March 18, 2010 This is a sort of appendix to a stand-alone, "rules-lite" role playing module that I have had "in the tank" since Forever. It was written with CBSG in mind, as you will see from the text, but I left it open-ended enough that I couldn't get sued for using it, were the module to ever go to print. That said, please enjoy my "Appendix to 'The River of Stars'"...... Michael A. Cessna ********************* In The Beginning Translated into English from the Book of An'un'ki, completed on Day 137, 2013CE, by the Office of Information Recovery and Historical Research, Imperial Archival Service: From a note attached to the Book of A'n'un'ki by Chief Librarian Hr'yam, Royal Archives of Hjalik, At'Landa, c.1824CE: "...It is with great regret that we cannot locate any copy of The Book of the One Jewel anywhere in our records. We beseech the Throne to extend all efforts to locate a copy..." ********** "IT IS WRITTEN that in the days of the Reign of the Zepto Piton, the Great Smoking Mountains did lay great destruction upon the Home of Man, called T'Rah. And amid the Chaos, the Warriors of the T'Rah did many great and heroic deeds, saving many, many multitudes; and the multitudes blessed the Warriors. And the Warriors of the T'Rah did bear these Multitudes of Man by their great starships to a place called Far Home, and there did place them into safety. And it came to pass that the Aten, he who held Kingship over all of the other Kings of Men, did from His Throne at Far Home divide the Multitudes of Man into the Twelve Tribes of Man. And to rule over these Twelve Tribes, the Aten did place the Sixty Families, Husband and Wife, over each Tribe, and there were Five Families to rule over each Tribe. And of the Sixty Families, Husband and Wife, the names of the twelve most honored were: Ad'am, No'tah, At'r'us, Da'v'ud, M'oy'say, M'B'ng, Chi', Am'r't'su, 'Han, Prin', Bel, and S'ing. And these Twelve Families did lead the Tribes of Man at Far Home. And of the Twelve Tribes of Man, so each was divided thrice into the Warriors, the Workers, and the Learners. And in all of the Tribes of Man so divided thrice, the proportions of the Multitudes were one Warrior to every two Learners to every five Workers; and thus were the Tribes of Man of T'Rah divided." ----- "...And hence, after many multitudes of years had passed, the Warriors of Man, called among themselves the Seraphim, did grow restless in peace. And thus did they quarrel with the Aten, the fifth who had ruled since the coming to Far Home of the Tribes of Man of T'Rah. The Warriors did demand of the Aten, "Let us return to our True Home, green T'Rah, for our hearts ache to see that verdant land." And the Aten bade the Warriors to have patience, saying thus, "The Great Smoking Mountains may have become quiet since our leave-taking, but the skies and waters will not yet have cleared. Be patient, and in time, we shall return Home." And the Warriors did take this counsel, but in their hearts of hearts, the Warriors still yearned to see T'Rah." ----- "...And it came to pass, that the sixth Aten to rule Far Home came to a vision of the Great Design that he named the Precious Jewel. This vision claimed that the many Gods that the Twelve Tribes worshiped were but shadows, or different facets, as are the facets of a diamond, of but one God, and further, that the worship of many Gods should be replaced by the worship of the One God by all of the Multitude. And he did write this vision down as the Book of the One Jewel. And while the majority of the multitudes welcomed this view, the vastly greater number of the Warriors and many of the Learners as well, were most wroth, and made great imprecations and threats against the very life of the Aten. And verily did the people tremble in fear, for the Warriors were powerful and terrible in the ways of battle, and none of the leaders of the Tribes, nor any of the Sixty Families, Husband and Wife, were able to assuage the rage of the Warriors. And it came to pass, that as disaster loomed - for the people, and yea, even the Aten, feared that the Warriors would seize power by force of arms - a Warrior Commander of the House of Ad'am stepped forward into the maelstrom. Standing before the other Commanders of Warriors, he did most strongly chastise them for their wroth, saying that they should be humble and not proud of their skill in destruction, for destruction neither created nor maintained any thing of value. But the Warrior Commanders Tiamat and Marduk, who had been chosen to represent the Warriors, and their Warriors - who watched from afar through their far-seeing plates - although humbled, were unrepentant. They said, "This is intolerable! We will not give up the worship of those Gods who Light our way! And, yet, the Aten will neither yield! Yea, verily, are these evil times! Come, Brother, let us unseat this Usurper - who would most evilly change our Society so!" But the Warrior Commander C'in replied thusly, "It is YOU who should be unseated for your profanity and treason! But, if you truly are at odds with this ruling of the Aten, then as free-will people, you have no choice but to withdraw yourselves from the Body of the Multitude. Take thee then hence, you and all those who would follow you, and harm not the Body of the Multitude, for verily, you have abandoned your own Tribes and would make violence against them. You are no longer of the Twelve, but have become, all of you together, a Thirteenth