Nekrómystikón

The Nekrómystikón (/ˌnɛk ɹəˈmɪs tɪ kɑn/), also known as the Mysteria Mortuorum, and originally titled al'Hikmat Sirun al'Amiwat, is purported to be an ancient compendium of magical, alchemic and astrological knowledge, compiled by its author through interaction with unseen supernatural forces beyond ordinary human understanding. Its pages are said to include the histories of ancient gods and demons, along with spells and incantations for summoning them, as well as magical formulas for creating powerful potions and compounds, and for changing base metals into precious ones, among many more obscure secrets of the night sky, the sun, the mhuns, and other arcane things. It is the first of two occult codices written by the ninth centurí alchemist Abdul Gumud, the second being the much rarer collection of prophesies sometimes called the Nekróneiraikón.

Translated into Cyrontian and Laidin, and possibly Kiltic and Teutisch, the Nekrómystikón has been reputed to cause madness in those who read it, or even merely possess it, and some have gone so far as to claim that the physical books themselves hold supernatural powers in their own right. As a result, the book has been rigorously suppressed by the authorities of most governments and religious institutions since the fourteenth centurí. Those efforts appear to have been mostly successful, as but a very few copies of the tome have survived to the present day. At the current time, only seven specimens of the book are known for certain to exist.

Etymology

al'Hikmat Sirun al'Amiwat translates literally from Nemidic as “the secret wisdom of the dead.

”The Cyrontic title is derived from ancient Cyrontian νεκρός (nekrós, “dead/corpse”) + μυστικος (mystikόs, “secret”) + -εικόν (-eikón, “image”) – “an image of the secrets of the dead.”

Mysteria Mortuorum translates directly from Laidin as “mysteries of the dead.”

Author

The original manuscript was written by Tariq abd alˈGhumud, the “Alchemist of Chaam” (fl. c. 810 – 855), and better known as Abdul Gumud. According to the Hyat abd alˈGhumud (“Life of Abdul Gumud”), written in 873 by his student Wahid alˈNajem, alˈGhumud was born in the Holy City of Chaam sometime around 770. Although the details of his birth are not known, he is believed to have been orphaned as an infant and later brought to be raised in the harem of the 'Amir, only to be subsequently expelled while still a young boy for some unstated transgression.

He claimed to have set out at that time for the sands of alˈQit-arˈFarig, where he lived for ten years among the ghúls, before returning to Chaam having learned the strange and hidden mysteries of the vast empty desert. His life was the life of a philosopher, traveling far and wide to learn the secrets of the world and beyond. Although he had many talents, and is known to history as an alchemist and sorcerer, when asked he would invariably describe himself as a poet.

He spent his later years in the Farsaidhic city of Dimashiq, where he composed the two volumes for which he is most well-known today. His death, according to his eleventh centurí biographer, Jamshid Khoroushi, was as strange as it was brutal. While visiting the market in the center of Dimashiq on a summer afternoon in 855, as he was speaking with several acquaintances, the aging poet was suddenly thrust high into the sky, to a height that made him nearly invisible. He fell back down from that great height in nearly the same place he had been standing. No sooner had his body hit the ground than it was crushed flat as if by an enormous invisible stone, reducing it to a pool of unrecognizable bloody gore, much to the shock and horror of those in the vicinity.

History

AlˈGhumud wrote the book, which he called al'Hikmat Sirun al'Amiwat, c. 847 in the city of Dimashiq, on the coast of the Gulf of Shinar, roughly eight years before his mysterious death. After his sudden demise, the manuscript, along with its sister volume, 'Ahlam al'Mawtaha, came into the possession of his student, Wahid alˈNajem, who is said to have sunk into madness after completing the biography of his master, Hyat abd alˈGhumud (“Life of Abdul Ghumud”), in 873.

Thereafter, the manuscript was circulated clandestinely among philosophers and scholars for many years. In 1059, the work was translated into Cyrontian by Dimitrios Antonis of Tepherion, who entitled his work Nekrómystikón, the name by which it is now most commonly known. Thereafter, for over a centurí reports emerged of strange and deadly consequences arising out of ill-conceived attempts to harness its secret powers by unprepared practitioners of the dark sciences. The increasing frequency and severity of these reports resulted in its suppression in 1173 by Caliph Umut V, who confiscated and burned as many copies of the translated work as could be found.

The Caliph’s efforts were not as thorough as desired, however, since several reproductions of Antonis’ Cyrontian translation evidently escaped destruction into the thirteenth centurí, by which time the original Nemidic text had been lost. It was from one of those remaining Cyrontian texts that Geulian physician, linguist, and antiquary Kaspar Skadedyr, known to history as Casperus Verminus, made his Laidin translation in 1251. Shortly thereafter, the increased attention brought to the ancient grimoire by Verminus’ translation caused both the Cyrontian and the Laidin versions of the text to be denounced and banned by Archcoarb Gréagóir IX of Sancta Cedes in 1257.

Nevertheless, despite the ecclesiastical ban, the Cyrontian text was subsequently printed in Velandriault during the 16th centurí, and the Laidin text was printed twice – first, in buchstabe script during the 15th centurí, presumably in the Agnomain, and again in Hy Maine during the 17th centurí. Also in the 17th centurí, a vulgate Kiltic translation was written in Bréifne by an author using the pseudonym “A Gentleman Philosopher,” but it was never printed, and exists now only in the form of fragments of the original, held in various private collections, to the extent it exists at all. Érevish millionaire Brian Pierce is rumored to have purchased several such fragments in recent years.

In 1709, the last known copy of the 16th centurí Cyrontian translation was lost to fire, when the personal library of Bréifnean Physician Archibald McMahon of Drumlane burned to the ground under suspicious circumstances. According to Dr. Desmond Hynes, Professor of Eastern Antiquities at the University of Naus, the last actual copy of 16th centurí Cyrontian translation, long rumored to be in the possession of the Ruane family of Kindee in Érevon,was lost at sea while in the possession of Lannon Ruane when his ship, the Reliant was struck by a Nemedian torpedo and sunk beneath the waves of the Torrean Sea in 1911.

Although rumors persist about secret copies of the mysterious book remaining in the hands of private individuals, there are currently only seven specimens of the Nekrómystikón known for certain to exist:

A 15th centurí Laidin translation, currently held in a secure, guarded vault at the Imperial Museum, Lantara, Érevon;
A 17th centurí Laidin translation in the collection of the Bibliothèque nationale, Toulaise, Vilandreault;
A 15th centurí Laidin translation at the Teutisches Nationalarchiv, Waldestadt, Agnomain;
Both the 15th centurí and the 17th centurí Laidin translations, currently secured under lock and key at All Saints College Library, University of Naus, Érevon;
A 17th centurí Laidin translation in the Geisel Library, Saint Anselm University, Manchester, Mancunia; and
A 17th centurí Laidin translation on display under guard at AlˈMaktaba Library, University of Adatenesis, Adatenesis, Nemed