The most difficult aspect of using an
ancient book is being able to read its contents. Sometimes it’s a simple matter
of finding an expert who will do the translating for you; sometimes even this
is not enough. The older the book in question, the less likely that the
contents will be understood, due to linguistic changes, vowel shifts, archaic
alphabets, codes or ciphers, idiomatic expressions or references to concepts or
events which are no longer available to a modern audience. In fact, the whole
process of translation is a minefield of questions and conundrums, many of
which will never be overcome. In the world of the Mythos, these issues are
ever-present and some of the difficulties which Investigators will encounter
are listed below.
Each of the following languages and
alphabets has a listed Difficulty
that comes into play when an attempt to translate a work in which they are used
is attempted; this is an additional mechanic and may be ignored if the Keeper
so desires. Some languages are so archaic or rare that an initial Idea Roll must be made just to identify
them and begin the translation effort. Similarities with other languages add
benefits and these are listed here also.
Also listed are Mythos and other texts
which are written in the listed language and which may be used to identify and
help translate an unknown block of text. Bonuses to interpretation are listed
parenthetically near each tome. The mere presence of one of these books in an
investigator’s library will allow an unmodified Idea Roll to identify the language or alphabet in question.
Finally, where available, a work –
academic or otherwise – which acts as a key to the translation of a language or
alphabet by offering comparison examples in two or more languages, are listed
as a kind of ‘Rosetta Stone’ for the language or alphabet in question.
*****
The Westphalian Alphabet
Charlemagne’s creation of the Westphalian
state as a means of controlling and maintaining his captured Saxon lands led to
the inception of a new culture. The Westphalian (“West Welsh”) melting pot saw
the creation of a new dialect and alphabet to enable trade and communication
amongst its peoples. This was a blend of Frankish, Gothic and various Celtic
tongues all toeing the Latin Church line. The results are fairly plain to see
in the resultant alphabet: Gothic and Etruscan letter-forms march side-by-side
with Runes and even some vaguely Arabic styles. The influence which it had on
the Vehmic Alphabet (and the Inquisitorial one afterwards) is
obvious, although Westphalian is not based upon the Latin phonetic set in the
way that that system is.
More influential than the written
language of this people is perhaps their attitude towards the land and its
control which was most likely heightened by their being a displaced and blended
culture. The Westphalians organised themselves by a system of ‘forest lore’,
with parcels of land in the control of local lords and their foresters; these
men had the ability to dispense their masters’ justice as they saw fit. As
these ‘forest police’ grew more organised, they – ironically – took on aspects
of the previous pagan worship which they had been brought in to replace. Such
concepts as ‘The Wild Hunt’, ‘Forest Men’, even ‘Robin Hood’, all descend from
this cultural appropriation. Of course the most pernicious creation of the Westphalian
region was the Vehmgericht, or Secret
Tribunal, established by Charlemagne whose links to blood and the land, and
later to the Inquisition, no doubt inspired the Teutonic revivals of the late
Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries.
Difficulty: Hard: Idea Roll:
Works in this Language: None
‘Rosetta
Stone’: None
*****
The Vehmic Alphabet
According to tradition, Charlemagne
established the Vehmgericht in the
German Catholic areas of his kingdom after 772 AD to enforce his will upon the
recently suppressed Pagan Saxon tribes. As part of his war of attrition against
them, he forcibly moved over 30,000 Saxons across the Rhine and replaced them
with an equivalent number of devout “West Gauls” who became known as the
Westphalians.
The Vehmgericht
was established by five knights who enacted vigilante justice upon any Saxons
who railed against the rule imposed upon them. The word “vehm” is said to derive from the German word for tree – baum – and is indicative of the tendency
of this cadre to decorate forests
with the hanged bodies of their victims. In time, this bloodthirsty unit
attracted the attention of another organisation with similar interests, that of
quelling non-believers – the Inquisition. It can be no coincidence that the
Vehmic Alphabet and that adopted by the Inquisition bear marked similarities.
Difficulty: Slight: Idea Roll
x 2
Works in this Language: None
‘Rosetta
Stone’: None
*****
The Inquisitorial Alphabet
Most people would not be too surprised to
learn that the Inquisition, that instrument of terror deployed by fanatical
Popes throughout European history, used a series of codes to hide the nature of
the correspondence between their agents. What is surprising is that this
invented written language was based largely on alchemical and Hebrew symbols.
For an organisation heaven-bent on wiping out heretics across the globe it
seems more than a little hypocritical of them to have borrowed their enemy’s
alphabets as inspiration for their secret codes. To add insult to injury, it’s
also a very simple replacement code that’s laborious to write, so what they
gained from it is anybody’s guess.
