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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.

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-The '''''Codex of Primal Sources''''' is a comprehensive reference catalog of historical texts and artifacts compiled by the [[Arkaeni]] scholar [[Spanico the Sane]] during his tenure as Head of the Order (1164-1209). The work represents one of the most ambitious attempts to document and locate surviving pre-Purge knowledge in the post-Purge era.
+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.
-==History and Creation==
+Though its existence is not publicly acknowledged by the Order, the Codex is rumored to be the most complete record of pre-Theological, pre-[[Tethuric Church|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.
-Spanico the Sane spent nearly forty years compiling the Codex, beginning the work as a junior Arkaeni and continuing through his appointment as the 10th Head of the Order. His motivation, as stated in the preface, was to "create a map of wisdom through the scattered fragments of ancient knowledge, that those who follow might find their way more readily."
-The Codex was completed in 1203, six years before Spanico's death from [[Geldish Fever]]. Only three complete copies are known to exist: one at [[The Atheneum]] in [[Umstrad]], one in the private collection of the current Head of the Order, and one rumored to be held in Emperor [[Vralius]]'s personal library, although there is speculation that a fourth copy exists within the [[Archive of Enen]] of the [[Tethuric Church]].
+==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
-==Content and Structure==
+Each entry includes:
-The Codex is organized into twelve sections, each corresponding to a particular field of knowledge:
+*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
-*Cosmology and Creation - Texts regarding the formation of the world and heavens
+Entries are grouped into twelve major thematic sections, each its own volume:
-*Primordial Beings - Records of the Eldinar, palanem, and other pre-god entities
+===Volumes===
-*Divine Genealogy - Documentation of gods, their relationships, and powers
+#Cosmology and Creation - Myths, models, and metaphysical frameworks describing the origin of the world, reality layers, and the nature of existence.
-*Early Races - Historical accounts of the first sentient races
+#Primordial Beings - Accounts and speculative references to foundational entities such as the [[Eldinar]], [[Palanem]], and other pre-sentient or extra-dimensional forces.
-*Ancient Geography - Maps and descriptions of pre-Purge civilizations
+#Divine Genealogy - Theoretical lineages and symbolic hierarchies of deific or godlike figures. Often derived from fractured mythcycles and devotional texts.
-*Magical Principles - Theoretical texts on the nature of vorsys/omnicrux
+#Early Races - Documentation—mythical or otherwise—regarding pre-human or non-human civilizations believed to have existed before historical record.
-*Ritual and Practice - Practical applications of magical knowledge
+#Ancient Geography - Cartographic fragments, symbolic terrain schema, and recovered maps of places no longer identifiable—alleged locations of vanished regions, cities, or realms.
-*The Great Purge - Contemporary accounts of the Purge and its aftermath
+#Magical Principles - Theoretical models of magical structure, such as [[vorsys]], [[omnicrux]], resonance fields, arcane geometry, and governing metaphysical laws.
-*Surviving Artifacts - Catalog of known magical objects and their locations
+#Ritual and Practice - Reconstructed rites, incantations, ceremonial procedures, and systems of esoteric action. Most are unverified, symbolic, or fragmentary.
-*Linguistic Records - Translations and cipher keys for ancient scripts
+#Surviving Artifacts - Entries detailing physical objects of alleged pre-Theological origin, cataloged with known properties, status, and disposition (confiscated, destroyed, held, missing).
-*Natural Philosophy - Scientific observations from pre-Purge scholars
+#Linguistic Records - Partial reconstructions of lost languages, glyph sets, cipher systems, and syntax theories. Includes comparative tables and speculative phonetics.
-*Prophetic Writings - Collected prophecies and astronomical predictions
+#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.
-Each entry follows a consistent format:
+==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.
-*Name and Description: Title and brief overview of the text
+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.
-*Origin and Date: Creator and approximate age of the source
-*Current Location: Where the text can be found (if known)
-*Content Summary: Brief description of key information contained
-*Reliability Assessment: Spanico's evaluation of the source's credibility
-*Associated Texts: References to related documents
-==Significance==
+==The Addendum Ledger==
-The Codex is valued not only for its catalog of rare texts but also for Spanico's meticulous cross-referencing system that connects related information across different sources. This allows Arkaeni scholars to identify patterns and consistencies that would otherwise be difficult to discern from isolated fragments.
+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:
-Perhaps most significantly, the Codex documents the locations of texts housed in repositories that are typically inaccessible to the Arkaeni, such as the Archive of Enen controlled by the Tethuric Church. This has occasionally enabled the Order to petition for supervised access to specific documents or to focus their efforts on obtaining copies through less official channels.
+*Updates to artifact status or location
-Controversial Content
+*New leads under investigation
-Several sections of the Codex contain information that would be considered heretical by the Tethuric Church, particularly those relating to the Eldinar and the existence of magic. Spanico included coded annotations indicating which entries are considered particularly dangerous and should not be discussed openly.
+*Corrections to previous entries based on field reports
-The section on the Great Purge contains Spanico's personal theories regarding the unintended consequences of the Eari Stones, including the hypothesis that their creation fundamentally altered the magical ecology of Galwyndor. These speculations formed the basis for later theories developed by the Fellowship of Veridical History.
+*Verified acquisitions to the Arkaeni archive
-Notable Entries
+*Discreet alerts of Church movement or interest in referenced items
-Some of the most significant texts documented in the Codex include:
-The Grellist Cosmogony - A pre-Purge creation account housed in the Archive of Enen
+The Ledger is updated in cipher and never stored in the same location as the Codex itself.
-Fragments of the Eldinar Verses - Poetic descriptions of the Eldinar civilization, location unknown
-The Palanem Dialogues - Records of Inar-palanem interactions, allegedly in the Vault of Wonders
-The Meralian Minutes - Full account of the Meralian Accord proceedings, held in the Aeryl-Lothlan Archive
-Atury's Grimoire - The lost spellbook of the Draol magicker Atury, location unknown
-The Tal Calar Directives - Instructions for the use of the Eari Stones, partial copy at the Atheneum
-Access and Restrictions
+==Arkaeni Archive==
-Access to the Codex is strictly limited to full members of the Arkaeni Order who have completed at least five years of study. Sections dealing with practical magical knowledge are further restricted to those who have achieved the rank of Adept or higher.
+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.
-The Tethuric Church has repeatedly demanded that all copies of the Codex be surrendered for examination and potential destruction, claiming it contains "dangerous falsehoods that threaten the spiritual health of the realm." The Arkaeni have thus far evaded these demands through a combination of political maneuvering and the protection of certain sympathetic nobles.
+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.
 [[Category: In-Story Books]]
 [[Category: Magic]]
 [[Category: Books on Magic]]