The Ark of the Bygone
The Ark of the Bygone is the name given to a room buried deep within the area known as The Corruption. When it was discovered by Dolmin Evengift, it contained a full mnemomantic archive of every school of magic previously lost to The Spellplague.
The transference of these memories to contemporary wizards enabled a total reconstruction of the arcane arts in Acaelica. This--in tandem with the rediscovery of mnemomancy itself--has shaped history more completely than any other single event following the Spellplague calamity.
Final Resting Place
All of the Ark's original treasure has long been removed, transfered and spread--through education and indeed mnemomancy--to Acaelica at large. Using some of the very magic learned from its contents, wizards were able to subdue the former terrors of The Corruption. They would later replace these with more appropriate fortifications in order to secure what has become the lasting memorial of Evengift himself.
Today, the Ark contains Evengift's very own curated memories. The surrounding area--still somewhat controversially called The Corruption--is now widely regarded as a holy site. It is considered off-limits to all and none with the resources to disturb it has ever been foolish or irreverent enough to try.
Origin & Name
Despite the almost incomprehensible swaths of information contained within the Ark, no hint was given as to the identity of its original creators or any intentions for their work. These latter items remain the subject of considerable debate even to this day.
It is unclear who first coined the term "Ark of the Bygone," but poets and scholars swiftly embraced it. This, in turn, led to its permanent inclusion in common parlance.
By all accounts, Evengift disliked the name for being overly theatrical. He would later relent (going so far as to call it "the ark" in his writings) when some began trying to rename it after him instead. An unshakably modest man of Thon Khaldur to the bitter end, he flatly rejected that honor and the name has stuck ever since.
