Unending Records

The Unending Records is the name used for the memoirs of The Olokushi, a continously expanded text across an increasing number of volumes, as each incarnation adds their own memoirs. Originally written in folios made from treated dry palm leaves, certain volumes of the Records are also on parchment and paper. Studying the Unending Records to regain some of the memories lost through reincarnation is also part of the Olokushi's traditional period of training and study.
The original texts of the Unending Records are kept in the Eternal Archive, the great library in Lenzhat, and are only avaliable to the Olokushi, the Palace of Memories, and those given special permission, however each Olokushi during their training makes a 'curated copy' of their predecessor's work with state secrets and uninteresting parts cut, and both individual curated copies and collections of the full released version of the Records are both quite common.

History

The original Olokushi was known as a scholar but wrote very little about her diplomatic and statecraft practices. This presented a problem with the second Olokushi, who might have had her natural talents but had to re-learn much of her skill from her old advisors. Unlike their predecessor, the second Olokush was an avid journal keeper, writing extensively about his rule and his process of re-learning. By the time of the third Olokushi, the old advisors had all passed away, but the new Olokushi instead used her predecessor's journals, adding much of her own commentary and expansions, and by the fourth Olokushi the practice had crystalized.
The tradition of publishing curated copies of the Records started with the eleventh Olokushi, whose family were scholars. While he studied, he realized the Records contained much historical knowledge unknown to the greater community, and carefully worked to make a publishable form of all nine of his predecessors' work, encouraging his successors to continue the practice in his own contributions to the Records.

Significance

As a text being more-or-less continously added to for thousands of years, the Unending Records are unique among documents. Their greatest role is in the education of a new Olokushi, as while all of them have a natural talent at statecraft, they must re-learn the many lessons of their previous incarnations, and study of the Records forms a significant part of the ten-year study period of an Olokushi.
Outside the Eternal Archive, the curated copies are valued by many. They are the most detailed and complete set of historical texts in the world, valued by historians as much as they are by Selatran patriots as a symbol of the kingdom's longevity. They have been extensively used in tracing the historical change in the Saeluva language that they are written in, and even outside of Selatra the Records are seen as one of the best guides to diplomacy and administration.

Item type

Book / Document

Rarity

Originals unique, curated copies common