Discovery
Nearly fifty years ago, a small journal was found partially embedded in the roots of a tree about a kilometre away from the northern stretch of the Murky River. The journal, made up of a wooden cover and a paper of unknown material, was somehow almost completely intact despite its obvious age.
After a detailed analysis was conducted on the document it was discovered to have a slight magical aura that is theorized to have helped protect it from aging. Despite being several thousand years old.
Within this journal, were unintelligible writings that went on for the entire length of the journal's paltry fifty pages. The rest have been seemingly torn out at some point in its history. After months of work, researchers discovered that the writings weren’t gibberish but were in fact coded only to appear so.
Mijhail's primary trade route within its territory is the Murky River, which runs from the southern coast all the way to the northern border. While it is a clear path through the jungle it still has its dangers and only experienced river runners can navigate it quickly and safely.
Sadly, despite this discovery, the code was still a mystery and would remain untranslated for many years. The journal would be nicknamed, erroneously, the Esfynor Cypher as many believed it was a code dictionary developed by the elves of Esfynor. The journal's purpose of being a code dictionary would be proven to be untrue in time, but its relation to Esfynor would be confirmed.
Translation
Thirty years after its discovery, Doctor Rowan Roux would pick up the work and eventually partially decipher the journal. Using an actual cipher, that was carved into the surface of several flat stones by an unknown author. These stones were found close to the border of Thysduin buried underneath a layer of vines and dirt. Dr. Roux figured out that the code was elven in nature and with some difficulty, was able to cross reference her prior research and the newly discovered stone into translating a portion of the journal. Roughly twenty-four pages of the total fifty would be translated by Dr. Roux and her team.
The elven cipher stones that were discovered by Dr. Roux. It is unknown who authored them and for what purpose.
Using these pages, she was able to discover a small number of details regarding the Lost Village of Esfynor including its rumoured location, the Esfynor Ioria Portal, and the Elven Root Overlook. The latter of which Dr. Roux discovered. Unbeknownst to many, including Dr. Roux at the time, the journal was discovered only about a day or two’s walk from the Elven Rooted Overlook. Which wouldn’t be discovered until thirty-five years after the Esfynor Cypher.
Read more about Doctor Rowan Roux and her expeditions.
Contents and Purpose
The contents of the journal are still partially a mystery, but the pages that have been translated, both partially and fully, by Dr. Roux and her cohorts paint an incredible picture of the elves that travelled from Thysduin into the Jungles of Mijhail. And even describes their purpose for coming to the remote and dangerous area.
According to the journal, a small group of elven researchers, rangers, and mages were sent into the jungle to find a suitable location for the construction of a semi-permanent settlement. The settlement would eventually be constructed and named Esfynor. It is unknown if Esfynor had multiple purposes or was intended on eventually holding a more permanent population outside of just researchers, mages, and the like.
But what is known, from the journal, is that the location was selected in order to build a second Ioria Portal. Which become known as the
Esfynor Ioria Portal, the portal was to be constructed of materials from the Jungles of Mijhail and placed upon a magical wellspring of adequate power. And was done so in order to test for variances from the original portal, which was created using solely materials from Thysduin and was built a top of a massive magical wellspring in the elven capital of Elys Lenora. The elves were curious if the materials used, and the location it was built upon would change its function at all.
This information was an incredibly important find, as it confirmed that the elves did leave Thysduin shortly before its collapse. This means there is a good chance that some elven artifacts and even a partially constructed Ioria Portal are accessible in Esfynor. If anyone can find and reach it.
Not much information is given about the location of Esfynor in the translated texts. Just some details on what the region would require for their purposes, written before the official founding of the village. Simple things like access to water and adequate prey to hunt. To more complex requirements like 'sufficient magical infusements in the soil' and 'wood that will easily bend to manipulations'.
Many hold out hope that once the remaining pages of the journal are able to be translated that it will give new clues to the real location of the lost settlement.
The journal also gives some notes and sketches of the
The Elven Rooted Overlook, including what it should look like if properly constructed. However, the notes are only partially translated and a clear picture of their usage and number constructed are unclear.
The author also seems to be cataloguing things in order of events. With information on staking out a location, the diagrams and untranslated notes on the Elven Rooted Overlook, and some details on the eventual construction of the Esfynor Ioria Portal. Though large gaps in between translated pages have left major gaps in information including; the location of Esfynor, how far along the Esfynor Ioria Portal’s construction went, what response if any did these elves have to the catastrophe of the first Ioria Portal and the fall of Thysduin, and what eventually lead to abandonment/or fall of Esfynor.
It is unknown, how the journal got entangled in the tree in which it was found. And nobody knows how far it travelled between Esfynor and the tree in which it was found. Copies of the Esfynor Cypher are easily attainable for use by researchers and adventurers, but the original is locked away under careful guard somewhere in Whaeler's Wharf.
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