This text is a series of over 100 copper
plates, each bearing the hammered glyphs of what appears to be the Mayan system
of writing. They were discovered in 1891 by the eccentric explorer Maplethorpe
Turner who was shown two of the plates whilst investigating a small village
named Rio Craso in Guatemala, deep in the jungles of Petén. Investigation found
that the plates had washed downstream from a Mayan ruin which had collapsed
beneath the force of a recent hurricane. The locals had assumed that the ruin
was simply a hill and no-one had explored it previously. Turner probed within
the eroded edifice and found the remainder of the plates.
Each
plate is made from a copper-like material and is rectangular, measuring 8” by
7½” and ¼” thick. All of the plates bear two columns of hieroglyphs which, upon
cursory examination, appear very similar to the standard Mayan alphabet; a
closer look will reveal however, that there are significant differences between
this script and the Mayan glyphs. Metallurgical analysis of the plates will
reveal that they resist oxidisation and scarring by acid; as well, if bent out
of shape, they will slowly return to their original shape within several
minutes. A Cthulhu Mythos roll will
determine that this material is called ‘yal’,
or ‘copper from above’, a metallic substance referenced in many Mythos tomes.
The matter of the text involves the
religious and historical events of a colony of Muvian refugees who fled from
the destruction of their homeland to establish a new home in the Guatemalan
heartland. This kingdom, known as Hemaerpi, covered large territories in
Guatemala and Belize and began a steady decline into decadence, worshipping a
bloodthirsty deity known as Qai-Hwann. The civilisation erupted into bloody
warfare and rebellion and was eventually wiped out by neighbouring states,
leaving only the metal plates as testament to their existence, locked within
their last hidden temple.
(Source: Keith Herber, Cthulhu Now: “The Evil Stars”, Chaosium,
1992)
Archaic Mayan Glyphs (-30% to Skill); Great Priest
Dha-khurpa; Petén, Guatemala; 1d3/2d4+1 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +5 percentiles; skill
check to Hieratic Naacal; Anthropology +1; 16 weeks to study and
comprehend
Spells:
“Great Prayer of Dha-khurpa” (Call/
Dismiss Hastur), “Instrument of T’ezcha Ha’ptl” (Chime of Tezchaptl),
“Song of Qai-hwann” (Song of Hastur), “Preparation of the Guardian” (Bind
Byakhee), “Preparation of the Xocoatl of the Sky” (Brew Space Mead),
“The Unbreakable Pact” (Unspeakable Promise), “Sanctification of the
Stones” (Free Hastur)
Maplethorpe Turner returned with the
plates to the United States and began the difficult task of trying to translate
them. Undeterred by the dearth of available knowledge regarding the Mayan
hieroglyphs, he questioned several authorities in the Boston area and set to
the task with a will. In a very short period of time he became obsessed with
the work, estranging himself from his family and ruining his financial
stability. His reading of Otto Dostmann’s Remnants
of Lost Empires and discovery of certain parallels between the glyphs on
the plates and certain carvings at sites along the Pacific Rim, allowed him to
complete his translation by 1901.
A difficulty arose however, since no publisher
seemed willing to produce the book. Turner’s lack of connexion to any
mainstream academic institution stood against him, along with his notorious
disregard of academia in general; as well, he had become increasingly paranoid
about the plates and steadfastly refused to let anyone see them.
Understandably, many publishers were unwilling to turn their hands to what
might most likely turn out to be a hoax. In the end, Turner used the remnants
of his fortune to self-publish the work in 1902, under the title Rites of the Ancient Maya Revealed. The
book was panned by the critics and received the coolest of receptions by the
academic world. Turner became disillusioned and ever more reclusive, before
dying in 1911. A fire which destroyed his estate and which was blamed on his
youngest son, Wordsworth Turner, also destroyed the original plates.
