The Circle of Seven

The Circle of Seven refers to a cycle of seven legendary books written shortly after the Breaking of the World, that together tell the history of the Mythical Age. Though their authorship is often ascribed to the Dracosages, the true writers are unknown. Of the seven books, only The Book of Lore survived into modern times, in heavily edited form.

The seven books of the circle:

• The Book of Lore
• The Book of Law
• The Book of Life
• The Book of War
• The Book of Madness
• The Book of Lies
• The Book of The End

Authorship

Tradition holds that the original volumes were penned by the Dracosages, but vary according to their actual authorship. The books of Lore, Law, Life, and War are held to have been dictated to the sages by the One King. No author is attributed to the Book of Madness; and the Book of Lies is said to have been dictated, under duress, by a Dark Lord. The Book of The End is thought to have been written by all seven Sages together, with divine inspiration. This is, of course, all legend; the oldest extant copy of any one volume(which has not been found) is believed to date from at least thousands if not tens of thousands of years after the Mythical Age.

Contents

Only the contents of the Book of Lore survived with certainty into the modern era, but various accounts and recollections of the contents of the others have come to light over the years. Many of these are merely gueses and not known with any certainty, as no known copies of any of the books existed at the earliest dating of these notes:

• The Book of Lore an historical account of the Age of Myth. If a proper copy could be found it would go a long way towards explaining various events of pre-history.

• The Book of Law supposed to be the words of the One King as well as the Four Kings of the Last Dynasty. The Cardinal Clerics hold that their holy book is the Book of Law.

• The Book of Life believed to be an almanac of all living things. Like the Book of Law, it is said to have been dictated by the One King himself, and to be an account of all creation.

• The Book of War an account of the Grey War of the Mythical Age. The book is also believed to contain "sacred tactics" and military strategies handed down from on high.

• The Book of Madness no account of this book's contents exist. Many stories are found that say all who read it went insane, but there is no definitive, even remotely historical accepted speculation on what it contains.

• The Book of Lies authorship is generally attributed to the Dark Lords or to their worshipers. According to legend, the One King ordered the highest of all of the Dark Lords to write a true account of it's side's actions in the conflict of the Age of Myth. The book is called The Book of Lies because it contains the truth behind all of the lies told by the forces of evil during this era, up to and including the greatest lie of all.

• The Book of The End unlike the other books in the cycle, this one has several different, highly credible accounts of it's contents.
  • The book is said to be a first-hand account of the Breaking of the World, the final battles between light and dark at the end of the era, and the ultimate end to the Age of Myth.
  • Another account holds that the book is prophecy, that it tells not of the end of the Age, but of the actual end of the war, which would not come for many eons. This belief is supported by small surviving passages that speak of the Army of Darkness and the Hero of Light.
• Still another account holds that the both versions are true, and that the book is written in a highly complex verse form in which each sentence, placed in appropriate context, has two different meanings. And that, when read, the meaning will become clear.

Surviving Copies

The Book of Lore

The Book of Lore was known as early as the Dynastic Period. A very badly translated, poorly preserved version of the text survived and was copied down through the ages, first seeing print in the Golden Age. It was widely deceminated throughout the Ages of the Alliance, though was mostly regarded as a collection of myths and fairy tails(which, to be fair, the modern iteration effectively was). Modern copies are considered to be useless from a historic context, and it was often called "the rarest book you can find in the bargain bin at your local book store". Searches were constant for an actual ancient copy, and one was known to exist in the collection of Nathan Searlin.

The Book of Law

While no historical evidence exists to support(or refute) the claim, it has long been held by the Cardinal Clerics that their holy book is in fact The Book of Law. Their religion has no known date of origin(having existed since The Age of Darkness, and the authorship of their sacred texts, which aside from translation have been unchanged, is typically ascribed to "God". Again, proof or evidence is lacking, but it is so in both directions.

The Book of The End

While not in whole, very small bits and pieces of this book are thought to survive, most notably in the form of phrophecies about the Hero of Light and the final battle that would bring closure to the conflict began during the Age of Myth. While not definitive, all information about the Army of Darkness is said to originate from this book.