Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Mystasapeas Ancient Sage and Dragon-Priest

It's been a while since I've added to my world creation notes. A long, unwanted, break from gaming has given me time to peruse my notes. They are in need of revision; however, that will come later. I've decided to create an NPC personality of sorts to write most of my further World Creation Notes. So without further delay:

Mystasapeas
He was an enigmatic scholar of the Dragon Age who wrote a number of documents on species and their associated histories and ecology's. Generally, these documents are referred to as "The Mystasapeas Grammars". Each grammar has a title such as "Mystasapeas Grammar on the Dwarven Folk" or "Mystasapeas Grammar upon the Age of Chaos".

More often then not, these grammars are not found in whole nor are they the originals (such a document would be a treasure beyond value). Like most volumes of Ird, the grammars are hand written (there is rumor of a gnomic machine that can write like a scribe, but such pamphlets have not been seen by many, and most scoff at the idea of their existence). Those copies in existence are kept in private libraries of sages and scholarly priests. Unfortunately, many of these grammars are incomplete fragments or even worse, frauds devised by charlatans for sale to the unwary scholar.

As to Mystasapeas himself, it is known that during the Age of Dragons, he was a Dragon-Priest chartered by his Wyrm Lords to catalogue a vast repository of knowledge on all the known species of and beyond the Wyrm Empire. If legend is correct, his Grammars were completed and compiled as one volume: "Grimoire of the Known Subjects of the Wyrm Lords".

If such a volume were completed, it most likely perished in the flames of war that rode upon the end of the Dragon Age and the Age of Enlightenment. Rumors persist that it resides intact in the Horde of Methaluzia the Golden Serpent, or that Balthar the Betrayer, last of the Imperial Riders, swept the volume west with him and his orc horde.

The Grammars survive at least in part. Initially, through oral tradition. Mystasapeas, like many of the Dragon-Priests, had several understudies that he would have taught the grammars to. They most likely even served him as scribes and as such, may have had their own copies, fragmented or unedited by him that they took into hiding with them.

A modern scholar, who writes with the pen-name Mystasapeas, resides upon the Isle of Cathesis, realm of the Immortal Empress. This Mystasapeas occasionally either releases documents which are believed to be historical re-creations of the original grammars. Of course these can only be verified by comparing them to the numerous grammars collected through out the ages which may or may not be accurate. Rumors persist amongst Mystasapeas enthusiasts that the Mystasapeas serving the Immortal Empress is THE Mystasapeas of old. If this is true, then he would be thousands of years old (perhaps an Immortal himself, and there are cults which believe this. A small Cult of Mystasapeas exists in Acteron). This "Mystasapeas" could also be a sage with an amazingly accurate collection of the true writings, or a very convincing charlatan himself.

The most common method of circulation of the grammars is through the careful (or not so careful , as the case may be) study of existing fragments by modern sages to be translated (the oldest copies are all in either old-Ildese, Elvish and even sometimes Draconian) and identified as such (in other words, a true scholar lets his audience know that what he is about to read is not a true original and/or complete). Of course these translations may only be as accurate as the source used (rather it be authentic or falsified) and the pre-disposition of the scholar himself. Political/Racial/theological beliefs of the author are often reflected upon his study.

The grammars written in this blog may be originals of the true Mystasapeas, or studies translated by a biased or unbiased scholar, or a complete hoax placed by a charlatan bent on divulging miss-information.

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