–==Official Submission==–
FROM: General Debinani Rahl
RE: Chapter Eleven – Disturbing Discoveries

Disturbing Discoveries

Personal Log – Kishara Research

The appearance of Cyan Marinetta, WaterWielder, has thrown
my life into turmoil once again. I find myself spending
long nights poring over old texts in obscure libraries. I
think I’ve compiled enough information to make a fair
hypotheses concerning the recent information that’s come to
light, which is good because the men have been wondering if
I had gone of my rocker with some of the standing orders of
late.

The Litany of Kishara was a disturbing revelation for me.
Over the years I’ve heard whispers among the academic
community expressing concerns about the resurgence of The
Society after five centuries of dormancy. I had simply
suspected it was due to the less-than-favorable reputation
we had received after slaying large percentages of the
populations of two major Britannian cities. But in
retrospect they all thought we were a lot worse. The
further south I travel in the world, the more people I find
that are disturbed at The Society’s presence. Still not
many, but definitely more than in the north. I’ve heard
whispers of horrible atrocities performed by the Black Rose
in some near-unmemorable past. It never occurred to me that
we haven’t always been what we are now. Five millennia of
evolution will do that to a group of people.

Contents aside, the text itself is disturbing. The book,
bound in human flesh, has to be at least five thousand
years old, and yet it’s pages are still supple and it’s ink
(blood, of course) is still legible. If I didn’t know any
better I’d say this book is no older than a century or two
at the most. This leads me to two conclusions. One, that
the book is a fake, created by the Ringwielders in case the
Society ever resurfaced. Throw the history-nut a bone and
keep him occupied while plans are formed and implemented.
This is by far more probable, especially concerning the
general deviousness of these people. The second option is
slightly more disturbing. Marinetta spoke of retrieving the
book from Tablenhelm, from the Great Library itself, and
went on to insinuate that the process of doing so is very
painful and involved and she may not be able to make the
journey again. If this is true, then the city of Tablenhelm
itself, or perhaps only the Great Library, is enchanted in
some way to protect its contents, and entrance can only be
gained through some special means. This option doesn’t help
our cause very much at all, but I’m prepared to accept
either as truth once more information is uncovered.

In all respects, this book, if genuine, is by far the
greatest historical find since the shattering. I imagine
that there’s a lot of people in powerful places that would
be most insulted to find out that a young military
commander with a flair for the arcane was in possession of
it. The very thought of Craworth soiling himself at the
news brings a smile to my face.

From what I can gather from the information at hand is that
the Society was originally an army formed by this Kisharan
Death-Cult to strike out into the world to help fulfill
some sort of prophesy. Along with four others, the “Order
of the Sackcloth Rose” set forth under the auspicious
command of the SpiritWielder to slay a million human souls
as sacrifice to the goddess. Once this was accomplished,
some sort of Year of the Skulls was supposed to come about.
Obviously some sort of Armageddon myth. As far as myth is
concerned, that’s all I have, but with this information in
hand some things make more sense. For example, because of
the social proclivities mentioned above I can assume that
Tablenhelm lies somewhere in the southern climes as opposed
to the north. If people fear the Society it’s from when
they were at their worst, marching across the land and
slaying everything in their path in the name of Kishara.
The whole thing seemed to have changed just before the
Shattering when the Society marched on a city called
Westergard. With the information our Waterwielder has
provided I can only assume that since the Annals were lost
and the Shattering was upon the world, the true purpose of
the Society was lost and their children carried on the only
traditions they could remember: soldiering. As far as I can
tell, only one piece of the old works survived, and that
was the Society’s Oath, which was lost in Cove five
centuries ago. Which means, if there is actually a concern
about the slaying of men bringing forth the Year of the
Skulls, the only living people that have to worry about it
myself, Myca and Kamir. Convincing those two to slow down
in the killing may be a chore however.

Unfortunately, this is all I know at the moment. Perhaps
when the new lands are opened we can send an expedition to
the resting place of Westergard to delve further into
detail.