Re: Legends: The Nameless One + Darsia God of Law

From: drhj@astro.cf.ac.uk (Dean Johnson)

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 14:48:58 +0000

Here is a legend from ROTI 1 in the UK concerning the death of the God of Law
by the Nameless One's hand and explains a bit why the Shards of Law are so bad
for him.

THE BREAKING OF DARSIA'S TABLET OF LAW

As is well known in the lore of Verana, many ages ago a Nameless force
was created by the dark Calamar race, and it arose into the heavens to
do battle with the gods.  In their folly the gods feared it not, and did
not deign to come forth together to do battle with it; they thought
themselves unassailable.

When the unholy force attacked the gods, the viciousness of its first
onslaught caught them by surprise, and they were dismayed.  The evil
Force enveloped Darsia, the wise and gentle god of Law, and crushed the
life out of him.  It cast him down on the surface of Verana, and Darsia
was no more.

Then the gods wept, for they knew their folly; and coming forth in great
strength they assailed the Nameless Force, and defeated it.  But it was
not destroyed, for being partly divine it could not be unmade.  The gods
banished it form this plane, and Verana has not known its dark touch for
many a long age.

No scholar in Verana has not heard of the great Tablet of Law that was
the symbol of Darsia before he was slain.  The tablet was said to
contain part of the essence of the god himself, and was the source of
unsurpassed wisdom.  Tales do not speak of the fate of the tablet after
Darsia thrown down, but it may be surmised that it was broken in the
impact that created the Darsian rift, in the eastern part of Verana.

Yet there are some few learned men who say that it is not so.  According
to them, the tablet was indeed broken, creating the rift in Law that
allows chaos to dominate the surface of Verana.  But it was not buried
with the body of Darsia in the Rift.  Rather, its various pieces have
been scattered over the surface of Verana, in unknown places remote and
secret.  Even the wise may not say precisely where the fragments may be
hidden; for over the ages they have surely moved and been carried,
according to their hidden purpose.

What has been determined, by a few who dedicated their loves to the
reinstatement of Law, is scant.  It is known that there may be as few as
three pieces of the lost tablet, and as many as ten.  Their locations
are as yet a complete mystery.

There is one notable exception to this.  There was a great scholar call
Ailaresse, who dwelt in Verana before before the Middle Kingdoms were
born.  Supreme in his knowledge of the gods, Ailaresse vanished sometime
just before the Migration Wars.  His dwelling was sacked by the
marauding forces of the Dragon King's army as it seethed over the plains
before the great battle, and after the Wars little remained of it.  Some
tales tell,  however, of a fragment of verse written by Ailaresse before
he disappeared, recovered from some hidden spot long after the War.
Apparently, the places mentioned in the verse could be speaking of the
locations of some of the lost fragments of the tablet of Law.

If this is so, it would be well for those who wish Law to govern again
to find these pieces, for without them they cannot hope to stand against
the forces of chaos which are gathering now in Verana.  The tablet will
undoubtedly endow the wielder with great power against chaos, making
him a champion of Law who would no longer be a mortal as we know them.
Yet there is little that may be done decisively while Law's only hope
remains broken and lost...

References

Re: Legends: The Nameless One
aiko@avalon.physik.unizh.ch (aiko gieskens)
Thu, 11 Feb 1993 10:14:34 +0000