Tribe. Go ye then Home, if it please you, for you have made no place any longer for yourselves here." And the Warriors rejoiced at this admonition saying, "Let us hence away from here, and return to that Place we all desire, and be quit of those who would spurn us so!" And verily did ninety and five of every one hundred Warriors, and four of every ten Learners, and two of every ten Workers did board ships of the stars to bear them home to T'Rah. And the number of all of these was three hundred and seventy thousand, with all of their goods and animals." ----- "And it came to pass, by and by, that the Great Fleet of ships did return to T'Rah. And from on high, they did see how much had changed on T'Rah, for the destruction wrought by the Great Smoking Mountains had created new coastlines and seas where none had been before. Verily, even the beautiful valley north of the great inland sea of the northern hemisphere was flooded as a sea unto itself. And the Warriors and Learners and Workers of Man, now called the Thirteenth Tribe, did resettle T'Rah, in many places. And on a verdant island opposite the great inland sea, did the greater part of this Thirteenth Tribe place their capitol, and it was called At'ln." ----- "And great were the accomplishments of the Thirteenth Tribe. Among these was the Great Ark, which completely changed travel to other stars. And the Thirteenth Tribe did prosper as they rebuilt T'Rah, and verily did they exceed even the greatness of their ancestors, who had fled to Far Home. And the Thirteenth Tribe did rejoice in their success." ----- "And many were the colonies of the Thirteenth Tribe, verily forty and eight in number. And the jewel among them was called At'Landa, and it was twelve light-years from T'Rah. Great were its shipyards, and great were its cities." ----- "But the jealousy of Man did come upon the children of the Thirteenth Tribe. After many multitudes of years, the Lord En'Ll, who was Chief among the Learners, did come before the leaders of the Thirteenth Tribe, who were called the Council of Thirteen, and spake thus, "Lo! I have viewed the Heavens above and verily have I seen a great destruction that comes upon us! We must take ship and flee from this world, or we shall surely die!" But the Council of the Thirteen scorned the Lord En'Ll, saying thus "Your vision is addled and clouded by Ambrosia! Return ye home to sleep!" And the Lord En'Ll was so shamed in public. But two Commanders of Warriors and two Councilors, who were the Warrior Commander Marduk, the third child of the Marduk of the Great Trek, and the Warrior Commander Tiamat, fourth child of the Tiamat of the Great Trek, and the Lord-Commander Atreus and the Lord En'Ki'i of the Council of the Thirteen did hear the words of the Lord En'Ll and did take heed of them. And these four leaders did prepare their own Houses and Commands for the Great Destruction to come." ----- "And the Seven Mountains crashed down from the sky, and verily all but one crashed into the seas. And the seas did boil, and the skies darken, and much woe and torment was visited upon the Thirteenth Tribe of Man. And many, many places, great and mean, were laid waste by fire and dust and water. And the Great Fleet of the Thirteenth Tribe saw this destruction being wrought, and cried out most piteously, saying "Vile Fates! We are struck down! We are doomed!" And the Warrior Commanders Tiamat and Marduk and the Lord-Commander Atreus did go among the Warriors of the Fleet and did spake words of comfort to them and heard their piteous cries and calmed them. And the Warriors of the Great Fleet did many great and heroic deeds in those dark days, and saved many lives." ----- "And it cam to pass, as T'Rah healed itself from the Crashing of the Great Mountains, the Warrior Commanders Tiamat and Marduk did quarrel with each other, and their quarrel was most wroth with vile insults. And Tiamat did spit upon Marduk and curse him for a fool and turned her back upon him, a great insult. And Marduk, in his rage, did draw his Blade and struck Tiamat most cruelly in the back, and she fell, mortally wounded. But as Marduk stood over the fallen Tiamat and gloated in his triumph, Tiamat, who was not yet dead, did strike Marduk with her Staff of Thunder, and he was mortally wounded. And the Lord-Commander Atreus, coming upon this evil scene, was horrified, and tried to save the life of Tiamat, who still lived, but her wound was too great and she died in his arms." ----- "And Atreus strove mightily to keep the other Warrior Commanders of one mind, but his arguments fell on deaf ears, and the other Warrior Commanders - chief among them Os'rs, Ba'al, Ash'k, Kw't'zk'l, and Ch'n - soon fell to warring amongst themselves. And great and terrible were their wars, for there were none to restrain them. And the wars continued, for the Warriors fought not for land nor food nor power, nor even for glory, but for the sheer love of battle. And Atreus saw this and wept." ----- ----- [Text broken] ----- "And Atreus gathered together those of his followers who survived, and journeyed to At'Landa, to settle there while T'Rah healed itself. Bu the forces of Os'rs did pursue him to that place, and although Atreus was victorious in the Heavens, the forces of Os'rs did terrible things to the world of At'Landa. And Atreus, until the end of his days, renounced the Sword Way, even to the extent of disabling his starships, until his descendants learned a better Way." -----