Maulogne Codex (maw-LONE)

On the rare occasion that a magical recording crystal is found intact and functioning, more common back in the days following The Shattering, it is rushed to the Maurac Catacombs for the scholars there to transcribe and translate the contents into books or scrolls. Of all the texts they have transcribed and preserved, easily the most contentious and divisive one within the Maionene Temple is the collection of religious liturgies and theology known as the Maulogne Codex.
Uncovered in 205 AS and named after the town nearest to the ruin where it was found, the Codex contains 32 different religious texts, from liturgies for worship, to songs and chants, to debates on theological subjects. It also contains variations on well-known Maionene mythologies. Specifically, it contains a pre-Shattering version of the Creation myth, similar to the official version, but with changes that shake the underpinnings of the modern Maionene faith.
The Codex myth has the deity Zolgar being created at the same time as Maion, and from the same source. There is no mention of Them as a mirror reflection or shadow of Maion, like the orthodox myth. It then goes on to show the two gods as co-creators of Azarth. It is clearly not just the work of Maion. Most importantly, there is no mention of Zolgar spoiling creation at all, and magic is not once mentioned, either positively or negatively.
Contrast that to the current accepted myth, where Maion is the god of Light and Zolgar the god of Darkness. Gone is the image of Zolgar as a figure of evil and jealousy, nor are They named as the creator of magic. Instead, They are said to rule over Endings, and Maion is the god of Beginnings. The Temple would lose their divine scapegoat for the disaster that was The Shattering, and their primary source for the doctrine that all magic, and those who wield it, are inherently evil and not part of Maion's plan. One could even go further and claim that since the gods were co-creators of everything, then Maion had a hand in creating magic, as well.
Recently, someone with access to the restricted archives let slip the information that there were earlier versions of myths, but that they were seen as heretical by the Druail and her predecessors. While the exact contents of the texts were not revealed, it has sparked a reformist sect known as the Querents, who wish for more transparency, openness, and a chance to examine these myths. One wonder what they would make of these stories if they were granted their wish.

Read the Document

Maulogne Codex

The source existed, whole unto itself.
It floated in the nothingness before time. It was all that there was.
A thought arose, then a feeling, and the source began to change.
Pulsing slowly at first, then more and more rapidly, until it could bear no more.
The source gave birth to itself and was consumed, but not destroyed.
For two beings now existed, like the source yet unlike. Each held a part of the source within them.
One wept for the death of the source, for it recognized that all must end in time, and it was then called Zolgar.
The other laughed, for it knew that all life springs from death, as They sprung from the source, and it became Maion.
The laugh transformed itself, and the nothingness began to change, creating form and shadow, light and dark.
Maion took the laugh and shaped it, and Zolgar watered it with Their tears,
And so Azarth was created, and all the heavens with it.
The first ending had occurred, and the first beginning.
And so the Twins worked in harmony, populating the land They had made.
Maion would give birth to a plant, an animal; Zolgar would set the days that being had on Azarth,
For both knew that every beginning has an ending, but each ending leads to new beginnings.
And thus did Azarth and all its creatures come to be.

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by Nightflyer0ne via Midjourney

Type

Text, Religious

Medium

Crystal, Magical

Myth

Creation of Azarth

Location

Maulogne