The Scrolls of True Fates

The Scrolls of True Fates are legendary items that are rumored to reveal the fate of someone who is inquired about. These items are considered powerful divination tools beyond what most sapients have any right to use or control, and are regarded more as cautionary tales of the misuse of power and the consequences of attempting to manipulate the divine in order to contest mortal action.
Countless adventurers, collectors, historians, magi, and persons of more unscrupulous natures have sought out the rumored existence of these devices, given that stories often contain a portion of truth. Countless lives have been lost, years cut short in the pursuit of a divine tool that can grant even a slight edge against their neighbor.

Summary

The Scroll of True Fates is described as an item that requires a trace of a person's hair, flesh, or blood, in order to establish a connection between the Scroll and that person.
It is cautioned that such Scrolls are capable of not only revealing a person's fate, but in the event of a person inquiring about themselves, altering it, in such a way that observation of fate is enough to render it untrue.
As a side effect of such a powerful item, a said Scroll also revealed the True Name of the one that is being inquired about. Such a powerful ability is not without risk, since a pathway is connected between a relic of the Divine and the target - particularly perceptive targets like archmagi or therianthropes are able to detect when their name and fate has been unveiled via Scroll. Supplementary tales, including the Forest of Dasev, illustrate the danger of using such an item, and the homicidal lengths that beings will go to in order to safeguard their own secrets and destinies.

Historical Basis

The largest historical bases on the Scrolls of True Fates and their existence would be the presence of the Divine Scales and the Divine Mirror themselves, positioned within the Principalty of Porfodia and the Kingdom of Thaxtedia respectively. The two divine relics provide a perfect and non-disclosable means of divining one's fate or the expectations of one's actions against the current path of the choices they have made in life.
The Wandering Goddess of the Workshop, Amarise, has outlined to one of her high priestesses that the Divine are not limited to creating one such scroll, nor are they limited to being scrolls. Being forthcoming as a form of amusement to herself, the Goddess outlined that such items tend to be made on the whim, as the Divine occasionally give mortals and immortals an edge to disturb and established order and to keep the world changing. A record of this interaction was created in 1154, and is safely stored in the Library of the Chalice to this day.

Spread

The legend and tales of such scrolls and the dangers of using them are widespread throughout Vinesia - wherever there is a following of a deity, the tales of such items follow shortly.
The supposed locations of such items are a deeper mystery, and are generally only know by influential collectors, the most fastidious of historians, and the most inquisitive of bounty hunters, for which such an item will demand a country's fortune on the black market. Many would-be adventurers have perished attempting to claim such an item for themselves, being disparaged for gambling their lives on a mere fairytale.
The only ones who would truly know would be the Divine themselves.

Variations & Mutation

The existence of the Scrolls of True Fates has been altered significantly since its original recording, with each iteration being slightly changed depending on where one hails from, and who is the dominating force within an area.
In the Kingdom of Cleolinia, the Scrolls are not argued to be traditional fabric scrolls, but instead compressed clockwork computational engines that derive the skeins of fate based on how someone's mana interrupts the world around them. The devout  Cleolinians also believe that such devices hail from their Queen, gifting her followers the knowledge to construct said wondrous devices so that she can guide the faithful.

Cultural Reception

In Louthia, where the goddess Amarise maintains her dominion, the Scrolls of True Fates take on different interpretations by the local cultures:

• The Moume believe that such an item was derived from one of the horns that was snapped off the White Wyrm of the Lake, and that a portion of its divine power thrums within the horn, in essence acting like a "regular" Fate Scroll;
• The Merave look at the ocean as providing proof of fate, particularly as most Meravians are seafaring peoples, and that the ocean does not forgive those who are destined to be claimed by it. Thus, they do not adhere strongly to the existence of items that reveal fate;
• The Inara treat such scrolls with thinly veiled caution, arguing that the revelation of fate is more than enough to alter it and make such an item self-defeating, deceiving its unwary user and leading them to destitution or doom;
• The Atxi do not subscribe to any myth that claims to reveal fate, instead choosing to believe that their destinies are not pre-defined, but instead forged over the course of one's lifetime, much as their tools and way of life is similarly molded.

In Literature

The Scrolls of True Fates has spurned on other tales describing some of the rumors behind said items, cautionary tales regarding the overuse of said items, and even epics about adventurers seeking out such an item for themselves.
One of the most quoted epics regarding these scrolls is the Forest of Dasev, which outlines a hapless man's attempts to divine the nature of his successful neighbor with such an item, and the neighbor's retaliation for attempting to interfere with his fate, including cursing the forest to reject the toils of said man's labor, with the crows as their witness.

In Art

Certain societies, particularly those dealing with the study of time and of fate, utilize the Scroll as one of their banners. Tapestries regarding a Scroll of True Fates are a common sight within Vinesia's academic and esoteric circles, even if such scrolls do not properly exist.

Date of First Recording

96

Date of Setting

10

Related People

• Amarise