Orredelph

Orredelph was a thaumatologist and historian born in the city of Pholyos in around 125 BWR. He is an interesting figure in pre-Wesmodian literature, having mounted an academic survey of the practice of magic at a time when, to hear him tell of it, thaumaturgy was a generally-accepted field of study and practice. His only surviving work, Lives of the Wizards has become a major source of information for those engaged in that study in later years.

Biographical details

Most of what is known about Orredelph himself comes from asides made in his biographies of other people. The names of his parents have not been preserved but comments in his work strongly suggest they were members of Pholyos's wealthy and influential glassblower's guild. A number of references to the strength of lungs required for magic breeds speculation that Orredelph was afflicted with some sort of constitutional weakness of the chest which would have made pursuing his parent's profession difficult. The erudition of his writing, however, makes it clear that he was either possessed of considerable natural intelligence or an apt pupil, and his familiarity with the production of books makes it altogether likely he struck out on his own as a scribe. It would make sense for such a professional to find their way into the employ of the Pholyan temple of the god Krezzan, a position Orredelph appears to have held from a fairly young age until his retirement without ever actually joining the priesthood himself. He speaks highly of the priesthood, both as an institution and when discussing its individual members, and discusses their internal politics from the point of view of an engaged junior partner in a constructive discussion. If the result of this is a somewhat rosy picture of the priesthood, it provides readers with an interesting public insight into the origins of a latterly much more cloistered institution. Orredelph also seems to have had close professional ties with the powerful Wesmodian cult of Ynglyas and may have been seconded on one of their inland expeditions to take observations of stars, a possibility that hints at the widely-supposed links between that cult and Krezzan's, at least in Pholyos.
One oddity about Orredelph is that is is not known whether his mononym is his forename or surname. The name could have been either in Pholyos at the time and there is nothing in his writings to conclusively endorse either possibility.

Thaumatological significance

Orredelph was a sympathetic and close observer of the two pre-Wesmodian cults most closely associated with magic and the esoteric and his writings on these subjects are thought to be at least broadly authoritative. Indeed the main controversy surrounding his Lives of the Wizards is whether or not he intended the twelve biographies it contains to be read as a unit and compared or whether they were published as wholly discrete books. Although in most cases Orredelph provides only oblique details about how the twelve wizards he writes about actually accomplished their marvels, his accounts of magic being performed, and the social positions of those who performed it, is of obvious value to thaumatologists.
Thaumatologists are also interested in the other writings Orredelph must have undertaken in his capacity as a scribe on a retainer with the Pholyan cult of Krezzan. This material may well still exist in the archives of the local Brotherhood of Rooks though as with so much to do with that organisation the details are not known and nobody is talking.