Ilaaya Sadi
a symbol of blasphemy, power, and the burden of responsibility
The Ilaaya Sadi, occasionally called the "senarium", is an object of unsettling duality. It is simultaneously the most blasphemous object possible, and the greatest symbol of the Council Curiya's power and burdensome responsibility.
It is, quite simply, a collection of all six Books of magic, in a single tome.
The mere idea of so drastically violating the sacred division of The Six would make any moral human being disgusted or enraged, yet that is the great burden of the Curiya. Only the greatest of Austur's Guild citizens can rise to the Council, but there must ultimately be a single voice. A single, great hand, stretching out over all humanity to hold us safe from the muada, and of course from ourselves. Like the Maitr, the Curiya can hardly do this without understanding and knowing the works and magics of all humanity.
While the Sita Alorum and it's archives are the real and symbolic source of the Maitr's understanding and responsibility, each Books archive is still ultimately separated each to their own, and the Umkuula and the Maitr preserve that separation as well as they can.
The great, single tome of the Ilaaya Sadi however, is so strong a symbol, in part because of it's monstrous repugnance. Every Austurian instinctively knows the evil and destructive potential of such a thing, and so they can see the personal power and strength of will in any man or woman who could even hold, let alone embrace it.
Manufacturing process
It is said that the Bookmakers Guild creates every new edition of the Ilaaya Sadi without presses or binders. This is not done by just any Master of their craft either. It is said that the High Stationer from the new Curiya's home province is called to the central guild workshops in Landen, where they copy and bind the new edition entirely by hand.
History
The origins of the name "Ilaaya sadi" go back to the lashaan. It was the name they gave to the collective magical knowledge they kept written in a huge number of scrolls. In a way, the term translated more to "library" or "collection", or even the concept of the collected magical knowledge, not a single item.
When the original Landen Council began organizing the various lashaan spells into five categories, they used the term "ilaaya sadi" to refer to their collected knowledge. They also produced a small number of master volumes that contained all their magical knowledge, and referred to them as "senarium".
After the Sunder, life was chaotic and uncertain for all humanity for decades, and one of the many effects was to change how humans saw and thought about magic. A myriad number of philosophies, theories, and doctrines sprung up within decades. Mara Alvrez insisted that humans should give up all use of magic, and her followers left Landen to become the Zaahani. The closely knit mining and smithing family's thought that teaching and policing of magic use should be handed over to who they saw as the wisest and most prudent of the community: the grandmothers, or "uma". Others believed that the Sunder, even if it had been an accident, would need huge power that most couldn't achieve, a conscious desire which no one had, and knowledge of the cultist spells which were lost with it's members, so therefore there was no risk in people simply continuing to use magic in their own pragmatic ways.
The Landen Council decided to attempt a middle path.
They decreed that since most families were focused on particular professions, or at least similar professions, that people would be encouraged to only learn, use, and teach to their children, the spells that would be needed for their family profession. The Landen Council agreed that it was highly unlikely that anyone would be able to easily or accidentally replicate the events of the Sunder, but a majority of the populace argued that "unlikely" was not "none", and so efforts should be made to keep different types of spells separate.
While decried as pointless and foolish by some, the vast majority of the human population in and around Landen Village supported the new idea wholeheartedly. The dissenters were assured that no one was being forbidden from doing anything, or made to do anything, they were simply giving suggestions, and restructuring the magical books to be self sufficient. Those who were particularly loud in their opposition were encouraged by their neighbours and community members to join the near constant flow of explorers and settlers moving north and west upriver to Hawm City, Rothum's Bay and beyond.
Many did just that.
In Landen Village, groups of scholars and professionals were enlisted to review and update the five books of magic to ensure that each one contained all relevant spells for all potential professions that might fall under it's broad category. Special attention was given to a basic, fundamental book that would contain the basic and fundamental spells one might need for day to day life, and that this book would be given a special status and used to teach children how to safely use magic when their abilities manifested. Similarly, all defensive or offensive spells, or spells that could be easily used for violence or war, were collected into a new sixth volume that would then be entrusted to the care and use of the newly formed Rangers.
And so the six books of magic were created: Ranger, Wild, Farm, Craft, Town, and Home.
Under this new paradigm, the creation and ownership of senarium was immediately limited and discouraged. Such was the rampant sorrow, fear, and guilt of the human population over the recent unmaking of the lashaan, that the ownership of a senarium became equated with immorality and eventually even taboo.
The years passed and by the time of the formation of the Caalesh Accord in 224AS, the social taboos had become crimes, and the Landen Council had become increasingly conservative and controlling. by the mid third century, ownership of a senarium by anyone other than a member of the Council, or those with special licence, was a crime punishable by incarceration in one a labour camps.
By the 550 signing of the Austur Declaration, even those in Sheridan's Rest and Lashaan's Vigil understood the dangers and deep morality of missing Books. When the Books were brought to the Steel Kingdom after signing, it was done so by the Uma, their own magical teachers and regulators, and most accepted the new paradigm with little conflict.
As a part of Unification, it was suggested by the first Maitr, that the ownership and distribution of the senarium go from limited, to unique, and that it's existence might be a powerful symbol of the leadership of the new Council of Austur. She also suggested a renaming, back to it's ancient traditional title, in honour of the lashaan, and as a reminder of the power and importance of the sacred division.
And so the first Ilaaya Sadi was made.
Significance
There is perhaps no single document in all of Austur that is more significant. It's quite possible there is no more significant a symbol of power or blasphemy in all of Austur either.
This strange duality and innate contradiction grants the Ilaaya Sadi an utterly unique place in human culture and the human psyche.
"Any hand holding such a vile thing would shake with disgust, or discard it by pure reflex. So any hand that can lift the blasphemous tome into the air and command it's influence over a people, belongs to a man worthy of our deep respect and allegiance."
- Ujoba of Ithusa, first Maitr of Austur (550AS)
Item type
Book / Document
Creation Date
550AS
Current Location
Manufacturer
Rarity
Copies of the Ilaaya Sadi are extremely rare. In theory and doctrine there is meant to be only 1, the one held by the Council Curiya, but in practice this is not strictly true. Every new Curiya is made a new copy of the senarium with some minimal personalization. They are presented with it as a part of the acceptance ceremony, and they then destroy it as a part of their retirement ceremony.
Because of this, it is necessary to have an original edition held by the Bookmakers Guild. It is also said that the first Maitr was granted a copy after the official signing of the Austur Declaration in 550AS, and that that edition is still kept securely in the Landen Kuul Okan.
Weight
600g
Dimensions
10x15x2cm
Raw materials & Components
The pages of the sacred book are of the best telani velum, bleached and treated. Each page is far thinner than the best hemp paper, perfectly white, and yet incredibly strong.
Rather than usual carved wooden, or even pressed steel and leather, the cover is crafted from a mechanically hinged shine-steel. It is inlayed throughout with fine copper and white-silver wire, and set all around with cut diamond and jet, with accents of rosinca, azurite, elector, and calamine.
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