The Scroll of the Fifth Prophet

[Aetosion 2062]

 

 

Spoiler

A young illiterate houseboy came across this centuries old scroll in a wooden chest with the seal of some old dead scribe. Seeing the florid script and the quality of the papyrus scroll, the boy brought it quickly to the square, shouting of some new discovery.

((I don’t really play anymore and this was in my google docs dated May of 2015.))

 

 

 

The Scroll of the Fifth Prophet

 

The First Surah of Godlessness (1)

 

When our lord God, the one God Almighty who is called Allah in the tongue of the fathers, who is father of Horen, Malin, Krug, and Urguan, who's visited himself upon Owyn, Godfrey, and Peter, visited himself upon the deserts of southern Athera which were called Deus Proditor after his name, where he found a people divided by lust for power and greed.¹ And so it was that our Lord, the Lord of Lords called Allah, sent upon the warring tribes the Krugite slavers, who took took the people of Qalas and committed them to chains, and forced them to toil in the desert breaking stone for great walls.² It was in this manner that they toiled for many years, in atonement for their sins against the One God, who is called Allah.³

 

It was then that a learned man, who was called Faiz Kharadeen, wondered to his Lord Allah why his people toiled thusly under the cruel Krugites.⁴ And the Lord Allah gave no answer, for Kharadeen did not know of his Lord that was called Allah.⁵ And it was only at the end of a long day of work under the Krugites that the man lay upon the ground which was bare of straw, and recalled the tales of our Creator, who his father had called Allah.⁶ And it was that evening that Kharadeen went to the watering hole and prostrated himself upon the earth and asked of the Creator who is called Allah for forgiveness for not remembering him, and took our Lord Allah as his Lord, and asked him, "Allah who is the one and only God, who created this world and all others and those which reside upon it, hear my plea for the Qalash, that we may be rid of our oppressors, reclaim our land, and may make praise to your goodly name."⁷

 

The First Surah of Gazardiael (2)

 

And the Lord of Lords, Our God, Caliph of the Caliph, Voice Which Speaks to Prophets, heard this and thought it right, and sent an Aengul who is called Gazardiael down upon Kharadeen and spoke through him, saying, "Child, you alone among your kin remember my name. Go to your Elders and remind them of me, and have them supplicate towards me, and I shall shine upon them.¹ And go take up your father's sword, which he took with him to his burial, and bring it back to this place." ²

 

And so Kharadeen went to the tomb of his father and withdrew his sword in its scabbard and came back within a fortnight, and took it to the place where the water flowed, and invoked the name of Allah, whose Aengul returned to him and Allah spoke through him again, "Gather your people and teach them of me, and light a fire in their hearts for your cause, and march upon the Krugites in the cover of night chanting my litanies, and when you come upon them draw your father's blade in my name.³ If you do this you will be victorious, and the blood you spill will turn the sand red and soak into the sand and will become water in the earth, and if you settle upon the field your kin can dig for water below the sand and will find it in plenty.⁴" Kharadeen accepted these most merciful and glorious words of our creator, the one God who is called Allah, and gave votive offering of a young lamb in thanks.⁵

 

Upon the happening of the battle, the Qalash were victorious with the blessings of the Lord Almighty who is called Allah, and they were not forgetful of him.⁶ Only one Krugite was spared, for he obeyed the orders of Kharadeen at his death and praised the greatness of Allah, and the Krugite was spared, for Allah is merciful.⁷

 

The Second Surah of Godlessness (3)

 

Over the next year, the Qalash built a temple to our Creator on the spot where the first Krugite fell, and in their haste a labourer split a stone in the temple's courtyard with a tool, and water gushed forth from it, and this showed Allah's favor.¹

 

A decade followed, and the Qalash began to fight one another again, and they did not was themselves, and they fornicated freely, and their women showed their breasts to the sun, and Allah saw this and was angered upon them and the font in the temple ceased to flow.² And Kharadeen saw this and was afraid, and supplicated to his father's Creator who is called Allah and asked of him, "Oh Allah, who is great and merciful, my people have mistreated your favor, what must we do to make good in your eyes?³"

 

The First Surah of Xan (4)

 

