Showing posts with label Nahmus Abadi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nahmus Abadi. Show all posts
Ruwallah the Lawgiver
Ruwallah was the sixth son of a minor chieftain who blamed the vicissitudes of his family fortune on their household god. In frustration with that god's impotence or unwillingness to act on their behalf, he set out with a firm resolve to find and confront the avatar of the god, where ever it might be found.
The wise men of that place and that age, held that the vast desert which was created in a war between the Five Nations, contained a portal to the heavenly kingdom. With no fortune to inherit and no power to risk, Ruwallah entered the Khard and wandered for the next forty years.
Finally, in the year 4875ey, Ruwallah the Lawgiver emerged bearing clay pressings of words which he claimed were found chiseled into the Obelisks. These Obelisks, he said, were the foundation stones of the world itself and were found in the midst of a Lake of Glass, from which the sun rose each day.
He claimed that the etchings he brought back were the Nahmus Abadi, or Law Which Cannot Change, and were written from the foundation of all things. Further, he dared to say that common men and Princes alike, would only prosper to the extent that they followed this new moral code.
The wise men of that place and that age, held that the vast desert which was created in a war between the Five Nations, contained a portal to the heavenly kingdom. With no fortune to inherit and no power to risk, Ruwallah entered the Khard and wandered for the next forty years.
Finally, in the year 4875ey, Ruwallah the Lawgiver emerged bearing clay pressings of words which he claimed were found chiseled into the Obelisks. These Obelisks, he said, were the foundation stones of the world itself and were found in the midst of a Lake of Glass, from which the sun rose each day.
He claimed that the etchings he brought back were the Nahmus Abadi, or Law Which Cannot Change, and were written from the foundation of all things. Further, he dared to say that common men and Princes alike, would only prosper to the extent that they followed this new moral code.
At first, Ruwallah was ridiculed where ever he went, for he seemed to be a madman, but he was able to answer the most learned men with aplomb. Many different diviners and astrologers recorded their encounters with him and while he died penniless and unappreciated as a common street preacher, his teaching had a toehold which would eventually bear fruit.
Ghazril the Diviner
In the year 5107ey, the sect that was started by Ruwallah the Lawgiver was expanded and given its permanent status in Southrun society.
Ghazril, Sultan of Byza, was himself the sixth son of his father, but the only one to survive his extremely long-lived father, and therefore became the unlikely heir to the Sultanate. Like many lesser sons, Ghazril was first trained in the divining arts because it was assumed that one of his five brothers would have the rule of his father's realm. He spent long days pouring over the manuscripts of his predecessors and betters. As a young man, this thirst of his for knowledge carried him into late nights of study and contemplation, as well as on long trips into the Khard to observe the movements of the stars.
When he ascended to his father's seat, he carried with him that desire for knowledge. He also brought the firm conviction passed on to him by the writing of many scholars that the discovery of Ruwallah had been accurate and true. In the third year of his reign, he entered the Khard, convinced that he could discover the Lake of Glass and the Obelisks that Ruwallah had claimed to discover. He left his responsibilities to his Uncle and took a retinue of 66 men with him on caravan into the desert.
Six months later, he returned, the sole survivor of the trip, with etchings made upon parchment from the same Obelisks that Ruwallah spoke of. Ghazril himself was also changed. His visage was aged many years beyond what seemed possible and a perpetual warmth exuded from him. Moreover, he had been struck blind by the brilliance of the truth he'd discovered. Many of his royal house believed at once.
But when Ghazril returned before the seat of his father in Byza, his Uncle would not step down as Sultan. Instead, he had him thrown into prison. There, in the cool of the dungeons, Ghazril taught his first students -- many of whom were to perish, but others, upon being released took the teaching of Nahmus Abadi. By the time, that Ghazril died in 5191, there was scarcely a soul in Byza which did not know the teaching and which did not clamor for its adoption.
As for the Uncle, he died the same day as Ghazril, by spontaneously bursting into flame as he was in his bedchamber. His servants found only a charred husk of what had been. So the house of Ghazril was ended forever, but his greatest contribution spread all over all Southrun and became the conscience of the Land.
Ghazril, Sultan of Byza, was himself the sixth son of his father, but the only one to survive his extremely long-lived father, and therefore became the unlikely heir to the Sultanate. Like many lesser sons, Ghazril was first trained in the divining arts because it was assumed that one of his five brothers would have the rule of his father's realm. He spent long days pouring over the manuscripts of his predecessors and betters. As a young man, this thirst of his for knowledge carried him into late nights of study and contemplation, as well as on long trips into the Khard to observe the movements of the stars.
