Umber

Many have pored over this document, trying to fathom its meaning. Tenser was killed over it. Is the party really involved? And if only others believe they are, does the truth of it matter? (sab)

Translation by Klavicus Starton the Second, Jr,
MA, AW, COE (honorary), GWG Esteemed Fellow

Dearest reader,

The translation of this text has been one of the most exciting adventures of my career. With so little of the text still extant, any attempt to completely re-coalesce the entire prophecy is bound to end in opprobrium.

The fact that sages of the time period in question also were consummate students of the art of grimlash (a powerful opiate) smoking and were thus mostly incomprehensible even to their comparably sane contemporaries has added to the challenge.

There is, however, a kind of commonality that can be extracted by comparing the Rhyme of Gastronitis, the epic Marcon the Mostly Mad, and Confessions of a Cannibal, which thereby leads inexorably to an approximate understanding of this often ignored and generally misunderstood text.

In the interests of comprehensiveness I have attempted to provide alternate translations where the text was unclear. Keep in mind, however, that the entire text was originally written in a local sub-dialect of Dremarrin (antecedent of ancient Suloise), so a truly careful reader must treat the entire translation as suspect.

Enough ramblings. I shall now let the text speak for itself, and hope that you find the reading as stimulating as I have over the last thirty-five years of my attempts to accurately translate it.

The world was created in fire but in dust shall it end.

I, the writer of these words, have seen it.

The sharpest knife comes from humble soil. They who shape[1] will be the same.

Evil shall lust for riches, and power, and cruelty. It will break the nation[2] and scatter the righteous to the four corners of the world. Thus shall they be saved.

Two become one, and two become one, and therefore will there be two, in concordant opposition. Darkness will cover the world and the just will tremble. The armies will know no fear, and strike to the left, and strike to the right, but stumble in the center.

And so, in the days of darkness will the Sage take Pelor’s Tear and the Staff[3] of the Nexus and forge the Traveler’s Star[4]. And thus shall heaven and Oerth be moved, and a new light be born by the hand of the Far Walker. Twice shall the Walker offer life and twice be slain but three times be born.

Out of time shall reach the hand of innocence, born in fire and bathed in blood, touching that which even the gods fear, to liberate[5] creation.

The nation shall be reborn, with He who was Lost to rule, a Star to lead and a Star to light the way.

And then shall the entire world despair. The Hand will uproot the Tree and it will <>[6].

He of whip and flame, born from the dragon, shall hold all Oerth in his hand.[7].

The text ends here, random notes filling the rest of the page.

[1] To shape: to form, to distort, to build, to change

[2] Nation: not merely a city state, or even a confederacy, the original word has implications of large scope.

[3] The original text uses a word that stems from “source of power”. Its literal translations include “group” (the advisers to the throne), and a physical staff, generally ornate, that acts as a symbolic indicator of who is in charge.

[4] Star: Sun, pure energy, that which dispels evil/darkness

[5] Liberate: to steal, free, or obliterate

[6] Not translatable. The word in the original text means “begin”, but to the ancients, there were a fixed number of “things” – so something new meant the destruction or transformation of something old.

[7] Difficult to translate, but seemed to imply that the one referred to was wielding Oerth as a chalice or a scepter.