What are the super religious buildings?

[WarKirby]

A question that has come into my mind.

What exactly ARE the 7 special religious buildings. Tablets of Bambur, Code of Junil, etc...


My best guesses.

Code of Junil
Given the general theme of law, I'd guess the Code of Junil is a set of divine laws and regulations. Like a bible of the Order. Telling it's followers how to live their lives.


Tablets of Bambur
As far as I understand, Bambur is a dwarven immortal, and servant of kilmorph. When I think of these, I think along the lines of the stone tablets with the 10 commandments, from judeo-christian mythology. What kind of things would be written on them? if indeed, that's what they are.


Dies Dei
I have no clue. Not even a slight guess. What the hell is it? The name says nothing.


Nox Noctis
The only thing I have to go on here, is the Masonry pedia entry. Says something along the lines of "your walls will not protect you from the riders of Nox Noctis"
My best guess from that, is that it's a place? Maybe a designated district of the city you build it in?


Song of Autumn
Seems simple at first... a song? That might explain why it can be build by a Great Bard. Does the song of autumn have lyrics? Is it significant because it's the changeover time between the elven courts?


The Necronomicon
This one is obvious, since the OO in general seem to be drawn from lovecraftian works. The Necronomicon even has a wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necronomicon


Stigmata on the Unborn
I'm not entirely certain about this. I'd guess it's a ritual of some sort, rather than a physical object. It affects unborn children in some manner?


Any thoughts on these would be appreciated.

 

[kenkrajen]

well i can tell you offhand that Dies Die and Nox Noctis translate from latin to the Day of Day and the Night of Night. i'm pretty sure it's all in the singular. i'd picture these two to be some kind of temple, one dedicated to day and the other to night with the first being built with lots of gold and the second with lots of obsidian. well that's my 2 anyway

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Yeah, the Code of Junil is the complete code of all divine rules. I like to call it the 613,812,675,481,117,343,743.42 Mitzvot, as it isn't something basic like the 10 commandments but an all encompassing code far more complex than the entirety of the Laws of Moses.


I imagine that the Tablets of Bambur are basically the RoK version of the tablets bearing the 10 commandments, which would be fairly simple rules about honesty and hard work. (The only think we know for sure that is says is: "Nothing is more sacred than the earth that gave us birth.") It might also include some important Dwarven Myths, like that of Keldon Ki. I suspect these contain fragments of real history but are mostly allegory.


As kenkrajen said, Dies Diei means "The Day of Day" (It could also be the Days of Day, as fifth declension words are the same in the nominative singular and plural, but I think singular is more likely.) I'm not really sure what it is. If I had to guess, I'd say it refers to the place that the Overcouncil met.

Similarly, I'd guess that the Night of Night was the meeting place of the Undercouncil.



The Song of Autumn is likely a great ballad ever written, perhaps describing the fall of the angels from the true heaven and all the history of Erebus in thickly veiled metaphors that even the High Priest of the Leaves would never really understand. Autumn could also mean the time leading up to the Age of Ice (perhaps called the Age of Autumn to members of the fellowship), especially dealing with the events leading to the death of Sucellus. It would seem to be a sad tale, but the faithful would see how it foreshadowed the inevitable exaltation of Sucellus to be God of Life and of Cernunnos to be the new God of Nature. As such, it would greatly encourage the faithful with the knowledge that all the hardships in their lives will eventually give way to a new and glorious spring. Given the nature of the sphere of nature, it would be a living and ever changing song passed on only though an oral tradition. It would change slowly, but ever time it is sung the bard would try to do it better than the time before. It is likely that no one has aver heard it done in quite the same way twice.


The necronomicon in FfH is likely a grand compilation of the words of the religion's most gifted dreamers. It may be made of human skin like the better known one, but it surely has some differences. It might contain all the answers to the fate of the Aifons and even a way to bring them back, but in a form that no one could hope to comprehend. That is probably a good thing, as the truth of it would likely drive any reader madder than Leviathan.


As for the Stigmata on the Unborn:

Its an event. One city became so corrupt, filled with hatred and animosity, and demonic influences were so prevelant that unborn children began to be possessed by infernal and unsanctified spirits. The marks of this possesion were open gaping sores (there were other physical deformities as well).

The birth of these chidlren aroused even more hatred and fighting among the people. Some were taken from their parents and killed, other mothers were blamed for the sickness and dragged through the streets and killed (this was an evil city but at the time the ashen veil was very much an underground religion). The children that did survive became powerful evil leaders of the next generation.

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

Code of Junil sounds like hammurabi's code of law

This version of the the necronimicon sounds similar to the Octavio (The Light Fantastic) or the Tablets of History (Small Gods) both by Prattchet. (a more malignant version of course)

Stigmata of the Unborn... very creepy...

 

[Iskar Jarak]

I doubt it would be anything like the Octavio - the book that contains the spells used to create the universe and or world

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

sorry, I wasn't clear.
I meant that it was like a combination; The history of the world (Tablets) and the ultra spells that can drive someone insane (Octavio). (maybe written by the Sender of the ei... sorry, 7a)
(And then Rincewind enters to save the world (again))

 

[Jabie]

I always figured the Code of Junil was analagous to the Book of Leviticus. Boy, is that a dull read? I swear if you know anyone who tried to read a chapter a night from the Bible from the start to finish and conked out, chances are, they crashed out either at Leviticus or Numbers.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I made it to Second Chronicles I went faster than a chapter a night though.

 

[Tyrs]

I feel like the Bible is one of those books you should really bounce around through. Or just skip Leviticus and Numbers

 

[zup]

I have read Bible twice in its entirety. Nice book, cool fiction and all. But I have hard time imagining anyone who has read it worshipping such a god.