The Book of Koa'ki

In the ancient and submerged buildings off the coast of Koa'ki, there is a small pyramid set within the center of a massive spiral of buildings. The interior of this pyramid is actually within the Dream, and contains the strange and cryptic Book of Koa'ki.

The chamber with the book is dry and warm, and does not permit the ocean to enter when the door is opened. There is a constant sourceless light which casts no shadows - the light is not harsh, but it is all-pervasive. On a stone table in the center of the room is a wooden box containing the Book.

The pages of the book are not bound, and there is no cover. There are 84 sheets of stiff papyrus, each of which is two feet square. Both sides of each sheet is covered in writing in a script that is easily read, but difficult to recall - various people have attempted to reproduce it after returning to the physical realm, and their results have been wildly divergent from each other. One oddity of the script is that they claim it can be read in many directions - turning the page ninety degrees simply reveals a new text that uses the same characters in the new orientation. What's more, the arrangement of the pages also shifts the meaning of the text - turning a page over, or rotating it, or changing their order all change the content of the entire book. In some orientations, the text is revealed to be elaborate pictures or diagrams that disappear again when the pages are rearranged. 

It is believed that the Book of Koa'ki contains the true answers to all questions, if you can arrange the pages to produce the specific text you wish to read. Several scholars and researchers have found their way into the drowned pyramid and the chamber of the Book to attempt to learn from the Book, each armed with a system intended to unlock the secret of the book's organization. Most have returned with esoteric knowledge, but none have been able to truly use the book to find the answers they sought, nor proven their system for arranging the pages. Instead, these scholars have returned haunted and fearful, having learned secrets they do not wish to indulge, and one was altered physically as well as mentally. This nameless scholar emerged with a third lidless eye embedded in their forehead, that wept caustic tears and burned through any attempts to cover it. The scholar entombed themself in a deep cave shortly after returning, and was never heard from again. 

Despite these stories, there are still those who would seek to read the Book and find answers to their questions. If not for the difficulty in reaching the chamber, many more would attempt their own schemes and plans to organize the pages. Some have sought to return with the book itself, so that it could be studied on land, but none have ever brought the book out of the chamber - when questioned, they are surprised to hear of such a plan, and claim that they never intended to bring the book out at all. 

A few people have taken notes while reading the Book, to record the mysteries they found within. Those who attempted to copy the letters of the book directly have found that they lose all meaning once removed from the chamber. But those who translated what they read into their own languages have been able to extract long passages and even whole books from the symbols. However, the scholars frequently refuse to share these texts after they emerge, becoming intensely possessive of them and paranoid about anyone who wishes to read what they have. But the later lives of these troubled people has fed into the legend of the book's secrets. One became a famous doctor, who brewed potions capable of curing any disease or injury, even bringing back the freshly dead. Another built amazing clockwork devices that could move and act and think. A third is rumored to have started a cult on an island deep in the Middlesea, with nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine members all seeking the power of a god revealed by the translated text. All in all, it has been enough to inspire many missions into the deep waters to reach the chamber and the Book.