The Daedhir, The Book of All Fears

The Daedhir is one of the most mysterious and weird books in Nybelmarian history, written by the exiled and very secretive Venlaken mages. More than a century before the Year of Darkness an internal conflict broke the Mage Guild of the Nybelmarian nation of Anis-Anpagan in two main branches. One of these branches started to focus their researches towards modifying the essence of things and towards the possibility of transgression for such essences. Eventually they ended up by searching a means to preserve one's spirit even after the body is dead. After the Anpagan Republican Wars these mages were all exiled in the western swamplands, which are now named the "Venlaken Enclave". The "Daedhir" or the "Book of All Fears" is their most treasured writing, actually the very thing which, they claim, stands at the foundation of their beliefs. However, the book's exact purpose still remains to a large extent absolutely unknown and a topic for speculation...

Description. "Daedhir" is an apocryphal writing of Armand DaRan - the famous Anpagan mage that tamed the sea wyrms of the Zyloth Sea. The Daedhirian Mages of the Venlaken Enclave must surely have copies of this book, but as they prefer not to have any contacts with their "outside world", we cannot say for sure what these copies contain, or how they look like. The most gruesome stories circulating in the Anpagan province of Lun (bordering the Enclave) is that the Daedhir writings are preserved on parchments made out of human skin - with the letters engraved as tattoos while the people were still alive. Of course, such preposterous claims can only revolt the common sense of a real scholar, so they are not to be taken seriously. Nevertheless, fragments of this infamous writing were found at various sites on the Ansaran and Alba islands in the southern Anis-Anpagan Dominion. While the Ansaran mages are still debating their authenticity or scholarly value, copies of these fragments may sometimes be inspected under strict supervision in the Ansaran Treasuries.

Origin of the Book. Everything started with the famous magician Armand Da'Ran, the one that managed to tame the dreaded sea wyrms of the Zyloth Sea. After Armand's death, rumours of a leather scroll holding the ultimate knowledge of life and death started to abound. The rumours also were telling that whoever was reading that scroll was bound to a change of essence beyond any common comprehension. The Mage Guild asked for investigations in this matter, but although the very same rumors were pointing that this scroll was in the possession of some of the mages, no conclusions could be issued. One after another some of the best magicians of the Guild took the path of a self-imposed exile, secluding themselves in the remote settlement of Venlaken, yet the infamous leather scroll was still eluding the eyes of the investigators. After several years only its name managed to resurface: "Daedhir: The Book of All Fears, the teachings of a wise shadow to the mage Armand Da'Ran".

In time this group of mages (later called "Daedhirians") became very influential, managing to persuade a good part of the Anpagan nobility to support them. However this proved to be a mistake, as after the Year of Darkness, at the end of the most troubled century in the history of Anis-Anpagan, the country became a republic. The Daedhirians were exiled and their book was forbidden under the pain of death. But even with all these, none of the non-Daedhirians could ever been able to tell what was really written in those texts.

History and Influence. All the Venlaken Lords claim that their most profound knowledge is originating in this book. Daedhir and its author (that they claim was Armand Da'Ran himself), in their view, havee opened a path in human becoming that was never walked before. In their view, Daedhir is the book of all fears, and the answer to them as well: the very salvation of the human kind lies there. These mages, though, were shunned exactly because of their necromantic tendencies and because of their (considered unnatural) obsession of prolonging one's life even in a un-death (or un-life) state. And because this writing proved to have such an influence on so many respectable Anpagan mages (and the one later known as Asdamon the Heretic proves this perfectly), the newly established, at the time, Anis-Anpagan Dominion decided to ban it under the pain of death. As the Daedhirians took all this knowledge with them, and as the Ansaran mages did not show any willingness to preserve whatever they would know, the exact contents of Daedhir seem to have been lost in time - the only account of a possible Daedhirian fragment existing only in Julian D'Alba's journals of the Dark Plague campaign, as it was told by a Daedhirian Lord named Asbavaer.

Around the fourteenth century a.S. though, some parchments were discovered in an excavation on the Ansaran Island - and these parchments proved to be fragments of the infamous writing. After much debating and bureaucratic struggles, some of the younger mages managed to obtain those fragments for rigorous study inside the inner circles of the Guild. Other excavations were ordered, though in three centuries only two other fragments were found. The Ansaran Treasuries Assembled Committees though assure us that they will do whatever stands in their power to unveil this wretched mystery once and for all...

Excerpts. By courtesy of the Anis-Anpagan's Ansaran Treasuries we offer you the fragments found so far (their order being dictated by the Ansaran bureaucratic methods):

Daedhir Fragment I

Once upon a time, Inami walked upon the lake of shadows. The willows, all balded of hidden chantings, made him turn his eyes upon the face of the moon and there, persisting in the unfinished stillness of the light, he saw the reflection of an old fisherman, with tears filling up his eyes.

"Why do you cry?" he asked.

But the fisherman had no answer. It was just the wind blowing, and a tear falling in the lake. Why do you cry. And Inami walked upon the waters. Somewhere, faraway, the wicked faeries started their mad dance.

"Why do you cry?"

"I caught a shadow, and it was black."

Gentle and kind were Inami's eyes.

"Yes, it was black. Shriveled, stunted and black."

"I let it fall upon the water and it scattered all over it."

The fisherman was harvesting his tears throwing them into the lake.

