Lives of the Wizards

Lives of the Wizards is the only book known to have been written by the pre-Wesmodian biographer and thaumatologist Orredelph. It is a compilation of biographies of thaumaturges working in the pre-Wesmodian era, some of whom are well-attested in other sources and others of whom are known solely from Orredelph's writings. Although the accuracy of some of the biographies is open to question, and the details on how the wizards accomplished their marvels are kept fairly general, this work is an important source for thaumatologists working in the present day.

Content

Full editions of Lives of the Wizards include twelve biographies, as follows:
* The life of Gephryad of Pholyos is described in some detail. This biography is regarded by thaumatologists as particularly useful in that it includes a lengthy description of one of Gephryad's star-gazing expeditions, which Orredelph explicitly states he is describing from memory, having been seconded as the wizard's secretary on the trip. Although there are difficulties with this version of events - though supposedly Gephryad's scribe on the trip, Orredelph makes no mention of recording any of the results of the expedition-leader's observations - it remains a fascinating and in places incisive account of the pre-Wesmodian cult of Ynglyas in action.
* A biography of Sphay, the pseudo-historical founder of the Pholyan cult of Ynglyas and mistress of winds and weather. Orredelph characterises Sphay first and foremost as a teacher, with the bulk of the biography taken up by her (independently attested) mentorship of a series of young wizards and her purported innovations to the various scripts that made up the Ynglyan codes. The biography is of abiding interest as a scholarly account of how scholars worked with that codes, although this is complicated in that Sphay is depicted working on the codes rather than with them, which suggests both that they predate her and that they existed in a state of flux when they were in use. This complicates the codes as much as it elucidates them, though this provides ample scope for experimentation by modern researchers.
* Orredelph's long essay on the demigod and thaumaturge Morogyad is less of a biography than a meditation on the subject's widely-attested capacity as the son of Zargyod and how he was revered as an intercessor between his father and the Sailors on the Sea of Jars. This makes it one of the few literary sources that attest to the pre-Wesmodian veneration of Morogyad as a religious, rather than thaumaturgic figure, a practice for which there is sound archaeological evidence. As might be expected of a Pholyan author Orrdelph perceives Zargyod and his son as figures related primarily to fortune and secondarily to the sea; Morogyad's career as a metallurgist and alchemist is not mentioned at all.
* The longest of Orredelph's biographies is of Taryanan Horaq, a diviner and prophetess he associates with the Nameless Ones, the sorority of anonymous, veiled, itinerant priestesses of Ynglyas who dispensed prophecies with reference to trunks of mysterious books in the southern cities during the pre-Wesmodian era. Orredelph clearly states that Horaq was not a member of the Nameless Ones, but describes her conferring with them and being permitted to make copies of various passages from their books when they visited Pholyos. The biography is intriguing to thaumatologists because Orredelph goes into some detail on the content of the copied passages and the elaborate pacing rituals he describes Horaq performing after this liaison.
* Orredelph's book is the canonical source of information for the myth of Wolloqod Zarron, the pseudo-historical builder of the attested Apparatus of Zarron. The shortest of his essays, the chapter on Zarron steps lightly over the young man's youth before describing his construction of the apparatus from 15 pieces, variously wrought in tumbega, brass and electrum, and activated it with a trio of fluxes. The biography does not actually relate any of the subsequent adventures of the Apparatus, instead focusing on Zarron himself, discussing his political career, family, and subsequent unsuccessful experiments in the creation of flying ships.
* Orredelph provides a rare and interesting insight into the activities of the pre-Wesmodian Boles of Dahan in the form of a biography of Draman of Trawn, a priest of Dahan he claims to have personally met, presumably on his southern research trip with Gephryad of Pholyos. The essay is written mostly as a dialogue between Orredelph and Draman in which the latter, although belabouring his esteem for Gephryad, excoriates urban dwellers and the clerics of gods other than his own and elaborating on the centrality of water and plant life to human prosperity. The interview, supposedly conducted over two days in autumn, contains a number of hints about the ritualism of the Boles of Dahan, a few of which Orredelph sees fit to editorialise on.
* The book includes a biography of Horoq Taldume, the initiate of Krezzan under whose direct supervision Orredelph worked. Orredelph never refers to Taldume by his common post-Wesmodian sobriquet "Horoq the Necromancer," instead providing the only solid contemporary account of his full real name and life. This book is a lengthy encomium of a figure Orredelph seems to have regarded as unjustly maligned even in his own lifetime, focusing on Taldume's long, apparently deeply cerebral meditations on the philosophy of time and composition of the evidently lost Book of Bruises. Orredelph did not accompany Taldume on his expeditions to The Empty Quarter and relates them second-hand, and oddly circumspectly for a biographer hoping to speak well of his subject. The biography contains no speculation on the much-debated manner of Taldume's death.
* By contrast Orredelph's biography of Galyan Chellyad paints her as something of a charlatan and the Bruised Ones as a coven of bumblers. Indeed his account of Chellyad's actvities is clearly deeply coloured by the long-standing animosity between Orredelph's native Pholyos and Chogyos. Normally a measured writer more concerned with the esoteric activities of his subjects, Orredelph appears to have allowed matters of politics and economy to influence his perception of the Bruised Ones, which provides some useful information about the pre-Wesmodian roots of the group but is deeply jaundiced; he seldom misses a chance to make a dismissive remark about the methodological discrepancies that existed between the Pholyan and Chogyan cults of Krezzan. As such his account of Chellyad's career is often cited as his least reliable essay.
* His account of the career of Sapyanan is briefer but less biased, serving as the main pre-Wesmodian source for biographical details surrounding this enigmatic figure. Orredelph interestingly agrees with the author of The Ramoros Libram on the details of the central episode of Sapyanan and the Shadows but contradicts that book on a variety of biographical issues, notably identifying Sapyanan's parents as farmers who ran an orchard some distance inland from Ramoros whereas most Ramoran sources describe her as a foundling raised in the local temple of Hayan. He also discusses her later career as a chorister and conductor and states she died of a premature heart spasm at the age of 34. He does not give his sources for any of this information.
* While most of Orredelph's biographies are of wizards of the southern cities he provides an account of the life and career of Hayna Paphel Orph, a pyromancer from Halumay whose career performing marvels with light and fire occasioned a long itinerant tour through various cities across the Sea of Jars in the second century BWR. Confirming his own Pholyan biases, Orredelph devotes considerable space in this biography to long-winded speculation about Paphel Orph's exotic background and looks; he often seems as interested in objectifying her as a foreign curiosity as he is in discussing her magical career. Nevertheless he does find space to describe her use of bodily kinesis to generate flames with the will and engages in some responsible, if slightly luridly-phrased, discussion of how she conducted these actions, which many thaumatologists find interesting.
* Orredelph also discusses the career of Phel Olagory Menyod, a famed bullfighter from Halumay, going into almost boyish detail about his succession of victories and fights against a series of fierce beasts. This biography serves as a major source of information on the history of Halumayan bullfighting and its connection to the worship of Ajqyod. As with his biography of Hayna Paphel Orph, Orredelph seems at pains to orientalise Menyod and his practice, belabouring the exoticism and weirdness of his movements in the ring and perpetuating some far-fetched rumours about his personal life. As such the essay does as much to complicate as to elucidate the precise relationship between bullfighting, Ajqyod, and Halumayan culture, although it does give modern thaumatologists much to ponder.
* Orredelph's final essay concerns Elpanan Qorthoq, a member of the cult of Krezzan who was based in Andymalon but who he describes as travelling widely, consulting with various members of her order in other cities and also engaging in expeditions both south the the Alluvial plain and north into The Empty Quarter, gathering information for a book speculatively titled Death and What Follows. The essay includes an account of the time Orredelph met Qorthoq and interviewed her about the unfinished book, which she saw as her life's work and a crucial contribution to humanity's understanding of life and death. Qorthoq died before completing the book, however, and Orredelph spends much of the essay speculating about the disposition of her notes and drafts.

