The Tenets of Oran

By Khay of Dark Ages



My name is Khay. If there ever was more to my simple name, none in the realm of the living know of it. I found a scroll in a trunk of decaying scrolls in the house of Kiril, the Dark Wizard of Undine during the severe winter of Deoch 15. When I asked him about the content, he grew enraged, burned the scroll, and cast me out into the cold, stormy winter night. Those events started me on my path.

I now take up quill and ink to recreate the scroll that Kiril ruthlessly burned that cold night so long ago. Fortunately, like most who eventually walk the path of magick, I have been gifted with the ability to remember everything I read. So from the recesses of my memory I offer you the words of Oran De'Aember a wizard and scholar from a time long before we were born.

This scroll will be the final work in my life. The Tenets I express here are the culmination of a lifetime of exploration and Study. I am Oran De'Aember, a scholar. I have walked the path of the Priest under the light to Luathas. I found the path of a priest far too restrictive and abandoned it to walk the path of the Wizard in order to expand my scholarship. My studies have given me some small insight into the nature of the forces that surround this world. That insight has lead to my own personal doom, but the path of knowledge is not one I can abandon because the powers that be do not wish to hear what I learn. What I have determined through my studies has brought me to some unpopular conclusions. In the words of my old teacher Kariil, "If knowledge is a mountain, truth is but the trees on her flank. Always there, eternally changing, and always subject to destruction."

Word has reached me that a company of soldiers approaches my tower. Therefore, this document will be the last I write of my own free will. I will call this final compilation the Tenets of Oran, as it will encapsulate the conclusions of all of my previous compilations.

In my first four compendiums I delved into the nature of the four base elements as known to man. These detailed analysis were hailed at the time as groundbreaking, gaining me fame throughout the realm. My fifth put my feet on the path that brought me to where I am today. In my analysis of the elements, I discovered some flaws in the prevalent theories. I took it upon myself to discard all that was known and assumed about the elements and start anew. My discoveries startled even myself.

The first conclusion was that there are not six elements, there are only three. We call them Creag, Sal, and Athar, and that very language deceives us. From some very ancient scrolls I found references to Earth, Sea, and Sky which while no more accurate, is less misleading. I found that the element we call Creag is a realm of being that encompasses all that is solid. The Element of Sea, or Sal is a realm of being that encompasses all that is liquid, and the element of Sky or Athar is a realm of being that encompasses all that is gaseous. The knowledge that lead me to believe that there are only three elements is the actuality that substances existing in any elemental realm can be moved into another elemental realm without changing the basic properties of the element. Water actually makes for the best example of this. Water in the elemental realm of Earth we call Ice. It is solid, brittle, and exhibits many of the characteristics of stone. Water in the elemental realm of Sea is liquid, it flows and is the water we all know and love. Water in the elemental realm of Sky is steam or fog. I have discovered that most other substances can be altered in the same fashion by applying varying amounts of energy.

So what of the much vaunted elements of Srad, Light, and Dark? In my Sixth Compendium I show beyond a doubt that these are not elements, but forces or energies. Light and Dark are primeval forces that oppose and cancel each other, violently. The violence of that opposition is the force We call Srad. Srad is not a simple force. The realm of Srad is varied and complex. It ranges from very cold forces that closely resemble dark to very hot forces that closely resemble light. In one or another of it's various forms, Srad has dominance over every element, allowing for the phenomena that moves matter from from one elemental realm to another. I even found some indication that Srad is the force that makes the very existence of the elemental realms possible. The "spark of life" is a form of Srad that all living things, Divine, Mundane, and Aisling have within them. That spark burns hotter in some than in others.

So what of the perceived dominance of one element over another? That is a curious phenomena that I explore in my seventh compendium. It is directly related directly to our limitations as mortal beings. The arts of magick has been in a state of devolution for centuries. Once fine and delicate spells have been forsaken and forgotten in favor of brute force attack spells. Attack spells are generated in a very narrow range of the elemental and force realms, drawing from quite limited forces within those realms. Elemental dominance only occurs for these limited brute force spells. Nowhere else is there dominance of one element or force over another. The Elements flow from one state to another as Srad is applied to them. The Forces of Light and Dark oppose one another violently and unceasingly, thus creating Srad in it's many forms.

