"The Veils"
"If we knew who wrote it, we could make a good guess what it meant. Since we don't, all guesses are probably equally wrong. Doesn't stop someone from announcing to their peers 'hey I know what this means'. If one more person expects to send us on another wild gryphon chase with this poem claiming it speaks of treasure, I'm going to have to find a shallow grave for them."
Overview
Written by an unknown author, the poem which is known as "The Veils" has been the subject of intense scrutiny by everyone from philosophers and mystics, to the likes of drunken bards. Its popularity among the learned is obvious, due to the mystery of its origins. But to the lower classes the meaning and context have become lost to time. However curious the learned are, there are a few among them who refuse to speculate and file the sonnet under "things we probably should not prod too much with a sharp stick".Unsurprisingly, this has not stopped adventurers from speculating and trying to uncover more details.
Contents
Three Veils, laid out by divine hands bind the world.Sully not grandeur nor defy Fates' course purled.
Look on the Twilit Veil, beyond it dreams and fears
Living who never were, and who were thought askance.
Throughout a vast plain, even the Gods shed tears
For those who may have lived, had they but the one chance.
Dawning Veil, hiding that which has been set in stone
Endless time, laid from the spark and start until now
Abyss of all Time, see all life birth to bone
All Gods begin and for fear of ending they bow.
Draw close Night's Veil, Death's absolute firm hands.
Deserved, hallowed, are the dead and the pale.
Disturb not the guest who dines in the Gods' lands.
Forewarned are you who dare, tread not through veils.
Academic Study
The age of the poem, and its repeated translation from ancient human languages into elven, dwarven, and even draconic, has made it a curious affair to study. The original text is said to be in a language predating the Empire by a good many centuries, yet when translated into the current common tongue the rhyme and meter scan perfectly. When translated into other languages, these things disappear, suggesting the Imperium's current language was the intended translation. Naturally, the implications of this have been ignored by a great many who have tried to study the sonnet on the grounds the implications were very unsettling.Naturally, the Sages of Myrisic have numerous copies of various translations, with annotations by the translators and the ones who commissioned the effort. Equally naturally, the Sages have been trying to understand what it means and many attempt to study it and go mad from trying to avoid accepting a poem out of the depths of history can be so perfectly presented currently.
Among the faithful of the gods, the question of the poem usually draws attempts to change the subject and firmer insistence on not discussing it should one persevere. The position of the high priests on Exalted Isle is, and has always been, to avoid trying to poke open the meaning of the poem since the first couplet and last line warn explicitly of something. Being men of reverent bearing, they naturally assume the "something" is akin to divine wrath concerning hubris to seek knowledge which was not meant to be had.
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