The
Amenon Chydaiteton (
Tira Vellan: Άμενων Χυδαιτέτων, tr. Ámenōn Chydaitétōn) is an illuminated occult manuscript written by
Cirrus circa 2255 in the aftermath of the
Black Dawn Crisis.
The work is considered more of a treatise than an amenon despite having been titled as such by its author. An amenon is a specific form of apologetic religious commentary which had already fallen out of fashion by Cirrus' lifetime in which the author attempts to explain and justify religious tenants and their applications through personal anecdotes. While the Amenon Chydaiteton does contain religious and devotional language, and Cirrus was a priest of the demiurgical Ladox, the work a sort of commentary on some early Octonian apocrypha in parts, the actual content and purpose of the work, while highly debated, does not have the apologetic character of an amenon.
The meaning of "Chydaiteton" (Χυδαιτέτων) is unknown, and as such the title of the work is untranslateable, even to magic. Most amenoi are "commentaries of/on something", and as such it is expected the subject of the amenon will take the genetive case in the title (e.g.
"Amenon Thysioin Basileikoin", "Commentary on Kingly Sacrifices"). As the ending of "Chydaiteton" agrees with the ending of "Amenon", it's thought to be an adjective.
The work itself is concerned with the role of chance and probability in the course of events, Cirrus viewing Ladox as a being associated with chance. While the topics covered in the work are vast, from metaphysics and mechanics of post-Sealing planar travel, to descriptions of various magical items and apparati, and various personal anecdotes of his life before embarking on his planar journies.
History
The history of the manuscript is obscure. Cirrus actively travelled the planes and likely wrote the manuscript there. It is possible the work drifted through various realms over centuries, but the work eventually turned up in
Alvoradã. It was seized, catalogued, and quarantined by the
Enzimian Inquisition in 2554. It was quarantined in Enzim along with a great many other artefacts deemed potentially dangerous to destroy.
The work laid dormant in the Enzimian archives until after magic prohibitions relaxed in Enzim and the archive was opened and recatalogued in 2739. Many of the artefacts were placed in museums or sold, including the Amenon Chydaiteton, which was bought at auction by the
Tira Vellan government for 430 fotims. The work was given over to the University of Artheno due to Cirrus' connection to the university through his adopted daughter and Nyja, where it became a part of the university's medieval manuscript collection.
Little work or research was done on the work, with a great deal produced on the work being about the effects of magic and extraplanar contact on the psyche, rather than the content of the work itself.
Cyreon Gireneos
Cyreon Gireneos, another
Tira Vellan dynitian, became fascinated by the Amenon Chydaiteton after discovering it in the school's library while he studied at University of Artheno. Initially interested in the work for the simple reason that he felt a connection to Cirrus as another Tira Vellan dynitian, soon he became enthralled by its seemingly inscrutable nature. Gireneos tracked down what few commentaries and analyses of the work he could, and among the work's exploration of planar metaphysics and the workings of various magical items, Gireneos became singularly fixated on the description of a device capable of performing maths calculations which Cirrus had evidently himself become fascinated with as a device to predict probabilities, somehow brining him closer to Ladox. While the description was characteristically vague and periphrastic for the work, and seemed a magical device, it inspired the idea of the difference engine in Gireneos. By 2845 Gireneos has produced a design for his difference engine, which he took to calling the "Chydaiteton" after Cirrus' work. He approached the Tira Vellan government with the project and secured funding to produce the machine, completing the first model in 2853.
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