"Tell me something... please," said the fisherman stepping out of his boat. But as Inami was still silent, he knelt on the water and started to bang his forehead on its surface.

"Tell me, why it had to be like this?"

Inami covered the fisherman's head with his palms. "Go on," he said while hopes were filling up the old fisherman's eyes.

"Go on." he said, leaving.

"I hate you."

Daedhir Fragment II

It was beautiful, the world, as looked upon from the willow. For Inami dwelled in the willow, in the only willow and the only tree towering over that plain. It was beautiful, the world. The lonely willow and the silence.

"Look, there is someone in the willow..." Two young lovers passing by, two small ripples in the stillness. And Inami descended, to let them have his offering, to let them drink his sterling cup of hate.
"Here, take this apple. My harvest. The willow's gift to you."

"Take it and love each other, take it and have each other, never to be alone..." They turned their big bright innocent eyes to Inami and took the apple. And they left.

And wicked faeries dance around Inami.

Mad wicked faeries.

Daedhir Fragment III

Stories told, stories untold, and the veiled silence within our dream. This is the time before the time, after the time when Inami screamed and danced. For he walked upon the world and your dreams could not dream of him. For he walked upon the willows, running away from vengeful mirrors.

And all the willows, balded of hidden chantings, danced on a sea of mirrors. And Inami danced with them. Bowed was his head as he walked upon the mirror sea and rage poured down his eyes. He dreamt of broken mirrors but then he dreamt of him, broken as the mirrors.

People tell that Inami comes from the wastelands. And they tell that once in a while he stops for a willow's shadow to watch the faeries dance.

And they dance around Inami.

Mad wicked faeries.

Daedhir Fragment IV

Once upon a time, two small beings came from the other world to see the forest and they left the door opened. They thought that they are not going to travel much, they just wanted to see the beautiful forest. And they saw it and they wondered. And they met their mushroom kin and they saw wicked faeries rubbing old trees.

And walking through the forest he saw the opened door and passed on the other side. He thought that he is not going to travel much, he just wanted to see what was there. And he saw the road and he saw the forest and he heard the voice from the willow. "Here, take this apple. My harvest. The willow's gift to you."

They all left, looking for the door, barely noticing the veiled silence within the mirror.

Wicked faeries circle around Inami.

Mad dancing faeries.

Daedhir Fragment V

Walked he on the broken mirrors. Stepped he on the balded willows. Drank he from the black water, taken from the black river, feasting on the black bile flowing through the black valley. Passed he by the lonely gate and raised his ever bowing head.

Born in a deserted land, he lived in a deserted castle made of sand. Wet was the sand, bitter were his tears and black was the castle. Passed he by the lonely gate and raised his ever bowing head. But it was just the wind, dancing with the silence.

Crippled spire bells were screaming in oblivion. Passed he by the lonely gate and raised his ever bowing head. But it was just the blind forgotten sun. And a grinning wind spelling out his name.

Passed he by the lonely gate and raised his ever bowing head. "Inami, Inami", as all the mirrors whispered. And a host of faeries danced around Inami. Mad, wicked faeries.

Daedhir Fragment VI

[This supposedly Daedhirian fragment was recited by Asbavaer and logged into Julian D'Alba's "Dark Plague" journals. The Ansaran archivists assume no responsibility for its authenticity.]

So it begins
The order of things, the evermoving mechanism
Spinning wheels, ticking gears
As it sighs away
The veiling whispers

Tick you
Ruthless weaver of time
Watch you
Restless bard of moments
Mind you

For there will come that day
For there will be an end of silence
A stranger in your midst
Spinning wheels, ticking gears
Sighing back
The veiling whispers

Mind you
For they will dance with wicked faeries
And walk again they will
And sing again they will
And so your mirrors will
Unveil their smile

Watch you
For a walker in the mist
In this order of things
For a swallower of darkness
Singing away, sighing away
For a disorder of things

Tick you
As there is no time for mercy
As already in your midst
In this evermoving mechanism
A stranger spinning wheels
Is veiling whispers

Daedhir Fragment VII

You, the mad one. I fear that I will lose my mind. You, the mad one. Who’s the one who screams at you? Who’s the one who sings at you with desperation? They are afraid of you. All of them. They are afraid. Of you, the mad one. They are afraid of your look. And your gaze is hurting them. Maybe they are all feeling guilty. You, the mad one, are you listening to me? You have to know that they are guilty. Yes, only them. And do you know why they are afraid? Because you are their mirror. You are their void. You, the mad one. Yes, believe me. I fear that I will lose my life.

You are my slumber. My abyss. You call me, you howl me, to take me away. And then you are silent. Looking at me. I can only see your eyes, rising from the crowds. Looking for me. I can only see your eyes, veiling me. You call for me. You howl for me. You wait for me. You, the mad one. Maybe I will hate you one day. You and all the others. You, the mad ones.

Importance. "Daedhir: The Book of All Fears" is the founding text of the so-called "Daedhirian Heresy". It is the founding text of a group of Anpagan mages, that embraced the forbidden path of tampering with the "magics of life and death", or, if we are to be more accurate, with the magics of death itself. As the Daedhirian Lord Asbavaer once said, they have embraced death to overcome it:

These twisted mages are still there, in the Venlaken Enclave, and the Book of All Fears is still veiling those decaying lands like a shroud, still weaving its velvet whispers and dreaming the dreams of dream tempters...