Difficulty: Slight: Idea
Rollx2
Works in this Language: Codex
Maleficium (+20%); Zekerboni (+10%)
‘Rosetta
Stone’: None
*****
Codex
Maleficium
Along with the Codex Dagonensis, the Codex
Spitalski (aka. The Leprous Book)
and the Cthaat Aquadingen, the Codex Maleficium first appeared in
northern Germany around the year 400 AD and was possibly meant to be identical
with them. Scholarship has posited the notion that the book was originally
written in German or Gothic, or derived from sources in those languages: it
could be that all four of these works are in fact the same book, compiled and
written in four different locations and intended to be called the Cthaat Aquadingen, given that text’s
mangled German (or Gothic)/Latin title. However, later amendments and additions
have rendered the book unable to be reintegrated as a single volume and it now
stands alone as a discrete text.
The Codex
Maleficium was captured and named early after its discovery by the
Inquisition and removed to the holdings of the Holy Roman Empire; it now resides within the Vatican and access to it is severely restricted. Transcriptions of
the work were prepared, heavily edited and annotated, coded in the
Inquisitorial Alphabet, to be used as a reference work for Vatican agents. These copies refrain from outlining the ritual
procedures of the text, preferring to gloss over material deemed too
blasphemous for the tastes of holy warriors. Excerpts from other captured books
were also included in this printing as a means of comparing, codifying and
contrasting the practices of disparate heretical groups.
Like the Codex Dagonensis, the Codex
Maleficium contains information on the Elder
Sign, incantations designed to thwart magical summoning, the Nyhargo Dirge for dealing with the
corporeal undead and several Tsathogguan rituals. Unlike any of the other
related books, this is the only source for the First Sathlatta; what this incantation may do is unknown, a
situation which will likely not change until the Vatican removes their restrictions of access.
(Source: Brian Lumley, The Cyprus Shell)
Latin; Author(s) unknown; circa. 400 AD; 1d6/2d6
Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +10 percentiles; 32 weeks to study and
comprehend
Spells: Affect
Weather; Call Dagon; Call Mother Hydra; Call Tsathoggua; Contact Deep One; Contact
Tsathoggua; Elder Sign; “First Sathlatta”; Nyhargo Dirge; Summon/Bind
Formless Spawn
*****
The Vatican
transcriptions of this work are notorious for having been blunted in their
effectiveness: much of the brain-searing content has been eliminated and the
spells are always incomplete leaving, more often than not, just a gloss of what
the intention of the spell is and nothing more. Arguably, much of the SAN loss
from reading these texts comes from the tedium of having to decode the text
from the mind-bogglingly stupid Inquisitorial Alphabet!
Latin, in the Inquisitorial Alphabet;
transcriber(s) unknown; various editions, post 400 AD; 1/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu
Mythos +3 percentiles; 4 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: None
*****
The Zekerboni
The Zekerboni
was transcribed from an unknown source by coven-leader Pietro Mora in 1630;
Mora and his followers were arrested and executed in 1631 for practising
witchcraft and for initiating outbreaks of the plague. A handful of copies of
Mora’s manuscript were published by the Inquisition to use as evidence in
stamping out further instances of heresy inspired by the coven-leader’s
pernicious influence and it was thought that all copies had been burned at the
conclusion of the investigation. This was evidently not the case, as a bill of
sale in the estate of a noted Piedmontese family shows that a copy was sold to
a French nobleman in 1744. Other copies may have also escaped the flames but,
if so, their whereabouts are unknown.
As a
precaution against exposure to its blasphemous contents, all copies of this
dreaded work were treated with a virulent contact poison, soaked into the
boards and bindings; some reports also claim that the paper and ink used in the
printing were similarly treated. Contact by a reader while not wearing gloves
necessitates a CON Roll versus a POT 10 poison: a failed roll means that the
poison begins to take effect, after being absorbed through the skin, in 30
minutes. Initial effects are numbness and a cold feeling in the fingers and
hands, which spreads over 12 hours, finally causing paralysis and death by
suffocation and cardiac arrest.
(Source: Keith
Herber, et al, The Compact Arkham Unveiled)
Italian, written in the Inquisitorial Alphabet;
Pietro Mora; 1630; 1d2/1d10 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +12 percentiles;
30 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: Unknown
I'd welcome fonts of those alphabets!
ReplyDeleteThe 'Malleus Maleficarum' was published in 1486, but you wrote 400. Perhaps you forgot the "1"?
ReplyDeleteYep - you're right: the "Malleus Maleficarum" (aka. "Der Hexenhammer" - I love that word!)was written in 1486 and first published in 1487. This book I'm talking about here is called the "Codex Maleficium" - it's an entirely fictional book invented by Brian Lumley in his short (Lovecraftian) story entitled "The Cyprus Shell". He dates its appearance in northern Germany around 400 AD. Just the messenger here...
ReplyDelete