly, “Dereth is full of wonders.” That it is. You will also find, however, that is a land that has known darkness and fire, great wars and lost causes, noble sacrifices and wicked betrayals, mysteries and revelations, dreams made manifest, and, here and there, moments of perfect beauty.
We will leave you to peruse these works with a blessing of the Empyrean Yalain; May you walk with light upon your shoulders.
- The Fellows of the Zaikhal Arcanum
- Elliot Gilman
- Eri Izawa
- David Javier
- Cardell Kerr
- Chris L'Etoile
- Chris Pierson
- Toby Ragaini
- Greg Slovacek
- Ken Troop
- Cyril Van Der Haegen
- The Fellows of the Zaikhal Arcanum