And so Allah, who is merciful, sent down his Aengul Xan and spoke through him to Kharadeen, "Oh Qalash," Allah's Aengul said, "Upon whom Our Creator smiled the sun's smile, why do you forsake him?¹" And Kharadeen, who himself had been forgetful, prostrated himself and professed his love for his God, the One God, who is Allah, and the Allah replied through the Aengul, "If you wish to repent in my eyes you must follow my commandments.²

 

Bathe and wash daily, and not in the water of another;³

Do not eat impure meats that are not ritually slaughtered, and do not eat the unclean swine;⁴

Do not fornicate with another man's wife, and do not deflower a virgin;⁵

If a woman should marry and her maidenhead is not intact, or a man should not have his hood removed, he or she should be buried up to their head in the desert for my justice;⁶

If a man should steal from another, cut off the offending hand;⁷

If a soldier should abandon his cause in battle, slay him where he stands, and thusly for all crimes;⁸

Bear not witness to false idols, and give your full worship upon me;⁹

Bear no injury upon your tribesmen or their kin, and do not lust for what another man has;¹⁰

Worship your mother above all other men, for she endured to bring you into this world;¹¹

Keep my temples clean, and track no dust from the streets into their walls;¹²

Make supplication towards the font which has sprung from my love, at wake, noon, and eventide;¹³

Take into your heart that there is no god except one, and he is called Allah, and all who worship Him and obey his dictates are equal in His eyes;¹⁴

Take no comfort in the fermented grape or barley neither, for these tempt your heart from me.¹⁵

 

If you and your people do these things to be clean in my eyes, you will have my favor eternal.”¹⁶

 

The First Surah of Taharaie (5)

 

And so Kharadeen did these things, and there was water from the font and food aplenty, but still there was discord among the tribes, and so Kharadeen supplicated to Allah and said these things, and so the One God which we call Allah sent upon the Qalash an Aengul called Taharaie, and spoke through him and said, “Take the sword with which you smote the Krugites, and bring it to your most accomplished smith, and have him fashion it into a crown for your head. Then your people will take you as their leader and there will be one tribe in the eyes of the One God.

 

And Kharadeen did this, and there was unity, and the Qalasheen were prosperous, and their settlement grew larger and was named Khalestine, and the temples were kept, and water flowed from the Font of the Merciful.

 

The First Surah of the Yeu Rthulu (6)

 

It was in Kharadeen’s second summer in the sun of our Lord that the one called Allah visited him again and spoke through the Aengul that was called Yeu Rthulu. The people of Khalestine had drawn and quartered a Krugite for laying a hand on a Horen’s-child. The Aengul spoke to Kharadeen who scribed the words thusly, “Do not be foolish, son of Allah, for Allah is fair and created all races equally in his image. When the races forsook Him he let upon them the fallen daemon Shaitan, who cursed each race as they had offended the creator, who is called Allah, not so that one race would be superior to another, but so that each would serve as a reminder to their fellow to remember the commandments of Allah, for Allah is just and Allah is wise. Do not then judge your fellow mortal inferior, for all are equally inferior in the all-seeing eyes of the One God who is called Allah.

 

The Second Surah of Yeu Rthulu (7)

 

It was in this same season that a woman was strung up in a nearby village for adultery, and the Aengul who is called Yeu Rthulu returned and Allah spoke through her to the Caliph, who copied her words thusly, “Do not be foolish, son of Allah, for Allah is fair and created both sexes fairly. He created the first woman to bear the seed, and man to plant it, and taught the first woman to bleed, and the man to draw blood in her defense, for Allah is supremely intelligent. Do not punish one sex when the crime is shared equally, if the woman is strung up for her crime, let the man who is complicit be punished in this same manner, for Allah is just.”

 

The First Surah of Eshtael (8)

 

It was many years later in the golden days of the city that Kharadeen, who took the title of Caliph and did not forget Allah and kept his commandments, was visited by a third Aengul who was called Eshtael, and Allah spoke through him, “Child of the most Merciful God, who is the only God, and is called Allah, in the days to come there will be strife, and you will leave behind your possessions, and take your peoples around you, and make journey to the favored land in the name of Allah. And this land will flow richly with waters and be lush and fertile amidst the sands, and you will call this place Ullastine in memory of our Lord of Lords, who is called Allah.

 

Here the scripture is cut short, the lesser half of the scroll seems to have been torn away.