In my Eight Compendium, I explore the arcane knowledge that started me on this quest of knowledge. The an ancient reverence for the number 3, especially in the area of ancient magicks. Everything revolved about three, and the magicks of Hy-Brasil and Asoda dwarf anything we can accomplish today. So, in thinking in threes, I have categorized three elements, and three forces, but something was still missing.

Kariil once told me that, "The universe is a caldron of energy and matter, and we are caught up in the struggle." That quote stayed with me all my life and prompted the studies that lead to my ninth compendium. Having identified energy, the three forces, and matter, the three elements, but what of us caught in between? The nexus where pure energy meets pure matter is where life exists. Life is divided between the mundane and the divine

This was obvious but what about the principle of three? What was in that void between The Divine and The Mundane before the advent of The Aisling, I have not put any effort into discovering. In my tenth compendium I show that this void is now filled by the Aisling. While the divine and the mundane exist in exclusive realms, the Aisling is a chaotic being that manipulates and balances both. I have plotted the relationships below:

Light The Divine Sky
Fire The Aisling Sea
Dark The Mundane Earth


In my eleventh compendium I delve deeper into the nature of the Aisling, and thus inevitably commit my fatal heresy. The creation of the Aisling by Danaan changed the very nature of the universe. Danaan created The Aisling as a bridge, the common point of contact where every force can touch upon every element, and The Divine can interact with The Mundane. They are the pivot upon which existence revolves, and nothing can happen without Aisling intervention. The Divine and The Mundane entities are focused, single minded beings that cannot operate outside of their orbit. The gods and the Mundane have no real capability for independent thought or action, they depend upon the Aisling to give them power outside of their being. The Aislings rule the entire universe through their actions, or inaction. The Aislings' only limitation is the fact that they are human, and therefore cannot see beyond the moment. For this conclusion, and the sin of putting it in writing, I am condemned.

Of my twenty and three students, I have seven that are Aisling. All seven walk the path of Wizardry. The seven have made some very startling discoveries because of the knowledge detailed in the eleven compendiums. We put these in a twelfth compendium. This compendium was different in that it consists of eight volumes and details discoveries of actual uses of the forces, elements, and realms of life. One of the most amazing was the discovery of Niel, a spell described in detail in the third volume, called the tendril. It is a spell that carefully weaves the three elements around a tendril of Srad and allows one to "see" the magical defenses of an opponent. That is the crude use of the spell. It is a very difficult spell to learn, and even harder to master, but three of my students were able to master it. I proudly wear a ring of woven gold and silver and Talgonite inset with three precious stones, ruby, beryl, and coral. It was a gift from Neil on my seventieth birthday. It renders me virtually immune from the offensive elemental magicks, though it does nothing for the offensive magicks of light, dark, or Srad. It was crafted by three masters of the tendril working conjointly, their efforts are described in the sixth volume. Two other startling discoveries were made my Shara, another who mastered the tendril. These discoveries were that Wizards could use the forces of light and dark directly, she duplicated the effects of Deo Shaghaid and Dubh, as well as the forbidden and long denied darkspell, Coldfire. I detailed the process and effects of these discoveries in the eight volume of the twelfth compendium only in the interest of preserving knowledge, but all of my students agree with me that our ability to use light and dark energies is too dangerous to let become common knowledge. Of that ability I will only say that Srad is the key that allows entry into the realms of light and dark. As an aside, my students have entitled the twelfth compendium, The Eight Protocols of Oran.

I have come far since my birth, and have confidence that my students will continue my work. My compendiums have been assured survival as they have been worked into many harmless documents and can be disentangled with the help of a simple key. The works and the key are contained in my thirteenth compendium, which is written in a simple code that any scholar of worth should be able to decipher with the aide of the key that is detailed in my fourteenth compendium.

So here ends my fifteenth and final compendium. Before I am taken to the stake, I shall put this in the hands of Niel, as he and his beautiful wife Shara are the only two students I mention in this document. Their safety depends on this scroll remaining hidden. I am confident of their escape, and copies of this scroll will be found by future scholars.

For future Aisling Wizards that may find this document, balance is the key. Balance in all areas of life opens up the greatest powers available. Avoid the trap of specialization, as it will irrevocably limit you, dimming your vision to all else. For the Aisling, there are no limits, the universe moves only through your actions!