The Codex of Primary Sources is an internal document maintained by the Arkaeni Order. Compiled in secret by the mystic-scholar Spanico the Sane (1164–1209), the Codex serves as a classified reference catalog of texts, artifacts, oral accounts, and metaphysical theories believed to predate recorded history.
Though its existence is not publicly acknowledged by the Order, the Codex is rumored to be the most complete record of pre-Theological, pre-Church magical lore still in existence. It is stored in a restricted chamber of the Atheneum at Umstrad and is accessible only to a small circle within the Arkaeni hierarchy.
Purpose and Structure
The Codex was assembled to:
- Catalog all known or rumored sources of lost magical knowledge
- Record the locations of significant items believed to retain residual metaphysical value
- Track confiscated or destroyed artifacts known to have been seized by the Tethuric Church
- Provide symbolic, linguistic, and ritual frameworks for pattern analysis
- Serve as a centralized intelligence record for ongoing Arkaeni recovery efforts
Each entry includes:
- Name / Designation
- Origin or Source (if known)
- Status: Arkaeni possession, confiscated, destroyed, missing, or unverified
- Summary of Contents or Properties
- Interpretive Notes (often speculative)
- Codex Reliability Score
- Cross-referenced Index Keys
Entries are grouped into twelve major thematic sections, each its own volume:
Volumes
- Cosmology and Creation - Myths, models, and metaphysical frameworks describing the origin of the world, reality layers, and the nature of existence.
- Primordial Beings - Accounts and speculative references to foundational entities such as the Eldinar, Palanem, and other pre-sentient or extra-dimensional forces.
- Divine Genealogy - Theoretical lineages and symbolic hierarchies of deific or godlike figures. Often derived from fractured mythcycles and devotional texts.
- Early Races - Documentation—mythical or otherwise—regarding pre-human or non-human civilizations believed to have existed before historical record.
- Ancient Geography - Cartographic fragments, symbolic terrain schema, and recovered maps of places no longer identifiable—alleged locations of vanished regions, cities, or realms.
- Magical Principles - Theoretical models of magical structure, such as vorsys, omnicrux, resonance fields, arcane geometry, and governing metaphysical laws.
- Ritual and Practice - Reconstructed rites, incantations, ceremonial procedures, and systems of esoteric action. Most are unverified, symbolic, or fragmentary.
- Surviving Artifacts - Entries detailing physical objects of alleged pre-Theological origin, cataloged with known properties, status, and disposition (confiscated, destroyed, held, missing).
- Linguistic Records - Partial reconstructions of lost languages, glyph sets, cipher systems, and syntax theories. Includes comparative tables and speculative phonetics.
- Natural Philosophy - Proto-scientific concepts and cosmological speculation from pre-collapse sources—often merging empirical observation with mystical interpretation.
- Prophetic Writings - Transcriptions of visions, apocalyptic forecasts, dream-symbol records, and astral alignments. Includes both individual prophecies and repeated cyclic patterns.
- The Unspoken Era - A shadow category of disconnected fragments—texts, objects, or events which resist categorization, often implying systemic rupture or deliberate concealment. This section is considered the most classified and least understood.
Secrecy and Security
The Codex is considered one of the Order’s highest-value assets and is not referenced in any official Arkaeni materials. Knowledge of its existence is restricted to initiates of the Fifth Seal or higher, and is guarded by both physical security and compartmentalized doctrine.
Even within the Order, only select members know of its full contents or current custodial status. Any unauthorized attempt to access, copy, or disclose information from the Codex is grounds for immediate severance.
The Addendum Ledger
Due to the dynamic nature of recovery and loss, a living companion document—the Codex Addendum Ledger—is maintained by appointed Lorekeepers. This document logs:
- Updates to artifact status or location
- New leads under investigation
- Corrections to previous entries based on field reports
- Verified acquisitions to the Arkaeni archive
- Discreet alerts of Church movement or interest in referenced items
The Ledger is updated in cipher and never stored in the same location as the Codex itself.
Arkaeni Archive
While modest in size, the Arkaeni Archive contains a small number of physical artifacts believed to be genuine relics of the forgotten age. Most have been acquired through covert field efforts, trade, or inheritance from sympathetic lineages. All verified acquisitions are recorded in the Codex under internal notation and relocated to protected storage.
Whenever possible, the Arkaeni seek to intercept or retrieve such items before they are destroyed, reclassified, or absorbed into the Tethuric Church’s centralized repository system.
Church Interest
Though the Tethuric Church publicly discredits the Arkaeni and denies the existence of any credible magical lineage, internal records suggest the Church has long suspected the existence of the Codex.
Multiple infiltration attempts have been documented at the Atheneum. Several individuals affiliated with ecclesiastical scholarship have been identified as possible informants, sending recovered data to unknown Church entities. Their goal is believed to be the extraction of information regarding objects not yet in Church custody, particularly those that may have been overlooked by prior purges.
The Church is known to possess vast stores of confiscated material spanning centuries, the contents of which remain classified. The Codex lists only confirmed confiscations—those verified through field observation, intercepted correspondence, or historical testimony. The full extent of the Church’s archive remains unknown.
Strategic Importance
If ever compromised, the Codex would provide a near-complete roadmap of Arkaeni operations, priorities, and vulnerabilities. It would also allow the Church to systematically locate and seize materials the Order has spent generations identifying and protecting.
For this reason, the Codex is not simply a book. It is a liability, a weapon, and a line of last defense.