When he ascended to his father's seat, he carried with him that desire for knowledge. He also brought the firm conviction passed on to him by the writing of many scholars that the discovery of Ruwallah had been accurate and true. In the third year of his reign, he entered the Khard, convinced that he could discover the Lake of Glass and the Obelisks that Ruwallah had claimed to discover. He left his responsibilities to his Uncle and took a retinue of 66 men with him on caravan into the desert.
Six months later, he returned, the sole survivor of the trip, with etchings made upon parchment from the same Obelisks that Ruwallah spoke of. Ghazril himself was also changed. His visage was aged many years beyond what seemed possible and a perpetual warmth exuded from him. Moreover, he had been struck blind by the brilliance of the truth he'd discovered. Many of his royal house believed at once.
But when Ghazril returned before the seat of his father in Byza, his Uncle would not step down as Sultan. Instead, he had him thrown into prison. There, in the cool of the dungeons, Ghazril taught his first students -- many of whom were to perish, but others, upon being released took the teaching of Nahmus Abadi. By the time, that Ghazril died in 5191, there was scarcely a soul in Byza which did not know the teaching and which did not clamor for its adoption.
As for the Uncle, he died the same day as Ghazril, by spontaneously bursting into flame as he was in his bedchamber. His servants found only a charred husk of what had been. So the house of Ghazril was ended forever, but his greatest contribution spread all over all Southrun and became the conscience of the Land.
Nahmus Abadi: The Law Which Cannot Change
by Artemor the Wise
In Southrun, the men of the various tribes and nations believe that the Nahmus Abadi is greater than any individual sovereign, which they call Sooltan, or Sooltrop and sometimes Shayke. Once a law is made in a given barony, the Southruners believe that it may never be repealed. For this reason the laws of the Land ever increase and many learned men are charged with learning them by rote, and then reciting on command. Though such a thing is seldom necessary as every large city seems to contain large stones upon which these laws are painstakingly graven.
According to the Southruner, the basis for all laws comes to them from a legendary figure named Roo-uhh-lah who was led by some spirit to the heart of their great desert and found twenty commandments inscribed on great stone monoliths. To these basic laws, various rulers have added injunctions and commandments of their own, which may not contradict the spirit of the basic laws, nor the letter of the rulings of their predecessors. Though it is true that the men of Midir have a different set of precedents and additions than their neighbors from Byza, both reference the same basic 20 laws.
Note that several laws contain words whose meanings are unknown. These words are not written, but contain the preferred translation of Roo-uhh-lah in parantheses.
1. If a man profanes a [god] he will be cursed to the seventh generation.
2. If a man does not show [obeisance to this law], he will be cursed to the seventh generation.
3. If a man [sours water], he will be cursed to the seventh generation, for it belongs to all.
4. If a man does not offer hospitality, he will be cursed to the seventh generation.
5. If a man does not show [reverence to the fathers of others] though the two be as enemies, he will be cursed to the seventh generation.
6. If a man commits a murder, he must be killed.
7. If a man harms a child or violates a woman, he must be killed.
8. If a man commits a robbery, he must be killed.
9. If a man is found to be a [sorcerer or djinn], he must be killed.
10. If a man violates a [stone wall that is still standing], he must be killed.
11. If a man cannot hold his [slaves, wives, camels or coin] he deserves to part with them.
12. If a man [divorces his first-time wife], he shall pay [her weight] in coin, but if she is not he shall [dismiss her] with a kind word.
13. If a man spoils [the virgin of another man], he shall pay [her weight] in coin.
14. If a man [knocks out the eye] of another man, he shall {weigh it out in coin} and pay it over ten times.
15. If a man’s [slave-woman], comparing herself to her mistress, speaks insolently to her, her mouth shall] be scoured with a handful of salt.
16. If a man appeared as a witness, and was shown to be a perjurer, he must pay [the weight of his tongue after it has been severed] in coin.
17. If a man seeks [to own property he shall establish an obelisk] and fire a bow shot in all directions from it. This property shall be his unless the bowshot is fired over water, for water belongs to all.
18. If a man [moves an obelisk], he shall pay its weight in coin.
19. If a man claims to be [an astrologer], but is known not, then he will undergo the trials of water, sand, and fire; and then pay [the weight of his tongue after it has been severed] in coin.
20. If a man is accused of any wrong and cannot prove himself, he must seek [an astrologer]; if he is proven innocent, his accuser must pay [their combined weight] in coin. If guilty, he must pay twice what the law prescribes.
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