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Torumin - From Book 843, "The Endless Shadow", Verse CI |
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During roughly the same early period, the cultures of both the Malus and the Alyssians experienced a significant disruption in their social and political structures. Perhaps the scriptural verse cited below was discovered simultaneously by both races, for the words seem to have been the primary cause in the restructuring of both societies.
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Verse CI: "We who have created you, govern you. We watch earnestly
your every triumph, your every mistake. Only rarely do we intervene.
Such is our relationship with you: the Observer and the Observed." |
Malus: In the year 424, during the era now known as the Old Dark, a period of intense fighting ended with the establishment of the Malus Clan system, in which each Clan is responsible for a particular aspect of society. Prior to the establishment of the Clan system, individual families vied for power. The results were unfailingly bloody and peace was short-lived. The Clans absorbed the existing families, and imposed a fragile structure on the chaotic squabbling.
No words have come down to us from this time, though the image reproduced below speaks volumes about the Malus interpretation of this scriptural verse:
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A crude map of the Malus showing various areas marked off into clan territories.
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Alyssian: During this same period, the Alyssians were at the height of a period of cultural and intellectual prosperity. This verse of the Aldar scripture had a profound influence on Alyssian thought; indeed, in their own tongue, "Alyssian" means "the Observed". Self-censorship in the arts grew, as fear of the Aldar's disapproval took root in the Alyssian mind. Prior to adopting the "Alyssian" name, philosophical theses abounded with arrogant references to the greatness of "the Elect":
"We, the Elect, are sole worthy to inherit the Cosmos. There is no other Intelligence but Our Intelligence."
Following the strict interpretation of Aldar scripture, particularly the above quoted verse, the tone changes dramatically:
"We, who are the mere Shadow of the Aldar, humbly submit our Intelligence, feeble though it may be, before them. We, the Observed, sit in judgment of their superior Wisdom."
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