Commentary

Orredelph's Lives of the Wizards has its deficiencies as a historical source. Although there is nothing in the book which can be called into question as wholly ahistorical, Orredelph displays some unabashed cultural biases. He seems particularly to regard his Halumayan subjects as weird anthropological specimens rather than as individuals, whereas he writes up his southern subjects, particularly those from Pholyos, more as scholars, philosophers, and intellectual and moral exemplars. As a result his book tends to be of more use to those researching the cults of Krezzan and Ynglyas rather than the other gods. He notably fails to mention the pre-Wesmodian cults of Pergyad and Maryas at all. Given that other records make it very clear that both cults existed in Pholyos, this raises some interesting questions about what Orredelph regarded as wizardry, religion and superstition.
Some subsequent scholars have also detected a discernible gender bias in his writing. Although he accords clear respect to some of the women he covers, the correlation between female thaumaturges and figures he does not take entirely seriously is noticeable, with his biographies of Glayan Chellyad and Hayna Paphel Orph being something close to hatchet jobs. His parochialism may be in play here - his discussion of the Pholyan Sphay is notably reverent - but his evident judgemental attitude to women casts a shadow of doubt over his discussion of some women.
Nevertheless Orrepdelph's book is regarded as generally accurate and therefore remains a prominent source of information on the practice of thaumaturgy in the pre-Wesmodian era, and thus an esteemed staple of thaumatological research and experimentation in post-Wesmodian times.

Availability

Complete copies of the book are fairly rare, simply because few thaumatologists have research interests general enough to move them to the expense of buying a full copy of a rather substantial book. Scribes have long since pivoted to these market conditions, offering copies of individual chapters as much smaller books, to the extent that not all scribes actually possess all the chapters themselves. As such an aspiring researcher may not be able to find the chapter they want in the catalogue of the first scribe they consult. Such is the overall quality of Orredelph's work, however, that most regard the hunting required to to find the right essay to be effort well spent. Given the demand, the individual essays typically fetch healthy prices, but again, the material is more or less foundational to modern thaumatology and the expense is therefore usually regarded as well worth it.