The Book of the Black was a Sharran artifact that laid out the Black Chronology, an alternate timeline to the Roll of Years. It was written by Augathra the Mad, the famous Netherese seer whose work helped forming the marking of years by Dale Reckoning.[1]
Description[]
It was a rather large tome and unassuming in appearance. To most readers its vellum pages appeared entirely blank.[1]
Copies of the original Book of the Black did exist, but were extremely rare.[2]
Powers[]
In truth, the Book of the Black's contents were cursed by Shar to be entirely undecipherable to anyone not of her choosing. This effect could not be reversed, even by powerful magic. With tremendous effort and skill, a reader could possible uncover about four lines of the book's text, and could require one of the most powerful arcane spells or even divine intervention.[1]
Anyone that did manage to read some text from the Book of the Black were inundated with bizarre and troubling revelations about the multiverse itself. They could also glean some insight into Shar's followers, and the nature of her Shadow Weave.[1]
History[]
In the Year of Twelve Gods, −700 DR,[3] Augathra the seer received visions that led her to inscribe the Roll of Years. During this time, visions seeped into her dreams, laying out the alternate chronology that came to be crucial to the plots schemed and undertaken by Shar's worshipers. It was the information laid out in these visions that drove Augathra mad and led to her immortality.[1]
The book was discovered centuries later in the Year of the Sundered Crypt, 684 DR, by the Dark Diviners of the Windsong Tower in Myth Drannor. They used its writings to create their own manuscript, The Leaves of One Night.[1][3] This latter tome detailed the single moments at which the goddess Shar would be at her weakest, and achieve her greatest moment of glory.[4] Shortly thereafter, both the Book of the Black and The Leaves of One Night were stolen by Sharran clergy.[1][3]
Over five hundred years later, in the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR, the Cyricist Skull Servant Bineera Ethar discovered a torn parchment within the Sharran Monastery of the Ebon Dome in the Shadowfell, that laid out the Black Chronology inscribed within the Book of the Black. The church of Cyric began a search for the book, with the hopes of uncovering the secret plots held by the church of Shar.[5]
Around the same time, a copy of the Book of the Black was sent over by Esvele Greycastle of the House of Night temple beneath Shadowdale, to Prince Yder Tanthul of Thultanthar. Unfortunately for the Shadovar prince, a notable section of the tome was missing.[2][note 1]
The true and whole Book of the Black remained interred within the Crypt of Augathra the Mad near the ruins of Synod in Anauroch.[6] Some time during or after Hammer of the Year of Risen Elfkin, 1375 DR,[7] a band of adventurers recovered the book from within Augathra's tomb.[6]
What came of the book after its recovery was unclear,[8] but the events it foresaw had already come to pass.[9] Other prophecies laid out within the ancient text were just over the horizon, waiting for the worshipers of Shar to make them reality.[5]
Reputation[]
It was said that the contents of the Book of the Black were secrets held by Shar, and outlined horrors that were yet come to pass.[1]
Notable Owners[]
- Esvele Greycastle, came into possession of a copy during or after he travels near the Monastery of the Ebon Dome.[2][10]
- Yder Tanthul, received the copy sent to him by Esvele Greycastle.[2]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ While not explicitly stated, it is suggested that the missing excerpt was the same parchment described in the adventure, Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave.
Appearances[]
- Adventures
- Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land • Anauroch: The Empire of Shade
- Referenced only
- Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Greg A. Vaughan, Skip Williams, Thomas M. Reid (November 2007). Anauroch: The Empire of Shade. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 146–147. ISBN 0-7869-4362-9.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Richard Baker, Eric L. Boyd, Thomas M. Reid (July 2007). Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 159. ISBN 07-8694-039-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Greg A. Vaughan, Skip Williams, Thomas M. Reid (November 2007). Anauroch: The Empire of Shade. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 4. ISBN 0-7869-4362-9.
- ↑ Paul S. Kemp (October 1, 2013). The Godborn (Hardcover ed.). (Wizards of the Coast), p. 278. ISBN 0786963735.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Richard Baker, Bruce R. Cordell, David Noonan, Matthew Sernett, James Wyatt (March 2007). Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 158–159. ISBN 978-0-7869-4119-3.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Greg A. Vaughan, Skip Williams, Thomas M. Reid (November 2007). Anauroch: The Empire of Shade. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 60. ISBN 0-7869-4362-9.
- ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 158. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ Greg A. Vaughan, Skip Williams, Thomas M. Reid (November 2007). Anauroch: The Empire of Shade. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 117. ISBN 0-7869-4362-9.
- ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 156. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Bruce R. Cordell, David Noonan, Matthew Sernett, James Wyatt (March 2007). Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 56. ISBN 978-0-7869-4119-3.