Sgrios Mass: History Deleter
It is, as of the time of this mass, Deoch 159. The landscape, the population and, most of all, our knowledge of the world around us has changed immeasurably in the years since we adopted Deoch dating in honor of His gift to us, our precious sparks. There are still Aislings that walk among us now who have experienced the growth and shaping of Temuair since those earliest days of the light; their preserved knowledge of the past helps us better understand our tomorrows. Still, despite the length of Aisling history, it seems but a blink of an eye when measured against the known history of our world.
When the world was young it measured time in honor of Grinneal; a near eternity lasting, to the best of our knowledge, some 32,092 years. Grinneal was a tumultuous time that outlasted Gods and cultures alike. Just to put that into perspective -- from the emergence of the Mundane to the discovery of the four basic elements nearly 5,000 years had passed. Gather the events and history the Aisling have seen in the roughly 160 years walking Ardmagh and tell me that 5,000 years cannot contain a dense history.
My point is that, though our world feels old, we are young in the grand scheme and our understanding of the world is thin at best. One might wander the imposing halls of the Library of Loures, or pull books from the Luathas’ shrine and still the written records we have on which to build our understanding of the past are vague, thin. We often have to take into consideration conflicting accounts or unreliable narratives. As our sophistication grows, so does the quality of our records. Many of the works in the library are rather primitive, poorly translated or incomplete. At times it almost feels as if history is being deconstructed as we move forward.
Especially here, in our temple, I question that a lot. The shrine, here, is not all there is to our temple, nor is it the complete story of most of the temples in the land. Hidden in the labyrinthian halls of this dark place is a humble library containing, along with a host of forbidden knowledge, a large number of works written by Sgrian scholars, worshipers and clergy. The collection is small, and smaller still every day - for the times I reach for an old tome only to find it’s pages have gone to rot, or have been devoured by some gluttonous insect are quite frequent.
Nothing in this world is immune from decay, not even the historical foundation of the world we inhabit. There will come a day when even this era of the Aisling is claimed by our Lord and the experiences we shared, the legends we’ve built, will be forgotten and hypothesized by those living in whatever future world awaits.
When the world was young it measured time in honor of Grinneal; a near eternity lasting, to the best of our knowledge, some 32,092 years. Grinneal was a tumultuous time that outlasted Gods and cultures alike. Just to put that into perspective -- from the emergence of the Mundane to the discovery of the four basic elements nearly 5,000 years had passed. Gather the events and history the Aisling have seen in the roughly 160 years walking Ardmagh and tell me that 5,000 years cannot contain a dense history.
My point is that, though our world feels old, we are young in the grand scheme and our understanding of the world is thin at best. One might wander the imposing halls of the Library of Loures, or pull books from the Luathas’ shrine and still the written records we have on which to build our understanding of the past are vague, thin. We often have to take into consideration conflicting accounts or unreliable narratives. As our sophistication grows, so does the quality of our records. Many of the works in the library are rather primitive, poorly translated or incomplete. At times it almost feels as if history is being deconstructed as we move forward.
Especially here, in our temple, I question that a lot. The shrine, here, is not all there is to our temple, nor is it the complete story of most of the temples in the land. Hidden in the labyrinthian halls of this dark place is a humble library containing, along with a host of forbidden knowledge, a large number of works written by Sgrian scholars, worshipers and clergy. The collection is small, and smaller still every day - for the times I reach for an old tome only to find it’s pages have gone to rot, or have been devoured by some gluttonous insect are quite frequent.
Nothing in this world is immune from decay, not even the historical foundation of the world we inhabit. There will come a day when even this era of the Aisling is claimed by our Lord and the experiences we shared, the legends we’ve built, will be forgotten and hypothesized by those living in whatever future world awaits.
Comments
Post a Comment