English; Maplethorpe Turner:
Rites of the Ancient Maya Revealed – The
Turner Codex; Boston,
1902; 1d2/1d6 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +4 percentiles, Anthropology
+1 percentile, Hieratic Naacal +1 percentile; 3 weeks to study
and comprehend
Spells: “Great Prayer of Kaiwan” (Call/Dismiss Hastur), “Chime of
Tezchaptl”, “Preparation of the Xocoatl” (Brew
Space Mead), “The Unspeakable Oath” (Unspeakable
Promise), “Rite of the Stones” (Free
Hastur)
In the late 1960s, an
informal Spanish version of the book was circulated among the faculty of
Mexico’s Escuela Nacional de Antropología
e Historia (“National School of Anthropology and History”). This
translation focussed only lightly upon the plates themselves and sought to
highlight the background to their discovery and the efforts of Maplethorpe
Turner in discovering them, arguing that similar finds may still be waiting in
the Guatemalan wilderness. This Photostatted version is very hard to find and
has the following statistics:
Spanish; translator unknown: Ritos de los Mayas
antiguos reveladores; Photocopied manuscript, Mexico, late 1960s; 1/1d4
Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +3 percentiles, Anthropology +1 percentile;
3 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: “Para crear
el carillón del Tezchaptl” (Enchant Chime of Tezchaptl)
Facing financial ruin due
to his father’s single-minded push to produce his magnum opus, Wordsworth Turner launched a different approach in
restoring the family fortune. Having worked as his father’s research assistant
during the initial translation of the Codex,
Wordsworth was able to duplicate as many as 10 copies of the manuscript by hammering
copied glyphs into sheets of copper roofing material. These, he sold off to
interested parties for anything up to US$500.00 apiece. Sadly, one of these
eager investors was William Randolph Hearst who, like any good newspaperman,
decided to check his sources before committing himself. Discovered, Wordsworth
Turner torched the family home to claim the insurance and to hide the evidence
of his fraud and then skipped to Guatemala where he scraped together a living
as a translator for archaeological teams. He was found self-strangled in Santo
Domingo in 1933 under suspicious, but not unexpected, circumstances.
At least one copy of this faked work is
held in the inventory of the Smithsonian Institute and it has been shown
several times as part of a display of bogus antiquities labelled “Apocryphal
Mayan text, c. 1915”.
Archaic Mayan Glyphs (-30% to Skill); Wordsworth
Turner; Boston, 1913; 0/0 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +0 percentiles; 1
week to study and comprehend
Spells: None; however, since the glyphs represented
are taken en bloc from the original
plates, a successful Luck roll will
grant a Cthulhu Mythos +1 bonus
In the late 1980s, musician
Brian Lochnar produced several albums, together with his bandmates in God’s Lost Children, with lyrics which
he claimed were derived from the Turner
Codex. After his death in 1987, occult publishers Phantastic Productions
sought to capitalise on the dead singer’s fame by producing a low-rent, occult,
‘tell-all’ publication, claiming to reveal “the secrets behind the music”. From the Library of Brian Lochnar – the
Secrets of the Turner Codex was a shabby effort, combining publicity shots
of the band with gory imagery culled from Aztec, Olmec and Mayan art with
little or no relevance to the Turner Codex. In fact, the text of the book
vacillates in referring to the ‘Codex
as the “Turner Codex” or the “Tumer Codex”. The book is laced heavily with
lyrics from God’s Lost Children’s
songs, guitar tabs, and allegedly similar texts from other surviving Mayan
Codices (none of which have stood up to academic scrutiny). The book was only
printed once; a later publication in the same year - Conversations with Lochnar – a collection of dialogues with the
singer as relayed by ten different US psychics with whom he was ‘in contact’
after his death, was a better seller and even spent two weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List in 1989.
(Source: Bret
Kramer, “Notes on the Turner Codex”)
English; Phantastic Productions; Los Angeles, 1988;
0/1 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +0 percentiles; 1 week to study and
comprehend
Spells: None
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